For someone who is homeschooling their preschooler?

Question

I am having some concerns about sending my son to public school. Pedophiles, bullies etc. I would like to know some of the bennefits and drawbacks of homeschooling. I am just considering this as a possible solution to my fears of sending him to school. He is always with me and I am finding it very hard to get used to the idea of letting a total stranger look after him and keep him safe for the bulk of the day.

I am thinking of only doing this until maybe grade one or two. Not forever. Just until I know he can reasonably take care of himself.

Answer 1

Ok let me start by saying I am a homeschool mom.

I didn't begin knowing that is what I would do. We always worked with my son at home, just as we do my 2 year old now. Not with worksheets but mostly by talking to him, reading with him, and doing the occasional flash card. We enrolled my older son in mothers day out and preschool. He attended a Montessori preschool for pre-k, and we had no problem trusting him with others. He learned how to deal with bullies, that some kids weren't nice, how to share. Then we put him in public school kindergarten. I was pregnant with my 2nd son and had just stopped working to be home because I had lost my flexible scheduling, so we could no longer afford private school.

Also like many of those who argue against homeschool, we wanted my son to know how to check out library books, follow directions, associate with his peers, have a PE, music, art time that I cold not give him at home, to ride the bus, and learn to order his own lunch.

So off he went. IT WAS A NIGHTMARE! The bus was too loud, the older kids were mean and the bus driver was always yelling, so he wanted me to drive him back and forth...ok. They only served chicken nuggets or pizza 4 days a week in the cafeteria (my son likes these things as much as the next kid, but for him it was too much) so he wanted to take his lunch...no problem, it healthier. They only had PE 2 times a week, the art department had been cut from the budget, and in music there would be no touching instruments until 3rd grade. Added to that his class was learning a color a week and he knew his colors before he was 2. He was already reading. He was bored and it became a fight to get him to go. We worried there would be behavioral problems, I conferenced with the teacher, the councellor, the assistant principal to have him tested for better placement. 8 weeks in they tested him and found him ready for 1st grade, but it was too late to put him there. They would have had to do that by the 4th week. I had been calling since Monday of the 2nd week. It was very frustrating!! So we pulled him with the intention of putting him in again next year but having him tested for placement early. Again we got the run around. So we kept homeschooling.

Now we are committed to stick with it until he graduates because it works for us. We enjoy the time we have with him. He enjoys learning and likes that once he has mastered something he can move on. Or if the topic we are learning in Social Studies is boring, we can either learn it a different way or find another topic. I like knowing he is being taught the basics of handwriting, reading, and math, not just test taking skill. Also we are sure this is what we want to continue because we (through friends and family) know what is happening acedemically in the schools and don't wish to have our child deal with it. It isn't always easy. There are days when it is a battle and I think you know if he was in school it would be easier, but I know it wouldn't be better. And I don't believe anything worth doing is going to be easy. So, we stick it out.

On here you will here a lot about socialization. But you will also here the homeschoolers say their kids are fine. This is a big issue though. Children need to be with other people besides us. They need to feel comfortable in being taught, corrected, and helped by other adults. They need to know how to handle conflict with adults and other children. They don't need public school to have this happen, but they can't be too sheltered. You need to have an idea of how you will accomplish it especially if you are planning on having them reenter school and succeed.

To get an overall idea of what your child should know for each grade I recommend What Your Child Needs to Know in the ___ Grade. It will keep him pretty well on level with your public school. You can check them out from your library. From there attend a Homeschool convention or book show. Look at the different curriculms and see what you like. Do you want Christian based?

Hope this helped. Good Luck.

Answer 2

I personally am homeschooling; however, I think it is better to homeschool because of its advantages rather than homeschooling out of fear of the unknown. The latter has the potential to lead to a kind of isolationist homeschooling scenario which isn't always healthy for the child.
If you love to teach and are a upbeat, creative individual and love nothing better than reading, playing, doing crafts with your child, and if you and your child have a close relationship without a lot of battle of wills and your child doesn't seem to crave or require a lot of social peer interaction, then maybe homeschooling is a good fit for you.
You don't mention if your child has siblings--this would be important to know. Many people successfully homeschool only children, but they work extremely hard to ensure that their children are very involved in many activities and are around a lot of other people regularly.
Homeschooling preschool is a lot of fun. You might feel differently about his and (your's) readiness for public K after this year. A year can do wonders for a child's emotional maturity.
In any event, your child should be used to following directions from others, handling separation without prolonged distress, waiting his turn, sharing, handling not being the center of attention etc, whether he is homeschooled or not. A good part time preschool can be good for helping children learn these skills if the child has been having some difficulty with them.
I know several homeschoolers who are homeschooling early elementary kids who never learned these basics and I can't help but wonder if preschool or a year or two in a school environment might have done them some good before they started homeschooling.
Of course, I have no idea of the reality of your public schools. Often the reputations of the worst schools in the nation get all the attention and press coverage, while most schools do an acceptable and some, an admirable, job of educating. Visit your local schools and talk to as many teachers and other moms as you can to make up your mind. Good luck!

Answer 3

Below is a website you will find very handy on your journey. May I make a second suggestion? Include more senses. Have a letter *and* a color of the month. Don't just glue down pictures. Take craft sticks and bend them into shapes. Even hot dogs can be shaped! (I'll give you links to look at.) Instead of simply looking at an apple, eat one. Another day find an acorn and make it into a little man with a hat. Also, have you ever used Mrs. Alphabet? She's awesome! Studying "p"? She teaches your child about popcorn, and has a cute, interactive poem to go with it! Do the same thing with the color. If your color is green, tomorrow eat green jello, for example. One day, say s/he's been really good this week, and offer a couple of green jelly beans! Do things like this all the way through, finding other websites, too. For example, L for lady bug allows you to make a lady bug! The more fun you can make an assignment, the more they want to learn. Of course, not everything is fun, and that's an important lesson in character building, but when it's fun, it makes you more interested in teaching, also! I hope some of these links are good start for you. Please feel free to email me if you get stuck. Preschool was my favorite. I'd found a cute preschool folder that showed several things, plus I used Mrs Alphabet and a few other resources. My favorite was going outside, sitting on the ground, and teaching about the earth from that point of view. We'd touch the ground and I'd talk about the dirt ("earth") in which we were sitting upon. We'd look up in the sky and talk about the clouds, how they form, etc, and what the atmosphere is like - even how pollution is messing it up. (Ofc, putting it in kids languge.) You can play a game where you're the sun and s/he's the earth, and have him/her spin and rotate around you. Even a three-year-old can be made to understand this! They feel like an important person, because they really are smart for their age! When my dd was 3 years old we went to a boy's birthday party. He was turning 5. He could not name any of the colors of the balloons. His mom said, "He'll learn all that in school." My daughter was confused, why he wouldn't even know he had a red balloon! Oh, in kindergarten we used Ace and Christi from School of Tomorrow. Despite naysayers, I really like their program. You can progress quickly through it. Anyway, for long-A sound, she colored a picture of an ape and read a story about an ape at a party. He was choosing the snack he wanted, and was touching them all and putting them back. They explained that you should not do that. Take the one you touch! Then we sang a song (you could chant it), "The aging ape was out of shape, because he ate and ate and ate!" (pretend to be stuffing your mouth and then your tummy hurts!) I know this is a lot. Sorry, I just got excited to see your question! LOL! Good luck!

Answer 4

I applaud you for recognizing your concerns and being willing to take charge of your son's education.

Homeschooling can be fantastic if you make sure it's fantastic. It'll depend on the research you do to find what will work best for your family. Your son will be more of his own person than adopting everything from all the kids around him. And you're right, he won't be around bullies (as much--there can still be issues at parks and things, but at least it's not daily viewing; heck, I won't even let my kids watch things like that on tv on a daily basis!). He will also have the chance to really master the basic skills instead of plunging along at the teacher's pace. So many kids suffer in the upper elementary grades because they just didn't get to master the literacy and math skills.

The only real drawbacks for us have been the people who are against homeschooling.

If you are planning on putting him in school later on, then I would highly recommend you follow local curriculum as much as possible. The worst thing you could do would be to put him in school at a later point and be behind everybody else--or just with a completely different set of knowledge than everybody else. Any little 'fault' will be seen as the result of homeschooling.

Answer 5

If you are that concerned, follow your instinct. You are is mother and you know what is best for him. If you are to homeschool him for the first couple of years, be sure to get him involved in activities so he can have the chance to be around other kids and make friends. That way, if you send him back, it won't be too awkward for him and he will already have friends who can help him adjust. Just be aware that if you send him to public school he will either like it or strongly dislike it. At such a young age it is easier for the child to adjust and he will probably like it after a few days. I would really suggest homeschooling through elementary school. That is the time when the kids are most immature and he is most likely to either be a bully, be bullied or be ignored. If he is homeschooled you can help him mold his charachter and help him develop into a mature person and learn responsibility. Than, you can send him back when it's time for highschool Trust me, it makes all the difference.

Answer 6

I think your forgetting that your literally homeschooling your child every day. Obviously, you don't have a text book in front of you but every time you ask your child what color is his shirt or how many balls there are sitting on the ground he's learning.
If your serious about getting your child a home environment education you should look in to your local homeschool groups. Often times they can give you the names of families who would be willing to talk to you about the benefit's of homeschooling.
I homeschooled as a child and now I feel that I had a great advantage because of the personalized learning and the one on one attention i had from my mother.

As and education major I see that there are many benefits from one on one learning. As the educator you are able spend as much time as needed on subjects that may be difficult to grasp for a young child (for example vowels have to sounds). In a public school setting a child does not have that ability and many time is never receive timely help. What good does it do to help bad readers in 3rd or 4th grade when they learned the material the first time in kindergarten?

Good luck on your search. Also their maybe a 3 preschool or even 1/2 day kindergarten available in your area those might be good alternatives.

Answer 7

You sound really paranoid. Ordinarily I'd say go ahead and home-school him, but from what you've written, I don't get the feeling you'd be able to stop.
I was homeschooled until second grade, then I went back home until high school. I was fortunate because my mom loved school so much, she put together two complete advanced curricula for my brother and me. Because of her dedication, I think we got a better education than was available in a public school, but it was a full-time job with lots of work, research, and money involved. Not everyone could have done as well.
As for the grades coming up for your son, there's really not much point to preschool. It's basically day-care. They work on following instructions, hand-eye coordination, play and sharing, and probably some sorting games. All of these he can learn at home, with some craft projects and play-dates. From what my brother went through in Kindergarten, all that happens in the next year is mindlessly tedious hand-eye coordination work and some immature teacher nagging him about how his too-big pants wouldn't stay up.
You can teach basic addition and the decimal system at home, with pennies and dimes, and you can play counting games. Google for some preschool and kindergarten curriculum, so you know what to teach.
The most important thing you can do is read to your son every night. Those were some of my happiest times growing up.

Answer 8

My mom is homeschooling most of us. The bullies really aren't that common. The school my brother goes to is like almost any school. I would recommend homeschooling for the first few years, but on second thought, depending on the child, it may be easier to throw them in the system because by the time they're too the "bullying" age, most people are able to stand up for themselves.

Either way, it's each individuals own decision.

Answer 9

I have always thought that sending a child away from the parent for 10 hours a day at the age of 5 was ludicrous. I have always wanted to HS until about the 5th grade, but I really think I am going to do it longer, unless my children ask to go to public school and I think it is a reasonable request.

You need to do what you think is right for you and your family. Parinoid or not, you are the parent and you know what is best for your children.

Answer 10

We have allowed our media to make us emotional cripples. Filled with undue paranoia and fear. Homeschooling is best done by parents who are themselves, well educated. But the biggest drawback is social. Interacting with others is how we do some of our best learning. The best course of action for you is to go visit the public schools in your area. If you are required to send your child to certain district within your school system, then visit that district's elementary school. Ask to take a tour, most school principals are more than happy to show prospective students and their parents around. Have the principal introduce you to the teacher(s) your child would have. Ask questions, any and all that concern you. Listen to the answers you get. Look at the children in the class, do they seem well managed? Are they playing well together? Most classrooms, esp. for young children have some clutter, but is the room clean and well decorated? Is it a cheerful room? Are there lots of activities,and what are they?What is a routine day's schedule like? Is transportation provided, and will your child be attending half days, or full days? Ask about snacks or lunches required. Is there a dress code? What supplies will your child need for the school year? Explain your concerns, be open and honest. Ask about supervision on playgrounds, and what the discipline policies and security policies are at the school. Ask about hiring and screening policies for those employed by the school. Most schools, if not all, require full background checks. Get the school calendar and any parent bulletins available so that you have a good idea of the kind of communications that are sent home with students. Discuss your child's progress at home so far. Your child may need to be tested for school readiness. This is necessary and standard proceedure to ascertain your child's skill levels. You and your child will find that there are many fine, fine public schools out there. But you may want to look into Parochial or private education as well. But above all, don't be frightened, most school classrooms are run by good, smart, effective teachers, who care as much about your child's welfare and progress as you do. Good luck to you.