If you home school your child, how far is it from your home to a traditional school?

Question

If you live in a rural/suburban/urban area and you home school your child, how far is the nearest public/private school from your home? Did u decide to home school your child for your/their convenience?

I was misspelling the term "homeschool" on purpose....lol

Im not saying people choose to homeschool as a matter of convienence, but did it play a factor?

If anyone homeshcooled for JUST convienence, It would be a shame.

No major term paper on homechooling, I just like to expand my mind and learn new, interesting facts each day. When I go back to school, I'll think about doing a research paper on this subject.

The internet is great!!!!! You can chat with people from different walks of life to learn numerous things.

Answer 1

I have to admit that the convenience of not having to rush around in the morning getting four small children ready for school and out the door is a definite benefit to homeschooling in my opinion. I also like the convenience of being able to avoid crowds on vacation or even at the store after school. But convenience is not the reason we homeschool.

Our neighborhood school is about a 7 minute walk or a 3 minute drive, and private schools range from 20 to 45 minutes away. Neither would be exceptionally difficult to get to. My kids' gym is 20 minutes away on a good day, and we are up there a lot. Other activities aren't super close either, but we go if it's worth the trip.

Homeschooling is far from convenient even with the benefits I stated above. I have my kids with me ALL the time. I love it, but it's not convenient. I have to strategically plan dentist appointments, haircuts, etc. It's very tricky. I either take them grocery shopping with me, or I work around my husband's schedule. I can't get anything done while they're in school because they don't leave for school. They have activities, but usually not at the same time, so I've always got kids with me wherever I go. Not to mention the fact that I spend a great deal of time planning and conducting our school.

So, in answer to your question, convenience concerning the location of the public school really has nothing to do with our decision to homeschool. And while there are conveniences associated with homeschool, many of the conveniences that come along with public school are lost.

Answer 2

Rural and I'm not sure how far but it's close enough to bicycle to even for 5yos (although I wouldn't let them go that road alone until they're 8yo or so). That'd be to the closest public school, which happens to be ranked pretty high and even has a program for gifted kids.

No, it doesn't play a role. I'd homeschool my kids even if I were living right next to two different schools. When I was young we lived 50 yards from the school I went to and man I wish I'd been homeschooled instead. Now, I do think homeschooling is a convenience, but not because of the distance to the building.

Answer 3

I live in a city in an English part of Canada. Because my children's first language is French, they would go to one of only 2 French elementary schools on our side of the city. It is probably a 15-minute drive to the nearest French school--when the traffic is good. I would guess on a typical, non-snowfall day, it'd be closer to 20-25 minutes. First snowfall: probably at least 45 minutes. That's if *I* drove the kids. The bus ride would probably start at 30-45 minutes.

This had absolutely nothing to do with our decision to homeschool. It was all due to our own experiences as teachers (I taught elementary and my husband currently teaches gr. 8/9). And people can cite "diversity" all they want as reasons to not homeschool, but if our kids went to the school in question, it's pretty much all a bunch of Catholic French Canadians! They get a lot more exposure to other people through our homeschooling than they would otherwise.

Answer 4

I home schooled my kids for nine years. In that time I did learn a lot about it. I met a lot of different people and saw many different ways that people home school their children. Through it all I saw one continuous factor that 'good' homeschooling parents had in common. A dedication to their child's education. If we are willing to put ourselves aside and focus on the education of our children, homeschooling can be a wonderful thing. Obviously it isn't for everyone since some parent's are not able to or not willing to put forth great efforts to give their child a range of experiences. If parents can and do expose their children to many different experiences and ideas homeschooling can be a wonderful thing. Resources are everywhere. I personally found mine through a trusted school in my area that also published home school material. Many other people I knew used material they found on the internet without having ever spent a dime. Many people make the silly assumption that if a child is home schooled they get no socialization. This implies that the ONLY experiences in life that can give a child socialization is school. How absurd is that? If a child is in clubs (boy/girl scouts, for example) or team sports, or if the children belong to a church or a home school group, or if the family itself has many friends that they get together with often, the children WILL, by default, be socialized. When my children wanted to go to school last year after nine years of being at home, they had no problem at all fitting in and getting along with other kids. They are not socially challenged or inhibited. They are very normal, active, going out on Friday nights kids. Homeschooling does not equal no-social life. Living in a cave does.

Answer 5

We live one block from the elementary school, 5 blocks from the junior high, and about 2 miles from high school. It would be more convenient to let our elementary and junior high aged kids to go to a close school, but that's not why we homeschool. I have been homeschooling for 10 years. We live in in between the urban areas and suburbs. BTW, we have two different families on our block who take their sons to a charter school about 5 miles away, even though the public schools are closer. The elementary school just down the block is actually considered to be one of the best in Colorado.

Homeschooling mom of 7

Answer 6

We live in rural area and the high school is 10 minutes by car and an hour by bus.
This was not the reason we decided to home school. It had absolutely nothing to do with the reason, but it does seem like a waste of time for the students. The public school students leave home at 7 AM or earlier, school starts at 8 AM.
They leave the school at 2:30 PM and arrive home 3:30 or later. I realize that important socialization is going on at this time. Yes, that was sarcasm.
The driver is, or at least should be, concentrating on the road and driving.
I drive a school bus for a living and the students on my bus are basically good kids but it is a full time job trying to keep my eyes on the road while monitoring activities on the bus. It is a tough job with 40 students ranging in age from 12-18, and I'm sitting with my back to them.
To finish answering question concerning convenience, it was for my son's benefit that we decided to home school. It was also for the teachers' convenience. The teachers all have said that he learned better one on one or small groups. We thought of tutoring with Sylvan, saw the price, and decided 'Hey, we can do that' and we did. It works.

Answer 7

It's about twenty-five minutes to the nearest school but I homeschool because I don't like the public system, and I can homeschool. I live in a very rural area, way up in the mountains in an old railway town. I have four kids so I suppose in a way it's convenient to have our afternoons free of homework for spending time with 'daddy', as he gets home quite late.

Answer 8

We're just a mile away and I can't imagine anyone homeschooling for convenience, although there are a LOT of different reasons people homeschool. I suppose if you had an hour drive each way to school, I might understand. Still, seems like a pretty weak reason.

Answer 9

We have elementary, middle, and high schools, both public and private within about 5 to 10 minute walking distance.

Home schooling is not a matter of convenience, it is a matter of dedication, conviction, and the love for our children.

You must be doing a major research paper on home schooling.
I hope that everyone who has taken the time to answer your questions, has been able to provide you with all the information you need?

Answer 10

We live near many schools as we are in a medium-sized city.

Convenience was really not a factor in deciding to homeschool, though... if I was thinking convenience I would have just turned them over to the public schools nearby. For my daughter it was necessity because school was problematic for her, for my boys that came later, it was because we'd settled into a very happy homeschooling lifestyle and didn't have any desire to change.

MSB


ADDED:

Curious, then, did you send your kids to public school for convenience? Do you think many people do?

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be coming from a thought that homeschooling parents have not put as much thought and consideration into their educational choices as you have. Since homeschoolers are taking on a greater bulk of the educational responsibility themselves, I can't help but wonder why you get this impression.