Home schooling Parents: Why did you choose home education over public or private schooling?

Answer 1

Why not?

We want our children to learn all that they can, not what the rest of the class can. We realize all children learn in different ways and it would be impossible for a public school teacher to address the many different styles. Children learn at different paces. If we need to take our time on something or if we want to dig deeper into a subject, we can. We can skip ahead if my sons get the concept right away instead of forcing them to do busy work.

We believe our children should learn about the world from a biblical perspective instead of in an anti-christian environment. We want our children to remain innocent of many of the world's evils as long as possible.

We want our children to learn social skills from people who have social skills, not other 7 year olds. We want them to grow up knowing there are more important things than popular culture and current fashions. We want them to have respect for themselves and for others.

We enjoy the freedom of homeschooling. Funny that it's called homeschooling, but we are out and about and involved in the world much more than institutionalized children. We are not locked into an 8-3, M-F, September - June schedule. We enjoy visiting businesses and taking tours -- often impromtu.

My two older boys have different forms of ADHD. My middle child would be a teachers nightmare and would soon learn to hate school even though he's really bright and reading fluently after kindergarten.

We couldn't afford to send them to public school. With all the fund raiser, sports programs, book fairs, carnivals and all the other things they try hawking to the parents, not to mention school clothes.

One more thing: School Lunches.

Answer 2

You said parents but I thought maybe the childs prospective would be an eye opener as well. I started getting homeschooled after the start of my 10th grade year. The class rooms were over crowded and I never got the attention I personally needed from any of my teachers so my grades slipped.Most of the people that attended my highschool were either doing drugs or selling drugs and never going to classes.I also started making really bad desicions which is my own fault.So, with all that going on I decided that homeschool would be best for me. I would be a senior next school year but I've already finished my high school education. I did online courses and my mom bought books and curriculum. I'm happy I did it now i have more time to figure out what i want to do with my life. Hope i helped! good luck!

Answer 3

Personal experience. My own, my husband's my children's. public school can discourage and stifle a child's ability to learn. The academic level has dropped in the last half century or so, I was tired of biased teachers and government agendas. I like the idea of an IEP for every child. I am homeschooling my two youngest children and I know already that I can not do as badly at their education as the public school has done with their older siblings and their parents. I tried private school for a short period. It was expensive and no better than the public school. When I discuss education with other mothers I realize that they have to do tons of homework or contract out to Sylvan learning the basics of the education of their public school and private school kids. So why not homeschool?

Answer 4

I chose homeschooling (for myself with my parent's support) because I was ahead of the class and wasn't being challenged. I hated sitting for the first 3-4 weeks in September while the teacher reviewed all we had learned in the previous grades. The real push, though, was the amount of bullying I received. I wasn't one to fight back and one crude comment after another got annoying, plus everyone was getting into dating in elementary school. It just simply wasn't for me and my beliefs. It still took a few years before my parents finally found a homeschooling program. They didn't know where to begin, so I didn't start homeschooling until high school.
It's true, homeschooling takes some adjusting, and high school science classes are hard to do with little equipement, but it is possible.
Now my cousins are homeschooled (high school) and I went through their science curriculums and purchased all the science equipement they would need (from hometrainingtools.com). We also recieved some from a very entertaining scientist, who was willing to help give us a boost, including some experiements and where to get the needed materials.
My cousins are homeschooled since 9th and 7th grade to get them out of the NYC system. The older is dyslexic and wasn't getting the one-on-one/interactive, verbal support he needed. He was on a path that wasn't going to lead to a good education. His sister was pulled so they would be together and he would not be all-together lonely.
They are using a curriculum program, and due to a late start, difficulty getting going, and so on, they are a bit behind where they should be. But it is not too bad because the program is really great and demanding (AOP), and they have the opportunity to take their time to get good grades.

Good Luck:

Answer 5

I use to Teach in the school system- both Public and Private and I quit working about 9 years ago to be a stay at home wife. My husband and I both decided before we even conceived our daughter that we wanted to homeschool. There is no need for us to send her to school when we are more than capable of teaching her at home. I have zero plans on going back to work. If I ever did I would still find a way to homeschool. I have so many reasons-

She has severe allergies which can become a problem in school.

She is gifted and we can go at her pace at home and get one on one that she needs.

I want her to have experience that she couldn't get in school on a daily basis.

I want to be the one to teach her and not leave it up to someone else.

We love spending all day together and if it ain't broke then why fix it. It works really well for us as a family.

I have the freedom to teach in the manner that I want and do not want that being regulated by the government.

One size does not fit all in the schools and she gets a personalized fit at home.

We can give her everything she needs at home including socialization to live a productive and happy life.

Momma knows best!!

Answer 6

Our son is profoundly gifted and no school setting is appropriate for him...at least none we could afford. At age 2 & 3, our Parents as Teachers (public school program) instructor said we'd have to do "something different" for his schooling, but at the time I didn't think it would turn out to be HS'ing. Then at age 4, he attended public preschool and his teachers there said there was *no way* our district's Kdg was right for him. They suggested HS'ing. Our state didn't grade skip Kdgr's, and even then 1st grade at age 5 would have been too easy.

So here we are over four years later and it's the best decision. Our son can work at his own pace, which is different in each course. He's working on math and science 5 grades ahead, and other courses 1-4 grades ahead.

So not only can we meet our son's extreme academic needs, we can also choose curricula that meet his individual learning style. We also have more time in a day to go on "rabbit trails" in different topics, and allow him a lot of independent study.

Answer 7

Public Schools do not teach the children at their rate of learning and often children either fall behind because the pace is too fast for the child or they get bored because the pace is too slow. Second reason is that the studies done at public schools are on the opinions in much things along the lines of Non-Christianity. Since we started homeschooling our children their self confidence has risen dramatically, their grades have improved very much, there is no peer pressure, and they have friends that are true friends and not like the phony ones they had in school just masquerading. Our daughter recently had to attend drivers ed classes in a public school setting. Our state does not allow for homeschool drivers ed classes. When she finished her week of courses there, she again thanked me for homeschooling her because the public school children were ridiculous flirting with the teachers, cussing, gossiping, etc.

Answer 8

There are so many reasons.
Most important, because we really love being together, and like learning from each other as a family.

From not believing in the conventional methods of schooling (group/global thinking), to strengthening the bonds of family, because we believe that families play the most important role in both individual success, and that of any society.
Home schooling allows children to grow up into confident individuals, who can think for themselves.
It prepares them to be leaders at work, and at home, since they have been part of "real life" every day.
They can see that "schooling" is not the same as "learning", and that it does not take 12 years, plus another 4 to 6 years of college to be capable, and productive.

Quote:
"They say that we are better educated than our parents' generation. What they mean is that we go to school longer. They are not the same thing".
Douglas Yates

Answer 9

My parents started homeschooling when my older brother was in 2nd grade and a bully kept choking him and the teacher didn't do anything about it. There wasn't a private school near by and out next door neighbor homeschooled. My mom absolutely did not want to homeschool becasue she didn't think we wouldn't get a good education. But she didn't want to send us to that public school so she didn't have any other choice. My mom now has been homeschooling for nearly 20 years and she says that if she had to do it all over again, she would make the same choice. I'm now entering my freshman year in college and I'm glad my mother homeschooled me.

Answer 10

My daughter was always very bright, she was getting bored in school, even though she was in a gifted class, it wasn't very challenging for her, but she was acing it so I didn't think much about it.

When we were moving across town, she was going to a new school that boasted to be one of the best public schools in the city. First problem was that she had already done the exact same curriculum-- exact same books-- the year before in reading and spelling. Then they moved her around 3 times to different classrooms in the first month, had her spending half the day in 4th grade and half in 3rd for math & science, so she really wasn't part of any one class. She was having some serious bully problems. I was getting tired of arguing with the a.p. and nothing was getting accomplished.

Her last day was the the last day before winter holiday break, the bully had choked her a bit and left welts on her neck. I noticed them immediately and she told me what happened. I asked if she told the teacher, she said she told the A.P. and that she'd asked to call me because she was really shaken, but he told her she was fine and should go back to class.

I tried calling her old school to see if I could get her back there, but the old principle had just retired-- he probably would have let her, he adored her-- but the new one wouldn't let her. So the first day back after the New Year, I went to the school and signed her out and went to the board of ed. and submitted my letter of intent to homeschool in person. They tried to discourage me, but I had had it.

I had intended it to be just till the end of the year and was trying to see if we could swing a private school, but it was working well for us, so we stuck with it.

The next year we moved to a new state that was very homeschooling friendly, and things were just going so well for us that we continued to homeschool her and her two younger brothers from the start.

She's going to be 17 tomorrow and it is still going very well. I'm not happy that she was bullied, but I'm glad that something came about that introduced us to homeschooling, because it is a great adventure.