Is It Time To Think About Homeschooling?

As I said our boy is home today and I can't wait til tomorrow when I get to tell the school why their curriculum sucks. As we put him in home schooling.

Originally posted by randyvs

As I said our boy is home today and I can't wait til tomorrow when I get to tell the school why their curriculum sucks. As we put him in home schooling.

Best wishes in your new endeavor!! There are tons of websites that can get you acclimated in this new lifestyle and help you track down local resources and support groups, as well.

reply to post by frazzle


Excellent thread, frazzle.
I just wanted to add my 2 cents.

My daughter has been attending an online school for the last three and a half years. I'm sure it's not going to be for everyone, but she is thriving. Online schooling is the best of both worlds for us.
She is getting the state approved curriculum, taught one on one with a certified teacher. That's great because I received a crappy education and algebra makes my brain bleed.
Her school is state accredited in case she chooses to go to university. We can call or message her teacher or adviser 24/7.
But
We can schedule her classes anytime we want to.
We can go to the history museum and she gets credit for that. We go to the art gallery and she gets art credit. There is so much more to being educated than being able to sit in a classroom quietly and memorize a textbook so you can pass the tests.

I wish I had more time to post but I have to scoot.
I'll be back tomorrow. S&F

Originally posted by Neysa
reply to post by frazzle

 

Excellent thread, frazzle.

I just wanted to add my 2 cents.

My daughter has been attending an online school for the last three and a half years. I'm sure it's not going to be for everyone, but she is thriving. Online schooling is the best of both worlds for us.
She is getting the state approved curriculum, taught one on one with a certified teacher. That's great because I received a crappy education and algebra makes my brain bleed.
Her school is state accredited in case she chooses to go to university. We can call or message her teacher or adviser 24/7.
But
We can schedule her classes anytime we want to.
We can go to the history museum and she gets credit for that. We go to the art gallery and she gets art credit. There is so much more to being educated than being able to sit in a classroom quietly and memorize a textbook so you can pass the tests.

I wish I had more time to post but I have to scoot.
I'll be back tomorrow.

Outstanding! I'd love to hear more about your experiences with this method. One of my granddaughters had trouble dealing with public school and it took her awhile to convince her mother but she finished her last few years with online classes. I wasn't right there to watch the process but apparently It worked out well for her, too, as she came out of it with her diploma and as bright as a new penny.

I had to go over to the high school she had formerly attended once to pick up some photos to run in the newspaper I worked for and got there during a class shift. Just walking through the hallway to the office was an unforgettable experience. I can't imagine putting a child I loved into that mass of shrieking shoving humanity.

reply to post by frazzle


At first blush home schooling has lots of appeal. But parents could not sustain the requisite effort and children need to be away from parents. School socializes children and there are ups and downs to that. But on balance, the ups win.

My son has been homeschooled most of his life - he's 17 now.

Really the socialization issue has not been a big deal until the last couple of years. A LOT of kids go back to high school after being homeschooled through puberty.

We had a very active homeschool group and he always had lots of friends both in the group and the neighborhood.

The last couple of years have been rough though.

If I had it to do over, I'd probably send him to high school in the 9th grade. Of course, I was going to do that, but we went down to the school to donate a few thousand I'd won for them, and it looked and felt like a prison. Then they were just SO rude. I was there to try to give them MONEY and they - the staff- were rude! They never sent a thank you note either. lol If I had to do it over, I'd have given it to another school. lol

So anyway, my son had went with me, and after being yelled at by the principal- that had NO authority over him at all -for having long hair, begged me not to send him there.

Originally posted by chrisbobson
reply to post by frazzle

 

At first blush home schooling has lots of appeal. But parents could not sustain the requisite effort and children need to be away from parents. School socializes children and there are ups and downs to that. But on balance, the ups win.

Its not wise to say "parents" as if they're all cut from the same cloth, they are not, so it would be more honest to say that you don't feel you could sustain the requisite effort and no one would fault you for it, many cannot. Besides, its not as if the public schools won't accept students who've been homeschooled for xxx amount of years if that becomes necessary, they simply test the kids to find their appropriate grade level and assign them to a class.

Also you make it sound as if home school parents chain their kids to the kitchen chair and never allow them out in public or out of their sight. They actually have MORE time to socialize because they aren't quietly sitting at a desk six hours of the day, surrounded by people with whom they may not socialize until a bell rings.

Originally posted by hadriana
My son has been homeschooled most of his life - he's 17 now.

Really the socialization issue has not been a big deal until the last couple of years. A LOT of kids go back to high school after being homeschooled through puberty.

We had a very active homeschool group and he always had lots of friends both in the group and the neighborhood.

The last couple of years have been rough though.

If I had it to do over, I'd probably send him to high school in the 9th grade. Of course, I was going to do that, but we went down to the school to donate a few thousand I'd won for them, and it looked and felt like a prison. Then they were just SO rude. I was there to try to give them MONEY and they - the staff- were rude! They never sent a thank you note either. lol If I had to do it over, I'd have given it to another school. lol

So anyway, my son had went with me, and after being yelled at by the principal- that had NO authority over him at all -for having long hair, begged me not to send him there.

Excellent story, I particularly liked the ending. Attitude adjustment in spades.

Did you send him anyway, or have you found a different solution?

I think one of the big myths of home-schooling is that your parents become teachers. I was home-schooled all throughout junior high and it is much more like teaching yourself. You must be able to pick up a book, learn the material and apply it on your own on the test. I love my mom to death, but if she was my teacher I would probably be really dumb. I think this is why most kids that are home-schooled tend to score much higher than public school kids.

Also there are many more ways to get social interaction than sending your kid off to spend 8 hours a day with a bunch of hoodlums. My family was active in the church youth group, as well as giving me piano lessons and taking hunting/fishing trips with family and friends. Not to mention I had my friends from around the neighborhood where I lived to hang out with.

reply to post by frazzle


Frazzle, not sure how I missed your thread when originally posted, but please bear with me if anything I post may have already been stated as I do not wish to read through 4 pages.
At this moment I have 4 children in various stages of doing work right now.
I home schooled and raised older children who all went on to lead normal , productive, and yes, SOCIAL lives.
Over the past 15 years I did try sending them back to regular school as they got older they wanted to try it out.
Only my oldest graduated from a regular public school,with honors in science. The others prefer the home method.
Quite often it was the very thing the "experts" tote as most important..."socialization" that became the problem.

I find it funny,that forced socialization masked as learning is deemed far more acceptable. By all means send your child to a facility with locked doors, armed teachers, to be ridiculed and belittled enough to make them productive members of a collapsing society.Backwards, no?

I had many an all out brawl with teachers whom didn't see eye to eye with my version of how best to educate my children.I tried, I really did...but in the end...the education system got a failing grade from me. I cannot find anything within it that properly teaches young people to be adults in this world. It churns out ground hamburger while praising itself as producing grade A steak. It claims that a child has no future without formal education. Tell that to the horribly in debt university grads who are serving you fries with that theory. Teach them enough to go into debt and work the rest of their lives to pay it off. Not for me...not for my kids. Come hell or high water I want them to thrive as far away from "society" as possible.They deserve to think and to learn and grow on their own terms, not have their heads filled with useless garbage that serves no purpose but to fill a workday.
I realize that there are teachers out there who care about the kids, and are caught up trying to make a difference in a broken system.It's sad, but children are only seen as the consumers of the future, and many do not want them to intellectually thrive.

Originally posted by Cancerwarrior
I think one of the big myths of home-schooling is that your parents become teachers. I was home-schooled all throughout junior high and it is much more like teaching yourself. You must be able to pick up a book, learn the material and apply it on your own on the test. I love my mom to death, but if she was my teacher I would probably be really dumb. I think this is why most kids that are home-schooled tend to score much higher than public school kids.

Also there are many more ways to get social interaction than sending your kid off to spend 8 hours a day with a bunch of hoodlums. My family was active in the church youth group, as well as giving me piano lessons and taking hunting/fishing trips with family and friends. Not to mention I had my friends from around the neighborhood where I lived to hang out with.

edit on 9-1-2013 by Cancerwarrior because: (no reason given)

Why were you pulled out of school just for junior high? Did you go back to public school for your high school years?

I think the will to pick up a book and learn from it goes for people in school, at home, or 90 years old in a nursing home. In that respect we're all self-taught and as long as we keep picking up books (or hanging out at ATS and other sites ) we'll keep right on learning.

reply to post by AccessDenied


What a wonderful rant!! Good stuff and I couldn't agree more.

Originally posted by frazzle

Originally posted by Cancerwarrior
I think one of the big myths of home-schooling is that your parents become teachers. I was home-schooled all throughout junior high and it is much more like teaching yourself. You must be able to pick up a book, learn the material and apply it on your own on the test. I love my mom to death, but if she was my teacher I would probably be really dumb. I think this is why most kids that are home-schooled tend to score much higher than public school kids.

Also there are many more ways to get social interaction than sending your kid off to spend 8 hours a day with a bunch of hoodlums. My family was active in the church youth group, as well as giving me piano lessons and taking hunting/fishing trips with family and friends. Not to mention I had my friends from around the neighborhood where I lived to hang out with.

edit on 9-1-2013 by Cancerwarrior because: (no reason given)

Why were you pulled out of school just for junior high? Did you go back to public school for your high school years?

I think the will to pick up a book and learn from it goes for people in school, at home, or 90 years old in a nursing home. In that respect we're all self-taught and as long as we keep picking up books (or hanging out at ATS and other sites

) we'll keep right on learning.

I was pulled out at 5th grade because my grandmother (who lived out of state) got cancer and my mom had to take care of her. It was easier instead of enrolling me in a public school for an unknown period of time. That reason and because home schooling was gaining popularity in the early 90's. But I wanted to play sports when I got to high school and home schooling does not offer any competitive sports. All in all though I'm glad those few years I did it. I learned how to learn in that period of time. Something the public schools don't teach nowadays IMO.

Originally posted by Cancerwarrior

Originally posted by frazzle

Originally posted by Cancerwarrior
I think one of the big myths of home-schooling is that your parents become teachers. I was home-schooled all throughout junior high and it is much more like teaching yourself. You must be able to pick up a book, learn the material and apply it on your own on the test. I love my mom to death, but if she was my teacher I would probably be really dumb. I think this is why most kids that are home-schooled tend to score much higher than public school kids.

Also there are many more ways to get social interaction than sending your kid off to spend 8 hours a day with a bunch of hoodlums. My family was active in the church youth group, as well as giving me piano lessons and taking hunting/fishing trips with family and friends. Not to mention I had my friends from around the neighborhood where I lived to hang out with.

edit on 9-1-2013 by Cancerwarrior because: (no reason given)

Why were you pulled out of school just for junior high? Did you go back to public school for your high school years?

I think the will to pick up a book and learn from it goes for people in school, at home, or 90 years old in a nursing home. In that respect we're all self-taught and as long as we keep picking up books (or hanging out at ATS and other sites

) we'll keep right on learning.

I was pulled out at 5th grade because my grandmother (who lived out of state) got cancer and my mom had to take care of her. It was easier instead of enrolling me in a public school for an unknown period of time. That reason and because home schooling was gaining popularity in the early 90's. But I wanted to play sports when I got to high school and home schooling does not offer any competitive sports. All in all though I'm glad those few years I did it. I learned how to learn in that period of time. Something the public schools don't teach nowadays IMO.

What you said about learning to learn is really important and it goes right back to the OP about home school parents being "learning facilitators" rather than teachers. That's probably all it takes to get the juices flowing when you come right down to it and I think most kids want to learn if they're given incentive, good materials and some direction. Learning shouldn't be geared toward drilling on answers to test questions that are soon forgotten when the tests are over. I get it that not all parents are up to that, but for those who are, they'll usually find a way and I'm glad for you that yours did even if it wasn't exactly in "the plan".

I hope your grandmother came through her cancer treatments with flying colors.