Can I ask a question...?

I do not mean to offend anyone.

Why do you Homeschool? Dont children need to go to school and interact with other kids? Are there no good schools in the area? I just dont understand..

Please tell me..

 

Well, I have not officially begun homeschooling, but I really want to give it a try. For me currently, I cannot afford preschool. So by creating/following a preschool curriculum, I feel that he is getting some education. I don't want him to be behind because I can't afford school (I don't qualify for free preschool). If it works out well and we both like it, then I might continue. Here in my area, we have a home school program through the school district, so there is a lot of support and even organized field trips. He would even attend classes 2 days a week.

My choice for continuing it past preschool would be simply having that interaction with my kids. Going on field trips, leaning things together. If it doesn't work out (for either of us) I will be the first to send him off to school. I am very nervous for failing my children. So I hope we both like it and can have that time together.

I'm sure someone that has been doing it for longer will chime in with a much better response....but for now, those are my reasons.

 

QUOTE(Ash Twins @ Aug 26 2008, 04:41 PM) [snapback]948716[/snapback]
I do not mean to offend anyone.

Why do you Homeschool? Dont children need to go to school and interact with other kids? Are there no good schools in the area? I just dont understand..

Please tell me..


I homeschool because it is best for my daughter. She went to K, 1st, and half of 2nd grade in the PS and she struggled in each year. Every year I got the exact same reports from her teachers. She is easily distracted in a classroom setting. Once she heard the slightest noise in class she went to la la land. She barely passed K (literally the week school was to get out she met the criteria for passing), she did a little better in 1st, but was failing 2nd in the first 9wks (and that was the review stuff). Her school was a decent school considering what she could have been in around here, but northern schools would do laps around it. There are private schools around here, but they are all church affliliated and that was not going to be happening here. I won't lie and say it is all peachy keen around here all the time, but DD is able to focus on her school work when she needs to and get breaks as needed.

As to the interaction question, she doesn't have to be in school to interact with other kids. Heck in school she didn't get to interact with students. There was no recess, lunch was 24 minutes long and the first 10 minutes were ordered silent. PE was strictly organized activities like jumping jacks, and stretching exercises. She got on the school bus at 645 and off of it at 345, add the hour of homework and she had no time or energy for extra curricular activities. Right now she has a weekly park day, a monthly 4H meeting, usually a monthly field trip, and she is about to start gymnastics 2 days a week. Oh and we still have time to get our all schooling done. She has a better social life now than she ever had while in school. So there are our reasons.

 

We are supposed to have some of the best schools around our area. My problem is that we tried the schools, two different elementary schools within our district, and it isn't working. With all the changes in budgets and no child left behind, combined with a superintendent who doesn't believe in grouping kids by ability we are at a real loss here. My oldest is extremely intelligent particularly in math and science but with aspergers and dysgraphia struggles with LA, particularly written expression and fiction. We had testing done independently and the schools have come out and said that they can test her but they aren't going to do anything different. So she is bored to death in all but english and when she didn't pass that this year her report card said, see yah next school year! Not! We started homeschooling them all in May.

My other children are following a similar pattern. My oldest twin who was on medication because the preschool couldn't deal with her "ADHD" did all of kindergarten this summer, at her pace, and we had to slow her down. Why would I send her to school? For them it would be a waste of a day. Now they homeschool at their pace in 2-3 hours a day or less and are learning more at higher levels. I am also completely aware of what they are learning and how they are learning it.

Socialization as a reason to send them to school is over rated. We are able to do more as a family and are involved in more activities then when they were in school. There is so much in the community that we weren't able to access before because of school. Homeschooling has opened up so many doors for my kids as individuals and for us as a family; and I was a reluctant homeschooler in the beginning.

 

Children definitely don't need to be in an actually school building to interact with other children. Most homeschooled children are very social. Mine have quite a few extra curricular activities. In fact homeschooling makes these easier.

We have a religious exemption to school. So in essence we believe that it is our sole responsibility to teach our children. In all honesty, why would I want my kids to spend most of their waking hours with someone else teaching and raising them? I'm happy to have them at home, and they are happy to be here with me. DH comes home at lunch. So most days we have at least 2 family meals. I wouldn't change this for anything.

Our boys are also ahead. Homeschooling lets us go at their own speed. They would be horribly bored in a traditional school. You can be grade level in one subject and 3 ahead in another.

That's our story. I'm sure you'll get different answers from many. There are so many different reasons to homeschool.

 

I have a lot of different reasons for home schooling, some which are similar to what others have said. I was home schooled K-12 and liked it, but also was definitely aware of the pit falls one can encounter while homeschooling. So I definitely didn't have a rose colored glasses approach to it. For me there was several things I considered before deciding to home school. 1: the schools where we lived were about the worst in the nation. Seriously. 2: My daughter is adopted, and was born with cocaine in her system. We were told that prenatal exposure to coke or crack could cause learning and behavior problems, that might not even become evident till after she reached school age. Things like ADHD symptoms without actually being ADHD, so drugs wouldn't help. Obviously this would be a problem in PS. 3: My daughter is very social, and easily influenced by who she's around. I like having some control over which groups of kids she plays with. We do things like church, AWANAs, and a home school co-op that meets once a week. The area we live in now has better PS, but they also have a lot of community support for homeschooling. There's all sorts of field trips and other events, so that if you wanted to, your children could be almost overloaded with social activities.
Now that I've started, my biggest reason is that my daughter LOVES it! If in the future it's not working out for us, we will find another solution for educating my daughter. I want what's best for her, and sometimes that means being flexible and not stuck on one idea.

 

I homeschool my oldest (1st grade). He has Asperger's/ADHD, and is very ahead of his class. I do not want a call from a teacher every single day because he's bored. I'm not fond of the school system here, though we do have other options. I like to be able to know exactly what he is learning and how he is learning it. Plus, I can customize his learning to the best way for him. In a classroom there is only one way to learn - the way the teacher teaches it. Every child is different, and by homeschooling, I can find what works best for my son and go that route.

As for the interaction with other kids, a good homeschooled child will usually have MORE interaction than one in the school system. There are homeschooling co-ops, extra classes (art, music, etc), sports, Sunday School, playdates, camps, etc. I can see how my child interacts and we can work on specific areas.

 

Answering the question "Why?" would take me at least 10 paragraphs...I have written it out before, but I do not have time to do it again right now. So I will just address a little bit of that really BIG question every homeschool gets asked..."What about socialization?"

I recently read a book that was extremely thought provoking called Homeschooling and the voyage of self discovery by David Albert. One of the big points he brings up about the question of socialization is to look at what actual socialization goes on in the schools. The only place that you see the kind of socialization that goes on in schools are other schools. No where else in society does socialization occur in age homogenous environments. In no other setting is the socialization so confined and unvarying as in the public school setting or private school for that matter. By removing your child from that setting you are actually opening up a huge door for socialization opportunities. Homeschooled kids are actually much more likely to be comfortable interacting with adults (such as university professors) and much more likely to be confident enough to approach possible mentors for further experience in either education or career fields. They are also much more likely to be comfortable and confident interacting with the younger generation and with the elderly. So I really question who has the 'socialization' advantage.

I'd like to turn the tables and ask parents of those in the formal school setting how much valuable socialization their child is really getting?? How many of us adults only interact with people exactly our own age??? at our job?? at home?? Where do we interact with only people in the exact same stage of life as ourselves? No where. We may have friends we enjoy getting together with because we share some of these things in common, but by no means do we socialize or interact soley with a homogenous age group. Instead of providing our kids with mentors who can actually teach them and point them in the right direction in life, we shove them in a classroom with their peers all day long and wonder why they act like such idiots at times. We would never expect another 3 year old to encourage our 3 year old to mature and grow and learn new life long skills...so how can surrounding our 15 year old with only other 15 year olds all day long for the vast majority of their time (and then encouraging them to spend the vast majority of their 'free time' with the same group of 15 year olds in extracurricular activities) encourage them to grow and mature and learn valuable life long skills? It's major overkill. Yes, kids need to be kids and hang out with others their age-group. But it's extremely over-rated IMHO. (I've spent 4 years as a public school teacher BTW. I enjoyed teaching, and gave it up to teach my own kids. But from my teacher perspective my kids aren't missing out on a huge amount of positive socialization. There's a lot of negative socialization that goes on in schools too, let's not forget!)

Anyway, another great book is So You're thinking about Homeschooling by Lisa Whechel. I strongly encourage you to read it if you are even bouncing the idea around, hence the 'why?' question. And even if you're not, I recommend reading it because it'll give you a really good idea of where a huge variety of homeschoolers are coming from when they make the decision to homeschool. It'll help you to avoid thinking of all homeschoolers in some 'nut job' category that we sometimes find ourselves falling into in the minds of others.

 

A better question is, "Why do you feel that institutionalized schooling is the only or better option?"

Once you can justify your decision, perhaps then I will feel the need to justify mine

 

QUOTE(Aurie @ Sep 2 2008, 09:02 AM) [snapback]958676[/snapback]
A better question is, "Why do you feel that institutionalized schooling is the only or better option?"

Once you can justify your decision, perhaps then I will feel the need to justify mine

LOL... I need a break!!!

If you want to get technical.. We homeschooled DD for preschool. Going into K she knew how to write her name and all the things or more than any other child would know. Shes very brite.

Do all of you who homeschool plan to go thru Highschool and graduation? Do you think never being in a classroom setting will hurt their chances in College?

Again.. I am not trying to be mean.. I am really wondering. I think if you can do it.. More power to you! I dont have the patience..

 

I plan on homeschooling for the long haul. There are many ways in getting "classroom" setting experience without going to school. Dh and I were just talking about an art class for the boys this year.

 

I spoke with a college professor at Louisiana Tech. He said he could tell the HS kids right off. They were practically the only ones who knew how to work and were serious about their education.

Again, I don't think we need to justify our decisions. The vast majority of us have done tons of research on HSing our children, all the pros and cons. We have spent countless hours investigating curriculum and techniques.

Those who have come to either question us on a message board, at church, in the grocery store, at family reunions, etc, have never stopped to think about how their own "schooling" decisions effect their own children.

When any one of those questioners can come to me with a sound arguement as to why their choice is better then mine, then I will be more then happy to discuss why I still think mine is better option.

 

The book that I recommended in my previous post actually had a lot to say about homeschoolers going to college/university with no formal classroom experience. When I first considered homeschooling I also shared your hesitancy over whether or not they'd be prepared for the formal college setting, but since reading the literature and studies out there I've done a 180 in my thinking. Colleges and Universities are now actively courting homeschooled kids because they know they typically will get a higher caliber student from homeschool than they will from the average high school group. They usually come to college with a much wider degree of variety than high school students. Keeping transcripts and records as a homeschooling high school student is extremely important...but it's not any different than what they do in the guidance office of a high school. Letter grades mean very little to colleges if they already know that an 'A' in one district would probably translate to a 'C' in another district. (And believe me this is true...I've taught in a variety of district settings, and the difference of college prep classrooms from one school to another is huge.) So very few colleges look only at transcripts for letter grades. They focus more on SAT scores or entrance exam scores and the general variety of a student's experience. With the discrepancy and inequality in school districts they absolutely must look beyond classes listed and letter grades listed....those mean very little, and are poor indicators of how a student will do in college.

Anyway, the book I listed above really does address the issue very nicely. See if you can dig it up or maybe put his name in google and see if you can find any essays written by him. Even running a google search on homeschooling high schoolers or homeschooling and college entrance will be really quite informative. I was pro-homeschooling but skeptical of homeschooling high school when I first started my research... and I've been shocked at how enlarged my viewpoint on the subject has become.

 

If your daughter is very bright, how is she responding to public school? Do you think this will change in the future as she is "dumbed down" year after year? Will her outlook change as she begins to realize that she is "ahead" of the other kids? Will she have behavior problems from sheer boredom as many kids do? This sounds a lot like my daughters in many ways and I wish I could turn back time for my oldest. I vow not to make the same mistakes with my other children.

A really good book I recently read was Genius Denied by Jan and Bob Davidson of the Davidson Institute. It talks about how we are wasting some of our brightest young minds by allowing them to fall short of their true potential. I don't thing that your child needs to be a genius for this to apply. My children are not the "exception" to rule, they are just one representation of what is going on in our classrooms and what's different is that they aren't so willing to just sit there and relearn things they already know over and over again. What's different is that I am no longer willing to make them either. My husbands biggest resistance to homeschooling was that they would always be home, I wouldn't have a break. I think it is a noble thought that I truely appreciate but these are our children and now that we have begun this odyssey he has really changed his mind, God bless him. Our children are what we allow them to become, with whatever resources they are given, and I plan for mine to have every imaginable resource that I can possibly provide them, including an education geared toward their individual needs and not the one-size-fits-all concept of public education today. Every day, with the more I read about homeschool children, the more solidified I am in my decision.

 

I want to thank you all for your answers. Although I didn't ask the question and realized that were many reasons, I have been extremely hesitant about the idea of homeschooling. I was worried about socialization and college preparedness. I was/am concerned about my ability to be organized and do a good job as a teacher in my own home (I did go to college to teach high school English, but, because of health issues, had to drop out right before my student teaching semester).

I live in a horrible school district and knew that sending them to that school was never an option (they are the worst in the state), but just planned on paying tuition for another district. I'm still not certain this isn't what we will do. However, my church is planning to start a co-op and my pastor's wife has talked to me about it a little. That did get me thinking about homeschooling. That, along with when you ladies have said here has made me truly consider this as an option. I will certainly be talking to DH and praying about.

I was one of those bright, bored kids who hated school and just stopped trying because I could always slide by. When I started college I was at a loss. For the first time I had to study and do homework and I didn't have the skills to manage my time or force myself to do the necessary work. I can already see my kids being "above average" and have struggled with how to prevent this from happening to them. Perhaps homeschooling is an answer. Thank you, ladies, for taking the time to give such insightful answers.

 

This is going to sound a little trite, but one reason is that I like being around my children. I can't tell you how many people I know who are soooo happy when summer's over or even the weekend is over, so their kids can go back to school. I have people all the time say, "I couldn't spend that much time with my children." And while I realize some children are just harder than others, I think a lot of it is the school system. It's like Jenn said about how little time Alexis had for anything besides school. Kids come home and need to "decompress" from 8 (or 10 if you add in a bus) hours of very structured time, they still have to do homework, and they're either exhausted, wound-up, or both. Then parents are trying to get dinner on, shuttle kids to soccer, ballet, or piano and it adds up to lots of stress for everyone. On the weekends, or in summer, kids are so used to having their every second dictated to them, that they are "bored" unless constantly entertained. No wonder it stressed parents out to spend much time with them. It takes just a couple of hours for my kids to get their more formal schoolwork done. They have lots of time to play, and know how to enjoy being with friends and being by themselves. We play games, do the shopping together (and I'm constantly being told how well behaved they all are), talk about whatever random thoughts are coursing through their brains (it was Newton's laws of physics yesterday with my 6yo who observed that Wall-e shouldn't be going forward, if the fire extinguisher was blowing forward... I haven't seen it, but it was a fun conversation). And while I admit to moments of frustration with them, I truly enjoy being with them and being their teacher.

The socialization thing has already been addressed, but one thing I see between the average homeschooled child vs. child in school is that kids in school tend to only really deal well with children close to their own age. Homeschooled children are more likely to play easily with someone much older or younger, and even easily converse with adults. That's obviously not across the board... there are wild, unruly homeschooled kids (a couple in our co-op make me nuts), and wonderful, well-socialized children who are in school. But it's a generalization that seems to often hold true.