Ask:
...but I will not be homeschooling my son and really don't understand why so many chose to homeschool their children. First of all, before anyone gets upset...I am not attacking those who do so please don't take this the wrong way! Rather, I am honestly curious as to what led many of you that are homeschooling to chose this for your children. Are the motives behind your decision truly for your children's best interest or for other reasons...or both?
I'm asking this because I just read over the thread that asked if we'd had the choice, would we rather have been homeschooled in childhood or no. Many of you said No Way! Even though some of you now homeschool your children!! I'm waaay lost here.
I grew up in a homeschooled home and even though it wasn't an all bad experience, it has definitely caused many problems for me as an adult. I have tried to talk to my mom about this (who by the way went back to school to get her teaching degree and now teaches in public school!!) and she admitted that it was mainly because she went along with the myth that children are taught nothing but evolution and sex education in public schools and didn't want that for her kids.
Ok, I realize there has been a lot of news coverage on school violence and I will admit, that does frighten me when I think about my son going to school. However, what frightens me more is the idea that by keeping him home, I would be depriving him of the rounded education and social experience he needs to survive in this world. I don't have a band field in my back yard...nor do I speak French and Spanish (because kids should have a choice on what language to learn and need at least some foreign language to get into most colleges)...nor do I know higher mathematics well enough to teach it. If I hired a tutor, wouldn't that defeat the point?? Not to mention the cost!?!
I have just recently made peace with my homeschooling experience and like I said, it wasn't even that bad! I just feel I missed out on a lot. If I had not INSISTED on going to public high school, I probably would only have a GED right now and I'm sorry, that just wasn't good enough for me. A high school diploma in my humble opinion, is the only thing good enough to get you into a good college these days and I wanted that option open to me. I also want that for my son.
I can't say for sure how he will do or what kinds of experiences he will have, but I do know that right now he loves going to school, (he's enrolled in a two-day preschool) and its done wonders for him. He talks better, he looks forward to going, he's learning to share and comes home with art projects I never would have thought of. He also gets a break from mommy and daddy and gets a new environment to safely explore. We have been very active with his schooling already by going with him on field trips and teaching him letters and numbers at home and of course plan to continue that; but I can't imagine doing it all ourselves. I feel he needs the experiences (good and bad) to learn how to be a productive and approachable member of society while still having the safety and security of living at home. But that's just me...
I'm almost afraid to ask, but does anyone care to comment on this??
Thanks in advance for not crucifying me!
Answer:
While I have never homeschooled, two of my best friends do and have for a long time...one has for her son who is in the 8th grade now, and my other one has homeschooled various of her children for probably 20 years. One of them does an excellent job, but the other doesn't because she procrastinates and is disorganized. She now has her children in somewhat of a "coop" setting a few days a week, but she does still consider herself a homeschooler. But they are both educated women with college degrees. Both of them have decided to homeschool because they feel public school isn't a very christian environment. I respect both of their decisions to homeschool their children, and ONE of them is respectful of my decision to send my kids to a public school. The other one frequently makes remarks sounding like (sort of what you said) that sending kids to public school is almost child abuse. It pi**es me off sometimes, but I just try to not get into it with her.
The thing I think about homeschooling is that it's up to the individual, but that people shouldn't take it lightly. I know some people on here talk about homeschooling, but their children are still very young. It gets much more difficult as children get older and need foreign languages, phys ed, computer classes, calculus, physics, science labs, etc. I think people need to be very committed and very organized for it to work when the kids are older (again....not talking about young children). If I lived in an area with bad schools, I might have done it, especially for the elementary grades. But I live in an excellent school system with above average test scores and with outstanding facilities. It's also a very conservative area so we don't have any extreme things being taught to my children. I've been VERY happy with my children's school experience and my oldest is in 11th grade.
Answer:
I homeschool and did my 3 oldest children all of them played contact sports and each speaks at learn one foreign language and all three have college degrees and are professional people ... they are well round happy family men
Answer:
For us, it was a decision we made partly before we even had kids. We had known we wanted to homeschool, but just so we would never be making a choice we would regret, out oldest did go to public kindergarten. It was a nightmare for us, since we live in a very rural area, we took him to school. On day 1 we told the teacher we will ALWAYS pick him up. We were ALWAYS at the school at least 20 minutes before the end of the day. 5 times when they were outside when it was time to let out for school, the teacher put him on a bus, I mean a bus, each time it was a different bus. Luckily we were able to stop the buses and check until we found him before they left the school grounds. Plus we knew our child was different and when we tried to discuss it with the teacher, she just brushed us off. Come to find out when we took him out and started homeschooling first grade, we had him tested and sure enough he is Dyslexic. I mean I understand she works with kids all day, but I'm his Mom and I know him better than anyone. He has really excelled in the homeschool environment, as has our others that are old enough for school.
I think that schooling is an individual choice and I do not think everyone should homeschool, nor do I feel that the public school environment is for every child. That's the wonder of individuality, and I think it is up to everyone to make that choice on their own. I don't think anyone should condemn either choice, just support each on it's own merit.
My kids all play sports through the Parks Rec League. The ones old enough all play spring and fall soccer and baseball/softball/t-ball. We are members of the YMCA, and they get all kinds of lessons there from swimming to karate to yoga. They have church and kids club. They are also members of 4-H and boy/girl scouts. They are very socialized. As far as foreign languages go, you can get computer programs, or some libraries have classes. Here the local Community college also gives foreign language classes to everyone, not just degree seeking individuals. Also around here, homeschooled kids who maintain a certain grade point average can recieve a free college education during their junior and senior years of highschool. I actually think it's available to all highschool students, but mainly homeschool students around here take advantage of it. Grant you it is only 2 year degrees offered, but still, to graduate from highschool with a 2 year degree as well, and all you had to pay for was the books, what a deal!!!
I'm sorry your experience wasn't a better one, and I wish you all the best with your kids. One other thing is I have really seen how much my kids learn from each other. I mean even my 3 year old has learned a lot just by being exposed to the older kids lessons each day. I just think people should be accepting of each individuals choice, and be supportive of what they think is best for their own family. Because no matter what choice we make, we are always our children's first teacher and if we teach them acceptance of others and their differences, we are giving them a strong basis to grow on. After all aren't we all just trying to do the best for our kids?
Answer:
I don't homeschool but i also don't think all homeschooling is such a bad thing. The garbage im going thru with the school district here for the last few years over my dd's education is honestly frustrating enough for me to want to homeschool her sometimes!! BUT, i can admit i do not have the patience to even attempt it, dd and i battle enough over getting her homework done, i could never do it all day long.
I've seen both sides of the issue. Some homeschooled kids really excel and some really rebel when old enough, but you get that in public school settings too.
Answer:
Originally Posted by TSMcClaskie
My kids all play sports through the Parks Rec League. The ones old enough all play spring and fall soccer and baseball/softball/t-ball. We are members of the YMCA, and they get all kinds of lessons there from swimming to karate to yoga. They have church and kids club. They are also members of 4-H and boy/girl scouts. They are very socialized.
See, I did some of those things too. My mom had me in Girl Scouts and Ballet and swim lessons and church. We never played sports, but I wasn't as interested in that as I was in ballet and gymnastics but since those were very focused activites, I never really socialized with the other kids much. By the time ballet practice was over, my mom was right there to pick me up. Same for just about everything but church and maybe Girl Scouts. The thing was, a lot of the other kids that went to church and Girl Scouts went to school together so they didn't talk to me as much because they had more in common with the other girls.
I totally understand and respect anyone who homeschools their children's right to chose what they want to do and what's best for their family. However, I just really have a hard time believing anyone has all the knowledge and skills needed to teach their children all the things they need to know to go on to college without being behind. Even with a degree, you can only have so many majors!! I know my mom openly admitted she was not good at math and therefore I was waaaay behind in math when I went to HS. It was embarassing to be in an algebra 1 class in my junior year because most of the other students were freshmen. Before I can complete my degree, I have to take an extra math class which means more money out of my pocket.
Its things like that that really upset me about homeschooling. Now if you are keeping up with the lessons and get help when you see you aren't up to par in a certain subject, keep your kids active in lots of outside activities and things like that, great! But its the same situation as aliadam said, for everyone one family I meet that does an A+ job of homeschooling, I see at least one if not more that are not good at it at all. I never see their kids doing any school work and the older ones are always busy watching the younger ones or taking care of the house instead of learning or studying. I guess it hits a nerve with me.
Who knows though, if we discovered my son had some type of disability and his teachers weren't cooperating, I might consider homeschooling him. That's definitely something I hadn't thought too much about. I guess like you said, its all in what's best for your family and your children -- as long as you do just that; what's best for each individual child.
Answer:
I totally understand and agree, there are a lot of people who are really laid back about it and don't really work at it the way that we do. The same goes for a lot of schools as well, I've seen many kids graduate from highschool and they can't even read. I know of some schools that will just pass kids to get them out of there, the kids aren't learning and they don't want to deal with them. My husband is working with a fellow who goes into schools and checks on the kids who have been in trouble with the law, when he walks into the school, the Principal asks him"How many you takin' today?". That just doesn't seem like he cares about the kids to me. I know this isn't every school, just like not doing the work isn't every homeschool.
I have three degrees, and feel comfortable teaching every subject. If I came across something I couldn't teach, believe me I would find someone who does. I'm also an avid reader, but I read informational stuff, non-fiction learning stuff. Plus your curriculum should have all the tools for you to learn it before you teach it.
My kids play a lot of team sports so they do have to interact directly with other kids, and I encourage them to make friendships. I encourage them to find at least one (but it's usually more) person they can connect with early in the season, and exchange phone numbers. Then during practices and games I make sure and talk with the parents. Then after the season, the kids can still call each other, and have sleepovers and be friends. As far as the other kids all going to school together, around here there are 4 county schools, 1 christian school and LOTS of homeschoolers, so you have a really diverse group.
With Dyslexia, my son learns completely different from how other kids do, and with homescooling, he's free to learn the way he can. He's really smart, his IQ was very high, he just processes things differently than other people do. Schools don't really know what to do with them, so they slip through the cracks usually. But to us our son is a joy, he just ALWAYS thinks outside the box!
Tonya