I was thinking that there are so many newbies lately and many of us oldies have different reasons, some are the same but I was wondering if everyone can post why they are home schooling? What was the deciding factor for you and your family? For me-- the straw was the statement on the kindergarden door that said "we will teach your child to do what he wants" basically. We chose home school over private school because of both financial and the reason that I had some great home school mentors in super friends at that time. So we 'gave it a try for a year' and poof! We were hooked! By the end of that year our two year old dd wanted to do school too and I had to put her off with preschool stuff. It continued on from there with my youngest just automatically doign school at home , it was what we did. It IS what we do. Its the first best choice for us! So ; Why do you home school? What made you make the choice? How long will do do it? Why?
Oh! My purpose is to teach my kids the best education they can get without all the garbage of peer pressure and girl drama and all the other 'useless things' they learn at schools. To teach the way God wants me to teach my family.
The first step down the rabbit hole came when we found out that despite testing off the charts, our son was 18 days too young to start Kindergarten when he was 5. He was going to have to wait until he was 6. Which meant not graduating until he was 19! That was unfathomable to me: I graduated at 17. That's when I started looking for alternatives. But private schools were TOO expensive. The more I learned, though, the more I realized that my oldest would be at a severe disadvantage in the public school system. He's a kinesthetic learner. And of course, then the advantages started pouring in. There really wasn't one big, "THIS IS IT" moment. It was more the quiet rolling of a snowball that started when I was in school (I had a horrible experience with school). Now, my two main goals are to get my boys to learn to learn (and love to learn). And to help them grow into Godly men who aren't afraid to buck society's flow.
My oldest ds had been asking for years and I'd say, "That's not a possibility." Then, when private school tuition went up, again, for the fourth year in a row and I assessed how much it was going to cost to have two boys in private school the next year: $22K and that doesn't even take into account all of the gasoline I was burning to bring them to school each day, the 2 hours of my time I was spending in the car each day, dress clothes for work, lunches for work (because I was too tired to cook!) it all added up to a price tag I just. wasn't. willing. to pay anymore. We were all stressed, getting up early, rushing around and worrying about what was due when. My 6th grader was doing homework until bedtime some nights. Their childhood was rushing by and I was missing it all because I was so exhausted from working, washing uniforms, signing take-home sheets from the teacher and writing checks to pay extra dues. Then my dh's highschool trumpet was stolen from this private christian school's campus and I learned that it was a recurring problem, but they always hushed it up. If I had KNOWN instruments were being stolen, frequently, my ds wouldn't have been using my dh's trumpet for band!!!!! This school was only concerned about their image, and part of that image was very high tuition so it would remain 'exclusive.' Ugh! We were so tired I didn't have the energy or time for the boys to play any sports after school. Everything was rushed. Suddenly, homeschooling became a possibility! I quit my $40K/yr. job to homeschool the boys. Now I work part-time, at home and it's crazy, but I'm glad we did it!
For us it started because I have a back ground teaching special needs kids out side the school system. I had a student whose mother put her son in only half day b/c his disability made social networking difficult. So, the half day at home was when he learned and at school he played. But I was so impressed at how she took control of things, and got her son what he needed. I always thought that if my kids needed homeschool I would do it. Then when my kids were getting older I started thinking about our options. The local public school isn't that bad, but between all our kids, our life would be so busy. Field trips, homework, and all the extra activities, would leave us with no time for each other. The more I looked at it, the more I thought maybe home school really is our best option. Also looking at Neufield's book - Hold on to your Kids, he talks a lot about peer influences, and I wanted to make our home their first environment. Rather than having their school and teachers be there primary environment. So here we are. 1 year of preschool completed at home, and planning for K.
I started looking into homeschooling as an option for when we move to Japan next year. The more I learned, the more I realized that I could totaly do it. Then we realized that the changes happening in our public school system for next year were not what we wanted for our DD's. It was then that my DH decided that there was no reason that we shouldn't start hs after the end of this year. Because we were able to get passed the mind set of the PS's, we are going to be selling our home and moving to a much more affordable place closer to my husbands work until we move overseas. So happier/safer kids, no debt, and less of a commute for DH, can't ask for much more!!!
We originally homeschooled due to gifted kid bored to death in gifted school. That was 5 years ago. She is now in 8th grade and will be starting a performing arts high school in September (the real Fame school). Currently, though, I homeschool because I have learned it is a much more efficient and logical way for kids to learn. The hands-on learning, one-on-one time, being able to follow your bodies natural rhythms of eating and sleeping, going on tons of field trips, learning at your own pace, maintaining closeness with your family are what, imo, create amazingly happy, healthy, smart, enthusiastic kids who bring those qualities with them into adulthood. I think I'm good with homeschooling until high school age. At first, I was determined to see it through til college, but not anymore. I believe homeschooling through the younger years (up to age 13/14) sets the foundation, not only for academics, but for who these kids are as people. This includes things like: self-esteem, independence, autodidacticism, self worth, motivation, and relationships with others. By the teen years, I'm comfortable sending them to high school if it's where they'd like to go (and the parents are ok with the school). I'm lucky to live in NYC where there's an abundance of school choice (over 400). My dd wants to be a dancer, chose the schools she'd audition for, and made it into the most prestigious one. My ds is 9 and although we're doing great with homeschooling, he may want to go to high school, too. He's more of a visual artist - a very creative type. There are lots of arts-focused high schools here. Whatever he chooses, he'll be ready. My 16y/o dd homeschooled only for 8th grade and I feel she didn't get all that good stuff out of it. There wasn't enough time. We did have a great year, though, and she applied for a new journalilsm high school in our area - and got in! She's a junior now and wants to continue with journalism in college. I've kept more of an eye on her, though, and she is doing very well. Angela CITYSCHOOLING
Why do you home school? We homeschool now because we do not feel that the ps provides the best environment for learning and a safe wholesome place for our kids to grow and develop. We also like that we can really match the work to the kids and let them go at their own pace. What made you make the choice? We first started because sd was involved with a group of kids leading her down the wrong path. The school was not very helpful and when dh found her with a cell phone that a boy had given her (she was not allowed to have a cell phone or date at the time). After that we really looked at the curriculum and prayed. We believe that God is calling us to homeschool in the best interest of our children. How long will do do it? We plan on homeschooling dd thru high school. That may change but that is the current plan. Why? Because we feel that homeschooling will help give her a solid foundation both educationally and morally. We do not want her having to deal with all the extra stuff at school or have the school hold her back in one area because she is ahead of her "grade" level.
Why do you home school? I originally looked into for religious/moral reasons. Started looking into it when I was pregnant with my oldest. But hubby insisted on public prek and kindergarten. Prek went fine, other than some words he picked up but kindergarten has just been one thing after another that makes us mad, stress my son out and that we don't agree with. Tons of work, forced to do things he wasn't ready for, stressed him out, made him cry, lost his love of learning, stressed us out, his PE teacher was arrested for possession and distribution of child porn, an hour of homework each night after 7 hours in school, he only gets a 20 minute recess each day, and if he gets in trouble he loses some recess time, PE only once a week, expecting a 5-6 year old to write in perfect D'Nealian handwriting and marking that he doesn't know HOW to write his name cause it's not PERFECT, not being pulled out of EIP after he got on level, threatening to fail him for not "knowing" 7 sight words....Just too much stress on both of us! What made you make the choice? The last straw was unknowingly exposing our child to a very probably child molester. We had been talking about it for next year for about a month, but when the school sent home the letter that his PE teacher had been arrested it was just like, 'ok, there's our sign from God' How long will do do it? Though elementary for sure, probably through middle. Once they reach high school, we'll evaluate and leave the choice to homeschool or go to public to them probably. We'll look at their plans for the future and see if homeschooling would cause issues or problems with that. Some colleges seek out homeschoolers, others flat out refuse to accept them. So it will depend on what they want at the time. If homeschooling will keep them from their dreams, we'll go public.
It made no sense for me to do anything else. I wasn't going to spend my days teaching other children when I could teach my own. I have always wanted to teach my children. I don't know what the future will hold, but I have no problems homeschooling all the way through high school. This Youtube video explains all the reasons I homeschool
My son was diagnosed with Aspergers at 9- he's now 13. Our public school experience deteriorated in 3rd grade to the point of us having to do "something" Our first thought was private school but found out it was way too expensive and wouldn't have been much different than ps for our son. We started hs in 4th grade and have never looked back - it is freedom from bullying, bureaucracy and trying to fit a square peg (my son) into a round hole(ps) and freedom to teach my son how and what suits him best. I can't envision my son ever returning to a school setting. Jane
What a great question! Well, DH and I remembered our school days well since we are so young (he's 25 this August and I'll be 23 this August) and we didn't want our kids to undergo the same peer pressures we did such as sex, drugs, and general disobedience and drama. I also didn't want my oldest DS subject to other peers teasing and criticism that DH and I had in school that could be VERY crippling. DS is very sensitive and shy so we both know other kids would tear him up. Youngest DS is developmentally delayed and we wanted to be able to go at his pace for learning. My husband and I made the firm decision one night while watching Glenn Beck (LOVE that Man! Bless him!) and he was doing a special show on indoctrination in schools. We were shocked at some of the things schools were teaching children, and the relaxed standards or the strictest standards. It was when he said, "I don't care what you have to do, sell your second car if you have to, but homeschool your children so they keep your same values/principles/ and don't get lost in the system! Because our public schools are distroying our youth" We plan on doing this until our kids graduate! I don't want them to go to PS unless we have zero alternatives...zero alternatives meaning homeschooling is outlawed.
The journey to homeschooling was gradual for us. I started thinking outside the box when I knew my barely 5 year old boy was not ready for a full day kindergarten. Besides we were planning to move cross country that year. The more research I did the more I decided that delayed kindergarten was the best choice for my oldest. When we got moved I tried to get him into kinder at a local charter school (I used to sub at the school before kids and loved it), but he was way down on a wait list. I looked at the local public school and while nothing looked too bad it just didn't seem appealing. Both my husband and I always attended church schools, but there isn't currently one here so that wasn't an option. The local public school has half day kindergarten which I do like, but they have 25 kids in the classroom for 2 1/2 hours a day, makes it very hard to give anything resembling individual attention. So we decided to homeschool for kindergarten and then see what we wanted to do. We loved it so decided to keep homeschooling. There is a chance our church will be restarting our church school in the next couple of years and DH feels strongly that our boys should go there if that happens. I have mixed feeling about that but have agreed to at least give it a try and in the mean time I am praying for direction.
Our choice to homeschool was not one big moment of clarity, it came over the course of several years after our 1st was born. My dh and I both had horrible ps experiences and we didn't want our kids to go through that but when we first thought about homeschooling we didn't even know if it was legal or if we could actually do it and make sure they got an education. As it came closer to the time my 1st would be going into K we thought that maybe we should put him in just so he can know what ps is like. I went down to the local school (really good school...top in the district...with great parental reviews too.) and got all the registration forms and everything. It was then that I realized I didn't like the feel of sending my child to a building full of strangers to learn things that I could teach him. Not to mention that he would pick up so many bad habits from other kids that we didn't want him to have. I turned around, left the school and never looked back. Every year we pray to know if we should continue to hs or put our kids in private school. Every year our answer is to continue hsing, so until the Lord says otherwise, we will hs through high school.
I homeschool my youngest because I want to foster her love of learning. I want her self esteem and confidence in herself to grow and mature and not be squashed by the idiotic things most ps kids at that age have to endure from each other. I want her to keep her inquisitive nature. I want her to learn through living. One day when she is older - maybe junior high maybe high school - she may go to school, or she may not. We are keeping that option open but nothing is set in stone. My oldest is starting high school at ps next year and that is right where she needs to be.
When my 2 younger daughters would cry everyday on the way to school. They were not whining, but truely unhappy :cry: We live in a pretty big town and our elementary schools average about 800-900 children each. My dd school only held grades k+1 and her k class had 29 children. My other dd school held grades 2+3 and had close to 900 kids. In order to maintain control the teachers had to be super strict and seemed to always be in a bad mood (I can't blame them, they were stresses out). I went in several times to talk to the teacher about my dd's being unhappy, but recieved no help or sympathy. In addition they had some learning difficulties and again I received no help, all the wanted to do was retain them a grade :roll: I would go in at lunch time a couple times a week to eat lunch with my dd. I would see her sitting at the lunch table and she looked miserable, and then she would see me and her face would light up and she would have a huge smile. I would get choked up everytime. I strongly feel like the ps is sucking the life out of our children. They make 5 y/o kids get to school by 7:10 (late bell rings at 7:15) so you can imagine what time we have to get up in the morning. Then they push these kids so hard and so fast academically when they barely have gotten out of diapers. I have hundreds of reasons why I homeschool but those are just the big ones. I feel so lucky to live in a country that allows us the freedom to homeschool (we need an american flag waving smiley) I don't make any long term plans, everything is one day at a time. But, I do not see myself stopping hs'ing anytime soon.
Our older girls graduated from public school. This played a HUGE factor in the decision to homeschool. We also believe that as parents, it is our duty to keep God in all areas of our lives. Public school doesn't fit the bill; since Christ is not allowed in the schools. So Ems has been homeschooled from day one. Her birthday was after the cutoff date. So we schooled informally until the following the school year.
Why do you home school? A million reasons, but I'll give a few biggies. (1) I love teaching, I love my children. I hate teaching PS, and I hate other parents many times. (2) My son begged and begged and begged to let him start school last year. He was bored to tears and had only gotten through a K level on his own through play. (3) We ... which means DH ... put him in preschool for a few months. It was a disaster. Never again! (4) Children are tender plants. If you grow them in a well-nurtured window box until they're ready for the ground, they're much more likely to take root and grow strong than if you toss seeds out the window and hope for the best. Even with the occasional watering, you'll still have birds and squirrels to carry your seeds away. I'd rather hold on to my children as long as possible to make sure their foundation is strong before throwing them to the wolves of the world. (5) I want my children to be able to learn as fast or as slow as they need to, not as fast or as slow as the school system dictates. I want them to be able to learn the basics plus what they love, not the basics plus how to stand in line for lunch, restrooms, swings, help from the teacher, etc. (6) I want to be there to witness each ah-ha! moment, encourage each shortcoming, and provide love each step of the way. (7) I want a continual growth, not a 2-3 month brain rot each year. (8) Along the same lines of the tender plant, I want to give a spiritual foundation that only *I* can provide. My husband doesn't share my belief, and in fact, he plans to dispute it as soon as the kids are old enough to really ask the tough questions. I have a few short years to make sure they know God is our one and only Creator. (9) I get to learn all the things I missed or forgot from my PS days. I'm learning Latin. I'll be able to learn history (the right way) starting next year. I'll be able to learn higher level math in a few years. All these things will prepare me to go back to college for a medical degree someday. What made you make the choice? A little everything above. How long will do do it? Through high school or the beginning of college. Why? It's the right thing to do.
Ok-I tend to be long winded..... "Why?" and "What made you choose" answered together: I'd like to preface that we REALLY didn't think this was an option at first. We thought it would be very, very expensive. That aside (and having learned VERY DIFFERENTLY!!): Our Autistic son (the oldest)was at a detriment in his classroom and they were going to be increasing the classsize. I felt that if they couldn't keep up with his academics because of behavioral problems with 6 kids in the class, they would definitely not be able to with 13 kids. (This particular teacher and staff are particularly gifted and have won awards, but still I'm realistic). Also, the aides were being cut down (due to budget shortfalls) so the # of kids was going up, and the help was going down. Then I found out what curriculum requirements there were for the ps system (researching what and why my 1st grader seemed bored):library for 1 half hour per month (uh, what?), no pe, no art program and quite alot of the time was being spent in the classroom dedicated to children that don't speak english that well and so are behind.He was reading at a 3rd grade level, but he could only be in the advanced reading class-which topped out at end of 1st grade work. I feel strongly about pe and art - but due to budget-the schools just kept cutting anything that wasn't in the left behind act requirement. After being the PTO board President, I saw cuts to the special needs department that were integral to making the classroom work - and the principal didn't care. She wanted the $ for the "general" budget. At the same time, and probably MORE of a factor....my second son had been having a hard time. He enjoyed school but he was being physically bullied due to his size (he's very small for his age) and having trouble in class because the class was a half and half (half K, half 1 - he was in 1). It's a very difficult thing for a teacher to teach a class in this manner. He is a gifted child, and was horribly bored. Then the teacher started also picking on him (which I won't get into here). I chose to hs them-and pleaded with my husband who finally agreed, when the schools throughout the district were having to fire 50% of the teachers and therefore EVERY ELEMENTARY class would be a half and half class. And my son's special needs class would become a K-6 instead of a 3-6. I have taught before and felt with a little patience and time I could do right by my children AND teach them morales that I was taught in school were, ahem, not what others deemed "cool". I wanted a focus on education and learning - and being a good, honest human that genuinely cares for others and seeks a true God for themselves (not based on what others say or believe (we are catholic - my famiy is extremely anti-relgion.) I also want religion to be a part of their life-not just a sunday adventure and hsing lends itself to that easier. Oh right-and hsing lets me spend TONS of time with ALL my kids-not just until they're 5 and move on....and I need all the time I can get (even the frustrating time) cuz soon they'll be teenagers and, well.....I refuse to think about it. Lastly - my children have some INTENSE behavioral issues due to autism and ADD issues. I feel these can be easily addressed within the home and maintain their education without these things becoming the labels they live with forever and what is focused on. "For how long": I genuinely hope to hs them thru high school, as long as I can maintain a semblance of social "whatnot". I hated high school (I was very active but generally bored in classes) and think they would be better off finding their own path-not that of the given general population. Also, my family has a tendency to finish high school requirements early (my dad graduated early, me, my sister is a sophomore taking college classes-you get the idea)...and if they want to finish early too-hs makes that more of an option. My husband is EXTRAORDINARILY gifted as well so we'll see how the genetics pan out.... Sorry I'm so long winded. *sheepish grin*
