Hello Homeschool Ohana (family), My name is Josh. I'm a homeschool grad from New Jersey now living in Hawaii. My wife and I have three beautiful kids that we homeschool. Well, the littlest one isn't officially homeschooled yet, but soon enough. I was homeschooled from 1st grade through 12th grade along with my four other siblings. My Dad ran the local Homeschool support network. I was deeply immersed in the homeschool community and was so blessed by its impact on my life. The main reason I was homeschooled was because of learning disabilities and my parents desire to manage my education. If I had stayed in school I would have been crushed by my inability to keep up with the academic pace of the kids around me. Homeschooling allowed me to go at my own pace and enjoying the learning experience. It also allowed are family to travel across the country and around the world. Even though I had all kinds of issues with my learning disabilities I was able to graduate from high school a year early. I attended Bible College and then joined the staff of that Bible College. I have worked in education management for the last ten years. Ironic? Yes. My wife and I decided to homeschool because we wanted to participate in our kids learning process and we wanted them to have a similar experience to my own. My wife had done an awesome job for the last couple of years and we are so blessed to watch our kids learn reading, math, science, and history, so much faster than we did when we were kids. I'm excited to participate in the forum. Blessings!
Welcome and thanks for your story. I'm a new homeschooling mom whose first 3 children did or do attend public schools, so this is all very new and scary for me. The fact that you feel blessed to have been homeschooled and that you have chosen the same route for your children is a confidence booster.
Welcome, glad you are here. What Bible College did you attend? Just asking because dh and I went to Bible College.
Hi there! I am glad to hear from a homeschool grad with a positive experience. Homeschooling is not very common where I am from (NY)!
Josh, Given that you've experienced homeschooling from both perspectives (as student and now as parent), how does that affect the way you go about homeschooling today? What worked for you as a child, and what would you have preferred to do differently? What will you do differently as you teach your own children?
Thanks for asking! The major impact that my homeschooling experience has on our current effort to homeschool our kids is to be relaxed. I feel like I know the ropes and I know it will work out in the end. I also am really concerned about my kids character and the way they treat their mom as she is teaching them. I was awful to my mom and it hurt my relationship with her. I am more proactive to discipline my boys if I hear them being disrespectful to my wife. The best thing that my parents did when homeschooling me was to let me go at my own pace. I had pretty bad learning disabilities and needed my parents to be patient. And they were. I ended up loving school by the time I graduated from high school. Instead of feeling defeated I had a deep love for learning intact. This was the direct result of my parents being patient and caring. What would I do differently? Nothing... If I can be as wonderful as my parents were I will have met a high mark.
I will jump on board and welcome you. It is great to hear from a HS grad that has chosen the same path for their children. This site is great, it has been a lifesaver for me. I hope you stick around. I am sure to have questions for you. My DS is 12 and we will make the decision this year on whether he returns to PS. I want to continue to HS him. It would be wonderful to show a positive result to my DH. With the help of the successes on here I am hoping to convince him this is the right thing to do. So far DS wants to stay home.
