Question for Everyone: Have you ever asked your kids if THEY will Homeschool one day?

Ask your kids if they think they'll home school their own children someday. Why or why not? What are the advantages and the disadvantages? What would they do differently?

I would be absolutely fascinated to hear some of their answers!

I've asked Elle this question multiple times over the years...and her answer has changed a bit with age and maturity, but her foremost conclusion is that she will most likely home school her own kids (not foreseeing other factors, this would be her preference)

She says that she would homeschool K-5, and start public school in the 6th grade if the child was interested in trying public school. I think this is interesting, because Elle started in 8th. When I asked about this, she said that she thinks she might have been happier in public school a year or two earlier, and that middle school is a social age where you want to achieve more independence.

I asked if she'd be open to home schooling a kid all the way through high school who preferred home school. She said...absolutely...but that she'd probably want a kid like this to enroll in an online charter school for high school.

I asked why.

She said she thinks her AP classes gave her an edge with college admissions, and that she would have never survived Calculus without her favorite teacher. You can get access to AP classes and teachers through an online charter. Also, gives you the best of both worlds...the uniqueness of being a home schooler, plus the documentation and school diploma. She thinks it's a good system for older kids.

I was honestly pretty stunned she'd given it this much thought.

Would love to hear what everyone's kids say about this question....even what the little ones say...would be very interesting to me! (and I'm guessing others might enjoy their thoughts, too!)

 

I am new here and have just begin homeschooling this year, however, my sister homeschooled her boys until high school. He oldest just told her a week ago that he hopes when he gets married and has kids his wife will homeschool. My boys are still getting used to it. The jury is still out on them...

 

You never know, maybe your sister's son will choose to home school, himself.

Of the eight years we home schooled, I worked three of them, and my husband home schooled

There are awesome home school dads out there, too. This site has a few!

 

My daughter was a public schooler until college, when she went private. She was a giftie, and went to a public school giftie residential school in 11th and 12th grades. It was great for her, because she got to be around other gifties. They had an awesome counselor who guided and encouraged them to apply for tons of scholarships and grants, and she got through my alma mater, spend a semester in London, got to stay a little longer in London on her own, and we didn't have to out-of-pocket much at all. (Saving up her social security survivor's benefits from the time she was 7 helped too.) Her first college roomie was homeschooled and received a bigger scholarship than my daughter did. She never liked it that we homeschooled her brother. I think she thought we were restricting his education or something. He was not gifted. My daughter and her husband were dead-set against homeschool for their daughter from the get-go. They think they need the second income too badly to give it up. My granddaughter is in tears often from homework, and is being bullied IN the classroom, and this is only first grade.

We pulled him out of public after the fourth grade. He hated it. He was already a reluctant student, but with his ADHD we felt like were having to be pioneers every year, blazing a trail because apparently no teacher had a clue what to do with him. Like they'd never encountered a hyperactive kid. Ever. He brought home good grades but I was not convinced that he was actually learning much. We spent hours on homework every day. He almost never got to play with his friends because he was doing homework. I said we could put in this much effort and do the whole thing ourselves, fight our own fights, choose our curriculum. I had to work, so DH (who had his own shop and made his own hours) was supposed to be doing lessons in the morning and working at the shop afternoons, mostly didn't. So I did a lot with him after I got home at 5 or 6pm, Saturdays, Sunday afternoons, the summer weeks I was off, and holiday breaks. At one point, he decided he was done, and took his GED. All the while, he was back and forth about whether homeschool was cool or not, whether He felt maybe he was missing out on something, but he wasn't sure what. HOWEVER, he took his GED and was done a year earlier than his former classmates and went on to community college. He got married, and was caving to pressure from his in-laws (the less said about them the better) because they were living with his in-laws, and sent his son to public kindy, even though he had pulled him from Head Start because all he was learning was cuss words and gang signs, and all seemed to go well. BUT about 8 weeks into the first grade, he and his wife saw what he was bringing home for homework, saw that it was ridiculous for a first grader, plus he was being bullied on the bus and at school, so they decided that Grandma School is the best way to go. Despite the fact that the only workable way or this to happen is for him to live with us for two weeks at a time and go home every other weekend. They think of it as "boarding school". They're planning to move closer (hopefully, in a year or so) so that the younger son will never have to set foot in a public school, ever!

 

Em wants to homeschool her children.

 

Lindina: I hope your son moves closer to you soon. Would be so nice for all of you, most of all the little guy. I think it's awesome you're so available to your kids and grandkids.

 

I hope they do too, but they don't have the money just now. He was unemployed for about 4 years, and has only been working since August, at the only job he could find. Fry cook. He's supposed to be trying to get a job at a plant, which pays sooooo much better! He plans to save up do they can buy a mobile home and put it here on our property. Plants are supposed to start some building projects soon, so we're hoping.

Younger son will be 5 in June, so they're beginning to hear about starting kindergarten in the fall. But they've decided they'll "hold him out a year" and mom will do homeschool kindy, with daddy filling in when he can. Hoping I can get him here for first grade.

 

I know Rachael once said she would want to. Of course, I can't say for sure, but her sweetie has been homeschooled, so there's a good chance of it happening. Faythe, last I heard, didn't think she wanted kids. But bring the right guy along, and that could quickly change! Phillip...I could see him homeschooling as well!

 

For now, they both want to HS someday. They may change their minds, but I doubt it.

 

I've never asked them, but both of my sons have brought it up. They seem to just assume that their future wives will be on board with homeschooling. My 10 year old even wants to work from home so he can be involved as much as possible.

 

A new mom joined our co-op. She's a homeschool graduate herself and is now homeschooling her children. As far as I know, she's the first homeschooled homeschooler in our co-op.

 

My oldest says she wants to do it when she's a mom. She's trying to pick a career that she could still do and homeschool. LOL

My son is undecided.

My youngest is too young to care right now!

LOL

 

My oldest daughter says "never"

However, she already knows more than mom or dad and is sure that we are doing everything wrong. We are tormenting her by keeping her home and regular school is all sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. Everyone there joins hands and sings KumBa Yah all day long.

And the teacher pours that knowledge right into your head and you don't have to work for it at all. In fact, the only reason that my dd ever has struggled with anything is because she's had such a terrible teacher. If I was a "real" teacher, learning everything wouldn't be a problem.

My dd is 16, but she still is out of touch with reality. One day, she's probably going to look at a precious child of hers and go, "I can't turn him/her over to a bunch of strangers all day!"

She really doesn't get it, but I'm past caring. I'm responsible to the Lord for how I've raised her and if she's to dense to not appreciate it, then oh well.

My other kids don't plan on getting married and having their own children. They'd have to kiss and do yucky stuff like that.

 

Fairfarmhand, thanks so much for providing my daily chuckle for today!!!

 

FairFarmHand....it's way worse when they actually try regular school...and come home everyday and say, "It's SO Amazing! My Algebra teacher actually knows HOW to do the problems! And my English teacher is SO COOL, and even the History teacher is funny....

She didn't mean to make me feel that way....but for a period of weeks...I felt so small...when compared to my daughter's NEW IMPROVED AMAZING teachers. LOL.

I was at home missing her like crazy...hoping she'd have one bad day and NEED me again...and she just kept railing on about how much fun she was having. UGH.... LOL! At the same time, I was SO RELIEVED that she was having a positive experience and enjoying herself....but I really expected more bumps in the road....more time for the transition. Made me feel kinda horrible...that she didn't seem to need me at all anymore (even though I was so proud she was doing well!)

You really can't win. lol.

But....I have to say this....When my daughter was applying to colleges and doing the essays....one was a question about "Your Favorite Teacher"....and she wrote it about me...and about homeschool....and about the different experience she'd had and how much she values it. (Yep, I cried and everything).

So yeah...you might not be her ideal right now....but you might be surprised how she really feels, and how important the foundation you've given her is to her.

I was surprised, and touched. It turned out that our time together meant as much to her as it did to me in the end...and that meant the world to me.





PS...I CAN do Algebra...it just had been a really long time. LOL!

 

My children say they will. My 18 yr old is dating someone who was also home schooled and they both agree home school is the only way they will raise their children.

 

I grew up homeschooled {from 2nd grade on}. My girls, though young right now, talk all the time about "when I have a family, and homeschool...". My oldest has even hinted at getting a teaching degree so that she can homeschool in any state, should hs laws change to that direction. We'll see what actually happens, but right now, they're loving it!

 

I asked my older boys and they said they had never really thought about it.

My oldest said it was a decision to make with his future wife. (He's not dating or anything) I'm happy with that statement. He plans to work with his wife to make the best choice for their family. That sounds like a "win" to me.

 

My children all plan to home school their own. They say they would rather be homeless than put their children in to public school.

 

My daughter homeschooled until high school and learned that the AP classes were nonsense-mostly focused on test prep. She is graduating top of her public school class (top 10 anyway), 5 honor societies, National Merit (something she would have been anyway). She cannot write a paper because ALL the papers she has written in public school have been timed for test prep. This is a top ranked high school too.