We've all home schooled for different reasons and with different priorities. I think some of us home school, more than any other reason, because we really enjoy spending time with our kids. (This was certainly the case for me) Some of us home school because of fears and concerns about the public schools. And for most of us...it's probably a bit of a mix. Was just wondering what YOUR biggest concerns about public schools are...and to what extent it influenced your decision to home school? For me....I wasn't scared of what my kid might learn or not learn. I was scared that traditional school would turn my kid off to learning. I think traditional teaching methods are tedious and sort of...soul-crushing. I was scared of boredom and wasted time turning my kid into someone who hated learning. The kids didn't bother me overly. Wasn't particularly worried about bullying, though Elle did have a couple of bumps in the road...typical stuff, nothing too serious. She made a lot of friends and they really enriched her life. Length of the day for a little person bugged me a lot. With bus-rides included, I think an 9 hour day...is WAY too long for people who are 5-10. Too much stress! Mostly, though, I was scared of school shootings....which I know is irrational and astronomically rare....but the idea is just terrifying, no? Once, when Elle was a Sophomore....a teacher at her school got an anonymous note saying one of the students had a gun in his bag, and that he was showing people. The student was named and they had this huge school lock down. Luckily, this happened toward the end of the school day and by some random chance I was picking up Elle early for an appointment. But I remember being cold with fear...when she came out of the school while a bunch of guys in SWAT gear and rifles...were going in. At first they weren't going to let her leave, but I ran out and they let her go. Just remembering that...gives me chills. The school was locked down for over and hour and even the busses ran late. I nearly pulled her from school again that night. It turned out that the student in question only had an air-soft pellet gun in his bag, much to everyone's relief. In retrospect, it was encouraging to see such a strong and immediate law enforcement response. So scary! So yeah...that's my big one. Irrational, or not. What are your concerns with the public schools?
Well, CrazyMom, living very close to Newtown, CT, I don't see that as irrational, at all!! Every day, I am so thankful that my babies can still sit on my lap--that I still have them with me!! Anyway....our reasons are many. The single biggest reason for us is discipleship. We believe that we can best train our kids by spending time with them. I want to raise them--not a teacher that I have no idea of his/her beliefs, values, etc. A very close second is the ability to spend time on what we love--music. All our children learn piano, plus whatever instrument they love. My 10-yr-old is learning mando and violin. My 8-yr-old is learning double bass, and the 6-yr-old just started cello. My 4-yr-old has his little heart set on a banjo We spend our mornings on lessons, preactice, music theory, etc. My husband plays guitar, and we all sing. It's our goal, as the kids get older and more proficient, to record. All of this would be very hard to find time for if our kids were gone the majority of the day, and came home with homework. My concerns with public schools are....oh goodness--where do I even begin? I really can't think of one good reason to send my kids to PS!
My oldest was being severely bullied, which is common here. Teachers in Texas do not have to have degrees to teach at the public schools. Many people do not realize this, but it is true. We have illegals with no background checks teaching in the Dallas ISD. They get small fines every so often for this, but nothing else. We have had children commit suicide here after bullying, and the staff is just as guilty if not more so than the other kids. I pulled my children out originally over this. The schools are not accountable for their behavior and it is next to impossible to sue the public schools. They are like this huge monster in this state. Once home schooling, I realized I could do way more academically, and way better, than the public schools. I still felt insecure over high school. My children went back to public for high school. In high school, the bullying no longer was an issue. But, our high schools are huge. Home schoolers have way more opportunities. Home schoolers can take dual enrollment at the community college. The home schoolers with the same test scores and all as my children got much bigger scholarships and such to colleges, AND had up to two years of transfer credits. They also seemed to know more of what they were going to do with life there because they had more chance to try things.
For us it is the influence of other kids. With sd we knew her friends and outside of school we knew where she was and there were always parents present at activities and events. In the school it was a different story, the kids she hung out with there were extremely bad influences and fed her a lot of negativity. She was becoming more angry and she started getting into things she should not have. We noticed some of the anger at home but not a lot, most folks would have said she was a pretty good kid. She was smart, an honors student. It was not until a particular incident mid 9th grade that dh decided we needed to bring her home. After hs'ing her for 3.5 years she said she wished we had hs'ed her all along. She recognized some of the poor choices she had been making. We also began to find lots of holes in her education, even though she was an honors students. So that got me to really question not only the curriculum but the communication with the teachers. We had been to every meeting and talked to each teacher about things we did not want her doing (one big one was using a calculator). We were assured each year that our concerns would be met and with the calculator issue that she would not be using one. Well once we pulled her we found out that each teacher lied and with the calculator not only allowed her to use one but encouraged it. This caused me to be a little leary of the schools. Dh and I started to seriously pray about what to do with dd who was 3 when we pulled sd out. We decided after our experience with sd and really looking at the curriculum and the direction the schools were going that hs'ing was our best option. I can say we have no regrets about our choice and plan on hs'ing through high school
We live about 15 mins from the chardon high school in ohio, same school district. Wouldnt have been the highschool ds would have been attending but gives you an idea how close. I go their for fireworks shop in that town. My town is to small. Lol. But it just makes you see it can happen anywhere. Part of the reason we home school is safety. I don't think that hes safe their. I also don't think they can offer the same education I can. They teach to test. Im highly against state testing at such a young age. Also ds has speech issues so homeschooling just makes it much easier to navigate around them and get him more help. Im also able to teach at his speed. His very advanced in math and behind in reading because of his speech. Hes even told me he doesnt want to go back to public. We did 9 days at the beginning on 1st grade (this past year we just finished today) and he hated it and was much happier when we brought him back home.
We initially pulled the kids because my oldest is dyslexic and though she was surviving she was not thriving and our middle is an Aspie and she was being tortured by HER TEACHER. It was heartbreaking. Now that we are a few years in we would never go back. I don't want the negative peer influence on our girls (no boys in our house except the hubby), we want to disciple them, they are enjoying learning and are taking initiative, they have differing interests that they can pursue, our family is close and we like our kids better now. And of course, there is the whole socialist data mining thing that is going on in the schools that we cannot tolerate.
I think that using calculators early on is a disservice to the kids. Kids get lazy especially in early years. I am fine with calculators for upper level math if they are secure in the basics but in elementary and middle school they should be able to do the math without the aid of a calculator. Mental math is a skill that elementary/middle school kids should be encouraged to do instead of here use a calculator it is quicker. The brain over technology is my motto. When we pulled sd we found out her basic arithmetic skills were horrible. She understood the upper concepts but she had become so dependent on a calculator that she had a hard time doing quick calculations in her head. By the time we got through high school her skill level was greatly improved.
