Hi there newbie here just trying to get to know you all some. I was just wondering what it was that made you decide to homeschool. Beth
I am a newbie, too - but I'll tell ya! I homeschool because: My daughter was being bullied at school by 2 other girls She was also touched innappropriately by an older boy and the school did nothing about it. They were trying to label her as a "struggling learner" when in fact she is very bright. She cried every day before school and begged me not to take her. This all happened at a very well respected private school that has a waiting list! We're three weeks into this and she is already advancing by leaps and bounds, and has become so sweet and affectionate. I know this is what the Lord wanted for our family. I can't wait to see what other people's reasons are!
I have many reasons including bullies, unkind teachers, a child who follows the wrong kids and lots more but my girls put it all in a nutshell for me early on. One told her pen pal that I just wanted them to grow up to be Godly People and the 8 year old told my sister who is a minister, that we can talk about God and stuff at our school. That is good enough for me.
My son was very behind and not liking himself very well. The school wasn't much help. My son sunk very fast to not want to be on this earth any longer and I felt I had no choice! And I know I made the right one, I have my child back and he is learning at his own pace now and its great!! This is why I pulled him out of ps, but my reasons for hsing are changing the longer we do it!
wow! seems like we just had a topic on this one. Anyway I am doing it to be with my girls. They grow so fast and I want to spend as much time as I can with them. Also, because my oldest was bullied in school by a teacher and it was mess. Also, because dh travels for his job and we live in rv and it's easier to hs then putting them in and out of schools all the time.
Very LONG here Actually it is something I had researched for the last 2 years. 3 years ago before our youngest started Kindergarten, we were informed that Music, Art and PE were going to be removed from the curriculum. K-4th originally, 2 years ago they made it K-8th. Jacob had been attending the pre-k program out here and we were thrilled to pieces with that. The funding for Early Childhood is excellent. K-12th, not so great at all. So we sent Jacob to a Private school. We quickly learned that the budgeting was almost worse than in the public school, and the public school had federal and state resources available to them that the private school did not. You could, if you had an IEP for speech, OT, PT, take your child out of school, bring them over to the public school for that activity, but the private school did not have that available. They also did not have a support staff such as social workers, Psychologists, etc… This school, complained frequently about the lack of funds, soliciting donations every which way to Tuesday and back again. Between 2 buildings, Pre-K – 12, they ONLY had 125 students. The tuition was about 3500 a month. That comes to under 437500 a year. That is not including family discounts, and the students of teachers got to attend free of charge. Out of that if they did not receive donations (It was a non-denominational and not affiliated with any Church), came teachers and administration salaries (1 superintendent, 2 pre K teachers, 1 teacher per grade, K-12th 2 principals, 2 secretaries, 2 janitors and a few teacher aids) Plus Utilities (phones, electric, gas, etc…) which added up to an obscene amount monthly. Anyway, this particular year due to many budget cuts in the area schools, the Kindergarten teacher was loaded down with 25 children. Apparently she had been accustomed to working with 15 (with the aid of 2 Aids) this year it was 25 with the 2 aids and they were overwhelmed. Instead of taking charge the teachers allowed the kids to do whatever so the kids would not cause a ruckus. Well, in the long run it did. Many parents started getting calls about bad behaviors, the school wanted most of us to put them on meds, it was to the point where the school had many parents believing that their child was the worst child to ever cross their doors. I don’t know what they meant by disobedient, my finally straw was when the principal told my son had been disobedient all day, called me in to either pick him up or sit in class with him – I stayed at the school saw completely NORMAL 5 year old behavior. At the end of the day, on our way out, we were stopped and the principal called the aids over and said, was Jacob good for the rest of the afternoon, when I know Dang well he was, they said no he was disobedient, IN FRONT OF ME! I lost it! Surprisingly, I held my tongue... and left immediately, because this was a Christian school, because I was fuming! He HATED school by this point. It got so bad at the first school that he almost failed Kindergarten. I would have to carry him out to my car kicking and screaming because he did not want to go. The teacher and the principal told me that some kids are just not mature enough. I have NEVER seen a kindergartner HATE school, so that was unusual for us. I Called DH and we put Jacob back in PS the next day. He started doing better back at the public school. We loved his teacher, and had requested her for Logan the next year. We had NO issues with the teachers the boys had they were great. We did supplement because of the curriculum cuts. I also learned since there was a huge emphasis on test scores (primarily due to the no child left behind act) that the teachers have only begun to teach Math and English only. The state requires Social Studies and Science and the school did teach those subjects, scheduled only 1 hour a MONTH, and that was only IF they had time to get to it. DH and I had issues with that. However, like I said, we did much supplementing on our own. In October, DS came home with a Honor Report card. We were SO proud and very happy for him. The last 3 years have been hard. We went to the award Ceremony. Out of the 100 2nd graders in this district, we learned that 90% of the grade MADE the honor roll. The remaining 10% were basically failing. D’s and F’s. Any child that was average was pushed up to B honor roll. Out of that 90% that made honor, 30% of them made straight A’s. Come ON, how likely is that? What kind of HONOR is it when 90% of the class gets that same Honor??? Our main issue came with, however; when the school put my son on the wrong bus. Now this area has an odd setup. The schools are broken down to Clark, (Pre-K – 1st), Riverview (2nd – 4th), Backhawk (5th-6th) Junior High (7th-8th) **6th-8th grade are all housed in 1 building, just 2 different names depending on the grade – Does not make sense to me*** and finally High School (9th-12th). So the kids were in 2 different schools. Anyway, Jacob was put on the wrong bus, I had been working and the only number we ever really taught him was 911 in case of emergency. We figured, he never used the phone, we ALWAYS had at least 1 adult with him at all times, that we really did not need to do more. Anyway, He was sent home on the wrong bus and because of that was home ALONE for close to 3 hours.!!! He is 7! We went to the school and the principal claimed that once the kids were off school property, the district was no longer responsible, that I was. Bull! Was my answer. I filled out 3 sheets of paper directing where I want my kids to go, who was allowed to pick up them up , who was not allowed to if need be. My Directions were clear. They go to the Boys and Girls Club unless I authorize in writing that day they are to go somewhere else. The Boys and Girls club does not have mandatory attendance, so the kids not showing up will not be flagged, nor would I be called. My 6 year old did not consider anything to be wrong, because I have in the past picked up 1 child with out the other for an appointment. Anyway, Jacob was safe, but what if… That was my concern, what it something happened? I did my part to the fullest extent, the school did not do theirs. The assured us that safety measures were in place. In December, went to go pick the kids up at the boys and girls club, and only Jacob was there. Logan (my 1st grader, 6 year old) got on the wrong bus (at the teachers directive he claims- she never denied it) to come home. He was home alone for over 1 hour. DH and I did go to the police on that matter. Primarily because we did not want someone calling anyone on us for allowing our 6 year old to be home alone. The Police did talk to the Principal and Super and they claimed they will fix it. We have YET to hear from ANYONE within the district regarding that matter. The next day, I pulled them out. Now, at this point we had originally planned to let them complete the year and start next fall. That did it. A week later, I took Jacob to his class Christmas party, he was invited by the teacher, who was in total Witch mode toward us (she was not the one who made the mistake it was the other child’s teacher). At the end of the school day there was an announcement. “The bus to the boys and girls club is here, everyone who goes there please go to the front doors.” DH and I watched horrified. If we had known that was how they did it… Kids jumped up and grabbed their books and bags and jackets and RAN down the hall. Like a cattle call. It was insane. It really looked to us like they fixed the problem... If the kids miss the bus call, the parents are called to pick up the kids. How organized is that? Anyway, that was our final straw with a system we were already not thrilled with. If you got that far, thanks for reading. We have been official homeschoolers since 14 December 06 - But we gave the kids time to de-school and officially started in our home on 2 January 07). That is our story.
I am very sad to read some of these reasons...I am so sad to hear of such bad experiences. I honestly, felt convicted to homeschool my dd for Kindergarden. My dh agreed that we would homeschool for at least Kindergarden. Well, it went so well, that we just kept homeschooling! I have three kids, dd (9), ds (7), and dd (20 months). I enjoy getting to know my kids on such a deep level. I enjoy being such a big part of their day and development. I wanted to infuse my children with a sense of curiosity of the world and love for learning. I love to learn and I love to teach. I also wanted my kids to be infused (most importantly) with seeing the world through the truth of God's Word. I have seen my children discern spiritual things and explore learning with interest and excitement. Well, sometimes the excitement is there. lol. I also like knowing that my kids are safe from bullies, some teachers (those who should not teach not teachers in general), and images that can only serve to damage. Being able to understand how my children learn and what they are interested in has given me insight into them I may not have had otherwise.
My oldest ds, now 15, went to K at a local Christian school and loved it! He'd been very inquisitive and had been reading for awhile. He LOVED reading! His K teacher was very positive and encouraged the kids on levels they were on and did lots of hands-on learning activities. Those kids learned sooo much that year, and advanced by leaps and bounds! Everyone was impressed! The next year, since it was a small school, he was in a multi-grade classroom, which was fine with me! He and one other boy were way advanced in reading. But this teacher didn't have time to work with those that were ahead. She was good with the "middle of the road kids, and even the ones that were behind. But she wasn't sure what to do with advanced kids. They used a set reading program with different books and workbooks to go with them. There are a certain amount per grade. Well, my ds and the other boy ran through those books in nothing flat. Then came the problem. She gave them busy work. My son HATED (and still does!) busy work! Plus, this busy work was sent home for required homework! He was very independent, and didn't like us to help him, he wanted to do it all himself, and usually he did fine with that. This one evening he got very frustrated. I looked at what he had, and it was a workbook from way back at the beginning of 1st grade, for those who weren't reading yet, or barely reading! It was stuff like, "Can you find all the a's on this page?" and had different sized a's and lower case and capital a's. I couldn't believe it! He's reading on at least a 5th-6th grade level, and she was giving him this stuff as REQUIRED homework! I told him he did NOT have to do it, and that I would talk to his teacher in the morning. We got to school early, and I went in and talked to her. I asked her why she was giving him that stuff when he was way past that level? And why didn't she just move him and the other boy to the 2nd grade readers and workbooks?! She answered, "Well, if I did that, what would he do next year?!" What he would do is keep advancing 'til he didn't need the readers and could read other things! But she couldn't handle that! It was near the end of the year, and we hadn't EVER thought of homeschooling. While we were trying to figure out what to do, we let him continue going to school. If I knew then what I know now, I would have pulled him out right away! I did get her to promise not to give him those "busy work" workbooks that were driving him crazy! By May, through much research and lots of prayer, we had figured out that wee were going to try homeschooling him. He was 6 years old and HATED school! I'd never seen that before either, so was VERY concerned. What's he going to think of it when he's older if he hates it now?! I wished he could have had his K teacher for all his grades! Anyway, by the time school ended, he was so frustrated with the repetition of what she'd given him to do that he wouldn't read one word! He hated reading! It was sooooo sad for me, because he'd always loved it up until then! I wanted to cry! :cry: I started in with the homeschooling in July, since he was in such bad shape. It was tough! He would cry if I asked him to read anything! So I read everything for him at first. I finally got him to where he would follow along, and after awhile he's say a word or two if I asked, but he would NOT read any more than just that word or two! In the curriculum I got, there was a Robinson Crusoe reader. It really peaked his interest. One of the assignments was to draw a ship like Robinson Crusoe's. He loved drawing, so he worked on that and did a remarkebly good job. Then he WANTED to read to find out what happened next, and he drew a picture for that. I am so thankful for that book, because it got him reading again! It was still something he would not do on his own for pleasure, like he used to, but at least he would read and do his assignments. He's 15 now, and we are still homeschooling him. He still reads VERY slowly. He reads well, and is good with English and literature, he just reads slowly. It's amazing the huge affect this one teacher had on his life! Wow, I WISH we would have caught on sooner and done something about it, but we just didn't know about homeschooling at that time! My other two children have always been homeschooled. I'm so glad we found out about homeschooling! Now, I wouldn't have it any other way! Kids grow up so fast, I'm so happy to be able to spend this time with them while I can! After all, God gave them to me to raise---I'm glad I am able to be home with them!
Well hs'ing is somehting I never ever thought I would do - until October 2006 when I began to research and read everything I could find about it. My dd was in 4th grade then and was having a miserable time. In Sept. of that year she had broken her collar bone at dance on a Thursday night so I took her to the ER that night and she stayed home from school on pain meds the next day. So Monday she got off the bus crying hysterically. I asked what was wrong - she said the teacher told her she was getting a zero on a project and she didn't know what project teacher was talking about. I called teacher and she was very very rude to me. I explained the dd wasn't in class due to the accident and it was an excused absence so she should have ample time to get the assignment and get it turned in. She refused to give any extra time and said dd should have known what was going on. At that point I went abover her head and got thing worked out. All year we had issuses with this teacher just being rude to dd. Another issuse - the school bus sometimes wouldn't even bother to come and pick up kids on our street. This happend the first day of school that year. The Junior High buss had to take the 6 kids in front of my house to the elementary school because the bus just never came and that happened many times. They also went through 4 bus drivers in about two weeks. You could hear them screaming at the kids from down the street. Dd was also falling way way behind in math and nobody but me seemed to care. I just never got anywhere with the administration at all. Dd who had always been bright and loved school began to hate it and litterally begged me for the rest of the school year to hs her. I had never even though of that but I'm very open minded and willing to look into new things so for the rest of the school year I read all I could so I would be prepared. I almost pulled her out in the middle of that year but they had testing coming up and even though I hate standardized testing I wanted her to stay and see how she did. Once I began to really plan and get excited about all the different methods I began to feel like this was what I should have been doing the whole time. I did a lot of praying and I just felt like this was right. Now my list of why I hs has grown from just being frustrated with a broken system. I am sick sick sick of seeing all the school violence and child molestations and just the crap that goes on in these so called learning institutions. The violence and sexual assaults in ps is what did it for my dh. He is adament that I never put the girls in ps ever again.
First Welcome! My passion is homeschooling, so I will try just to list a few. I HOMESCHOOL BECAUSE ~ I love spending time with my children. I know they are better off with me and their family. I love all my children intensely from my heart and I know what is best for them. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" My children included in this and I value that gift. I dont have that many years before they will be grown. I cherish my time with them. I can control what they learn. I can show them learning is fun and exciting! I am building a meaningful relationship with my children. I can tailor my teaching to fit each child's need and style. I can give personal attention in any subject with which they struggle or excel. I can create a weekly schedule that fits our familys needs. I can help to protect them from negative influences.
Ever since my daughter was 3, I wanted to give HS a try. We are a military family and move a lot. Plus we like to go places. The only person that needs to know where we go and why is DH's command. I missed my daughter last year while she was in half day Kindergarten. The little ones didn't like it either. She loved going but wanted to be home more. DH said give her the option. She choosed home. Bought some books and surfed the net and here we are. I don't know long we will HS. Right now, it is good for the family.
The reason we pulled our 6 yo from school to hs this month is because he was behind. We decided on HS instead of sending him again next year because we don't want him in K at 7, we don't want him in the grade behind his friends, and I don't feel going to school again next year will help anyway (i believe he can do this work and there are underlying issues to figure out, working on it. LOTS of reading going on here on my part!) The reason I have always (since before I had kids wanted to homeschool? Because I didn't like school myself, I finished up my work and got bored. I was never happy with the traditional classroom. I don't believe it works or is the best place for most children to be. I hate that its always about test scores. No one. Knows my children better than I do. No one cares enough to tailor fit things to them - i'm using a box curriculum but if something doesn't fit we can find an alternative that teaches the same thing! And we have. It is awesome.
Well, I had heard the schools were bad in this state. It is ranked 49th in the nation for education. I had also read that the parish we were moving into was ranked 64th out of 67 in the state. Not very impressive at all... But I was convinced that a child's education was between the teacher, child and parent. If all those connected, they could get a good education no matter what the school's marks were. Well the teachers here are burnt out, don't care, have the wrong priorites, and the list goes on. It is no wonder the school is so far behind. I am sure part of it is dealing with parents over and over who don't care. But I am definately not one of them. My children were in that school for two weeks before I pulled them. I figure... No matter what I am teaching them or how badly I mess it up, it really is better then nothing So far it is turning out to be much more then I could have even hoped. It is going great. Well enough that even if we move, we will more then likely continue to school at home.
If I had known back when, what I know now, I would have started years ago. We picked SC for our base option back when I was pregnant with my oldest who will be 21 this summer. I remember reading that SC ranks like 49 in the nation and that concerned me but we never dreamed that a 5 yr tour would turn into our staying here for 21 years!! I never realized that I had this option until my sis pulled her son out in 2002. They had been stationed at Bolling AFB in DC and when they moved to NY State it was not a good transition, but that is a story in itself! Looking back I know that my older ones would have been a much better scenario for them. My youngest, Joyce, has struggled with the idea of school from day one. Her sister would physically have to hold her on the bus. The weird thing is, she is above average in school and up until 5th grade had wonderful teachers. Last year, though, she had a teacher who was mentally abusive to the kids but was the principal's pet so nothing was done. Several parents pulled their kids out midyear last year and I wish I had. Originally I pulled my now 16 yr old out after the Assistant Principal pretty much told me to make other arrangements for my daughter's schooling or he would make me have to. The only problems she had were with being late to class. If they were late, they were locked out of class and only let in by and administrator. If they were "caught" looking for admin, they were wrote up by someone else. Even her brother stuck up for her as they were doing construction at the time and they had to walk around the school to get to some of their classes. Her self-esteem was at an all time low and I've been amazed what the past 1 1/2 years being home have done for her. Even Joyce, my youngest, is relaxing more. She was constantly cracking her knuckles and I've noticed that this has stopped. As far as moving, I don't know if I would want mine back in ps in any of the districts!
Jen, I know I should have done a PM - But are you in the Charleston area? I was stationed at the Naval Base 92-94. I love that area and would love to go back. I actually lived over in Hanahan close to the junior college.
We are on the outskirts of the Columbia area. I was stationed at Ft. Jackson from 86-91 but we decided to move out of the city itself ( still can't get away from problems but is a little quieter). Between Ft. Jackson, Shaw AFB and McEntire ANG we are around military alot! I love Charleston and if I could afford it I would love to move there. Folly Beach was one of our favorite places when the kids were little. I am so glad I took my folks to Charleston before Hugo came through because alot was damaged. I keep hoping my bil will get stationed down this way (AF) but wishful thinking!
I hs because I don't want my daughter exposed to the teachers my son had in the system. However, this is a year to year thing with me. If I ever find the right school I'd enroll her.
We chose to homeschool for a few reasons... Last year, I pulled my son out of school after only a month because of some issues with how he was treated. The year prior, he was in a medicine-induced daze. When the meds were lightened up, he was able to act like a child again. Well, he was picked on relentlessly, as was his friend who is overweight. (My son has a big heart and tried to be his friend's champion.) There was also a racial issue going on in the school that I didn't realize until after I was able to put it all together after hearing from both my boys and my step-daughters. Then I was told by my son's teachers that he needed his medications eveluated that Peter wasn't paying attention. I was also told that he was too far behind in math. He had attended the same school the year before. Feeling that I could do better, as the school didn't understand my son's disability, and he was falling further behind. I pulled him out. My older step daughter was also filing in math and then dh and I found "the note" that cinched it for her. At 12 yrs old, she was writing a note to a boy saying she wanted to have sex with him. Dh and I were more than upset. Out she was! We found out within two weeks that a child who was getting ready to turn 13 and was in 6th grade could not subtract if she had to borrow. I even asked the principal at the school how a child could go to their school from k-6, repeating 5th grade and STILL not be able to subtract. The younger two children were still in the school and were doing fine, until my youngest started seeing that the other two were going at their own pace, etc. he asked to be brought home. Thinking he was sincere, I pulled him out. He thought it was a vacation and we struggled for the first few months, but he did end up passing his tests at the end of the year. The youngest step daughter never was homeschooled and has done ok. Now the girls both live with their mother. The older girl is back in school and is a little nightmare. She even refuses to see her father, cusses like a sailor, etc. My boys are still homeschooled. We tried the virtual academy thing this year and although it may be great for some, it is not well-suited to our family. After talking with the head of education in our county, he told me to take the religious exemption, which we are going to file for. I need only get to the library to get 2 copies made of a letter. My reasons have changed a lot. At first, I took my children out of the schools in our county because I saw that they were receiving a sub-standard education and were hiring parents to be aides that took over the class (without ANY higher education!) Many times my children came home scratched, bruised, etc. Now, after seeing the difference in the lack of peer pressure and then having the ability to put God back into their daily lives, I am sure that I was led to take on this vocation of homeschooling my children. It is never easy. But with every day, I learn a little more and every day I get to watch my children grow. My mother is the only person in my family who agrees with my decision. My father and siblings think that my children are being set up to fail. I feel that I will have the last laugh when my boys graduate with honors. My older son has said that he wants to try to graduate high school early. I am going to do my best to help him realize his goal. Sorry so long.. Maryelizabeth
It was on our local news last night that a 15 yr old boy was arrested for setting off an explosive device at the high school my kids are zoned for. He is now at DJJ. At this time it appears to be a prank but apparently it sounded like an actual bomb going off. This happened Tues. and it didn't make the news until yesterday and even the parents were apparently not notified that day. Yesterday 3 students at another hs (same district) were arrested on weapons violations. One may have been a bb gun but it is still a gun! These incidents reinforce my decision even if I'm almost daily second guessing myself!
Well girls, I loved reading your stories. So many parts were similar to my own, that I just had to share. I will try to be brief, but you know me My kids started school in christian school. ds developed behavioural problems about 6 weeks into k, and he figured out pretty quickly that if he escalated enough, they sent him home, which was where he wanted to be. He was also diagnosed dyslexic that year. I considered hs then, but after talking to the dept of ed decided not to - they told me it would be too hard!:x The next year we moved and the kids went to ps. They promised lots of help, and delivered nothing. Things went from bad to worse. It was a total nightmare. dd was also very unhappy in ps. Mid year we changed them to steiner school. It was by far the best school they ever went to, and things settled down for a while. when ds was in year 3 and still couldn't read, the behavioural problems all came back. We started hs because basically they were going to expel him if we didn't pull him out. We knew they couldn't go back to ps or christian school, and we didn't want to burn our bridges. That was may 2005, and we haven't looked back. dd joined in hs at the start of 2006, at her own insistence. Like lots of you, my reasons have changed. I love being with my kids. I love the closeness that has developed. I get a real buzz out of seeing them learn. ds has turned back into a human being dd told me towards the end of last year "Since I've come home, I feel like the bubble that I used to move around in at school has burst, and now I'm free to explore the wide blue sky". Who needs a better reason than that? I hope they hs forever, but if a time comes when they want to go back, we will discuss it and figure it out as it comes.
