That is what occurred with DS at the Christian school as well. First they started using prayer as a discipline method having him pray to Jesus that he would learn obedience, when that did not work they started calling me at home, at work, wherever I was to tell me DS was disobediant today, "What should we do to correct him?" Umm, I don't know. Explain to me what he is doing? I would ask. Well, he isn't obeying. They could NEVER explain how, they just told me he wasn't obeying.
Now that is scary. That reminds me of a story I heard on the news just before I moved from Charleston back to Chicago in 1994. I don't recall the full story, but it was something along the lines of a little boy - No older than 9 or 10 years old bringing a weapon to school in order to intimidate himself on the a kindergartner girl for sexual favors. It is sad and scary.
I'm new here. We just decided in the last couple weeks to homeschool. I have two boys and the oldest turns five in August. Part of the reason is that he was adopted when he was over two, and had to learn a new language and culture. He's had to do a lot of adjusting. He's a little behind in his speech, which has improved dramatically lately. He still needs his mommy. He is very hyperactive and has behavioral problems which I know will have me constantly bringing him home anyway. The main reason though is that I know the experience I had in public school. I was a military brat, so I got to experience many different schools, and other than the schools I attended in Alaska, all of them were bad. It wasn't always the teachers (though I had some real doozies) but the whole system is set up for many students to fail. I did have many incompetent teachers, and a couple good ones. I experienced a lot of sexual harrassment in school, which I know is now commonplace. When I was in high school (graduated 96) it was normal to be groped regularly as you walked down the crowded halls, or for boys to approach you and let you know the crude things other boys wanted to do to you. It was disgusting. It started when I was pretty young, and escalated through school. In junior high a boy exposed himself to me in the back of an English class. Several classmates passed around tequila in a water bottle in the back of history class. The military police had to come breath test everyone. It was just horrible. There was very little learning taking place after elementary school. I want more for my son. I could go on, but I won't. My love for learning was destroyed in public school, and it didn't come back until adulthood when I started researching things for enjoyment, and now I'm out of control and learning more than I ever did in school. Hard to type one-handed with a tired, grouchy, insomniac baby on your lap!
Hi. I'm Krista and homeschool 2 of our 3 children. The youngest is not near school age yet! We chose homeschooling because when we first married, all of our friends who had kids, homeschooled. And thier kids were smart, funny, likable, well behaved, enjoyable, respected ALL adults, not just their parents. And were just overall, neat kids. WE wanted our kids to be like that. We feel God called us to it. It's a struggle somedays, but rewarding most of them.
Our local highschool was just "raided" by the police, and 17 kids were arrsted for having guns, and drugs in their lockers and/or backpacks. It was on all the news and in the papers, not held hush-hush at all. Some of the kids interviewed said how easy it was to get drugs. I'm so glad my kids are homeschooled!!!
Hi, We prayed for a long time whether to hs or not. The situations at ps kept going downhill. My son hated school and homework would take us 2 hours to complete. We were told that he was behind in his reading. He would feel so awful when the teacher would call on him to read out loud in class. My daughter had a strict (understatement) 1st grade teacher. She would stay on ds for every little thing-always. Teacher said that she would not listen in class but she always made high A's. We kept reading the postings here and it helped a lot. My dh would read the postings with me and we would both see that hs can be possible and that there is support out there in the world. I would not trade my hs experiences for anything. I have only 6 wks under my belt. In that time I have learned how to help my kids with work and they actually understand. We talked about salvation in our Bible class and my children came to me and told me that they wanted to be saved and go to Heaven. They could not have gotten that in ps. I think that my kids are doing great and we are very blessed! We are more relaxed and get to be together. Someone said it on a post when they said "I would love to ask people why do you send your kids to ps." I regret ever sending my children to ps. I have enjoyed reading the reasons. Leah
We homeschool for more then a few reasons but the main reason is because of our faith in Christ. Other reasons are because my older daughters where in the public system and it is very corrupt. Even if a school is academically sound, there is so much more to a school then academics. The city we are in used to be a beautiful place to live. Thousands of people from Los Angeles and other gang infested areas have been moving up here in droves and they are bringing the trouble with them. It has caused all house values to sky rocket but it also brought a lot of crime to our schools and area. Even before this, our schools always struggled with being politically correct. Emma is a lot younger then the older girls and we decided pretty quickly that she was going to get a better, Christ centered education that her sisters did not receive. So she has been homeschooled since day one. We also do it because it allows us to spend some very quality time as a family. I get to direct my child's education and help to fashion her behavior in a more realistic direction that will be beneficial for her, rather then her be taught how to behave by a world that thinks Brittany Spears is the model of fashion and a system that quenches a child's desire to learn. Emma is a hands on learner. I know that she would struggle in the classroom setting. What I really love is that we can spend as much time in a certain area if Ems is struggling. The system would give her a failing grade if they had to, but they wouldn't take any extra time, then allowed, to help her understand. If she messes up on a test at home, we go over everything she missed for as long as necessary. Patty
reading through it all, seems some are new to hs, others have done it from the start. But I get the feeling that many of us are new to the spot. How long have you all been here?
I'm not new! I've been here since we were all on abcteach, which was before 2004. I'm a moldy oldie! (as you can tell from the number of messages I've written!)
Aussie mom, I joined sometime last spring and can't remember how I found this group! At the time I was only hs my then 15 yr old but now that I have my 11 yr old at home I feel like I'm starting all over again!
We are new.I think we joined here in Nov or Dec. We have settled into our a.m. routines after switching to hs and I am finally able to read and post more than I used to - some days are still pretty hectic though. Sometimes I stay up late into the night when the house is nice and quite and read.
I think I've been here just about a year. I found the site by googling hs message boards. This is our 3rd year to hs.
This is my second year homeschooling and I never thought I would homeschool. We really loved the boys' school and teachers. All that changed two years ago when the school board decided to do away with neighborhood schools. Now there are two grades in each elementary school- 4th and 5th at one, 2nd and 3rd at another, K and 1st at yet another. If you want your child to go to preschool they have to go to another building as well. All these schools were former neighborhood schools. As you can imagine the schools are spread out and you have to drive your kids from school to school or have them bussed around the city. Our three boys would be in three seperate elementary schools this year and our daughter would be in a seperate school if we sent her for preschool. I had always been involved in the school and PTA but with the school changes I would not be able to be there at the schools. Our kids would have limited time with each other since they would all be in different schools in different parts of town. When we evaluated the pros and cons of sending our kids to the new schools or homeschooling- we chose homeschooling. While it is difficult- especially with running a business- it is well worth it.
It´s interesting to read everyone´s reasons for homeschooling...I suspect there are as many reasons as there are homeschoolers!! We are doing it for a bunch of reasons: we wanted time with our kids, we are both teachers and weren´t happy with how we were forced to teach with No Child Left Behind, and we realized we aren´t getting any younger and if we wanted to do a big bike trip it was now or never!!
I'm so glad I asked this question I feel like I am getting to know you all better this way. Oh and I am quite the newbie here.
You know, Beth, I've been on board about 9 months now but it is neat to find out more about each person and their personality and I think this thread was great. It has been interesting to hear the different reasons and some have actually reinforced the knowledge that I'm doing the right thing, even if I keep questioning my decision daily. Thanks for starting this thread!
I'd like the old timers to correct me here, but I think this board is more tight knit than abcteach was. I wasn't there long, so maybe I'm wrong.
It's hard to remember, Becky, but I think you're right. Though I DID enjoy it enough that I was very sad when they stopped the forums there, and thought I wouldn't go anywhere else. But I'm glad I chose to try Homeschool Spot---I don't know what I'd do without it now!
The only other Forum I have found is Homeschool World, and that seems to me that it is more informative than personal.
