Warning! Read at own will!! The following post is long, has bad grammar and is mainly a bunch of rambling. Hi, my names Jake, im 14 years old and finishing up my first year of high school (I go to a public school). For a while now I have been thinking of homeschooling as an option because frankly I think that the public school systems (at least in my area) are unorganized and do not teach you anything. In the past few years my grades have been slowly dropping and the nights of staying up past midnight doing homework are so frequent I rarely get more than 6 hours of sleep. My main concern with the public school system is that barely any to no learning/teaching is present during the 6 or so hours spent at school. All my learning has been by reading on the subject through books or internet resources at home and for certain classes, like mathematics, I can keep up to par by doing lessons in the book we are provided. While this works to the degree that I learn the information, the late nights are annoying, to say the least. Why do I have to attend school for 6 hours to hear my teachers theorize on how to learn properly, btu not teach anything? My trigonometry teacher makes us take notes all 45 minutes of class, and I never end up using these notes anyways, nor do I absorb any knowledge while trying to keep at the pace of the teacher. my literature teacher, instead of helping someone out if they do not understand anything, yells at them as if not comprehending the information the first time is an unforgivable sin. Many times have I had to stand up through a whole class of hers because I was sick for a day or two and was a little bit behind the class. The teachers and examples keep on going and make a very long list. Anyways to depart form my senseless rambling, I was enlightened today on how much would homeschooling really help me. On Friday as well as today I didn't attend school because I have been sick all weekend. Needless to say I did not get any homework done since I spent most of teh weekend trying to figure out if my body was hot or cold and wondering how many tissue boxes I could go through in one day. Today, feeling slightly better and knowing I would be healthy enough for school tomorrow, I knew I had to do all of the homework I missed, including the homework I had due Friday but never got around due because of my state of health. So I started on 3 days worth of homework from 5 classes and studying for a quiz and hoped I could fit it into one day. I surprised even myself, not only did I do all the homework I had missed and studied for the test, but I did it all in 7 hours, including the occasional bathroom or food break. That really made me think, I mean I had fit 3 days worth of knowledge into 7 hours, yet I went to school for 6 hours daily, was taught nothing and then had to stay up late doing homework and such. Seeing what I accomplished and that I still had plenty of time to go outside and enjoy the weather was amazing. (Until today, I had not gone outside for any type of recreation in almost 3 whole months!! ) What im trying to say is, I think homeschooling is right for me, so I was wondering if anyone could lend me some useful links or personal accounts of homeschooling at the high school level, beginning homeschooling as late as this, or any other information I can find helpful in anyway, even in persuading my dad, who, being as stubborn as he is, will take much persuading to make him sway in my favor. (my mother has accepted the fact that homeschooling is a possible option for me)
Welcome to Homeschool Spot! There are a lot of options! I am heading to bed now, but wanted to tell you that itcertainly is very possible for you to homeschool! Would you want Christian or secular curriculum? Do you have the motivation to keep going like that to get through the school work? It's a big change, but it can be for your benefit, even though it may not be easy. Like I said, I'm tired right now, so can't write more, but I'm sure someone else will be able to tell/ask you more!
You sound like you have talked about this with you Mum. Have you talked about it with your Dad yet? What does he think? I think that (speaking as a parent) one of the best things to do at this stage is to talk to them. Let them know that you don't have it all figured out yet, but that you're keen to try it, and the biggest reason is that you want to learn more. Show them how mature you are, and that you are considering your future seriously. Aks them to help you. I am sure your parent love you, and want what's best for you. Homeschooling might be something they never really considered before - is it for a lot of people. You guys need to work this out as a team. Good luck.
I agree with the other ladies talk to you parents. have them go to the website hslda they will help alot let you know what classes you need to take for your grade level and what your parents and you need to do if you all decide homeschooling is right for you and your family...
The other thing, if you are really committed to this, is to research research research. Show your parents what you have found and then over the summer, show them that you are committed to your own education. It is easier to convince someone you can do it, if you already are doing it
I can very much relate to your experience. I would have thrived as a home schooled student, and come closer to meeting my potential academically. I was not sick often, but did fall behind at times and did not catch up. I would often get behind in a subject. Later when things finally clicked for me, I could not pursue that subject with newfound gusto, because I was falling behind in another. My enthusiasm for learning would soon be overwhelmed with the pressure to move ahead and I would do so with partial understanding and rote memorization instead of the mastery of the subject that I was capable of and craved. I remember that there were kids who were using some self paced materials at a private school they attended and being so envious. There were so many times I wished I could just stop the clock and work on a particular subject, if for only a couple of hours. I agree with others that suggest that you, use the summer to gain the edge whether you have or have not agreed as a family to home school by then. Search for some websites that review home school materials and read about high school level curriculums. Go then to the websites of the publishers and get sample lessons or chapters, and the scope and sequence of the learning objectives. Start a dialogue, and keep in mind that work done over the summer on the subjects you will take next year will not be wasted regardless of the outcome of the family decision making process. Look into the various options such as using normal ps type textbooks, cd-rom based material, online academies, workbook-based materials. etc. There are often home school umbrellas, or small private home school academies available where you have oversight by a certified teacher while home schooling. This often costs only a fraction of private school tuition. Cd-rom based curriculums like "switched on school house" allow parents to oversee the HS process with little effort as they automate the scheduling/lesson planning, and grading process, largely. Explore this subject with your parents, while remaining calm, respectful, and polite in your conversations. Compare homeschooling to the way a student approaches college courses. We still have the best universities in the world, the same cannot be said for our high school programs.
http://www.hsiz.org Click on Resources Then your first stop is probably Academics Here is the direct link for items we've filed under high school. However that doesn't mean that some of the other subject specific categories won't have the information you are looking for. http://www.hsiz.org/resources.asp?resourceCatID=283,392,412 I've almost gotten all the state book fairs entered into the Events section. When you register if you put in your state the events section will default to your state. Then you can see when the one nearest you will be. Unfortunately...you'd have to look in each month. Haven't done the "show me all events" yet. Good Luck!
Hello I am a homeschooling mom to a kindergartener, so I am sorry I don't have high-school homeschool experience. I just want to let you know that all of your instincts about what is lacking in schools is correct. Following is a link by a famous man who won many "Teacher of the Year" awards in New York. I promise it is worth your time to read this speech of his. Perhaps you can use it to convince your dad? http://www.worldtrans.org/whole/schoolteacher.txt Good luck!
