Cause I'm sick and bored to tears cause I've been sick for 4 days!!!! LOL I never really thought about it much, because we live so far away I only see my extended family sporadically-usually only weddings, funerals and births, but hubby and I were just talking and I actually have 4 cousins that homeschooled 1 or more child for a limited period of time. I've only really discussed homeschooling with one of those cousins, she homeschooled her youngest (of 4 kids) through high school. Another homeschooled her only child through high school. Another just started homeschooling all 3 of her girls last year and I actually haven't seen her since she started as she started homeschooling so they could travel together as a family with her husband who travels a LOT for his job. And one cousin who homeschooled her severely delayed special needs child for a couple of years because of serious problems with the PS he was attending. When they moved to a new district he went back to PS. I'm not entirely sure of the reasons they all chose homeschooling, but I really think a lot has to do with the fact that my family is very conservative Christians. I think once homeschooling became more of a mainstream (and I use that term loosely) acceptable thing, once laws in the US were in place and word started to spread among Christians about it, that's when my cousins started homeschooling. None of my cousins my age were homeschooled, but several of my younger cousins are/were. So I just got to wondering, I occasionally hear "We were homeschooled and me and my sister both homeschool our kids now" etc, but I was wondering if anyone has extended family that homeschools? I just wonder how common it is to run in extended families? Though I must say, my extended family had no influence on our decision to homeschool. We became very aware of homeschooling as a real option because our Sunday School teachers homeschooled their kids and we spent a lot of time with the family and saw how different (in a good way) and how advanced and how much more articulate their children were compared to all the PS kids we knew. So my 2nd (and 3rd) question is do you remember when you became really aware that homeschool WAS a real option? and is there one person (or family) that influenced you to see Homeschooling in a positive light?
We basicly only have family on my husband's side. I am not close at all with any of my relatives. On hubby's side, no one homeschools. I had heard about homeschooling while I was pregnant with my first and was instantly committed. I loved the idea! Once my first was ready to start school, we happened to move to another city. There I met a homeschooling family with 5 kids. That mom lent me the first homeschooling book I ever read by Marty Layne. That was when I realized homeschooling as a real option. http://www.martylayne.com/Learning-At-Home.php That was 11 years ago and I'm still committed. It is the best choice my husband and I ever made.
Not sure when/how I "learned" about homeschooling... never really thought about it, I guess. I do have an aunt that homeschooled most of her kids through most of elementary school but put them back in the ps for middle school. She just has issues with the local elementary school. LOL I don't know of anyone else in extended family who homeschools. When I first saw it as more mainstream and a real option was when my now-13yo son was in first grade. He hadn't had a good pK experience, did have an awesome K year, but we were all frustrated with his 1st grade experiences. Most of the ladies on a scrapbooking board I frequented all homeschooled their kids, so I began to look into the realities, legalities, and finances of it. I started looking... I dunno, after or around Christmas of that year, had decided by February that I was going to do it, had hubby's permission by spring break (I should've just pulled him THEN), and let my son finish the year at the school. He's been home ever since and my only regret is not doing it sooner!
Not much of a family tie here. I have one cousin who homeschooled her son for 6 months before she begged the principal to take him back! (To be fair, she's a teacher and by the book type, and he's a borderline ADHD kid with temper issues. In an area and time with little or no support and her wanting homeschool to be like a classroom - it didn't go well). At that time I didn't even have kids, and they live across the country from me. I always thought "If my kid needed me to homeschool, then I would." When my son was getting ready for school, it became apparent that he would be always trailing his peers (dec baby), but I didn't want to hold him back a year. So I decided to homeschool, just for K. We're still going, and loving it, even as we approach 2nd grade. My husband and I both have nieces that are almost ready to start school (or have), and non of them are going to start as homeschoolers. One SIL has talked about it, but has decided to start in PS. Maybe she'll join us eventually!
I have on cousin who homeschool her boys, which is how I found out about it. I wanted to HS my boys pretty much as soon as my oldest was born.
Nobody in my family Homeschooled. Ours is a family of hard workers. My mom worked 12 hour shifts when she was nursing, and my dad had his own insurance business so he was almost always gone. I spent most of my childhood with my Granny and Pa who lived up the hill from us. When we were pregnant with Beau I had thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have that Little Red School House experience again?" The next time I thought about ti again we were watching Glenn Beck and I barely pregnant with Marion. We were totally into his show and he advised everyone to do what you had to in order to homeschool your children. Gary and I were in. We researched it and found out it was the right option for us! We've been firm ever since! My family si really good about supporting us in the decision to homeschool and not encourage college too much. My MIL is a teacher, however, and she feels she has to ignore all the good they do and focus on the obscene deficit in their socialization (according to her there is one, but we see otherwise) and she has a Master's Degree so she also believes in college as well, but we haven't sprung that one on her yet. lol
No one in my family homeschools and I had only heard of a few people at church who did. I didn't really even think of it until my son was going into junior high and I started worrying about peer pressure. I made a pretty much spur of the moment decision.
No one in my family homeschools, but me. But I've only one brother, and he doesn't have any kids. On my dh's side, there are three siblings. Two have children; one is a former Youth Pastor who knows (or at least "knew") FOR A FACT that EVERY hs'ed child is terribly disadvantaged socially :roll:. After seeing my kids (the oldest one is graduating this year with VERY high ACT scores and excellent scholarship opportunies, plus very much involved in AWANA, rec soccer, and about a dozen other activies), he's adjusted his opinion a bit. (There's a story in that, but I won't go into it right now!). So to him, hs'ing is NOT an option!!! HOWEVER, I think at least one, if not all three, of my children would homeschool eventually. And that's where I think the "runs in family" idea comes from, as second (and now third) generation homeschoolers. This is how they grew up, they've learned first-hand the advantages of it, they may have even helped with the education of a younger sibling. They have grandparent support (and even encouragement), which is one of the biggest concerns with those first starting out. So homeschooling is really a "natural" for many of them.
I knew about hsing because my sister hsed her kids. I knew here kids did really well academically but that was about it. We were not planning on hsing our kids until sd got in with the wrong crowd and it came to a head in 9th grade. That got us thinking and praying about hsing. Dd had just turned 4 so we started really looking at what we wanted to for her too. We eventually decided that we would pull dd from the ps system for 1st grade. Our district has 1/2 day pre-k and k programs that dd attended but I also hsed her so she was ahead of the game. My sister gave me a good start in learning about hsing but I did alot of research and found what works for us.
Oh, I forgot that part!!! I attended a very small church when I was single, and there were two homeschooling families in it. Both impressed me favorably. One family had two boys. They were typical boys, running around and acting "like boys", but the MINUTE thier mom said "Enough! You need to settle down now!", they did so IMMEDIATELY. She was good at letting them be boys, but was quick to reign them in when needed. That really impressed me. So I had decided on hs'ing before I was even married; it was one of those things we discussed while dating.
When my sister was in high school, my parents decided on a private Christian school for her, and when it closed, she was left to finish her work at home her senior year. That was probably my first exposure to this radical idea of not attending 'real' school. Then my mother's best friend homeschooled her youngest for K and I just became obsessed with all the neat options available. To me it looked like fun, and it just felt right to me to keep our little ones close as long as possible. This was nearly 20 years ago, and I was a single mom at the time and thought I'd never be able to do it.(I know better now!) Then God blessed me with a husband who shared my desire for our babies to be raised and educated in a Godly home by mom! My extended family is very supportive, even my 2 aunts who are public school teachers are encouraging. Both of my grandmothers often make comments about how thankful they are that their great-grandchildren are being raised like they are. It would be nice to have other family who hs'ed, but I'm still hoping to be "grandma" to 2nd generation hs'ers!
I am the first person in my family to homeschool. My side of the family doesn't even acknowledge it, I guess hoping it's not really happening. LOL! To them, it is crazy. On the flip side, my in-laws have just been wonderful about it and have been very supportive.
When I was single, I knew only one person in the world who had been home schooled that wasn't from early America. She was sweet and nice, but fairly introverted. When my husband and I met, we were attending a bible study, the host couple had 3 boys whom she home schooled. They were amazing. Smart. Conversive. Looked you in the eye. Very well behaved. Etc. We decided before we even married that we would homeschool. Fast forward to when my oldest was about 3 and I started REALLY looking into it, I was TERRIFIED. BUT....I pressed on. When I lived in AZ I was in a minority - especially in my group of friends, they all thought I was insane. Mind you, ALL of my friends back in PA were homeschooling....so I did have people to talk to about it. I did investigate kindergarten at the time, for my oldest. Mainly b/c I was pregnant at the time I was starting with her. But after investigating what they would teach, etc....she had already FAR exceeded what they were going to BEGIN to teach them. She would have been bored silly. And a bored Oldest is a BAD oldest!. So....I stuck it out. Somewhere around 2nd grade with her, I was SO Fed up and was threatening PS with her every other day. We were fighting often and I just was miserable (as was she). I told my husband, and he was so committed to homeschooling that he said that she could play all day and he'd come home from work and teach her. Well....that woke me up. WE sat down with her and had a conversation that "We were homeschooling" and "There is NO other option" and that "she needed to straighten up and fly right and make it work". LOL She was 7 going on 8 at the time! Almost immediately it became easier. It's like taking the Divorce word off the table when you're married. You know you HAVE to make it work, and that there is no other option. My oldest is my best student - maybe not necessarily smarts wise (although she's very smart!), but in that she's disciplined, dedicated and focusses very well. She's usually up at the crack of dawn and finished her work by 10 a.m. so that she has the rest of the day to do as she pleases. Anyway....that was long! LOL
We're the only ones on either side of our family to hs that we're aware of. Most of them have voiced that it's not something they'd choose. I think I became aware of hsing when I was 12-13-ish, there were three kids at youth group who hs'ed and lived in a house bus. From about 19 I was aware of so many parents constantly complaining about their kid's teacher/school/education and complaining even more about their kids and how much they hated weekends and holidays because they had to be around their kids more. I thought it was a horrible way to feel. Loralei's always been a difficult child and we've never had the warmest/easiest relationship but we still loved being with each other and I didn't want that to change. And then there was all the bad stuff in the news about ps, like the effects of bullying and peer-pressure. And how can one teacher meet the needs of 20-30 students? Plus DH and I both had negative ps experiences. For us it was a no brainer. When Loralei was 2years I decided to homeschool her and my family laughed and said when she turned 5 I'd be waving her off to school. Hasn't happened yet We're still figuring out what works for us through a lot of trial and error but we're getting there.
No one in our extended families has done homeschool, that I know of anyway. I am not quite sure how homeschool got to be on our radar. We knew of a scouting family who homeschooled, but I believe that God placed it on our hearts. We both felt a sense of urgency to spend more time with our kids, building a strong foundation in Christ and family. We felt overwhelmed by our schedules and priorities so we started to process of 'slowing'. It is still a work in progress! Even as I write this we are in the middle of a CRAZY week, but overall we've gotten better. My family remains fairly neutral in words, though I think they think we are nutty. They support US, but I don't think they are homeschooling fans. LOL. My in-laws are excellent! Even offering to teach sometimes, take the kids on field trips, and are supportive. I think my kids have enjoyed it so far, but I don't know if they will homeschool or not when they are grown. It has always been our plan to return to public school for high school, but that's far away, so who knows? I've enjoyed reading everyone's stories!
Cool post! I had no idea there was such a thing as hs when we got married and had our children. When my oldest two were in 2nd and kinder, Dh met a colleague who hs'ed his children. Dh was immediately sold on the idea, but it took him a year to convince me. I wasn't happy with their academic work, I had complaints about the school, Ds was getting bullied, DS2 was acting out and bored out of his wits, but I just thought there would be NO WAY I could do better than TRAINED professionals. I think that its true that God will open a path if you are meant to follow it. When we moved, the new neighborhood school was horrendous, and there was no alternative, so I finally really looked into it, started asking questions, researching different approaces etc, and here we are. My family is always supportive of me, even if they don't always agree, so I've had no troubles there. In-laws think we are ruining our children by not sending them to a "real" school. I know one thing: We are loving it, and its one of the best decisions we've ever made!
I had no idea how interesting all y'all's answers would be! I'm really enjoying reading everyone's stories though!
I was raised as an "only". Neither of my parents had completed high school -- it simply wasn't required when they were young. Actually, I was a first-born -- my birthmom didn't finish high school either. I was the first of either family to finish high school, the first to go to college, the first to get a Master's. I started thinking about homeschool when our DS was really little. But I was working, the main earner of our family. Knew of one homeschooling family locally when I taught VBS one year and one of their kids was in my class. Met another from the school district I worked for, who tried it for awhile but I think she just wasn't organized enough to make it work for them - they went back to public after a few years. My DD's first college roommate had been homeschooled in another state, when homeschooling was still illegal there! Started having ridiculous difficulty with DS once he got into school, because of his ADHD, so even though I was still working, by then my dh had his own shop and could make his own hours, so by the end of DS's 4th grade year I was determined that Home was the School for us! I made lesson plans and taught some after school, weekends, and holidays, and DH was supposed to be in charge during schooldays. Well, however it worked out, and according to life circumstances, DS decided he was done and took his GED a whole year ahead of his former classmates. The whole time, DS fought with us about it. He wanted to go back to school. He thought he was "missing something" -- he wasn't sure what, but he was sure he was "missing out". Fast forward to DGS, DS's older boy. He stayed with us for awhile when he was 4, when his mama and daddy found out all he was learning at Head Start was bad language and gang signs. Since we're schooling Other People's Kids now, DGS was at school with us. By the time he went back to them, I almost had him reading, he could write his whole 3 names and most of the alphabet, and he could add and subtract single digits. They moved, and put him in public kindy, where they were promised he would be reading by the end of the year. He wasn't. He loved being at school, but came to hate anything to do with books or pencil/paper. There was some doubt whether he'd pass kindy, and DS (having now changed his attitude about mama's educational process, and wishing he'd paid better attention when he was at home) promised that if he failed kindy, he would be doing first grade with G'amma. He passed. He started first grade. Eight weeks in, he was failing first grade - already - and complaining about bullies, and saying that his teacher didn't like him. (She didn't.) Then the phone call: would I take him, even though it means he lives with us (they live too far away to go and come daily, so he's two weeks with us and a weekend home, and holidays). Would I????? So now I'm the first-gen teacher of a second-gen non-traditional first grader!
