Homeschool seems to be on the rise these days. In 2007-2008 there were approximately 2.0 to 2.5 million children being homeschooled K-12. According to the NHERI (National Home Education Research Institute, Dr. Brian Ray), home education is growing about 5-12% per year. Some parents are homeschooling for religious reasons, and some are dissatisfied with the public school system. At any rate, making the decision to homeschool your child can be a difficult decision. I homeschooled two of my children in the mid 1990’s. The reason I decided to pull my oldest daughter, which at the time was in the second grade, was to make a statement to the school and the school district. My daughter was in a second and third grade combined class, and was not excelling as fast in mathematics as the other second graders. During a conference I was told that if she did not catch up after the first of the year she would be behind the rest of the class. The teacher told me that the other second graders were caught up with the third graders and learning the same lessons. My daughter was not. I was not happy with this teaching method. I did not understand why there were was help for students that had learning disabilities, but no help for my daughter. Another reason I decided to homeschool was from the beginning of the school year until November, my daughter was stricken with head lice. I was at the time a child care provider. The school insisted it was coming from my home from possibly another child. Funny thing is none my daycare children had it. My daughter had told me that there was a student on the bus that had it. I mentioned this to the staff and they ignored my pleas for head checking students before they stepped on the bus. I even volunteered to help. They said that it was impossible and would take too much time. So for three months every other week I had to put harsh chemicals in my daughter’s hair and spend hours combing through it. By November, I was done for. With a full time day care business running out of my home, I made the decision to pull my child out of school. It turned out to be a good decision. After a year and half of homeschooling, we placed her back in public school. To their surprise she was no longer behind in math. At home I was able to work with her on the skills she needed. I, for one, was not a well-educated adult. I graduated from high school, attended a little college, but by no means had teaching credentials, though am freelancing with write my essay pro academic service. I do not believe you have to be well-educated or affluent to homeschool. We did not go out and buy a curriculum. We went to a store, The Learning Palace, and bought various workbooks on a variety of subjects. It turns that I enjoyed teaching so much that I started teaching a Preschool curriculum for my daycare children. I would have to say those were some of the best days of being a mom. In this day and age, with the economic crisis, a lot of programs are getting cut, and teachers are out of work. I believe that we do not pay teachers enough. My children were pretty well-behaved, but I have seen some children that have no respect for teachers or any other kind of authority. We send these children to school for free education. A few supplies at the beginning of the year is all that is required. Once at school, the teachers are responsible for educating , and protecting them. I never could understand, and still do not, why is it to be a daycare provider we are only allowed ten children, but with a college degree we allow 25-30 students per teacher. A college degree does not give a teacher more patience or the ability to be able to handle that many students. Today I wish I would have homeschooled my children all through school. Two of my children did fine in public school. One is not doing so well. It frustrates me that the school system will give these students D’s and F’s, but no help. Just pass them off to the next class. Maybe it is because we do not pay our teachers enough, or the class size is too large. Whatever the case, I believe the public school system is failing our children. In 2001 the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was formed in congress concerning the education of children in public schools. “ NCLB supports standards-based education reform, which is based on the belief that setting high standards and establishing measureable goals can improve individual outcomes in education.” This required states to make assessments for the students basic skills. The problem with this is not every student is alike. They all have different learning skills. What one student excels in, another may not. A standardized test is not the answer for me. Our children take these tests, and if they are not at level, they do not receive any help in those areas. So why test them at all? The outcome makes my child feel less than adequate. As a parent, I feel like I have failed my student. I wish I would have kept him at home. I believe if he was to agree to be homeschooled that he would be doing better in the subjects he is failing at now. There is no help for him at school. The teachers do not want to go out of their way to help him. Not all teachers are like this, I am sure, but where are they? I think as the school system starts to fail more and more, parents should group together and form a homeschooling community. Maybe a group of three to four parents could get together and choose whatever subjects they are good at and build a curriculum. I feel that if we as parents take a stand and become more involved in our children’s education, we will have a closer bonded community. Homeschooling takes dedicated time and effort. Before deciding to homeschool, I would recommend research and goal setting. Homeschooling should not be a decision made lightly.
I totally agree with you. There is something very wrong in our school system when our children are failing, allowed to move on through the grades, and not given the help to avoid this issue. I just recently had to withdraw my son from school for the very same reasons you mention. He was falling so behind, he was starting to dislike (more like hate) school. He was also made fun of and bullied every day. This is a child with an IEP too. Schools do not do enough to help those kids that are falling behind at all. In our school system, I have been trying to get him help with the school way before 3rd grade and their response was that they don't provide tutoring until the child is in 3rd grade. Now, in 6th grade, the frustration is such that I just pulled him out of school and I am homeschooling him through an online program. He is feeling so much better and happier now. I really hope your daughter is able to thrive. I am glad she is doing better now. Good luck and best wishes to you and your daughter.
Homeschooling is okay in terms of family togetherness but development in terms of the social interaction of a child with other students is limited.
I feel like the school system creates people who think like robots. Most of the processes in the traditional school are very mechanical and repetitive. It does not teach the child to critically think outside of the box. What I like about homeschooling is that it tailorfits to the needs of the child. It also enables the student to learn at his own pace for him to be able to grasp the concepts more.
