# Homeschooling?



## paypay (Apr 21, 2011)

Are there any homeschooling mothers out there? And does your husband support you?



Patience


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## castingabout (Mar 22, 2011)

I'm not a lady, but I can tell you that my wife home schooled our two children for years. My son went through the first two years in public schools, and my daughter never knew anything but home school. We weren't homeschooling them for religious purposes, but for practicality. I was contracting all over the East Coast, and that let them travel with me sometimes. It was funny to me to be in a town for six months, and have my family show up for a week and my son say :"Dad, did you you know there was a pioneer fort here?" I said "No, son. Did you know there was a grocery store up the road with a three dollar a pound salad bar?"

My son later came to regret home schooling, but my daughter never did. My children got a better education through it, even if they missed out on the normal growing up stuff that we all did. They both came out OK.

Do what feels right for you and your own kids.


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## Blue Skye (Apr 22, 2011)

Is your husband not supporting you?

I don't homeschool, but I have two friends that do/have. The one that is still doing it has a special classroom, the kids wear uniforms, and her husband comes home at lunch time and ensures that the kids are being obedient (they are a pretty strict family). The kids are doing great with it, and her husband is very supportive.

The other friend only homeschooled for a year and stopped because all of her boys really wanted the socialization of being with other boys. Her husband wasn't as supportive of her - mainly agreeing to it so that they didn't have to pay private school fees since they never sent their kids to public school. The kids are in public school now.


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## AvaTara539 (Apr 10, 2011)

I am starting homeschooling soon myself and have done a lot of research on it beforehand, and I am very excited! My son is ADHD and can only focus for about 15 minutes max on any one subject, so a regular school environment is just not working for him. He already learns much more at home from me than he does in public school. I also feel that he learns negative social values in that environment. So I am starting homeschooling using the Charlotte Mason method soon. My husband is very supportive, he is also sick of dealing with schools that do not understand how to work with hyperactive children and want kids to be perfect little robots. I spent the first two months of kindergarten IN class with my son and it is unnerving how they strip children of all their individuality, creativity and positive interaction with each other. So yes I am starting homeschooling, and my husband is supportive


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## GAsoccerman (Mar 24, 2008)

I been coaching youth Soccer for about 10 years, I have had kids that were home schooled, this is a way for tehir parents to give their kids "social interaction" with other kids.

I have found 95% of these kids to have very poor Social skills and they can not handle adversity or a challenge.

I ahve a new girl on my U14 team, she is extremely quiet and withdrawn, she won't run, she keeps to herself she never says a word and won't listen to any advice....she is quite simply a "loner" her dad is always "hovering" and you can tell he is dominant and the mother is subserviant as so are the daughters.

I've always believed in empowering the young ladies on my team, making them leaders and able to over come adversity.

I find the public school kids can adpat the best, but the private schoola nd especially the home school kids, can not handle adversity, especially when things are not handed to them or if they have to work for something.

I am fully against homeschooling.

The world is a unforgiving place, the sooner the kids understand they will have to take care of things themselves, the better off they are.

Just my opinion.


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## MrK (Sep 2, 2010)

Besides the negative realities of homeschooling (no social interaction, NONE of the resources of public schools, limited exposure to different adults), there is the stigma attached. Everyone you meet will think you are either:

- Religious fanatics (EVERY time you tell someone you homeschool you will have to preface it by saying (We don't do it for religious reasons, we do it because...).

- A "nothing is good enough for my brilliant kids" fanatic.

I am no more or less predisposed to prejudge people than anyone else. To me, homeschooling is just creepy. 

And how can you POSSIBLY feel you are better equiped to teach your kids than an organization of people with decades of training and experience, even if they are special needs.

Just send your kids to the public schools.


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## Halien (Feb 20, 2011)

My wife and I did our homeschooling as a partnership. Her aunt was a state board of education leader, and was very opposed until they were older, and the results were obvious. The key is a partnership and a focus on socialization. My daughter was a published author before finishing high school and is now in grad school when most kids are just starting college. Her poetry just won runner up in a national competition. My son elected to go to a private school in high school, and just changed to public school. 

I'll admit that we chose public school because we lived in the south for a while. School seemed to be all about preparing the kids for standardized tests, and not about an education that would prepare them for a good college. Once my rotation there ended, we put them back in school. I grew up in that same state, so it wasn't a decision based on bias as much as a review of the curriculum. I taught industry based seminars to grad students in local colleges and spoke to the professors about the quality of the education before making the decision.

Also, in our case, I set up a satellite dish, and they received about half of their classes through a prep school in another state. There are so many options. Still, its only for those who are very serious about what they are doing, in my opinion.


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## trey69 (Dec 29, 2010)

My sister homeschools her kids. I'll tell ya, around here it seems its a really good homeschool community. Those kids don't just sit at home all day being schooled by a parent and do nothing esle. 

There are so many of them that formed a community they have a name for their homeschool. Even though most of the homeschooling comes from their parent(s) they also form field trips with other homeschoolers. They have proms, field day, their own basketball teams, cheerleading. They have soccer teams. They have homeschool dances, homeschool band, chorus, they do arts and crafts music time etc etc. With the younger kids that are homeschooled they have playdates with other homeschool moms get together and do things with the other kids etc. There are tons of other things they do, so its not just about kids sitting behind a closed door with a book in their hand, never being able to see out doors, or have any kind of interactions with other kids. I'm sure its like that for some, but not in this particular area where homeschool goes on.

My sisters kids are pretty much on a schedule just like they would be if they were in regular school. I think alot of has to do with the parent as far as how some of this homeschool stuff plays out. But most of the homeschoolers I know, do lots of activites they also have alot of friends who are not in homeschool, so they do have a variety of friends and people they interact with. Their school books come from online schooling websites where you can order their books according to their ages etc.

They are also taught that the must work and earn money, nothing is for free. So usually when they are teens and old enough to get a job they have jobs so they get to earn money. They are taught the value of a dollar etc. One the high school boys who goes to our church who is homeschooled, is graduating this year and he has been accepted to one of the top notch colleges too.


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## 827Aug (Apr 27, 2008)

I tried homeschooling for part of a school year. At the time my daughters were being singled out by the assistant principal for something ridiculous all the time. I was having to miss so much work (family owned business). Upon further investigating I found that both daughters were severely lacking in basic math skills. They had been taught to subtract incorrectly (among other things). However, both had excellent grades. After a big confrontation at the school, I just pulled both of them out. My husband was fully supportive at the time. We both tried to teach them and found we couldn't do it.

When the new school year rolled around, we put them in a private school an hour away. They stayed there three years and had a private tutor many days. When they reached high school we put them back in public schools. Everything has been fine since.

I think homeschooling and private (Christian schools) can work for younger children. However, I believe it is beneficial for high school age children to be in regular school. They learn valuable social skills that they need for the real world.


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## AvaTara539 (Apr 10, 2011)

GAsoccerman said:


> I been coaching youth Soccer for about 10 years, I have had kids that were home schooled, this is a way for tehir parents to give their kids "social interaction" with other kids.
> 
> I have found 95% of these kids to have very poor Social skills and they can not handle adversity or a challenge.
> 
> ...




Homeschooled children have actually been shown to be more socially adept than their public school peers, not less. When you think about it logically it makes perfect sense. In public school children are around each other for 7 hours a day, but are taught to focus on their own work, don't talk to each other, don't help each other with assignments, etcetera. The only time they actually get to interact is during gym (where they are taught competition against each other as the prime tool of socialization) and recess- I don't know if you've spent much time in a school during recess but these kids hardly look at each other, they're busy running around, climbing on things, sliding down slides. Same with lunch. In high school the lunch becomes more about recess, this time the focus is what clique you are in and who you are sitting with. There is nowhere on earth that is a more negative model for social interaction than the American Public school system. It kills individuality and creativity, and supports cliques and competitions, viewing other people as nothing more than a distraction for schoolwork or someone to one-up (academically or athletically or social standing wise). I've never seen a homeschooled child that did not communicate very well with both children and adults!

And that's not just my opinion, that homeschooled children socialize better, it's a fact.

Homeschooling is More Beneficial to Children - a knol by Pamala Ott 

Homeschooled children also score much higher on standardized tests, they are the ones who are winning the national spelling bees and scholarships contests. So obviously the parents who are doing this are just as qualified, if not more, than the (failing) public educational system in this country.

FYI I have also coached girls youth soccer  We had both homeschooled and public schooled girls on our team, and just because you had one "hovering" creepy parent does not mean that reflects on the entire institution of homeschooling.


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

paypay said:


> Are there any homeschooling mothers out there? And does your husband support you?
> 
> 
> 
> Patience


I was for several years, until very recently. My husband did not so much support me as agree with me after several discussions. Do you have specific questions?


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

GAsoccerman said:


> I been coaching youth Soccer for about 10 years, I have had kids that were home schooled, this is a way for tehir parents to give their kids "social interaction" with other kids.
> 
> I have found 95% of these kids to have very poor Social skills and they can not handle adversity or a challenge.


So far, I find what most people claim to be poor social skills are really what I *like* about my kids' and other home schooled kids' social skills. Unlike the pack mentality, blind rule following that you tend to get in public and even private schools, you will see kids with problem solving skills, genuine empathy and the like. These social skills often DON'T look like what you see out public schools which bring us bullying and responding to bullying, getting in trouble and the punishment that ensues, forget about learning from the challenge that arose. 

I would claim social skill development a major success of our home schooling experience.



> I ahve a new girl on my U14 team, she is extremely quiet and withdrawn, she won't run, she keeps to herself she never says a word and won't listen to any advice....she is quite simply a "loner" her dad is always "hovering" and you can tell he is dominant and the mother is subserviant as so are the daughters.


We see this claim of causation where none is supportable all the time in home schooling circles. 



> The world is a unforgiving place, the sooner the kids understand they will have to take care of things themselves, the better off they are.


If ever there was an argument for home schooling, this would be it! Learning to think, not just recite, learning to solve, not just to obey... all of these will stand kids in good stead when they face the world beyond.


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## lime (Jul 3, 2010)

I'm not going to argue that homeschooled kids are either more or less socially adept than others, because I think it really just depends on the individual kid. Homeschooling won't make a shy kid into a social butterfly, just like public school won't make a spoiled brat any less spoiled. 

My only argument against homeschooling is the cost. Not only will you have to pay extra for books, certifications, etc. but you'll also incur high opportunity costs--opportunity cost refers to the money you could be earning if you were working instead of staying home. If you're already staying at home, you still have opportunity costs when it comes to time. You have less time to cook/clean/run errands/relax on your own/etc. And people who homeschool might want to enroll their kids in more activities like sports, music lessons, etc. which cost more. Each family just has to decide if it's truly worth it; many can afford it easily but some can't.

Last piece of advice: if you truly care about your kids' educations, then you should really be focusing your efforts on their _college_ educations as well. Homeschooling probably isn't worth it if it means you sacrifice your career and have no money to pay for your kids' college tuition.


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## sisters359 (Apr 9, 2009)

I'm a teacher and I think homeschooling can work just fine--or be an injustice to the kid. Same with public or private schools. Kids are individuals and until you find what fits their needs (social and academic), you won't really know what is best for your kids. 

I have worked in high-needs schools and in elite private schools. I have 3 kids, two of whom would have been fine with homeschooling and a 3rd who loves school for his own reasons. 

I have to relate this story about a family of 6 kids, all homeschooled, who I've seen occasionally about town, usually with mom. Once I saw them at the local McDonald's, with just their dad. The one daughter was so different from the others--more active, more engaged with other kids, etc.-- and she was clearly the "troublemaker." Her dad says to her, to get her to leave, "Happiness comes from standing in line." My head shot up at this line--and that little girl looked right at me with a "my dad is nuts; can you believe he says stuff like that?" look. She grinned and, after pausing a moment or two, followed her siblings out. She was about 6 and knew damn well that happiness does not come from standing in line! We have great public schools where we are and I thought, she's the one who needs to be away from her parents a few hours a day! She'd love school, where her higher activity level would be accommodated by an experienced teacher.


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## Runs like Dog (Feb 25, 2011)

My wife and I agreed a long time ago that 1050 class hrs per year was inadequate for schooling. So we filled in the gaps ourselves. They went to public school and then we added to it.


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## CallaLily (Jan 13, 2011)

I think it has alot to do with the parent who is doing the homeschooling etc.

I have a friend who home schools her daughter. Just like what trey was saying earlier, it depends on if they are in a community type of situation where they are involved with others home schoolers. If you are homeschooling your child and they don't get out and interact with others, or have other kinds of activites and they sit in a house all day looking at a book with just the parent then yeah I can see how they might not be real beneficial. 

My friend is also involved with a home school community where they get together on certain days of the week and do things with other kids. They too, have arts and crafts, music, band, baseball teams, they book field trips etc. I think it can be beneficial especially if they are involved with other kids/parents. I think you have to be real dedicated to doing it, and yes it really helps if you have the support of your spouse.


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## AbsolutelyFree (Jan 28, 2011)

I am a 25 year old adult who was homeschooled. When I went to college, it was the first time I was ever in a classroom.

I would say there are certainly advantages and drawbacks.

I am pretty busy right now, but maybe later I'll post something more detailed about me, how I turned out, how strange/normal I might be percieved to be, and so on.

If anyone is curious or has a specific question, you can ask here or PM me.


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

MrK said:


> Besides the negative realities of homeschooling (no social interaction, NONE of the resources of public schools, limited exposure to different adults), there is the stigma attached. Everyone you meet will think you are either:
> 
> - Religious fanatics (EVERY time you tell someone you homeschool you will have to preface it by saying (We don't do it for religious reasons, we do it because...).
> 
> ...


Do you actually KNOW anything about home schooling? Or do you just like to post bias as truth? 




> And how can you POSSIBLY feel you are better equiped to teach your kids than an organization of people with decades of training and experience, even if they are special needs.
> 
> Just send your kids to the public schools.


Just be a nice little stupid lemming like everyone else. Forget even THINKING about thinking for yourself. 

What a completely offensive post by an entirely ignorant poster.


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

lime said:


> I'm not going to argue that homeschooled kids are either more or less socially adept than others, because I think it really just depends on the individual kid. Homeschooling won't make a shy kid into a social butterfly, just like public school won't make a spoiled brat any less spoiled.
> 
> My only argument against homeschooling is the cost. Not only will you have to pay extra for books, certifications, etc. but you'll also incur high opportunity costs--opportunity cost refers to the money you could be earning if you were working instead of staying home.


This is a very true part of the cost/benefit analysis. We lived VERY frugally. Materials don't have to cost a lot or much of anything at all. But it takes a LOT of time to gather the free resources and fit them to your master plan. 



> If you're already staying at home, you still have opportunity costs when it comes to time. You have less time to cook/clean/run errands/relax on your own/etc. And people who homeschool might want to enroll their kids in more activities like sports, music lessons, etc. which cost more. Each family just has to decide if it's truly worth it; many can afford it easily but some can't.
> 
> Last piece of advice: if you truly care about your kids' educations, then you should really be focusing your efforts on their _college_ educations as well. Homeschooling probably isn't worth it if it means you sacrifice your career and have no money to pay for your kids' college tuition.


Check the entrance data. I think I read somewhere that homeschool kids out earn scholarships by some large percent.


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## MrK (Sep 2, 2010)

Mom6547 said:


> Do you actually KNOW anything about home schooling? Or do you just like to post bias as truth?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I admitted that a lot of my post was indeed about bias. Many people will think it's creepy. It will effect his/her interpersonal relationships in the future.

And I have a little more experience with homeschooling than you may think. Every single poster who defended it fell into one of my two categories. If you are predisposed to think public schools are bad, your kid will have a bad experience, re: homeschooling made my kid brilliant when those lousy public schools failed. Talk about biased. 

You and your kid will need to deal with A LOT of ignorant lemmings like me. Just trying to help you get used to it.


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

MrK said:


> I admitted that a lot of my post was indeed about bias. Many people will think it's creepy. It will effect his/her interpersonal relationships in the future.
> 
> And I have a little more experience with homeschooling than you may think. Every single poster who defended it fell into one of my two categories.


Not me. 



> If you are predisposed to think public schools are bad, your kid will have a bad experience, re: homeschooling made my kid brilliant when those lousy public schools failed. Talk about biased.


Not everyone who home schools does so out of a public school bias. In the home school community to which I belonged, many families had some kids in public school and others home schooled. They gave thought to the needs of their individual children and made the best decision for each child. If I thought that my kids were too good for public school, I would hardly have sent them back! It was right for them at one point to home school. And now it is right for them to be at public school.




> You and your kid will need to deal with A LOT of ignorant lemmings like me. Just trying to help you get used to it.


Just wanted to make sure that the OP realized that you were full of horse ...


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## lime (Jul 3, 2010)

Mom6547 said:


> Check the entrance data. I think I read somewhere that homeschool kids out earn scholarships by some large percent.


This could very well be true for both need-based and merit-based scholarships. For need-based aid, it's more likely that homeschooling families will qualify, as they almost definitely have at least one parent staying at home. This reduces yearly income, allowing a family to qualify for more need-based scholarships.

Merit aid is a different story... I actually think that homeschooled kids are on average more likely to receive merit-based scholarships since their parents probably put a lot of effort into their education. They're more likely to be better academically than the average public school kid, and more likely to get a merit scholarship. However, the college system changes SO much and SO frequently, that it's _never_ a good idea to rely on merit-based aid as a way to pay for college. These scholarships are becoming fewer and far between, and scholarships in general are becoming more focused on low-income households, underrepresented minorities, etc. All of the top universities are trending to need-based aid only. 

...Which means that homeschooled kids still have the advantage when it comes to getting financial aid. But this doesn't guarantee a paid-for education by any means. Families should put together a budget EARLY and read up on how to optimize aid awards and save a little extra tuition money on the side (be it in a 529 plan, or better yet an IRA--you can make penalty-free deductions for educational expenses). Each family will have different results when they crunch the numbers--some will have huge savings from tax deductions, financial aid, etc. that will make homeschooling worth it. Others will find that they'll be sacrificing too much to make it worth while.


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## GAsoccerman (Mar 24, 2008)

mom6547, you seem to take this very personal and very defensive.

As I said, I have been coaching a long time, I have had many kids that were home schooled, as I said, their parents place them in soccer so they can have "social interaction" not that the kid wishes to play soccer.

I have seen some good cases of home schooling, but some bad cases, same as any schooling method.

If you choose home schooling that is fine that is your choice, I personally think that public school is better and offers a better world view and a viable vehicle for critical thinking.


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## Halien (Feb 20, 2011)

MrK said:


> I admitted that a lot of my post was indeed about bias. Many people will think it's creepy. It will effect his/her interpersonal relationships in the future.
> 
> And I have a little more experience with homeschooling than you may think. Every single poster who defended it fell into one of my two categories. If you are predisposed to think public schools are bad, your kid will have a bad experience, re: homeschooling made my kid brilliant when those lousy public schools failed. Talk about biased.
> 
> You and your kid will need to deal with A LOT of ignorant lemmings like me. Just trying to help you get used to it.


I think you should do a little research before putting your faith in the institution of public schooling. A professor in the south asked me to speak to his calculus class about applications of math in the real world. My first degree was in applied mathematics. So, I asked the class how many had been taught how to do long division with more than one digit as the divisor. Out of a hundred kids, not one raised their hand. 

Also, my wife's aunt was on the state board of education, as I mentioned in my post. She was a big proponent of public education. Now, she and dozens of her contacts are leading groups supporting charter school funding, because she said that no student left behind programs have destroyed education. Students in some schools spend a large part of the year just prepping on standardized tests.

When my career finally took me to a place where schools met this aunt's basic guidelines, then we put our kids in public school. Sadly, as a senior, my son is using the textbook I used in the seventh grade (in an earlier edition) in a public school for troubled boys.


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## Halien (Feb 20, 2011)

GAsoccerman said:


> mom6547, you seem to take this very personal and very defensive.
> 
> As I said, I have been coaching a long time, I have had many kids that were home schooled, as I said, their parents place them in soccer so they can have "social interaction" not that the kid wishes to play soccer.
> 
> ...


I think its fair to say that there are bad homeschoolers, just like there are bad public schools. However, my wife and I did quite a bit of socialization studies before we made our decision, because everyone had anectodtal opinions. I wanted to give my children the tools to go anywhere. Friends pointed us to the research we used at the time. Socialization depends largely on the geographic area. We were in an area that had a healthy social group, so we chose homeschooling. Largely, we found that if we didn't want the children to conform to local norms for their career, then public school was not a good choice in an area where the average income was pretty low. Regardless of the environment, there is a tendency to conform. Public school is a good choice in schools where the kids have a history of moving outward, into better careers.

At the time we made our decision, we lived in an area where only 11% of the girls went to college. Hence, I decided not to send my daughter there. Playing sports for socialization tends to lose its luster among her female friends who largely see that their only hope in the future depends upon who they marry.


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## CallaLily (Jan 13, 2011)

I think people have to do what works best for them. I'm sure there are advantages and disadvantages to ALL school situations. Be it public schools, private, or homeschools, etc.


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## SimplyAmorous (Nov 25, 2009)

I haven't the patience for something like this at all but almost half or at least 1/3 of the Mothers in the chuch (when I make a presence there) are Home Schoolers. I know they do many outside activities (FUN things, museums, even water parks!) sometimes I feel left out cause half the women are gathering at these places with their kids - then I realize "OH it is a Home Schooling thing"! 

I PERSONALLY want my kids to go through the Public School atmosphere and learn how to deal with ALL kinds of people in this world, I am not afraid of them learning a Variety of Teachings in the Public School, even things I may be against. We'll just talk about it at home. I WANT them exposed to what is out there in this big bad world as they will soon encounter it in the work place anyway......

So long as they are *mentally strong *enough to make up their own minds in the face of a little adversity/differences & peer pressure. If I see this is a problem for them, or they are gravitating to the wrong type of crowd, I might have to pull them out to avoid them damaging thier own future. I was never influenced by Peer pressure, neither was my olderst son, we'll see how the rest of my kids are. 

I know the Motivation for those in my church are into this Sheltering thing, not wanting them to be exposed, but only to "christian teachings". ONly one Mom I know has done it for reasons I would --too much bullying going on -affecting her daughter in a BAD way, she was getting depressed, her grades dropping. In that case, I would have to get over myself , learn some Patience and I would go the CYBER school route. This is getting very very popular these days . 

If I lived in a really bad school district without Good Teachers, Without firm disclipine, I do believe I would opt for CYBER schooling. I am not even sure of the differences but isn't HOME schooling YOU being the Teacher, and Cyber -teachers are online . I could hang with that! 

I met a woman who has 13 kids (met her when she had 8 at the time) she told me she does "*UNschooling*" !! I was like "WHAT??". I still do not know exactly what she meant ---but some of you familiar with all of this might. Whatever it was, it was Legal and at that time, she lived in Ohio. I will admit her children did not seem UP on things, much speech delays, we couldnt even understand her 5 yr olds talking hardly at all.

I am glad we have all these choices though for our children. I count it a GOOD thing.


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## MrK (Sep 2, 2010)

Before anyone puts too much merit into the success homeschooled kids have vs. public school kids, I'm sure the statistic is really about how involved parents are in their kids educations. Of course homeschooled kids will do well. Their parents are involved. My kids are doing great in the public schools. We spend time with them. They have a good upbringing. They eat well and sleep enough. 

Public schools have trouble when all of the rich white kids are pulled out to go into charter schools, public schools, G&T programs, and homeschools. That leaves large pockets of low income and EASOL students bringing down the stats of public schools. If we'd all just stay involved in our community schools, they would be a lot better. We make it a POLICY to pull the best and brightest out of the public schools then all wonder why they are doing so poorly on standardized tests. 

Imagine if all of that homeschooling energy were put towards making our public schools a better place. If they'd kept the charter school kids local. Put those "gifted and talented" resources local. Keep the VOLUNTEERS in the local schools. All of you elites do all you can to drag down your community then say "see, I told you so".

I will NEVER be a proponent of homeschools or ANY program that drags the best and brightest (along with their involved parents) out of my community school.


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## lime (Jul 3, 2010)

MrK said:


> Before anyone puts too much merit into the success homeschooled kids have vs. public school kids, I'm sure the statistic is really about how involved parents are in their kids educations.


:iagree: CORRELATION DOES NOT SHOW CAUSE. That's one of the things I learned from my public school education! Studies that only show _relationships_ between two things do not mean that one _causes_ the other. So these studies that say homeschooled kids are more successful academically do not "prove" that homeschooling _makes_ kids smarter. The only way to really prove it would be to get a large sample size of thousands of families, randomly assign families to use either homeschooling or public school, and wait several years for the results. 

Just a question: how do AP or IB classes work for homeschooled kids? Can you still teach them? Can you enroll them in a university part-time to take more challenging classes? 

If you have a gifted kid, AP classes are definitely a great way to prepare them for college-level academics. I would highly suggest that families get their kids into at least a couple AP or IB classes in high school--not only can they get wonderful college prep, but if they do well, they can earn college credit for courses they took for free in high school. Another way to save on college tuition.


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

GAsoccerman said:


> mom6547, you seem to take this very personal and very defensive.


Well it is a tad personal, though I hate ignorant spouting of nonsense based on bias of all kinds, I happened to home school my children for a few years. So when people make absurd statements that have no basis in fact, I respond.


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

OP and anyone else who is considering homeschooling, the socialization myth is one of the main things every home schooling family deals with. That and the assumption that the goal is to isolate the kids from heathens for ultra conservative religious reasons. There are many. many secular and religious home schoolers out there. There is a TON of information at your library, through inter-library loan, on the internet... 

It is much like being gay, or being in any way different. Different scares people. Different makes people doubt their own choices and makes then feel attacked. 

The vast majority of objections will come from
- g'parents who are fearful
- people with a small set of anecdotal experience who assume correlation = causation. (Who knows if home schooling was a choice because of the supposed social problems)
- people with a set of values that assume everyone shares those values (I actually had one Mom ask me how my children were going to learn to respond to bells. When they have need to respond to bells, that will be the least of their problems.)

I beseech anyone considering this to educate themselves to the facts. Once you have real information in hand about real home schoolers, then your choice can be based on what is right for YOUR child(ren) which is what your educational choices *should* be about.

Cheers.


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## Dedicated2Her (Nov 13, 2010)

We homeschool, and my lack of being involved has led to some of our marriage issues. However, we are working on it. My nine year old is WAY past his peers that go to public school in terms of knowledge. He plays soccer and was definitely one of the better ones on his team. We belong to a pretty strong group of homeschoolers and push our kids pretty hard. I was originally against the idea, but my wife won me over. Seems to be working for them. For us as a couple, well........


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

Dedicated2Her said:


> Seems to be working for them. For us as a couple, well........


It can go either way. The money was stressful for us. But the kids and I incorporated "home ec" into our daily routine. So the housework and whatnot was largely OUR responsibility. Dad worked and brought home the bacon. We learned about frugality, etc.. 

I think the key to any familial decision is balance... balancing everyone's needs.

For us, the decision to home school was based on a number of factors:

- We wanted them to progress, while small, at their level and pace not at an arbitrary level based on age. For DS, that meant extremely advanced reading, math, science, LA... It meant slow and steady in writing. It meant pulling teeth in art. For DS it meant pretty much at grade level.

- We wanted to focus on what *we* valued of social skills and *character*; responsibility, problem solving, empathy...

There were more, but that is it in a nutshell.


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## GAsoccerman (Mar 24, 2008)

When I moved our family from NJ to GA, I was very concerned about our childrens education, so I did some research, because lets face it Georgia is not known for it's education.

I was luckily to find a home where the high school ranks in the top 500 in the country, my kids love going to school here and they do very well in terms of grades and testing.

Our school district has also been listed in the College Boards AP Achievement District Honor Roll only 388 are named in the nation.

To me this was very important, I wanted to give my children the tools to achieve their dreams.

The one thing I have noticed is that the community, the parents, the students and the faculty all have the common desire for the children to achieve and to make it a positive place for learning. The students have responded with high academic success and 95% of our graduating seniors moving on to college.

One posted said, that when his daughter was in school they believed in the girls marrying a successful man, I still think that olds true in many parts of the south, or the belief that women should ahve kids and family first, then go to school, I hear that often down here.

I explained to my daughetr that schooling comes first that we want her to get a college education, that marriage should come after schooling is completed. Both my wife and I dated through college, we both earned our degree's and we live very comfortably, BUT we put the effort in and we explain that to our children, nothing is handed to you, you must earn it.

Is there a perfect method? no, there isn't what may work for my family, may not work for you, and vice versa.

I just hope your children find success in which way they go with their lives and make this a better place to live in, loving your children is the best place to start, I think that is the best foundation any child can have and will prosper in life.

So bottom line, love your children, help them learn, they will do well....no matter which method we use to drive the bus.


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

mommy22 said:


> On the flip side, I've seen homeschool families who had a judgmental way about them when it comes to public school.


Yah, me too. We had one play date in which a mother spent the whole time slamming the public school. Truth be told, she was just defensive. It made her feel good to know that she "couldn't possibly do it as badly as the public school." Give me a break.



> No one has it all figured out.


True that. But also, what works for one is not going to work for another. One size does not fit all.

And... what is wrong with being dorky, anyhow? Like some of us could avoid it regardless of how we were schooled.


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## Mom6547 (Jul 13, 2010)

mommy22 said:


> Just like there's a sucker born every minute, there's a dork embarassing himself somewhere else on the planet.  Pretty much everyone has a dorky side few know about. Well, except me... :liar:


The fact that my son is a dork is one of the objections a Mom (former friend of mine... need I say more) had about my homeschooling. Did she fail to notice that I am a dork? That DH is a dork? He is a dork no matter how he is educated.

He is back in school. He is best friends with the other dork.


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## chillymorn (Aug 11, 2010)

homeschooling vrs public school.

too many variables to compaire

some parents will be great at it and other will falter

some public schools are great and some just are terrible.

its a case by case situation.

either could be great or bad.

some children will thrive in public schools and some get left behind 

some children will thrive at home and some will feel like the missed out on what other children got to experiance and my even resent their parents for it.

very presonal choice

not really a right and wrong thing just whats right for each family!


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