Why would one choose to homeschool their kids?

BubblyToes

This is not meant to be inflammatory in any way.  I'm just honestly curious.  What is it that would make someone decide to homeschool their kids as opposed to a traditional public/private school?

I'm asking because a couple of my girlfriends from high school do it, and I never would have thought that they would go that route.  No real idea why, but it surprised me.

 

cooker71

Um, the homosexual agenda of the public school system, Bubs. DUH.

r9stedt

religious, academics, bullying, more time for chores

breezee_bean

cooker71:

Um, the homosexual agenda of the public school system, Bubs. DUH.

HA!  Yeah, because if you hang out with homosexuals, you will turn gay yourself. 

REOM

I really think that it's people who

A) want to shelter their kids from the outside world a la bubbe boy

don't want to let go and allow their children to live their own lives. Control freaks.

BubblyToes

breezee_bean:

cooker71:

Um, the homosexual agenda of the public school system, Bubs. DUH.

HA!  Yeah, because if you hang out with homosexuals, you will turn gay yourself. 

Isn't that their agenda?  To infect everyone with their gay disease?  

cooker71

I always heard about "the homosexual agenda" of public schools while attending legislative hearings on bills to establish all-day kindergarten in Montana.

I had to clamp my teeth down on my pen to:

1. Stop myself from laughing.

2. Stop myself from grabbing the microphone away from the psycho mountain hermits and asking them what planet they live on. 

BubblyToes

We call them mountain hippies where I come from.  They come down off the mountain every Sunday after preachin' (pronounced pray-chin) to go to Wal-Marts.

penguingrrl

I have a cousin who's considering homeschooling and I was very surprised to hear that.  Her local school district is terrible, and she says that after teachig there for a few years when she moved where she lived (left to be a SAHM) and has not found an affordable non-religious private alternative, but has found a great group of people who are interested in forming a homeschool "school" together, so she may do that.  I was quite surprised since before her son was born she was a public school teacher for over ten years and in some difficult districts (by choice) so her local schools must be very bad for her to consider this.  Not that homeschooling is a poor choice at all, but she has always been a huge advocate of public schools so it's very surprising she may not use them.

 

breezee_bean

BubblyToes:

breezee_bean:

cooker71:

Um, the homosexual agenda of the public school system, Bubs. DUH.

HA!  Yeah, because if you hang out with homosexuals, you will turn gay yourself. 

Isn't that their agenda?  To infect everyone with their gay disease?  

oh, totally!  Right behind acceptance and equal rights. 

DandR

I have a cousin who homeschools.  Her son has pretty severe disformities, one leg had to be amputated, so he has a prosthetic and I think she did it to protect him from the taunting and teasing.  She has him pretty involved in lots of other activities and he's made a ton of friends who accept him for him....so I "get" it with her.  Plus, he has had several surgeries...may have to have another in a few years, so I'm guessing the fact that he would have missed "regular" class quite a bit and this way he can make it up when he can is another reason. 

Reasons I considered it for a half second for Taylor--because I hate hearing her cry.  But I think we are getting past that.....finally.

 

eclaires

I think for some people [esp people who do it right] it is because their options for schooling is less than desirable.

But yeah, other than that, I do think REOM is onto something. 

Well that and the homosexual agenda.

DandelionMom

There's a very real possibility that I'll end up homeschooling J and/or Gracie for at least a few years if they get glutened too often at school.? I am a certified teacher and there are some great resources around us so I think I could pull it off.? I'm hoping that traditional school works out though because I think there are so many experiences I want them to have in school.??

JOEBunny

Here, at least in my very liberal, overeducated (highest mean education of any zip in the state) neighborhood people do it because they think their kids will be more creative, free thinking, and waste less time, because they won't have to wait for the slowest kids to keep up. 

veloelle

I used to think homeschoolers were a bunch of hippie freaks. Or the Duggars. Then I met two of them.

I work w/ a man who homschooled 3 (!!!!) kids, and my Bradley instructor is homeschooling. They are both really intelligent, non-hippie, non-freaks. Kinda opened my eyes to their world and why they chose that path. Like BF/FF, Preschool@6mo/No Preschool, and any other parenting debate, they felt it was the best thing for their family. 

My co-worker's kids are all well-adjusted adults, either in college or graduated. They were part of a home school co-op, so it's not like their kids were sheltered and never played w/ others. Also, his home school co-op won the state competition for robotics, beating out big public schools with way more resources. The co-op they belonged to used resources of each parent; my co-worker is the software/math expert, so he would guest lecture in that subject.

Anyway. Not something I'd personally do, but I can see where they are coming from. And neither parent ever said anything disparaging about the local schools, just that they went a different path.

But, I'm sure there are some freak homeschoolers that ruin the home school image for the average person who's chosen that for their children.

cp760

I know a few people who do it. My SIL wants to do it because even though she claims that her child will be more advanced and college-ready if SHE teaches, the real reason is because she is a control freak and wants to be in charge of every tiny aspect of her kids lives.

Someone else is doing it selfishly, she doesn't want to 'let her babies go yet'.

Someone else I know is doing it because her daughter was shy and didn't like school. 

And someone else I know is a, as she calls herself, a "dirty hippy". 

As far as the shy child, I just don't get it. My son has Selective Mutism which means he has a severe social anxiety and goes mute in public (he's going into 2nd grade and has never even spoken to another child at school...ever). Everyone keeps telling me to home school him because it's mean to make him go with his anxieties. But I feel the opposite. How will he ever thrive in real life without preparation? If I shleter him from his fears and socialization for his entire childhood and then release him into the world, it would be a disaster. I feel horrible that my son is so scared, but every year we see slight improvment and that, I feel, is the best way to help him with his social anxiety.  Not help him hide from it.

goodheartedmommy

I'm not a fan of traditional schools at all, especially public schools. I think they're overcrowded and the resources aren't there for kids to always get the individual attention they need. Yeah, there are tutors and parents should always be involved. But I personally feel that it's very important for me and Jonathan to be the ones teaching them. That's not a slam on people who choose public school, but I am doing what I feel is best for our family.

We will do a lot of learning on the road. I'm really excited to travel to different places to aid in learning! 

 We have a homeschooling co-op that we're planning on being involved in. It is secular and very large in the area. There are people to help with different subjects and of course the socialization aspect of it.

dpdw

2 of my half-siblings were home schooled for most of their lives.  I was in college when it all started & I remember giving my dad a really hard time about it.  According to him they decided to homeschool because 1) the kids needed the one-on-one attention they couldn't get in a "traditional" school, and 2) my dad & his wife wanted the kids to be exposed to only their values (Bible teaching Christian). 

cnybride2be

i think it is all about the experiences you had with your schooling and perhaps negative ones of your child's if you made a switch from outside schooling to home schooling. 

 me?  i will always remember some of the teachers i had (positively) loved their diff. styles, loved some of their personalities.  because of this i would never want to be the be all and end all of my boys' education.  i feel they should have so much more than me.

and i teach but i alone am not enough.  that's what i think.

Brewster

Like always, I pretty much agree with REOM.

REOM:

I really think that it's people who

A) want to shelter their kids from the outside world a la bubbe boy

don't want to let go and allow their children to live their own lives. Control freaks.

Ashley&Bryan

REOM:

I really think that it's people who

A) want to shelter their kids from the outside world a la bubbe boy

don't want to let go and allow their children to live their own lives. Control freaks.

this.  100%

pincushions

Prior to moving out to the sticks we lived in a hood that a LOT of people homeschooled their kids.

It was a great network of people and everyone pitched in. Think community effort. There was also a huge "unschooling" school in the neighborhood that kids attended.

I would not send my kids to the public school that they would have had to go to if we still lived there, and private was super expensive.

Really a lot of people just chose what was best for their kids and their family.

DH would homeschool are kids if he could. HE would not me. He is the brains. I would be in charge of art and fun.

xnbride

As a former college counselor I will say that I was quite fond of the homeschooled kids who would come through my door.  All of them had varying levels of academic ability and while not all of them were as equipped as well as I would have liked them to be to handle the rigor and social pressures, they possessed something very different than the rest of my students.  For the most part, they all were relatively articulate, had higher than average self efficacy (sometimes inflated sense which was actually a bad thing), were very determined and often completed their studies either early or on time whereas most students took much longer.  

I was not a fan of homeschooling prior to being a college counselor, but I do see the merits of such a situation and now I personally know many people who choose to homeschool their children (for various reasons).  I think it is a very thankless and valuable job that some parents choose to take on and I commend their efforts.  I personally do not feel equipped or skilled enough for such a challenge and will leave the education of my son to the professionals.  However, I do plan on sending him to private school and we have even looked into Montessori school too.  

I am also a big fan of taking college while in HS or skipping it altogether.  I personally graduated early from HS and was able to graduate college in 2.5 years.  I was the youngest college professor in our community college's history in fact.  I am personally not a big fan of the public school system particularly the HS system. but I digress..... 

DaisyAdair

The school in my town sucks.  We don't have a high school, so my kids would have to travel an hour away to another crappy school.

3 kids in private school isn't an option unless I hit the lottery.

I'm not overly thrilled with a Catholic school, which would be more affordable than a non-religious, private school.

That leaves me and homeschooling!

I suppose between now and my kids going to school, I could move to a better school system, but I don't see that in the financial cards either. 

Homeschooling is very popular in my state where many towns don't even have schools.  There are tremendous resources for homeschooling and a great relationship between the state and homeschooling families. 

I am still holding out for the lottery though! 

mikeandmonica

Obviously what works best for me won't work for someone else, but I think that you can get a great education from home schooling, but I really don't think I would ever homeschool my kids (I know, never say never) because: 1) I wouldn't want to take the time to do it personally 2) I really like the different points of view they get with different teachers/kids in the class/economic backgrounds/cultural backgrounds in a normal school setting. I think that you can learn as much from a book as you can from a good discussion with different view points. 3) The social aspect - we have friends that have homeschooled all 4 of their kids, and while they are very well spoken with other adults, when they are around other kids, if they aren't the kids in their homeschool network (which I didn't realize is likely the co op all the others talked about in this post), they are uncomfortable. The other kids don't necessarily understand why the kids don't go to normal school, etc. I have found when kids that age talk about stuff, they usually compare school, favorite teachers, favorite classes, etc. - so my friend's kids just kind of stand there because their teacher = mom for everything, the other kids in class are the siblings, etc. 4) Sports/band type activities: there were some homeschooled people that would come to our school just for band/sports, and it was hard for a lot of them to fit in at first because everyone was like "where did you come from?" Like I said - never say never, but I really doubt I would ever do it. Oh - one more thing to add - it isn't a popular thing in my area at all, so that could be why I don't see all the really good things that PPs mentioned about it.

goodheartedmommy

mikeandmonica:

.3) The social aspect - we have friends that have homeschooled all 4 of their kids, and while they are very well spoken with other adults, when they are around other kids, if they aren't the kids in their homeschool network (which I didn't realize is likely the co op all the others talked about in this post), they are uncomfortable. The other kids don't necessarily understand why the kids don't go to normal school, etc. I have found when kids that age talk about stuff, they usually compare school, favorite teachers, favorite classes, etc. - so my friend's kids just kind of stand there because their teacher = mom for everything, the other kids in class are the siblings, etc.

This is a ridiculous comparison. By your findings, children could only socialize with people in their class or school if they attend a traditional school. 

 

mikeandmonica

goodheartedmommy:

mikeandmonica:

. 3) The social aspect - we have friends that have homeschooled all 4 of their kids, and while they are very well spoken with other adults, when they are around other kids, if they aren't the kids in their homeschool network (which I didn't realize is likely the co op all the others talked about in this post), they are uncomfortable. The other kids don't necessarily understand why the kids don't go to normal school, etc. I have found when kids that age talk about stuff, they usually compare school, favorite teachers, favorite classes, etc. - so my friend's kids just kind of stand there because their teacher = mom for everything, the other kids in class are the siblings, etc.

This is a ridiculous comparison. By your findings, children could only socialize with people in their class or school if they attend a traditional school. 

 

Like I said - it was just the limited experience I have had in my area, I did say that it is the case for everyone. It isn't like I did a scientific study where I looked into this - I have seen only a few families ever in my life go through this and this is what they were like. In my area, the school districts cover a large area, and if you don't go to the same school with someone in your social circle (like at church for example), you play that school in sports (whether summer tball when you are 4 or high school varsity sports) so you do still have the talking about school thing in commom - whether it is how the middle school baseball team is doing when playing against each other (or the other schools they both play against), or where they are going on field trips (since most go to the same places for field trips in the districts around us - like a 4 day camp, etc.). I didn't mean to offend you, I just said that is what I have personally seen and why it isn't something that I envision working for my family.