North Carolina Babies

S/O Schools...homeschooling?

Anyone considering homeschooling your children?  What is your motivation to homeschool?
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Re: S/O Schools...homeschooling?

  • We are seriously considering home schooling. I think you can give your children so many more opportunities than offered in traditional settings. I love that your children can learn to socialize with children/adults of all ages and backgrounds, and you can protect their innocence longer. I simply don't want my children exposed to many of the things they will learn in a traditional setting, whether it be language, sexuality or simply marketing. 

    We're not 100% on it yet, I plan on doing a "formal" preschool curriculum with him when he's 3, and then I'll have a better idea of if we can thrive in that type of education. 

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  • Definitely not.  I think it's extremely hard to prepare a child to hopefully go on to college (which is pretty much a necessity with today's job market) from homeschooling.  I don't think one parent is capable of knowing enough about every subject to give them an adequate basis to go to college.  Even though I have a PhD in Chemistry, I couldn't teach them enough about biology or even chemistry in an at home setting to prepare my girls to be ready for college.  No matter what profession they go into, they'd still need a lot of these basic classes that our home environment would not provide a strong enough foundation for.  I feel home schooled children are at huge academic disadvantage.  And then there's the social development, working through tough situations, etc. that children learn from interacting in a large school type setting that you just get can't at home.  But everyone has there own opinion :)
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  • imageraceyrae:
    Definitely not.  I think it's extremely hard to prepare a child to hopefully go on to college (which is pretty much a necessity with today's job market) from homeschooling.  I don't think one parent is capable of knowing enough about every subject to give them an adequate basis to go to college.  Even though I have a PhD in Chemistry, I couldn't teach them enough about biology or even chemistry in an at home setting to prepare my girls to be ready for college.  No matter what profession they go into, they'd still need a lot of these basic classes that our home environment would not provide a strong enough foundation for.  I feel home schooled children are at huge academic disadvantage.  And then there's the social development, working through tough situations, etc. that children learn from interacting in a large school type setting that you just get can't at home.  But everyone has there own opinion :)

    I agree with all of this.

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  • I used to be a teen director at the YMCA and I had several kids in my programs that were homeschooled.  Most of them were socially awkward.  Two in particular were very intellegent - but because they had never been in a "traditional school" setting they had no patience for other people that took a little bit longer to catch on.  They always gave off the impression that they were the smartest kids in the room, but they had never experienced the competition of learning in a classroom. 

    Now, I did have another teen in my program that was homeschooled and she was extremely well-rounded.  She had a math teacher, a science teach, a spanish teacher and in each of those classes there were other homeschooled kids from the area.  She also was active on many different sports teams so she had lots of interaction with other teens. 

    So I guess there is a right way and a wrong way to homeschool and only you know what will work best for your child and your family.

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  • I used to feel the same way as Racey about homeschooling, but ever since meeting my SIL, my views have changed.  All 9 of her kids are homeschooled (oldest 2 are in college now).  They aren't the least bit socially awkward (no more than any other kids) and they are definitely sharp kids.  I think though that SIL homeschooled until 5th grade, and then they transitioned to a homeschool community school (don't quote me on what it's called), but there it was a very small community of homeschooled kids and they had science, math, etc - a standard curriculm.  I think by having the kids go to that community school it helped them tremendously with social interaction and problem resolution.  These kids are also involved in team sports, so I think that helped them out socially as well.  It really depends on what you make of the homeschool experience and what works best for your family.   

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  • I do think there is a big difference between one parent tackling all education aspects for 13 years of education, and having trained teachers come into the home to teach certain subjects as mentioned above.
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  • imageraceyrae:
    I do think there is a big difference between one parent tackling all education aspects for 13 years of education, and having trained teachers come into the home to teach certain subjects as mentioned above.

    Agreed - I had no idea before meeting SIL that this type of scenario existed (although when I met her I didn't have kids yet so I really never needed to know about homeschooling!).

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  • imagecmbrown:

    imageraceyrae:
    Definitely not.  I think it's extremely hard to prepare a child to hopefully go on to college (which is pretty much a necessity with today's job market) from homeschooling.  I don't think one parent is capable of knowing enough about every subject to give them an adequate basis to go to college.  Even though I have a PhD in Chemistry, I couldn't teach them enough about biology or even chemistry in an at home setting to prepare my girls to be ready for college.  No matter what profession they go into, they'd still need a lot of these basic classes that our home environment would not provide a strong enough foundation for.  I feel home schooled children are at huge academic disadvantage.  And then there's the social development, working through tough situations, etc. that children learn from interacting in a large school type setting that you just get can't at home.  But everyone has there own opinion :)

    I agree with all of this.

     

    I also agree with what racey says.

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  • imagefeistyred23:
    imagecmbrown:

    imageraceyrae:
    Definitely not.  I think it's extremely hard to prepare a child to hopefully go on to college (which is pretty much a necessity with today's job market) from homeschooling.  I don't think one parent is capable of knowing enough about every subject to give them an adequate basis to go to college.  Even though I have a PhD in Chemistry, I couldn't teach them enough about biology or even chemistry in an at home setting to prepare my girls to be ready for college.  No matter what profession they go into, they'd still need a lot of these basic classes that our home environment would not provide a strong enough foundation for.  I feel home schooled children are at huge academic disadvantage.  And then there's the social development, working through tough situations, etc. that children learn from interacting in a large school type setting that you just get can't at home.  But everyone has there own opinion :)

    I agree with all of this.

     

    I also agree with what racey says.

    Completely agree. The homeschool kids that I interacted with as a child were very strange and awkward socially. I'm also not sure if there would be difficulties getting into a college from a homeschool?? Sounds like a better idea with the community home-school thing, but I still wonder about the social aspect of it.

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  • I used to have strong opinions against homeschooling, but I have experienced many homeschooled families in this area whose kids are normal, well adjusted children with a well-rounded education. I think that is mostly because there is a big group of homeschoolers in this area who interact regularly for social & educational opportunities.

    In my opinion, two keys to good homeschooling is to (1)make sure there are plenty of educational opportunities that will challenge your children, especially as they get older to make sure they are learning what they really need for college prep (I have been told that many advanced high school courses are offered online through the NC Virtual HS, which is also available & widely used in NC public high schools & homeschool communities) and (2)have plenty of social opportunities so the children aren't the stereotypically awkward homeschooled kids.

    I worked as a swim instructor at the Y as part of a homeschool PE class and I was so surprised to see how age appropriate their social skills were. Mostly because their parents had them in plenty of activities outside their house where they could learn to interact with a variety of people, including sports, church, and a variety of "elective-type" classes in the area. In fact, most of those students could hold conversations with adults better than students I taught in public school. Of course, there were still a handful of the incredibly awkward kids, but there are those in public school too. This was a far cry from my experience as a public school teacher when homeschoolers transferred into public school and really started to change my mind about the possibilities of homeschooling. 

    I think there are a lot of stereotypes about homeschooling, especially until people really get to know more of the ins & outs of homeschooling and all the opportunities outside of your house that are available. I wish people weren't so quick to judge, but I understand the knee-jerk reaction since I used to have those same opinions.

    However...I still can't see us homeschooling. I just don't think it would be the right fit for us. But here's a parenting lesson I've learned in the last 3 years: never say never. Maybe my mind will change in the future. 

  • imageBackthePack:

    I think there are a lot of stereotypes about homeschooling, especially until people really get to know more of the ins & outs of homeschooling and all the opportunities outside of your house that are available. I wish people weren't so quick to judge, but I understand the knee-jerk reaction since I used to have those same opinions.

    I wasn't making a quick judgement.  It's based on my impression of what I've seen and what I know is needed for college/graduate school.  I just don't think you're going to get it from home schooling (granted there are regular schools that don't live up too!).

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  • imageraceyrae:
    imageBackthePack:

    I think there are a lot of stereotypes about homeschooling, especially until people really get to know more of the ins & outs of homeschooling and all the opportunities outside of your house that are available. I wish people weren't so quick to judge, but I understand the knee-jerk reaction since I used to have those same opinions.

    I wasn't making a quick judgement.  It's based on my impression of what I've seen and what I know is needed for college/graduate school.  I just don't think you're going to get it from home schooling (granted there are regular schools that don't live up too!).

    I wasn't calling you (or anyone else on this board) out specifically - sorry you took it that way. In fact, I tend to agree with you that one parent (or even two) wouldn't be qualified to provide an appropriate education for college-prep.  I too have seen plenty of homeschooled students who haven't been provided with an adequate education (a homeschooled 7th grader transferred into my class once & couldn't even multiply!). My point was that I have seen successful homeschooling recently and wanted to share that experience since it not as common.

  • I have many opinions about this considering I was HS from mid-third grade until the end of middle school.

    I would definitely like to add my 2 cents but I'm watching Grays. :) If anyone cares I will be happy to weigh in. :) 

     

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  • imageraceyrae:
    I don't think one parent is capable of knowing enough about every subject to give them an adequate basis to go to college.  Even though I have a PhD in Chemistry, I couldn't teach them enough about biology or even chemistry in an at home setting to prepare my girls to be ready for college.

    I totally agree with this.

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  • I was HS from mid 3rd grade through the end of middle school.

    I hated it. 

    I got my curriculum from a credited school and had assignments from them. We mailed them all back. I could have graduated high school at 15 or 16 and gone to college right then. I absolutely didn't want to. I begged every year to go back to school. Despite having many social opportunities like soccer, swimming and having tons of friends I desperately wanted to go to a REAL school again and have that regular social interaction and high school experiences like dances, prom, graduation, like my peers.

    I was never socially awkward and had no issues in social settings or with meeting fiends. However, I knew lots of my home school friends who were terribly socially awkward and still are to this day. Most of those friends were never main-streamed in school EVER and were HS from day 1. I was only pulled from public school due to being re-assigned to the worst school district when boundary lines were re-drawn. When a charter school opened I was able to attend I couldn't wait to go.

    Sure, I was able to finish my school work by noon and have the rest of the day and my family and I got to go on some awesome vacations whenever we wanted, but I still really didn't care for it. I definitely felt like I missed out on things when I wasn't in public school (or private) and my mom and I totally butted heads when it came to math. She couldn't teach it the way I apparently need to learn it and I didn't understand  and we just fought. It was horrid.

    I did learn a lot and was ahead of the game by 2-3 years when I got into high school, but I didn't care. It was the "normal" social scene I was desperately wanting to be apart of. Yes, the a-holes, the craziness, the typical high school drama and BS, but I 100% feel that people NEED that to learn to survive in the real world.

    I would never home school my kids unless there really was no other choice, and I would absolutely NEVER HS them through high school. 

    Having friends and being in social settings like sports, dance, etc. is just not the same.  Sheltering your kids can only last so long. They will eventually need to be part of the real world where people are a-holes and stab you in the back and are just plain mean for no reason. If you shelter them from that sure...you save them from that pain growing up but what do you think will happen when they will eventually HAVE to join the rest of the world? Culture shock. I know a friend of mine who is still having so many issues in life because she just really never learned how to act appropriately in social settings. It's really sad. I really feel bad for her. She eventually tried to go to her senior year of high school in a public school but she couldn't hack it and stopped going because it was too much. 

    Yes, there are people who were home schooled who turn out completely fine and you would never know they were ever home schooled. But there are those who just really can't handle things because of it.

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  • imageLalabee0425:
    Sheltering your kids can only last so long. They will eventually need to be part of the real world where people are a-holes and stab you in the back and are just plain mean for no reason. If you shelter them from that sure...you save them from that pain growing up but what do you think will happen when they will eventually HAVE to join the rest of the world? Culture shock. I know a friend of mine who is still having so many issues in life because she just really never learned how to act appropriately in social settings. It's really sad. I really feel bad for her. She eventually tried to go to her senior year of high school in a public school but she couldn't hack it and stopped going because it was too much. 

    Love this. Totally agree. I think this "sheltering" is the reason a lot of people turn to homeschooling (at least the ones I've know) and it's just not possible. There is life out there after school. Thanks for weighing in with your experience.

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  • imageraceyrae:
    imageBackthePack:

    I think there are a lot of stereotypes about homeschooling, especially until people really get to know more of the ins & outs of homeschooling and all the opportunities outside of your house that are available. I wish people weren't so quick to judge, but I understand the knee-jerk reaction since I used to have those same opinions.

    I wasn't making a quick judgement.  It's based on my impression of what I've seen and what I know is needed for college/graduate school.  I just don't think you're going to get it from home schooling (granted there are regular schools that don't live up too!).

     

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