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public versus homeschool - how did you decide?


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My son will be a 9th grader next year and we are considering public for next year - just considering - cautiously - right now. We're definitely not committed. I would like to hear how some of you sorted through the same question.

 

Thanks!

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We have homeschooled for 9 years. It didn't make sense for us to change our course now. Dd was able to start taking a college class as a freshman. (We knew the professor.) And she was on the mock trial team at the highschool at 15. Ds is entering 9th grade and has no desire to go to highschool. He likes the flexibility of our schedule and ability to travel some, take field trips, sleep in after a late night... I think there are many more ways of encouraging maturity and not being so stressed by not attending highschool.

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My oldest went to ps for 6th and 7th grades (at her request) and returned to hs in 8th grade (at her request). She didn't want any part of going to high school. She has been taking cc classes for the past year and LOVES them.

 

My middle dd is very definitely Aspie. She has never wanted anything to do with ps. She's excited about getting to take cc classes next summer.

 

My youngest may try ps for high school. She only lasted 2 weeks when she tried it in 5th grade though (that was the minimum I told her she had to go for if she wanted to try it). I don't know if she'll try it or not. It's possible that she may opt to try 8th grade. I don't think she'll stick with it if she tries and I don't know if she'll try it or not.

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We began homeschooling in 7th grade when my daughter asked not to return to her 6th grade school. (This was no reflection on the school but rather the hour long commute each way.) We gave her the choice of attending the local middle school or of homeschooling and taking some classes at a homeschooling resource center. We had her shadow a middle school student for a full day, and she also visited the resource center. She elected to homeschool.

 

In subsequent years, she had free choice. Prior to ninth grade, she visited the local high school and sat in on a couple of classes, took a tour, etc. Prior to 10th grade, she attended an information session for a newly opening charter arts academy. In each case, she continued to choose homeschooling.

 

Here's a previous thread with a similar topic: Do you let your child decide whether to go to high school?

 

Regards,

Kareni

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the idea of doing the same thing every day - getting up, packing a lunch, tied to the public school schedule is, honestly, a huge factor in me homeschooling.

 

plus we get to read a lot of books and hang out together. i have three kids out of the house and i would never give up these homeschooling high school years of spending time with my teens. that said they usually do end up in a dual enrollment program at the cc at some point.

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my dd went to a technical high school for 9th grade (kids have to test to get in and only about 30% of applicates are accepted). Well, dd did great academic (made honor roll each marking period, only 20% of students are on honor roll). She made lots of friends but after 3 marking periods, she asked to come back home. SHe said that kids do drugs, have a different boyfriend/girlfriend just about each week, lots of cursing, talking while teachers are lecturing and just be disruptive in class. She also said that so much time in class is wasted (lots of movies are watched to kill time).

 

In English class, the first entire semester, they only read 3 short stories and some Edgar Allan Poe poems, that was it for the entire SEMESTER. The 3rd 9 weeks, they spent the entire time writing a 3 page report and the last 9 weeks was to be spent on reading Romeo and Juliet. I was shocked. In biology, at the end of the 3rd 9 weeks, they were on ch. 10 out of a 30 something chapter book. It was the same in her other classes, she said that she feels that she wasted her freshman year.

 

SHe wants to do dual enrollment at our local cc when she is 16.

 

She may or may not see some of her friends out of school, It is a county school that is located 30 min. south of us and most of the other students live even further south of the school so probably 45 min or 1 hour from us. I said that when her friends get cars, they can come to our house to visit but that is it., she will not be riding with them or going to their houses as she does not want to learn to drive yet .

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Calvin will be entering the equivalent of US 9th grade this year. He has been home educated for the last seven years. Over the last year he has been starting to want to bounce ideas off more people - adults and children. He wants to go to school and try out activities that I can't replicate at home, such as debate club. He will be going to a private school - it has a good reputation and he has two friends in his future class. There is no college within 45 minutes drive where he can take the academic classes that he needs - our only nearby college is agricultural/vocational - so full-time school is the only option.

 

Laura

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My oldest would have been content to spend his high school years doing his schoolwork while lounging on the couch, our Labrador on his feet. He NEEDED to go to school if only to force him out of the house and his comfort zone. It worked, for him,, since I was able to get him into Honors/AP from freshman year.

 

This same kid is off to college in the fall...and FINALLY is having friends (former AP classmates) call and "kidnap" him ( he does not drive - his choice) to go hang out, etc.

 

The next kid, no brainer, she I actually sent back to school ten days into 5th grade - we get along so much better when we are not locking horns constantly. She just got her first job, at Sears, this summer (she will be a junior in the fall).

 

The last kid, a rising 8th grader, may or may not go to public school. We will have to see how messed up the high schools are a year from now after the major cut-backs taking effect this year.

 

It all depends on the needs of the kid, and what the high school can offer vs. home.

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Public high schools don't have a very good track record for producing well-educated young people. Yes, I know, the one near you is the "best" in the district or whatever...but everyone you know will say that about her dc's school. They can't *all* be the best!

 

And then there's the violence, the drug use, the s*x, the disrespect towards adults--all the things I've taught my dc NOT to do their whole lives. No way I would have allowed my dc to go there!

 

At the high school my dds would have gone to, one year over 400 weapons were confiscated. :eek: Also, even though we lived in a very nice community--so we thought--non-hispanic kids had to walk through the halls with their eyes down, not making eye contact with anyone, or they'd be beaten up. Uh, yeah, I want my dc to go there, whether they were the non-hispanics or innocent bystanders watching it happen.

 

I had a good thing going when my dc were young. I didn't want to see it messed up by the high school.

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When we began homeschooling my oldest was a 9th grader. Academically the public school was a joke. Also, my oldest was always a social butterfly and easily distracted. I wanted him to get a good education and less socializing during what was supposed to be academic hours. Oldest has always been a follower and not a leader so it was easy for us to make that decision.

 

Now, 14 yo ds will be a 9th grader in the fall and he has no desire to go to public or private school. He has huge academic goals and other goals that he'd never be able to accomplish in a public school setting - at least in our area.

Edited by TXMary2
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We went through the big decision in Oct-Nov. We considered public, private, home, and teh middle college (a 5-year high school where they earn an Associates Degree at the same time.)

 

To us, it came down to efficiency, quality, and individualization. She could learn more in less time, and she could specialize in what she wanted to learn.

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Dd didn't want to go to ps, dd wasn't ready to go to ps even if she wanted to, and dd doesn't ever want to take the state mandated test all ps students have to pass in order to graduate. Dd tends to do well on tests, but simply doesn't want to take it. In our town students have successfully transfered later in high school, so we know we still have the door open if she chooses to switch later in high school. With this in mind, dd is taking history in their order.

 

So, in our case, the decision was rather easy. We still have two more dc, so I can't say how easy it will be to decide with them.

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My son will be a 9th grader next year and we are considering public for next year - just considering - cautiously - right now. We're definitely not committed. I would like to hear how some of you sorted through the same question.

 

Thanks!

 

Our local public schools are not good, and we couldn't afford a private school, so continuing homeschool was the obvious choice.

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The public high schools in our area have a 50% graduation rate. Private high school runs $15,000/yr. Community college is FREE in 10th-12th grade for homeschoolers.

 

Ds has always homeschooled. He has no desire to sit in a classroom 6hrs/day 5days/wk and then have homework. He loves that he has more free time than most kids. He has played on the public middle school basketball team. He will try out for the public high school basketball team if he doesn't play for a private high school that is interested in him as I write. That's all the part of a high school he wants.

 

I, personally, am reluctant to homeschool high school. I don't feel competent in most subjects. I work 30hrs/wk and cannot devote large amounts of time to keep on top of all high school subjects. Ds is bright, but not self-motivated. Our compromise is that I will teach the (few) subjects I'm comfortable with. The rest will be outsourced to private teachers or CC. At least it will be cheaper than $15,000/yr. :D

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We also started homeschooling when ds was in 9th grade. Looking back, I'd change a lot, but remembering that our family was under enormous stress at the time, I'm glad we homeschooled.

 

Ds wanted to ask us, not some "strangers," as he called teachers in general, his questions about learning. He wanted everything in one place, not going from room to room. He wanted to read things that mattered, not the carp they made him read in 7th and 8th grade.

 

Since I was going to homeschool my K'er, we decided to try it out with our eldest, too--all in all, I'm glad we did it, and would do it again, at least until 12 th grade.

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The public high schools in our area have a 50% graduation rate. Private high school runs $15,000/yr. Community college is FREE in 10th-12th grade for homeschoolers.

 

Well, those kinds of stats would make my life easier. Our public high school is very good - 85% of the kids go on to 4-yr colleges, lots of AP classes with an average test score of 4 (and virtually everyone who takes the classes takes the tests), tons of great extracurriculars, exchange programs, internship programs.

 

In our state there is sometimes money for dual enrollment, but often the money is very limited and runs out mid-year, or even first semester if you don't get in soon enough. And then it's $300-$800 per class per semester. And who knows from year to year if it's going to be funded or not.

 

There's still the stupid state test in 10th. I sometimes think it would be nice to sign them up for 11-12th for AP classes. Sadly, my town won't let you take just some classes - it's all or nothing.

 

Two more years to make up my mind! Even with a good local school, there's lots to be said for homeschooling!

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Dd (13) will be starting high school in the fall. It's a bit different here in NYC where no one chooses to go to their "local" school. We get to pick from about 400 high schools (the process is nuts, but well worth it, imo). Most are focused on something. My oldest dd (16) goes to a journalism college preparatory high school (small, public, progressive, yet reserved, w/uniforms). She wants to be a broadcast journalist. It was perfect for her. Younger dd will be going to the performing arts high school that was depicted in the movie "Fame" (huge, public, very bohemian, lol). She wants to be a professional dancer and from what I hear, that school is the best one in the country. Ds (9) is currently interested in film-making, acting, technology, math, science, and sculpting. There are high schools for all of those things. If he chooses to go, we pick one together (after I research all the options to death) and the application process begins.

 

I will be honest. If my town had only 1 or 2 local high schools to choose from, I would encourage my kids to continue homeschooling.

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I went to public school for 10th-12th grade. I'm currently a senior in college.

 

At the time, from what I remember from my child's perspective, these were the reasons for me to go to public school:

-I needed someone to push me. My mother could push me, but it would be easier for another person to do so.

-I could participate in extra-curriculars, which was not open to me due to family finances otherwise.

-I was not self-motivated enough to teach myself upper-level math and science through textbooks, which is what I had been doing. I had already gone beyond the level of math I could get help with from my parents, and other adults were unavailable.

-I would have friends my own age.

-Community college would cost us money and require rides.(Either the rule about homeschoolers being able to do dual credit was not in place, or we didn't know about it.)

 

The reasons I stayed in public school were the AP classes and the excellent teachers. Most of my classes were excellent. The only non-honors or AP classes I took were ones which were not offered as honors or AP. This is in a public high school which does not look very stellar on paper, either! The good parts outweighed the bad.

 

Yes, there were kids who were idiots, set off firecrackers in the halls, picked fights, etc. I was never in a fight in 3 years, unless you count the cafeteria-wide food fights which I did not want to be in and did not participate in. I did witness a fight once. My school was 15% white, but I don't remember hearing any stories of any white person being targeted for their race. (I can't speak for anything else.) We had bomb threats. One year the fire alarm got pulled so many times that some teachers wouldn't even bother evacuating, because it only added to the chaos of people evacuating and disrupted class time. I read a fiction book in classes multiple times because we had hour and a half long class periods and we didn't always use all the time.

 

Now that I write all that down, my high school looks a lot worse than I remember it was!!

 

Looking back on it now, I am surprised that I never did anything bad. I knew kids who did drugs -- they were the ones who were nice to me my first year of public high school, actually. But I never received any pressure to do anything I didn't want to do, and I never messed around with stuff. I had friends, too. Then again, my high school was very large, so even the "misfits" had a group of people to hang out with. We also live in the Bible belt, so there was a sizeable minority of Christians.

 

To make a long story short, public school was good despite the bad, in my case. It really depends on the school district, the high school, the family's situation and ability, the alternatives, and the child.

 

ETA: Taking the TAKS tests remains the most mind-numbing experiences of my life. This is only because they would not let us read when we finished!!! I cannot sleep on a desk, so I spent about two hours staring into space. It was awful.

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I went to public school for 10th-12th grade. I'm currently a senior in college.

 

Hannah, mind if I ask you a question? :)

 

Did your high school start at 10th, or did you go in a year late? If the latter, did you find it at all difficult to assimilate when the kids already had a year together?

 

If I did end up sending my kids to high school, I'd love to wait till 10th or 11th, but then I think it might not be fair to toss them in mid-stream...

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Hannah, mind if I ask you a question? :)

 

Did your high school start at 10th, or did you go in a year late? If the latter, did you find it at all difficult to assimilate when the kids already had a year together?

 

If I did end up sending my kids to high school, I'd love to wait till 10th or 11th, but then I think it might not be fair to toss them in mid-stream...

 

At the time, there was a separate 9th grade school, and the high school was 10th-12th. The only problem I had was that I had not done biology or algebra I, and so I ended up having to take classes filled with people who had failed the first time instead of being able to take the honor's classes I should have been in. We might have been able to convince the school to bus me over to the ninth grade school for those classes, but at the time we didn't worry about it. My 11th grade year, the 9th grade was moved to the high school.

 

Unless you know you have the 9th grade (or 10th grade) basics covered, I would say it's better to start kids in public school in 9th grade. Especially if you want your kids to take AP classes, there is often a chain starting in 9th or at the very least 10th grade which prepares them to take those classes. You can take them anyway, but taking honors classes before you take AP classes makes the AP classes easier.

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My 15 yo dd and I just came back from a walk. As we came to the park, I saw the soccer team out there practicing and I asked her if she didn't want to go to high school so she could be part of all 'that'. She laughed and said, "No, not really". So, I'm feeling okay about it, but still kinda sad that she was on the outside of all 'that'.

 

We walked a bit further down the road and came upon quite a different scene. There were teens outside of a house, many older boys and two girls. I tried not to stare, but seriously, these young women had some serious wardrobe issues. Short dresses, clingy tank tops, and the highest heels I had ever seen. They were standing there trying to shoot a basketball without falling over in those shoes. Wow, all I could think of was the mom of that house. Was she the mom of one of the boys or one of the girls? Either way, it was sad to me that that was acceptable. My ds would have been embarrassed seeing that. Glad he didn't. But, I'm glad I did (and my dd). So, we will continue as we are, outside of all 'that'. :D

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The public high schools in our area have a 50% graduation rate.
Well, those kinds of stats would make my life easier.

Actually, I misspoke. 50% of the students read at grade level. 70% of the students are at grade level in math. 87% of the students graduate. Those are the statistics for ds's "zoned" school. That school has the IB program, so it's statistics are better than most.

 

Our public high school is very good - 85% of the kids go on to 4-yr colleges, lots of AP classes with an average test score of 4 (and virtually everyone who takes the classes takes the tests), tons of great extracurriculars, exchange programs, internship programs.

 

Maybe you could move to FL. That would make the decision easier for you. :lol:

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Storm would be home for high school next year if she didn't get accepted into the WTM inspired classical charter school she attended this school year (8th grade). We had a few bumps in the road, but she cannot wait until fall so she can go back to school and begin her 9th grade year--rolling of eyes.

 

My eldest came home in 6th grade and had no desire to attend a public high school. We could not afford the two privates that accepted him, so continuing with hs'ing was our only option. Taz did well and received an academic scholarship at UST.

 

My youngest will attend a public high school if he does not kill himself biking and boarding.

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We had a family meeting when my older kids were in 8th and 7th grade to discuss whether to continue homeschooling or to go the public school route for high school. At the time, we lived in one of the top-scoring districts in MA, and my kids would have attended a high school that truly is "excellent" in academics.

 

We had a vote, and I lost -- 3 to 1! (Dh and the kids were the "3" and I was the "1") So we continued homeschooling. My older two kids were pretty happy with their decision.

 

My third child would like to go to public school, but our local school district stinks -- out of nearly 3000 graduates each year, only 1 or 2 get into Ivies or top LAC's. The majority of AP exam takers get 1's. So he is going the community college route since he prefers not to do classes with mom at this point.

 

My fourth child is diabetic, and that makes the decision easy. A diabetic kid homeschooling requires no special accommodations, doesn't need to make trips to the nuirse's office, and has no problems being late to class for medical reasons! :D Additionally, she practices various instruments for hours each day and probably couldn't keep up with the rigid work requirements of public school on top of her musical involvement.

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I went to Public School for 10+ years. They were the worst years of my life. Not only was I bullied because of my race, but I was always the odd kid out. I was always the "nerd" because I enjoyed doing my work. I was Caucasion, wore glasses, used an inhaler, and always carried an Epi-Pen.

 

Not everything was bad about Public School. I am in the inner-city, so we were offered a lot of things that suburban schools weren't offered, such as dual enrollment and lots of AP courses.

 

I was just sick of being held back. I wasn't able to go ahead and do more, I wasn't able to delve deeper into a subject I found interesting because by the time I was just researching it, we would move on to something else and I would fall behind.

 

We were looking into in 7th grade, but my district wanted way too much. The high school homeschool form doesn't require nearly as much. Unless they changed the whole application process since I was in 7th grade.

 

I will be in 11th grade and my parents and I regret waiting this long to begin, but at least I will experience it for 2 years :)

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I went to public school for 10th-12th grade. I'm currently a senior in college.

 

 

 

 

Was this a very large school? That can make a difference, too. I did my Jr year in CA in a high school of 3 grades witih 2700 students. It was considered a good school, but you could get anything from a lousy education to a stellar one.

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Was this a very large school? That can make a difference, too. I did my Jr year in CA in a high school of 3 grades witih 2700 students. It was considered a good school, but you could get anything from a lousy education to a stellar one.

 

Yes, my high school was very large. My sophomore year the high school was 2700 people in grades 10-12. The next year they added freshmen. My senior year I was in newspaper, and we somehow got access to the exact class numbers. There were 3600+ students in grades 9-12.

 

It was also the only high school in the district, which I think increased the education quality for those who chose to get a good education.

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Yes, my high school was very large. My sophomore year the high school was 2700 people in grades 10-12. The next year they added freshmen. My senior year I was in newspaper, and we somehow got access to the exact class numbers. There were 3600+ students in grades 9-12.

 

It was also the only high school in the district, which I think increased the education quality for those who chose to get a good education.

 

 

That sounds about right. I was in a large city, so there were other high schools, but all large. I felt as though I were at a small college with all of the course selections, etc, that I could get.

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