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Someone asked me this in passing yesterday and I was like, " :confused1: A long time." Maybe I should come up with a better answer  :laugh:

 

I know this is a hot topic and everyone has their own opinions about what counts. Let's hear them.

Please read the details of my situation before answering. 

 

I put my oldest child in daycare/preschool at 2.5. He was quite advanced, developmentally, so he was the youngest kid in the preK room. The other kids were 3- 5. It was a play-based school. No real academics. 

 

I pulled him out at 3. We started preK curriculum not long after. Kumon and such. He had some delays. so we worked on those. 

 

At 4, we started K. Still working on therapeutic things as well. 

 

At 5, we changed curriculum, he placed in K. We did K again. 

 

We don't register until age 7. By the time we registered, he was second grade, my second child was starting K, and I would say we were definitely actively homeschooling before then. 

 

He is now 12 years old, in seventh sixth grade. (oops, I can't count)

 

 

 

 

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Someone asked me this in passing yesterday and I was like, " :confused1: A long time." Maybe I should come up with a better answer  :laugh:

 

I know this is a hot topic and everyone has their own opinions about what counts. Let's hear them.

 

Please read the details of my situation before answering. 

 

I put my oldest child in daycare/preschool at 2.5. He was quite advanced, developmentally, so he was the youngest kid in the preK room. The other kids were 3- 5. It was a play-based school. No real academics. 

 

I pulled him out at 3. We started preK curriculum not long after. Kumon and such. He had some delays. so we worked on those. 

 

At 4, we started K. Still working on therapeutic things as well. 

 

At 5, we changed curriculum, he placed in K. We did K again. 

 

We don't register until age 7. By the time we registered, he was second grade, my second child was starting K, and I would say we were definitely actively homeschooling before then. 

 

He is now 12 years old, in seventh grade. 

 

You've been homeschooling for 7 years. If you want to count the year he was five, you could push that to 8.

 

Things that people do before their children are first-grade age are more under the category of "parenting." :-)

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I tend to agree with Ellie.  But, I guess if I was asked I'd start counting from age 5 which is the age my oldest would have gone into kindy.  So, 12 years for me, even though we didn't register* him till age 7 and I am quite sure his kindy and 1st grade years didn't look anything like a schoolkid's kindy and 1st grade years. 

 

*or maybe "notify" is the right word.  It was a long time ago and a different state, so I don't remember the details, but the compulsory age was 7. 

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I would say that I am in my eighth year of homeschooling, because that would be since my eldest child's Kindergarten year. But I'm really unschooly for the first several years, so schooling until second grade or so just looks like parenting.

 

But I could also say that I've been homeschooling since my eldest was three, because it was at that point that we consciously decided not to send her to preschool, and if we'd been intending on public or private school for elementary, we'd have opted for preschool. I think that's a perfectly valid point too. So, ten years. (Wow! And another seventeen to go.)

 

And I could also say that this is my fifth year of homeschooling, because to our state, that's what we've been doing, since they don't require reporting until age eight.

 

Usually I just say that we've always homeschooled and leave it at that, but I don't think there's a right or wrong.

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I do count preschooling. Formal preschooling is common around here and it is expected that if you intend to send your child to kindy you will do at least one year of formal schooling beforehand. Additionally, I would count at 4yo if that is your kindy year. I was an advanced child and placed into public kindy at age 4, why wouldn't that count in a homeschool setting?

 

I don't at all understand not counting until compulsory school age. That is 7yo in my state, but no one actually delays public school that late. Most kids here start preschool at 4 and the rest start with kindy at 5.

 

However, in the case of a "how long" question, I would probably just name DD's current grade and say we've been homeschooling all along.

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I do count preschooling. Formal preschooling is common around here and it is expected that if you intend to send your child to kindy you will do at least one year of formal schooling beforehand. Additionally, I would count at 4yo if that is your kindy year. I was an advanced child and placed into public kindy at age 4, why wouldn't that count in a homeschool setting?

 

I don't at all understand not counting until compulsory school age. That is 7yo in my state, but no one actually delays public school that late. Most kids here start preschool at 4 and the rest start with kindy at 5.

 

However, in the case of a "how long" question, I would probably just name DD's current grade and say we've been homeschooling all along.

Here it is the same thing.  In fact, I know a family that did no formal schooling with their 4 year old and when he started kinder the parents were told he was already too far behind and their best option might be to put him in a formal 4k program then start him in kinder the next year.   :confused1:   It is even encouraged that children attend some sort of formal program at least 2 days a week in 2k.

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I always say, "Since the beginning."  

 

M did go to a preschool nine days a month for a few months.  It was through community ed and super cheap.  But I was never planning on sending her to kindergarten.  I just thought it would be fun for her for a year.  It was - until they changed teachers and the new ones weren't good at all.  That's when we stopped.

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Here's my answer. "My oldest is ion 8th grade. We've always homeschooled." I don't think anyone asking me the question cares about where, when, or if my kids went to pre K.

 

Except I wouldn't say that my child was "in 8th grade," because homeschooled children are ages, not grades. :-)

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I count from kindergarten.   My oldest is in 7th grade, so I either answer that we are in our 8th year of homeschooling, or I say that "DS is in 7th grade and has never been in school."   I don't count preschool.

 

In our social circles, we all refer to our child as whatever "grade" level his/her same-age peers are in.   Our activities are grade-specific for church, co-op, sports, etc.   

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In our social circles, we all refer to our child as whatever "grade" level his/her same-age peers are in.   Our activities are grade-specific for church, co-op, sports, etc.   

 

It is common in my social circles, as well. I just gently, steadfastly referred to my children by their ages (even though I knew their Official Grade Levels and put them in activities accordingly). For homeschooled activities that I was in charge of, though, I always used ages, not grade levels, because that makes much more sense.

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I had to ask Sagg what grade he was in. He wasn't entirely sure, either. 

 

Each August, I would look my dc in the eyeball and say, "Dears, you are now promoted to [insert Official Grade Level]. Go forth and prosper!"

 

It's sort of like knowing a foreign language, lol.

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I would respond from K. I'll tell you why. It keeps things clearer in general generic conversation. I will never forget when I met someone new and she asked how long I had been homeschooling. At that pt it was something like 16 or 17 yrs. She said, "I have been homeschooling almost as long as you. I have been homeschooling for 14 yrs." In my mind I interpreted that to mean she had taken at least 1 of her kids through high school to college. In reality her oldest was 14 and in 8th grade. She considered herself homeschooling from birth. (Her dh told me one day that I should really meet with his wife b/c she was an expert homeschooler and she could share how to homeschool successfully with me. I am not exaggerating. Actual, real conversation.)

 

When communicating it really helps for there to be a standard definition otherwise people talk right past each other.

 

Honestly, # of yrs isn't as informational as grade levels taught. Someone who started with older kids may not have taught anyone to read. Someone who has been homeschooling for a long time but has multiple kids and sends all of her kids to high school has most likely never taught core high school curriculum.

 

FWIW, length of time really isn't a measure of much anyway. It is what is done with the time that is far more interesting. :)

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I count from K. That's when kids typically start public school here. While many send their kids to preschool, it really isn't necessary. My oldest went to K without doing preschool, and he was well ahead of his classmates going in, even the ones that had done preschool. I hadn't done any school with him at home. I just parented him.

 

But really, to answer questions, I'd probably just say "from the beginning". Vague enough. :lol:

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I think I'd say something like "we've been officially homeschooling for X years" and start counting with K. But we have the formal prek expectation in our area too (I did do intentional prek at home), even though mandatory registration isn't required until a child is 6 years old.

 

It's all too complicated! I think any answer plus or minus a year is sufficient for inquiring minds.

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If people ask, I just say that we've always homeschooled. I also usually mention that I've graduated one child and will graduate another next year.

 

Most of the time, I think what people are really trying to figure out is if my kids have ever been in traditional school. Since so many homeschoolers, at least around here, pulled their kids out of school, there's sort of an assumption that you had a definite starting point. The question is fuzzier for those of us who didn't really have a definite starting point, but have just never sent our kids to school. We started in a state where the compulsory age was different than it is here, so that's not clear cut either.

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This question is a miserable one for me because there isn't an answer than really works.

I usually go with 'we wil be officially homeschooling next year when Alex is kindy-age....but in the homeschooling situations we have been in this leads to all kinds of pitfalls when anything other than surface discussion is broached.

 

In my heart, I consider us to have been homeschooling for some time. Dd(just turned 5) is not doing a standard pre-K curriculum, KWIM? She is doing SM 4A and AAS5 at the moment, among other things. She has gone through every level previously, every problem and sentence. Whilst I don't have any kind of pressure to make it 'official', I also do not consider that just part of normal parenting.

However. For casual, surface-contact conversations the official line works...although I tend to get a lot of unsolicited shiny newbie advice and learn-letters/CVC word advice:)

No worries, it is well-meaning!

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When did you start teaching an academic subject like phonics, math and writing? I would start counting from that point.

 

I do think it's funny when people say, "I've been homeschooling since my first child was born."  No, you've been parenting since your first child was born.  Every parent parents (assuming they're not deadbeats.) Not every parent homeschools. As soon as you start teaching an academic subject you start homeschooling.

 

My oldest started phonics and writing at 4.  That was January of 2000. I've homeschooled for 14 years.

 

 

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When my kids were younger, I would tell people that I'd been homeschooling since birth. Now that they are older, I say I have been homeschooling since I actually started "doing school" with my kids, and the "since birth" thing seems silly to me. Looking back, I can see that, although my mindset was somewhat different than that of my friends who planned to send their kids to school, in practice we did things pretty much the same. The only difference is that their kids went to school when they turned 5, and mine didn't.

 

I know a woman who says she started homeschooling when her son was 2 because that is when she started teaching him to read. Never mind that he was 6 when he actually learned to read. She was homeschooling her 2 year old  and felt that what she was doing was comparable to what I was doing with my then 8 and 9 year olds. She would regularly call me to discuss the perils and frustrations of "homeschooling."  :001_rolleyes:

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Except I wouldn't say that my child was "in 8th grade," because homeschooled children are ages, not grades. :-)

 

I don't really find that to be productive, speaking only for myself. My dd12 is nearing high school. In fact, she is already working on some high school credits. When I am asking for advice, I don't ask people what they are doing with their 12 year olds, because one friend may have a 12 year old with a learning disability while another may have a 12 year old doing differential calculus. I ask what people are doing with their 8th and 9th graders, because my dd is on a traditional college track. I want advice about crafting a fairly typical college prep program, not about what to do with a 12 year old who is on a 4th grade level, kwim?

 

My son is 11. He is dyslexic and struggles a lot with reading and writing. In those areas he probably works on about a 3rd-grade level, but in other respects he's right there with the 6th graders. Were he in school, he'd be in 6th grade even if he had an IEP and needed remediation. He would never tell people that he works at different levels in different subjects or just say "I'm 11" when asked what grade he's in. He would say he's in 6th grade. In fact, most of the people in our homeschool group refer to the grade their kids are in. The ones who go out of their way to emphasize age, not grade, are going out of their way to do so. The kids all refer to what grade they are in.

 

That's another thing that seemed important to me when my kids were little--to free ourselves of the school vernacular. Now that they are older, I just don't care about it.

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I understand not counting preschool. Around here, it's the norm (in fact, we basically have universal free preschool and they're talking about requiring that all students attend a preschool or register as homeschooling), but for the sake of clarity, I'd say since kindergarten. But some people said not to count kindy, which is just weird to me. I mean, these days everyone goes to kindy unless they're intentionally opting out/homeschooling. It is compulsory here.

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For those who count from birth or toddler years, would you count those years as "homeschool" if you had sent your kids to kindergarten at age 5? Like, "I homeschooled her for a few years before she started public school kindergarten?"

 

I did educational/enrichment type things with my toddlers, but it wouldn't cross my mind to count it as homeschooling since I would have done those things either way. I think it gets really confusing (and it sounds ridiculous) to count multiple years before the typical kindergarten age.

 

Parenting =\= Homeschooling

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For those who count from birth or toddler years, would you count those years as "homeschool" if you had sent your kids to kindergarten at age 5? Like, "I homeschooled her for a few years before she started public school kindergarten?"

 

I did educational/enrichment type things with my toddlers, but it wouldn't cross my mind to count it as homeschooling since I would have done those things either way. I think it gets really confusing (and it sounds ridiculous) to count multiple years before the typical kindergarten age.

 

Parenting =\= Homeschooling

 

:iagree:

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Eh, I don't think it was homeschooling when I was doing readalouds with a preschooler, but it does seem funny that it is homeschooling if you do the same math with a 7 year old but not a 4 year old. I wouldn't count those early years if someone asked me, but I can see why someone else would. It seems especially funny when some people get hung up on which years count but insist that school grades don't exist "because homeschooling." Are we outside the paradigm or not? ;)

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A simple, "forever" works. 

 

Or sometimes it just *feels* like forever, anyway.

 

My three oldest were in ps thru grades 5, 2, and 1, when we pulled them out.  We began hs'ing fall of 2001 (the week of 9-11, actually) and thus are in our 14th year.

 

Having begun in '01 makes it really easy for my addled brain to count.

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I can understand that many people have a bit of a chuckle when their acquaintances claim to be "homeschooling my 10-month-old" because what they are doing is essentially garden-variety good parenting. But I don't think a parent who is spending, say, 3 hours a day doing formal school work with a 4.5-yo is necessarily "not homeschooling" just because the child is yet to age into compulsory schooling or registration. So I might define home schooling along the lines of regularly spending a significant amount of time and effort intentionally educating a child over and above what a parent is expected to do before or while the child is attending school. 

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I have felt so weird on this topic, because we always knew we would homeschool, but DD is just this year Kindy aged. 

 

Last year we did Singapore Earlybird and the primers to ETC, but really, a lot of parents teach those things without a curriculum - DD just learns better that way. We are in an area where plenty of stay-at-home moms provide enriched environments and/or classes for things like reading and art until their children go to public school in K. 

 

She is kindergarten aged, doing first grade work, but I still feel weird saying we homeschool. 

 

However, we have reached an age where all her compatriots are either in K or have been redshirted. We have reached an age where everyone is asking if she started Kindy this year and little old ladies ask her about school. So I have slowly been getting used to saying we homeschool. 

 

My friend who redshirted her son this year and will send him to K next year has no qualms about saying she is homeschooling her 3 and 5 year old. No one blinks at her so perhaps I overthought it - probably from being on this site. 
 

/rambling

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For those who count from birth or toddler years, would you count those years as "homeschool" if you had sent your kids to kindergarten at age 5? Like, "I homeschooled her for a few years before she started public school kindergarten?"

 

I did educational/enrichment type things with my toddlers, but it wouldn't cross my mind to count it as homeschooling since I would have done those things either way. I think it gets really confusing (and it sounds ridiculous) to count multiple years before the typical kindergarten age.

 

Parenting =\= Homeschooling

This feels so weird to me because you basically tell me my experience is not valid. My daughter specifically asked to read at age 1; we started phonics. At age 2, she was reading well and doing "preschool" math. At age 3, she read fluently and completed RightStart A. At age 4, she reads at fifth grade level, consumes massive amounts of nonfiction, is halfway through RightStart B, and largely does content subjects at a mid-elementary level. This is "parenting" to you?

 

If for some reason we had to send her to school next year, I would argue with the school district to advance her. Yes, I would say I homeschooled her. The main reason we are homeschooling at all is because school grade levels would be such a poor fit.

 

My more visceral reaction to the general question is that homeschooling is a lifestyle, not an age. A decision to homeschool for me was a decision to intentionally and systematically educate my child. This is very different from the free-form educational opportunity and support that many parents give their children.

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I'd count from k5 or 1st grade. I figure the age most children start attending public school or private elementary that is NOT "pre-school" or daycare like pre-school or pre-k. I start with k because most kids my dd's age had started k, and we used curriculum, though a fairly gentle intro to school. Or maybe when your child starts saying they are homeschoolers, which my ds has been telling people since he was 3, but he just started k this year, lol. He says that because I homeschooled his older sis and did preschool at home with him I guess.

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This feels so weird to me because you basically tell me my experience is not valid. My daughter specifically asked to read at age 1; we started phonics. At age 2, she was reading well and doing "preschool" math. At age 3, she read fluently and completed RightStart A. At age 4, she reads at fifth grade level, consumes massive amounts of nonfiction, is halfway through RightStart B, and largely does content subjects at a mid-elementary level. This is "parenting" to you?

 

If for some reason we had to send her to school next year, I would argue with the school district to advance her. Yes, I would say I homeschooled her. The main reason we are homeschooling at all is because school grade levels would be such a poor fit.

 

My more visceral reaction to the general question is that homeschooling is a lifestyle, not an age. A decision to homeschool for me was a decision to intentionally and systematically educate my child. This is very different from the free-form educational opportunity and support that many parents give their children.

Your experience is exceptional. Most parents who claim to homeschool from birth are actually parenting ordinary children in a fairly ordinary fashion.
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This feels so weird to me because you basically tell me my experience is not valid. My daughter specifically asked to read at age 1; we started phonics. At age 2, she was reading well and doing "preschool" math. At age 3, she read fluently and completed RightStart A. At age 4, she reads at fifth grade level, consumes massive amounts of nonfiction, is halfway through RightStart B, and largely does content subjects at a mid-elementary level. This is "parenting" to you?

 

If for some reason we had to send her to school next year, I would argue with the school district to advance her. Yes, I would say I homeschooled her. The main reason we are homeschooling at all is because school grade levels would be such a poor fit.

 

My more visceral reaction to the general question is that homeschooling is a lifestyle, not an age. A decision to homeschool for me was a decision to intentionally and systematically educate my child. This is very different from the free-form educational opportunity and support that many parents give their children.

 

I'm going to be honest and say that I do consider it parenting. You are meeting your child's needs. I had a dd who started reading at a young age completely on her own and I helped her along but I don't consider it anything other than parenting. I home schooled my own through elementary school but I know many who sent them in kindergarten who did the exact same things as you and I prior to K who don't consider themselves to have home schooled; just parented. Some children are gifted or advanced but I don't think that changes the definition of what we do when they are two, three, or four.

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I'm going to be honest and say that I do consider it parenting. You are meeting your child's needs. I had a dd who started reading at a young age completely on her own and I helped her along but I don't consider it anything other than parenting. I home schooled my own through elementary school but I know many who sent them in kindergarten who did the exact same things as you and I prior to K who don't consider themselves to have home schooled; just parented. Some children are gifted or advanced but I don't think that changes the definition of what we do when they are two, three, or four.

I think I agree. My dad was quite advanced and was reading the newspaper before kindergarten because my grandma taught him how to read. He did end up skipping 2-3 grade levels as time went on and started college full-time at age 16. My grandma was anti-homeschooling when I told her that we were going to do that. I guess she didn't consider what she did to be homeschooling.

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Each August, I would look my dc in the eyeball and say, "Dears, you are now promoted to [insert Official Grade Level]. Go forth and prosper!"

 

It's sort of like knowing a foreign language, lol.

My kiddos had a time with that, too! We finished 2013-2014 school year at the end of July and started 2014-2015 in mid-September so all summer early fall my kids kept telling them hadn't made it to k & 2nd because they were still working on it!

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When my kids were younger, I would tell people that I'd been homeschooling since birth. Now that they are older, I say I have been homeschooling since I actually started "doing school" with my kids, and the "since birth" thing seems silly to me. Looking back, I can see that, although my mindset was somewhat different than that of my friends who planned to send their kids to school, in practice we did things pretty much the same. The only difference is that their kids went to school when they turned 5, and mine didn't.

 

I know a woman who says she started homeschooling when her son was 2 because that is when she started teaching him to read. Never mind that he was 6 when he actually learned to read. She was homeschooling her 2 year old and felt that what she was doing was comparable to what I was doing with my then 8 and 9 year olds. She would regularly call me to discuss the perils and frustrations of "homeschooling." :001_rolleyes:

Lol!

It's kinda like the first time parents thing I guess.

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