Come share why you decided to homeschool.....

[tsuria]

Perhaps you have a unique reason or specific reason(s) for choosing this path.

 

I'll start....

 

As for us, we started many moons ago with our 2nd child (the medical need for our 1st child far surpassed his educational needs in the beginning as he is severely challenged with a rare syndrome but then took equal importance in his life just a short while later and he goes to a special school). We have lived in three different continents hence the need for hs'ing for our 2nd who is in ps now that he's in 9th grade and we're settled here in North America and am glad to report is taking the highest level of courses possible and excelling. Yes, I am a proud mama. :-) Our little guy had been homeschooled from birth the Montessori-leaning way with some Waldorf and Reggio Emilia peppered in and I am now hs'ing him the classical way + Montessori. Having seen the wonderful results with our 2nd child, it was a natural progression for me to 'teach' our little 4.5yo at home from birth. As a result, he could already read, write and count at 3 and is progressing beautifully now. Then we have a little 5mo baby girl and we do infant Montessori as well. Plus side to homeschooling our little guy is that his sister gets to listen and participate alongside him - singing, listening to bro. reading, listening to audiobooks, responding, etc. It's awesome! :)

[Sasharowan]

We had a brief glimpse of homeschool before kids when my nephew was pulled to homeschool versus going to the "troubled kids" school. Then when oldest was almost 2, we met a homeschooling family that linked us into the local groups. I did much research and talking to dh and we decided to try it. When dd was 5, she started having seizures and then ds8 started seizing at 3.5. Between dr. visits and side effects from meds, neither of them would have done well in ps. Now, they are both seizure free and off med for nearly a year, but our life revolves around homeschool and I can't imagine any other life.

[lollie010]

I just fell in love with my babies and couldn't imagine letting anyone else have them 7:00 to 3:00 five days a week.

[tsuria]

That's awesome Sasharowan! So happy for you and yours that this was the right decision made that long ago. And yes, Laurel T., I'm the very same too - never had anyone else watch my babies except my mom for a few years while I was working and we lived together so I still had my children with me when I returned from work.

[Dmmetler]

My DD's K teacher suggested it, stating that she'd be bored and frustrated in 1st, but wasn't emotionally ready to be in 2nd or 3rd at age 5 1/2.

[Mommee & Baba]

I just fell in love with my babies and couldn't imagine letting anyone else have them 7:00 to 3:00 five days a week.

 

Simply put. I couldn't agree more!

 

For us it was a mix of things. The main reason was because the school that was able to do grade K for our children was across town with no bus route. We are a one car family and that wasn't going to work for us as my dh doesn't work locally, he's nearly an hour away for work. Therefore we spoke of doing the preschool and grade K years here at home. Then I started breeching that line when I found other homeschooling families and dh wasn't resistant but he wasn't jumping into bookstores and digging through homeschool classified websites like myself but he held on to the reins with me for the most part. He never said that ps was a no go or that he's advise we never let our kids go..he is ok with them attending ps. However I'm not. He knows I'm home and therefore it's one of my core responsibilities as being home. Besides caring for the children and the house, I take on homeschooling them. After nearly 3.5 years of homeschooling I think he's finally taking me seriously. He's supportive and he understands why I do it. Before I felt like I had to prove to him I could do it, now he makes it very clear that he knows I can do it and currently am doing an amazing job! Makes me all giggly inside. We've already pre-registerd our children for next year at home again and I couldn't be happier. We get funny looks from our neighbors because the school for grades 1-4th is 4 blocks away. :p

[Dmmetler]

Our K-5 ps is literally across the street. I can stand in my door and watch my DD WALK all the way to the building, so I understand the "but it's RIGHT THERE" argument ;).

[Pamela H in Texas]

My original reason was academic. I wanted my children to go as fast, deep, and broad as was right for them individually.

 

I first thought of homeschooling when I was only a 10th grader myself. This was solidified as my daughter was a toddler and preschooler. She was extremely advanced across the board (writing words before 2, reading ch books and multiplying fractions at 3, extreme interest in science, loved historical fiction).

 

Then it was further backed up when my son was little. He had other challenges to work on so was not academically inclined.

 

My hubby's first reason, otoh, was social.

 

Since then (and it's been many moons as my daughter has graduated and my son is a high schooler), we've added mental, emotional, spiritual, physical and family reasons galore.

[Rosie_0801]

Working my bottom off to pay other people to raise my kids seems kind of silly; and my ideas on education and child raising don't match what the government is willing to provide.

 

When it comes down to it, really, is if I have responsibility for something, I like to have the power to go along with it. If my kiddies go to school, I have the responsibility to ensure they are educated as well as possible, but not a lot of power to do much if they aren't. I can't waltz in and demand they change their maths curriculum! If I homeschool, I have the power to change whatever needs to be changed right away.

 

Rosie

[myfunnybunch]

Our original reason was middle school. Our oldest had a terrible time, socially and academically, as she was very bright and spectacularly disorganized. We pulled her out, I spent two years teaching her organization skills and all the basics she'd daydreamed through in elementary school. Our second has autism and wasn't ready for the middle school social scene.

 

The two girls have since returned to public school because they wanted to and we felt they were ready, but I fell in love with homeschooling and haven't looked back.

 

Cat

[delaney]

DS had straight As the first 9 weeks and then came home with A,B,B,C,D no explanation. That was the straw that broke the camels back for us. My oldest DD is struggling in reading and they have ignored my frequent requests to have her get help. I'm just tired of the crap and since I am more than educated to fix anything I see wrong....might as well. I find that I have a renewed sense of purpose and hope to share my love of learning with my kids as we venture into Latin and other areas I have not seen in years!

[dirty ethel rackham]

I originally learned about homeschooling when looking for alternatives to preschool when my oldest wasn't "potty-trained" in time and I immediately fell in love with the idea. A LLL friend invited me to a park meeting for our local non-sectarian group and I was hooked. I felt like I had come home.

 

I was drawn to the ability to customize the academics like Pamela mentioned as well as create a healthy social environment. Elementary school was a hostile environment for me growing up due to bullying. I didn't want my son's intellectual curiosity socialized out of him. As our family grew it was the right thing for different reasons. My second son had lots of sensory difficulties and school would have been a nightmare. Dd is probably the most "normal", but I think institutionalized schooling could have hardened up some edges in this soft-hearted child.

[lmrich]

I had thought about it when my oldest was 3, but life got busy and it seemed as if my prayers had been answered when I was hired by a private school that allowed me to work part-time and gave me a great discount. Four years later I had a moment that I realized that the head master was more interested in making money than making a great school. I pulled myself an my kids out. I can't imagine going back to that rat race. I wish I had the nerve to do it 10 years ago, but I think the journey has made me more secure in my decision.

 

I love hearing people's stories - keep sharing.

[buddhabelly]

After barely surviving a year at PS kindergarten, my son asked to homeschool. Kindergarten was pretty darn close to his idea of hell. He was very sensitive to touch, and those 5yos can be in each other's space a lot whether it be affectionately, playfully or violently. To this day, when someone gives him a strong bear hug he says, "Ow, ow, ow." Lunchtime in K was the WHOLE SCHOOL in a very noisy cafeteria. Oh, my. Since we live across the street from the PS, I would often let him eat lunch at home. The school eventually found out about that and put a stop to it.

 

We have had five years of fun. So much fun. Hugs, kisses, "I love you so much" right in the middle of science or math, so much music, "I gotta write down this song I just thought of right now," skiing on weekdays, test tubes checked every day for change, tadpoles grown into frogs (still alive and kicking five years later!), Latin translations, adventures to Italy and Mexico (I think he tried to use the same words both places!).

 

Now he wants to go to school again, and so he will go to school in the fall for sixth grade. Wah. He will go to a private school in Southern California and we will live there too, just for the school year. It's not even a boarding school anymore. There aren't any schools for him here. I wish there was a school someplace nicer, like Montana or Idaho. (No offense to you So Cal peeps; I grew up there and actually went to the school in question.)

 

Because of privacy issues, let's just PM if you want to know more about my specific situation.

 

My heart is grieving, and I've been reduced to tears many times during the past few months. Laura Corin, if you're reading this, feel free to commiserate any time. We are so blessed, so it feels wrong to be sad. But the grief is real.

 

Julie

[kalanamak]

Superior academics and life-skills. I hated school. Arbitrary, immobilizing, repetitious, bland, and a social nightmare. I still resent the wasted time.

[mcconnellboys]

I love Montessori methods, especially for littles! I was always enamored of a lot of the Waldorf philosophies, too. My younger son did Montessori for pre-K and K, then we brought him home to hs with his older brother.

 

I began hsing my oldest as a sort of stop-gap measure because we moved to a place where I didn't like most of the schools and the one Montessori school that a psychologist recommended for my older son couldn't take him the first two years we applied (due to balancing their numbers - tons of boys were trying for entry at that time).

By the time they could take him, he was happy hsing, and I was happy with the results, so we continued until he wanted to go back into high school to be with more kids his own age.

 

The youngest is still with me, in middle school, and hopefully will stay with me as I'm not sure that there's any sort of organized school in my area that could cope with him, LOL. Unfortunately, we do not have a Montessori high school here.....

[patchfire]

Our big reason was academics. A subset of that was the desire that our kids not learn that part of school was boredom, because the last thing we wanted was them to associated learning with boredom.

 

Subordinate to that reason? A hope for good sibling relationships, and the ability to travel at whatever time worked best for us.

[Mrs Mungo]

Academics, moving, kids who are accelerated, kids with issues, flexible schedules, we have a whole host of reasons.

[Karen in CO]

I had to do something radically different to save my son. It had not occurred to me to homeschool him before the day I withdrew him. I also never intended to girls, but it just hasn't yet seemed to be the right time to send them to school. Here is a thing on my blog that I wrote a couple of years ago. It my best description of why I homeschool.

[swellmomma]

I wanted to start homeschooling as soon as I was pregnant. However, by the time the kids were school aged I was a single mom of 3 and working. I thought I had no choice but to put my oldest in school for K. His K year was a disaster. We were still trying to get a Dx on him, he was in a K class of 32 kids, 3 of which had special needs (1 of them extremely profound). There was 1 teacher, 1 F/T aide for the one kid, and 1 p/t aide for the rest. I was getting lots of phone calls from the school but felt I had no choice but to keep sending him there. Mid year they had a sub, who was of the belief that the kinds of Special needs my son had(and the other 2 milder cases in the class) were not actually true Dx. She did not bother to read the file the teacher left on the desk explaining my son was a runner, and that due to the portable having a rear door that lead out of the classroom into the school yard, needed to be closely supervised. My son disappeared from that classroom for 2 hours and no one noticed. It was the middle of January, he only had on his indoor sneakers, pants and t-shirt. No boots, coat, gloves etc. Alberta Winters are extremely cold, especially in January. Thankfully a neighbor to the school noticed my little 5 yr old son wandering around in teh cold, and took him into her home. SHe warmed him up, gave him a snack and sat watching the school to see if anyone would comeout looking for him, or police arrive or something. Nopre, no one even knew he was gone. She took him back to the school and they were surprised to have him walking in the front door. All that is bad enough but then the school tried to sweep it under the rug and not even tell me about the incident. I found out because that neighbor woman waited in front of the school for when the K kids were dismissed to see who was picking him up and filled me in. The school changed their story several times when I confronted them and I flipped out.

 

I still felt trapped, I thought I had no choice but to take him. So for February, I only took him to school if the main teacher was there, no subs. She was absent A LOT that month. Then they started an ice skating unit for PE, he was scared to skate and would not step on the ice, so I kept him home for those days too. In the end he only went to school 6 days that whole month. I had quit my job at the start of the month to keep him home, so when that month was over I realized I was stupid to think I had no choice but to send him when clearly I wasn't sending him. I homeschooled him the rest of that year. That summer, his behaviours got worse and I had to have him go through an inpatient psych evaluation. When it was time for grade 1 I felt that there was no way I could homeschool him again when he was clearly special needs. I sent him back to ps for grade 1, and dd started K (different school this time though).

 

It was terrible for dd, I was back to having daily calls from the school, her teacher had to go on medical leave due to throwing her back out from dealing with dd. It was just bad. Ds faired a bit better in grade 1. We were non-residents at our school so an IPP was optional for the school to use. His gr 1 teacher was a former special needs teacher and she got an IPP going, and worked one-on-one with him on social skills and other interventions he needed. In that regard it was good, BUT he struggled with the academic side of things anyway. I spent the summer after grade 1 homeschooling him to get him caught up to start gr 2.

 

Gr 2 for him was horrid. His teacher did not utilize the IPP the gr 1 developed, in fact she tossed any and all suggestions the gr 1 teacher gave. SHe felt it was coddling him and if we forced him to follow the regular program he would learn to step up and do it. By the end of gr 2 he was talking about suicide and was Dx with depression and put on antidepressant meds. HE felt he was too stupid to live because he could not do early gr 2 work and the teacher kept pushing and pushing him. They were refusing to hold him back the following year, claiming it would hurt his self esteem. I am sorry but my 7 year old was planning suicide strategies, how much more can they hurt his self esteem.

 

Meanwhile, dd in gr 1 was doing just as badly, she had daily detention, had a suspension, I had daily notes and phone calls from the school. She is extremely bright and was playing them all but time, causing huge distruptions in class, refusing to do her work. It got to the point where she did nothing at school all day, and the teacher would send all her work home for homework and we would have to plod through 5-6 hours of homework for a 1st grader. School became daycare rather than a learning environment.

 

I was really struggling hard to figure out what to do. I knew they could not continue in school, but I had to work to support us. A former friend owned an out of school daycare and needed a new supervisor, she knew I had the training and experience to do the job, so at Easter she emailed me and I started the next week. For the remainder of that school year I left the kids in school, and read all I could about homeschooling. I knew the daycare closed for summer and planned to keep my normal day job during the summer, but I had a m/c in June and quit the normal job(in a ped's office). When the kids finished school for the year, I was was eager to start homeschooling them, and did not have to work for the summer, so we learned to be together everyday again. We started homeschooling that coming fall for Gr 2 & 3 and have not looked back.

 

I am now a die hard homeschooler, there is no way my younger 2 will ever step foot in a school if I can help it. My older have made me promise never to send them back. We spent our first year deschooling. We managed to eliminate my ds's depression, and reduce his anxiety enough that his antidepressants were stopped. I spent the next year focused only on behaviour. We have a long way to go in that department, but I am glad I took the time that year to focus on it. So while last year was technically our 3rd year it was more like our first, which means I learned a lot about what I want for the kids, what their learning styles are like, my teaching style etc. It was a hellish year which made things difficult and really I consider it mostly a wash of a year.

 

Despite all the problems with the kids, or how far behind we are, or how hard it is to teach 4 kids at several different levels, I will never ever feel like ps is my option. I know that no matter what this is what I am meant to be doing with my kids and that God will provide what I need to succeed at it. First it was a job that paid well, that I could take my kids to, and was only before and after school. Then it was other sources of income that have allowed me to stay home fulltime. Now it is ownership of my own home in a safe community at a price I can afford while continueing to stay home, so I do not have to worry about getting a job to afford to move elsewhere. It is the respite care, the behaviour consultant and the benefits of homeschool funding that help make it possible for me to keep on this journey.

[Laura Corin]

My heart is grieving, and I've been reduced to tears many times during the past few months. Laura Corin, if you're reading this, feel free to commiserate any time. We are so blessed, so it feels wrong to be sad. But the grief is real.

 

Julie

 

I've had twinges of grief but I'm not overwhelmed. I may well be in the autumn, when the time comes. For now, we are all excited about the change and it feels right for both my boys. I wish Hobbes had stayed home for longer, but I am sure he will thrive - he just wants the kid time and the variety that school will offer.

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

Calvin is gifted and learning disabled (coordination difficulties). The school had no idea what to do with him and nor did the second school. At that point we moved to mainland China and there wasn't a suitable school, so home education seemed the obvious thing. Hobbes just followed along.

 

Laura

[rootsnwings]

My first went to ps, K & 1st grade. He was BORED. He's not gifted. He's not adhd. He's just your run of the mill kid who has a natural curiosity to learn and the public school system just wasn't the place for him. They were too busy making sure there was NO child left behind while MY child was essentially being stunted from his full potential because they couldn't progress at the rate he needed to go. I wasn't down with that!!! I quit my full-time career the summer before 2nd grade & was bound and determined to give him the best education I could. He's doing great now and is happy as can be! I know this was the right decision for my son, and our family and I would never want to change the way we live our life.

[delaney]

here's another great reason....

a friend of mine said her daughter(8th grade) came home from school and said that a girl on her bus was kicked off for giving sexual favors to boys on the rides home...:eek:

[Valerie in Chicago]

Three words:

 

Chicago. Public. Schools.

 

DH has been in the system as a teacher for 18 years. The first real-life homeschooling parent we ever met was a colleague of his. Several other of his colleagues are homeschooling -- they won't even think of putting their own children into the system in which they work. And this is at one of the city's best schools, where students have to apply and be tested to get in.

 

We're homeschooling for as long as we can.

[mom31257]

My dd was in private school for K-2nd. My dh was in administration of the school at the time. I planned on homeschooling her for 3rd grade, just to have more time with her before she became a pre-teen. During that year, dh lost his job due to merging the school with another, and he went to public school. Free tuition was gone! The only way we could afford private school was for me to go to work at one, which meant little brother would be in daycare. We were not open to that option, so we kept homeschooling. Now we love it, and will more than likely continue it.

[elise1mds]

One word: Asperger's.

 

My son had gone to a private preschool because I instinctively knew already that he couldn't handle a class with 30 students, but even in a class of 17, he was getting in trouble. At one point, they told me that if he had one more incident, we were going to have to discuss possible expulsion. We had him tested, and the results were a toss-up between ADHD and Asperger's. Since you can medicate ADHD, we tried that, and it seemed to help somewhat, so we kept him at the school and put him in kindergarten. However, the meds never seemed to work for very long, and he was still having a lot of meltdowns and OCD-type symptoms. Homeschooling had always been in the back of my mind, and as I watched him get bored with the academics and struggle with everything else, I finally decided to bring him home. I read WTM and ordered some curriculum and took him out. He's been off his meds since last July, and most days we don't miss them, and he's thriving. He still tells me that he is happy not to have to worry about being in a class with other people, so we will keep doing this till he's ready to go back, if ever :)

[laughing lioness]

Superior academics and life-skills. I hated school. Arbitrary, immobilizing, repetitious, bland, and a social nightmare. I still resent the wasted time.

 

:iagree:

[woolybear]

Working my bottom off to pay other people to raise my kids seems kind of silly; and my ideas on education and child raising don't match what the government is willing to provide.

 

When it comes down to it, really, is if I have responsibility for something, I like to have the power to go along with it. If my kiddies go to school, I have the responsibility to ensure they are educated as well as possible, but not a lot of power to do much if they aren't. I can't waltz in and demand they change their maths curriculum! If I homeschool, I have the power to change whatever needs to be changed right away.

 

Rosie

 

So well put, Rosie!

[Dinsfamily]

I started thinking about hsing before I was even pg with my 1st because several of our good friends were hsing families and I loved the interactions they had with their children. As we researched more about it and thought about our own ps experiences, dh and I decided that it was the route we'd like to pursue with our dc. Our favorite benefits are: to share with them our worldview and apply it to all areas of study, being able to customize materials to our individual dc, and spending time with them as childhood is over so quickly. There are a lot more, but those are at the top.

 

Our K-5 ps is literally across the street. I can stand in my door and watch my DD WALK all the way to the building, so I understand the "but it's RIGHT THERE" argument ;).

 

Ha, us too. My friend doesn't understand why we don't utilize the great ps system when it's right across the street.

[Aurelia]

I wanted to provide a better environment academically (I am really unhappy with the changes brought about by NCLB) and socially. My husband got shuffled around to school after awful school as he was growing up, since his family moved a lot, and I suffered nearly paralyzing boredom throughout my public school years. We knew we didn't want that for our child, and also we didn't want her learning "manners" and other habits from the neighborhood kids.

[Only me]

We originally took my middle daughter out halfway through kindergarten. We were very unhappy with her teacher and the way she handled things. For instance, the teacher would get several phone calls a day. During the calls the kids would have to stop what they were doing and put their heads down on the desk while the teacher talked on the phone. My daughter was also shy and the teacher had a problem this yet was very quick to punish kids for talking to much. She really sent the kids mixed signals. Academically my daughter was ready for a lot more. Most kids were learning to count to 20 and my daughter was adding and subtracting, knew all of her letters, etc. She was taken out for "enrichment" but this was only for 1/2 a week and was useless. We really felt that it was a waste of time academically and socially the teacher was making my daughter's shyness even worse. We originally pulled her out 1/2 way through kindergarten planning on sending her back for first grade.

 

At the time my oldest daughter was in 3rd grade. Actually we were quite happy with the teacher that year but were overall unhappy with the school. The year before quite a few people complained because their kids weren't being challenged. The principal replied by saying "It's not like any of these kids are going to Harvard anyway". Second grade was a nightmare. The teacher would often send home spelling lists for the kids to learn and the words were spelled wrong! She would read stories to the kids that the kids were supposed to read to the parents at home. She was mispronouncing some of the words so that is the way the kids were learning them. Her class was way behind all of the other 2nd grade classes. I pointed this out to the principal. She didn't believe me until she confronted the teacher and found out that I was telling the truth. At the end of the year they took standardized tests. The score on this would determine if the student could go to gifted classes the following year. My daughter was very bored in the class and we were all pretty sure that she would test very high. The teacher lost her test! So after spending all those hours taking the test they wanted my daughter to take it again. My daughter has test anxiety and there was no way I was going to force her to take it again.

 

At the end of my daughter's 3rd grade year we also found out that she was on a "hit" list. Apparently a boy in the class wrote a list with a few kids on it and my daughters name was on it. He had shown it to one of her friends. These were girls that he liked so much that he wanted to kill them. Very scary and creepy. I realize that he was only in 3rd grade at the time but I found it to be very disturbing. I ended up calling the principal after school to tell her about it. They confronted the boy's parents and it was true that he wrote the note and he couldn't explain why he wanted to kill them but that of course he wasn't really going to do anything about it. Both the principal and the parents were upset since I was overreacting. That was the last straw. I kept both girls home the following year.

 

Those were our original reasons but we have added many through the years.

[JenC3]

We decided 11 yrs ago to homeschool. Dh and I had just started dating and I read the WTM and it made perfect sense to both of us. I'm not opposed to school, but this is th right choice for our family right now.

[Veritaserum]

Our reason is because we want our kids to have a classical (and individualized) education, which is simply not happening in public schools. Private school would probably be our first choice, but with five kids it's prohibitively expensive.

[Denise in Florida]

I just fell in love with my babies and couldn't imagine letting anyone else have them 7:00 to 3:00 five days a week.

:iagree: Very similar feelings. I wasn't ready to send my 5 year old off to school, I thought we would homeschool a few years and then transition to public school. My mom had been encouraging me to homeschool all along so it wasn't a strange idea. We never got around to transitioning to public school. My oldest 'started' school in 11th grade dual enrolling at the community college and is now off to university. Youngest is still at home and will dual enroll next year.

[Catherine]

My eldest child had a severe depression, out of the blue, when he was 11, and was very unhappy with his school, to boot. It was a year long, stop gap measure to start with. \

 

Two additional kids, and 5 years later, I'd think very hard before putting them back into school. Eldest will graduate soon and other two are thriving, so it's homeschooling for the foreseeable future.

[Mergath]

My dd is only 21 months old, so we haven't begun yet, but I fully intend to homeschool when she's old enough, and am using this time to learn and plan. :)

 

I plan to hs because I think the ps system as a whole is seriously messed up, to put it bluntly. Children should not be missing out on art, music, and recess to give them more time to learn how to take tests. I'm a fairly intelligent person, but after spending twelve years in the ps system, it took me another five years to really love learning again, and I don't want my daughter to go through the same thing.

 

Also, there are just too many horrible influences out there for me to feel comfortable sending dd out into the fray for most of her waking hours. We're not overly religious or anything- I'm a Buddhist-leaning Pagan, and dh is agnostic- but even for us, the schools are becoming nasty, dangerous places for a lot of kids. I look back on what I was doing when I was fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old (and this was ten years ago!) and if dd is doing the same things when she's a teenager, I'll probably have a heart attack. And from what I've heard, it's only getting worse.

 

I'm a college and extensively self-educated person, and I know that I can give dd a much better education than she could ever get in a crowded, noisy class with thirty other kids.

[Airmid]

NCLB started the discussion and Everyday Math was the final straw.

[Jenny in Atl]

I could no longer afford private school, and my youngest fell ill with Type 1 Diabetes, as a baby. Putting Fi in school was out of the question, so if I was going to homeschool one, I might as well do both. It has a wonderfully frustrating and amazing journey... so far, and I would do it again in a heart-beat.

[Time4tea]

For me it was seeing my son start to fall through the cracks. He had special needs and some teachers deal better with it than others. I began to feel like I was playing russian roulette with his education - sometimes he would get a good teacher and other years not. That was 13 years ago. My reasons have changed but I hope to always home school.

[mom2att]

The initial reason: because I'd already done so much at home with my first-born that sending her to K to learn her letters seemed like a monumental waste of time.

 

The after-the-fact reason: I found I liked what we were doing so much that I didn't want to give it up, ever.

 

The oh-I-see-it-now reason: Child #2. School would not have worked for him. He'd probably be okay now, but initially it would have been a disaster.

 

The reason we're still at it: Maximum family time--I just like being with my kids!

[Susan in TN]

I never even considered homeschooling until my oldest was 5 (in preschool) and I was implementing a major diet change for him for Asperger-type behavior. I was reading something on a forum related to the diet and the writer mentioned in passing that she homeschooled her kids. That was it. The next day I checked out every book on homeschooling that our library owned - the most important of which was The Well-Trained Mind :).

 

I'd known about homeschooling before that, but it was never something I actually considered doing. I think God led me to that diet forum post to show me the plan He had for our family.

[Tidbits of Learning]

The main reason...

ds7 has severe food allergies to milk, corn, and peanuts. We tried ps for 6 months and he had an accident when another k'er smuggled in m&m's to the classroom and gave him one. Then the teacher tried to wash his mouth out with water instead of reading his allergy action plan:001_huh:...luckily, I was in the carpool already and took over when the teacher came running to my car.

 

reasons to bring home the other kids too...

BULLYING-dd9 had a chair thrown at her and was hit upside the head by the same boy in one week and they didn't punish him at all until I showed up and threw a hissy at the school.

[....]

Kid #1 was winning essay contests in 1st grade, worked several grade levels ahead, plays several musical instruments (heck, writes music) and was becoming all-around very, very eccentric. Grade school was OK for us, but I was starting to become worried about what Middle School would look like for her.

 

Kid #2 was getting ready to start 1st grade and didn't even know his letter sounds. :glare: The school placed him in a Remedial Kindergarten class with a special teacher. He "hated" school after the first week and was constantly begging to stay home. His teacher told me that he was still "basically a kindergartener" at the end of the school year.

 

Kid #3 has an extremely unusual personality and I'm afraid she would sit in her K classroom for about 5 minutes, get bored and walk out (like she did in Sunday school yesterday). :001_huh: Let the phone calls begin (hanging head in shame). Not sure what her deal is yet...

 

 

One year later...Kid #1 will be skipping 3rd grade this fall and working on a 4th grade curriculum (except math). She's also starting cello and art classes. Kid #2 is on a SOLID 2nd grade reading level and is soaring in math/science (I think Kid #2 will pass up #1 in math in a couple of years). His best friend also homeschools, so we do schoolwork together all the time. We are working on Kid #3's odd social behavior (like walking out of Sunday school :tongue_smilie:), but it's a work in progress.

 

My kids unanimously prefer homeschooling and I doubt we will go back to ps (except due to unforseen circumstances).

[Pippen]

I wanted to provide a better environment academically (I am really unhappy with the changes brought about by NCLB) and socially.

 

Count me in. I pulled my youngest out for her last year of elementary because was absolutely miserable last year. Our school low income/at-risk population has doubled there since my kids started and between the behavioral problems and the curriculum changes brought on by NCLB, it was no longer an environment she as a mature, academically minded student could thrive in. Reading has become the all important subject area followed closely by math. Teachers were told this year they could take minutes away from science and social studies if needed to improve math and reading scores.

 

She wants to return to the junior high next year even though she loves being homeschooled. Behavioral problems are dealt with swiftly and the emphasis on NCLB isn't as pronounced, but I'm struggling as I can see the benefits to hs her especially of my three.

[Carrie12345]

Initially, I knew my son was ahead academically but delayed socially (aspie). There were no programs in place to suit either end of his needs.

 

While he remained in school for another 2 years, that evolved to include bullying issues, administrative ignorance of Aspergers, increased academic gaps (both "ahead" and "behind"), a need for more family togetherness, and a general distaste for most things mainstream. ;)

 

Which is why my goal went from homeschooling ds to homeschooling all of my children.

[LoveBaby]

I had *never* considered homeschool until it was time to send our oldest to K. The summer before I kept meeting people who homeschooled or were going to homeschool or wished they could homeschool. Then it was time to send her off and it was so hard!

 

My son was in preschool as well and we had a 8mos old son, too. Ferrying the children back and forth to school with an infant was nutty. It was always time to go during his nap and he was grumpy. Not to mention that keeping someone elses schedule was so not my thing!

 

Then, my DD came home tired and cranky and didn't want to play with her brothers anymore. Then she was struggling with reading and we weren't getting much help at the school. If I have to do all the teaching after school anyway, then why do I send her off every morning? The final straw was when she came home, at 5yo, and told us that "Katie was going to show them how to dress s*xy for boys, tomorrow, mom!"

 

Many things led up to it, but that was the straw that broke the camels (my DH!) back!!

[MamaT]

My kids had what I thought was a great public school. Then my oldest was tested and went into the gifted program for 3rd grade. I hated the way they separated the "gifted" kids from all the other children. They didn't even go to P.E. or lunch with anyone else. They tried to give them such an air of superiority. The same year they moved my second son from K to 2nd grade. He was still bored and emotionally much younger than the other children. Then he was tested and was going to move to the same gifted program as my older son. The lady at the testing office told me that my son was very gifted and the public school system had nothing to offer him. I pulled them both out to homeschool them. That was 1995, and they are graduated now. I am homeschooling their four younger siblings. I love how close my children are to each other and to dh and I. I know this is a result of spending so much time together. I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Having an accelerated student was key but the real reason....

 

MEAN, ignorant, intolerant people...

 

DS has Tourette Syndrome and we were finding that junior high school students and the staff who work with them are not very tolerant of tics. Not only could I give DS the education he was craving but I can ignore the tics when necessary and give him shoulder rubs to help ease the pain when the tics are strong. I would never send him into the hall or the nurse's office or tell him to control himself.

 

And this was after the inservice with all of his teachers and junior high staff. To top it all off the school district's theme that year was "Developing Tolerance". It seems they focused more on skin color and socio-economic status and left out inconsequential topics like TS, Autism, etc.

[FaithManor]

DD went to Kindergarten at a local Lutheran School. Great teacher, loved her! But, DD was ready to read and some of the others in the class were not quite there yet. So, I just started with both a list of common sight words and sounding out short vowel words. I bought early readers and wrote some little "Zac the Rat" stories for her. She took to it and quickly became a reading machine.

 

Of course, this meant that she got her easy K'er work done quickly (she could count to 100, skip count by 5's and 10's, etc. before she went to Kindergarten) and was bored. She never acted up. I sent books for her to keep in her desk to read when her work was done and also some artwork - coloring - etc. The teacher never had any problems with her but she made the comment to me one day "You really should stop teaching concepts to 'R' at home because she isn't going to fit in with the other kids in the future. If she gets very far ahead, the other children will resent her and start picking on her. We've had this problem in the past."

 

Uhm....I guess I didn't take too well to that comment. Dh was NOT IMPRESSED! She was an excellent teacher, but like many, very indoctrinated into "group" think. Sadly, from the being picked-on perspective, she was probably right. Anyway, I decided that it was wrong for DD to be held back and wrong for the kidlets not ready to read, to be forced into it before they were mature enough. So, with great expectations, we announced she would be homeschooled.

 

She also attended a different Lutheran School for 5th and 6th grades. It was a wonderful school and she thrived - no gaps in education for her. She was the top in the class but the whole atmosphere was one of love and respect and there was true discipline so the peer relationships were really good. Also, they mixed up the ages quite a bit - older students assisting younger students with everything from sitting still in Chapel and finding hymnbook numbers to being reading buddies and tutoring in math. The entire educational philosophy was stellar.

 

I had birthed three boys in three and half years and felt I needed a break from home schooling. The school needed a music teacher to assist with band and to teach 3-4th grade choir. The music teacher had huge responsibilities in addition to music plus coordinating all of the music for the church which had three services every weekend and Lent and Advent services during the week during the holidays. She and I became great friends and loved working together. My classes occured during a lull in the Pre-school sessions and so the pre-school teacher took my three littles and sang to them, played with them, laid them down for naps, etc. An 8th grade girl who was wonderful with children and always done with her work VERy early in the day, helped as well. I also coordinated and ran science labs for 6th-8th grade. The boys would hunker down on a blanket in the corner with duplos, etc. The baby was easy going and would fall asleep amidst the toys.

 

I could have done that forever! But, when DS#1 entered kindergarten, he got strep-throat that was hard to treat along with a huge growth spurt while he was sick. He had always had a minor prolapse of his tricuspid valve but the serious sickness coupled with the fast growth rate caused the leak to widen - A LOT! The cardiologist told us to take him home from school and keep him healthy. So, I left my dream job and we haven't looked back. We have homeschooled all of them ever since.

 

DS is fine now. Completely asymptomatic and healthy as a horse but we are commited to homeschooling all the way through.

 

But, I sure hope my dream job, dream school, will have room for me when the last one graduates!

Faith