How was YOUR school experience? Was a poor PS experience a contributing factor for..

[Julie in MO]

choosing to home school?

 

Just thought I'd start this thread today. It came to mind while I was struggling through algebra with my dd. In my public high school (back in the 80's) a new educational trend was introduced called "the open classroom." That meant that there were no walls between any of the classrooms and the school was built in three connected large circles (called pods). Unfortunately, my math class was right next to the English class which had a wonderful teacher who read Shakespeare to his students nearly every day. I LOVE literature. I HATE math. Guess where my attention was spent every day during math period.:lol:

 

I decided I didn't want to deal with ever-changing math philosophies, bought Saxon, Saxon Teacher, and Mr. Reed's supplementary videos and I work through it all with my very patient (and mathy) dd!

 

What's your story?

 

Julie in MO

[mommylawyer]

Oh my! I went to an elementary school - the first in Georgia - to try the open classroom philosophy. From first through seventh grade for me. I don't know if it negatively impacted me as I always did well in school and until I went to high school, open rooms were all I knew. It was easy for me once I went to high school to have 5, 6, 7 teachers because I had to change classes all through elem. school.

 

I homeschool because the public schools (and public education system in general) frighten me - and I believe I do better. That, and I believe there was some indoctrination when I was in school and I think it still exists. I'd rather spend my time teaching my kids than potentially arguing and correcting those involved in the schools they would be attending.

[Renee in NC]

Yes. My totally useless wasted years in ps made me hs. Not that I am doing a great job, but at least they aren't wasting years in school!:tongue_smilie:

[RoughCollie]

I loved school from grades K-6. (I attended civilian schools from grades 7 to 12, and I hated it.) That made it harder for me to homeschool my kids, just in case they were missing out on the fun I had. DH felt the same way. I still wanted to homeschool, but DH did not agree.

 

Times had changed. They took away the fun, along with proper reading and math instruction, and added in a heavy dose of interference in family life and parental responsibilities. That changed DH's mind in a hurry and the children were pulled out after Christmas in first grade.

Edited April 8, 2010 by RoughCollie

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I went to public school and graduated in '88. The school district was experiencing a lot of growth so I was able to attend a brand new elementary school and a brand new high school. We had a lot of new technology to use and the science department was state of the art (for the '80s).

 

I loved my educational experience. I liked my teachers and enjoyed numerous extracurricular activities. We didn't have AP courses or anything like that but I didn't know about those until later so I didn't realize what I was missing out on.

 

The biggest influence on my decision to homeschool is the state of the schools in this little town we live in. No challenging classes for gifted students at the elementary or junior high level. Too many students, too few teachers. Very few extracurricular activities - unless you like sports. With all of the school closures and budget cuts there is no continuity from year to year. In three years in public school my children had three different principles, three different discipline strategies and three different ideas as to what constituted a 'good education'.

[Wheres Toto]

I never heard of the open classroom thing. Sounds very distracting to everyone.

 

I was bored in school. I sat in the back doodling, reading ahead, mind wandering, etc. Totally bored. Luckily I could usually teach myself anything from the book so didn't need to pay attention. It wasn't a bad experience, just a useless one.

 

My brother had ADHD and his miserable experience is part of the reason why I'm homeschooling. My son has some similar traits and I'm positive if he went to public school he'd get in trouble a lot and probably labeled very quickly. I have seen nothing that makes me think they are handling children who are a little different any better than they did 40 years ago.

 

OTOH, my oldest dd has had a wonderful public school experience. It all depends on the school district and the child in question.

[Dobela]

I went to public school and graduated in '88. The school district was experiencing a lot of growth so I was able to attend a brand new elementary school and a brand new high school. We had a lot of new technology to use and the science department was state of the art (for the '80s).

 

I loved my educational experience. I liked my teachers and enjoyed numerous extracurricular activities. We didn't have AP courses or anything like that but I didn't know about those until later so I didn't realize what I was missing out on.

 

 

:iagree: That is almost exactly me. Even to the year LOL. I loved school and had a wonderful school experience. My brother however had a terrible one and he was 2 yrs younger than me, and in the same school. He was undiagnosed aspergers/autism and just seen as a trouble student with odd learning disabilities.

 

I loved school so much that I even became a public school teacher.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

MY experiences in ps, parochial and a prep school did not cause me to do public cyber school at home:) However, when I have doubts about socialization since I am schooling an only child and plus I was brainwashed :tongue_smilie:, my negative socialization experiences in all 3 settings remind me that I am doing the right thing;)

[momofkhm]

I was involved. My teachers liked me. I was a good student. I made good grades.

 

I homeschool because the public schools we are zoned to here are not good schools. The private schools are too expensive once you have 3 and theology comes out when you teach the Bible. I looked into the church that most of the upper level teachers attend. Nope, I don't agree with their beliefs. (For one, it's a personal decision. You are not saved because your father is saved. Not to get into it, just to forestall questions.) And there are no options for bright or remedial students. If you pick up on math (for instance) easily, you can't get ahead of your grade. Or if you are one of those students who isn't ready for Algebra in 8th grade, too bad, it's the only math offered. Granted this is only one private school, but it is the one they were attending.

[Mergath]

I had a horrible ps experience. I had social anxiety, and was started in kindergarten when I had just turned five less than a month before, so I was terrified and cried through most of kindergarten. My mom should have taken me out and held me back until I was ready, but she didn't actually want kids, and was just glad to have me out of the house.

 

I was also one of only a handful of poor kids in a grade full of wealthy children, so they tormented me daily because I didn't have the right clothes/school supplies/friends. Then, when I developed epilepsy in eighth grade, they'd pick on me about that too, pretending to have a seizure every time I walked by and then laughing at me.

 

I did great on my schoolwork and tests because I was at pretty much a fifth grade level when I went into first grade, but got so bored by third grade that I pretty much just gave up trying to learn anything. I'd zip through my work as fast as I could so that I could read my own books, and by sixth/seventh grade, I'd pretty much forgotten how to learn. Then, when I got into high school and there was unfamiliar material, I bombed. It took me until twelfth grade to figure out how to learn and study again.

 

Also, the teachers were horrible. Some of them occasionally joined the other students in bullying me.

 

I loved college, though. I did great academically, and had a wonderful time.

 

This definitely has made me more eager to hs. We don't have a lot of money, we live in a wealthy town, and dd has special needs, so there's no way in heck I'll be sending her to ps.

[MeaganS]

I went to 10 schools from K-11 (I graduated a year early). Of them, only 2 would I actually consider sending my kids to, and of them, only 1 was a regular public school, the other was a sort of charter school. I was totally bored all through school and even then knew it was a waste of time. I remember reading The Three Musketeers in 8th grade in less than a week completely at school. I had so much down time. I don't want my kids to waste their childhood being bored when I can teach them more efficiently at home. My husband, on the other hand, went to a really good school, but he's starting to believe me that he was one of the lucky ones.

 

ETA: I just remembered that my high school science classes were a joke. In Honors Biology, our entire week was one 20 question worksheet from the text book, due Friday. We were allowed to work in groups. Me and 2 other friends would figure it out in 10 minutes and then everyone else would take it and copy the answers. The teacher watched us do it and didn't care. In fact, once we couldn't find the answer and when I went to ask her a question, she just handed me the answer key. I don't ever remember her lecturing, ever. In my Chemistry class, we spent no fewer than 3 days a week watching movies -not educational movies, like regular movies. We watched Cool Runnings 3 times in that class that year. I graduated in 2003.

Edited April 9, 2010 by MeaganS

[Dmmetler]

I was a 2E kid in the first days of IDEA, so that gives you some idea of what I dealt with-basically, I was the first special ed identified student most of my teachers had ever taught, plus this high IQ that convinced them they didn't need to teach them, plus all the social stuff that comes with being both gifted and disabled.

 

Yep, I'd say it contributed!

 

Having said that, it was my experiences as a public school TEACHER that really convinced me that my DD was going to stay out of ps, and after even the parochial school teacher suggested that we homeschool, that kind of forced the issue!

 

OTOH, DH was one of those kids for whom public school was a godsend. He didn't have a good family situation, so school was an escape, and he was fortunate in that he had teachers who effectively homeschooled him at school, providing parallel experiences and keeping him out of boring classes and away from bullies (how many public schools today would allow a high school student to pick up their assignments in the morning, take them to Dunkin Donuts, do them there, and bring them back later?), so it's been hard for him to understand why, since the teachers in poor, urban, inner city schools did such a good job of meeting HIS needs, why I don't trust our nice, middle class, suburban ones to meet DD's.

[Ann@thebeach]

my school experience was good overall except I never learned any algebra despite grades of B and a C+ :001_huh: This hurt me big time in college.

 

My decision to hs had nothing to do with my school experience, but rather how much has changed since then with larger classes, teaching to tests, and lack of respect and values among kids and adults.

[....]

Had horrible, horrible, horrible school experience - the entire 11 years I went to school...

 

During my Junior year of High School, I ran away from home because I was sick of it. I ended up petitioning the school board to graduate a year early and got *&^ out of there.

 

I'm sure that has a lot to do with my conviction to homeschool my kids. I spent every day in that environment for 11 years. I know ALLLLL about it. :angry: And my kids aren't missing out on anything!!

[4wildberrys]

Sort of, I guess. I went to private schools and was the shy kid who was made fun of and teased and name called mercilessly. And then in high school I was ignored and invisible. So I really ended up HATING private schools---and wealthy ones at that. I was determined to make public school work for our kids---but life had other plans in store! Our dd cried every.single.day I dropped her off at pre-school, and then was so worn down with colds by January I had to pull her out. In K, it was the same deal---crying every.single.day with clinging to me---but I did what every 'good parent' does and pulled her away and forced her into the classroom---much to the happiness of the teachers. Well--by 2nd grade in our horrible ps system with VERY emotionally troubled kids---dd was worn out---we were worn out---and the school system didn't care a bit. DS BEGGED me to 'teach him school' when he was 3, so he was reading by 4. I was going to put him in public K, but knew that he would be bored and in trouble with the other little boys because he already knew everything they were teaching in K. So the emotional baggage I was carrying form my own school experience, which I only found out I was carrying still when dealing with idiotic, uncaring teachers and Principles at the public school, definitely played a role in my initially becoming interested in homeschooling and having no interest or tolerance whatsoever for snooty private schools. ;)

[*Jessica*]

Yes. My totally useless wasted years in ps made me hs. Not that I am doing a great job, but at least they aren't wasting years in school!:tongue_smilie:

I could have posted this!

 

I had excellent grades, graduating with honors, but if you met me today you wouldn't know it! :lol: I may test well, but I didn't learn much in school. And it was one of the best school districts in the county. *sigh* What a waste of 12 years of my life!

 

The one thing that sticks out in my mind from most of my school experience is that I could finish an assignment/test in a fraction of the time it took most of the other students but I was NOT allowed to grab a book and read for the rest of the class period. (I guess it had to do with cheating concerns? I have no idea. I was not going to cheat, but I was bored out of my mind!) I had to sit there with nothing to do (but draw on my jeans with blue ink :tongue_smilie:) waiting for everyone else to finish. I would estimate that I spent half of my high school education sitting there waiting, with nothing to do.

 

While I hope to do a much better job with my children than the schools did with me, my main reason for hsing is so that my children don't waste their childhood years. At home they have hours to do whatever they want, and experience I never had. I read the classics and encyclopedias for fun. Think of the things I could have actually learned if I had been given the chance!

[Crimson Wife]

I was bored in school. I sat in the back doodling, reading ahead, mind wandering, etc. Totally bored. Luckily I could usually teach myself anything from the book so didn't need to pay attention

 

:iagree:

I also felt quite a bit of resentment towards my classmates due the lack of intellectual stimulation. In hindsight I realize how unfair that was because the problem wasn't that they were dumb but that I should've been accelerated.

[Orthodox6]

My public school education was top of the line, and I was very happy. I also was graduated from high school in 1973, so come from a wholly different era than that for many members here.

 

My experiences were skewed, however, because from the beginning I was placed with advanced, academically comfortable students. So I do not know what school would have been like for those who struggled with classwork, or who were stuck with less-than-capable teachers.

 

I enjoyed summer programs which today would be called "TAG" programs. We were taught computer programming in grades 7-9. (back when punch cards and huge reams of Z-fold paper were the norm) I went to Mexico on an exchange program with the junior high Spanish club. Our high school Spanish teacher was so gifted that she turned several of us into bilingual speakers by the time that she was finished teaching us. Our high school honors science teachers wrangled library privileges for us at the Rice University library. I could list many more wonderful experiences from my PS years.

 

My school experiences were so good that I was startled to learn how far schools had tumbled by the time that I had children in school. Our decision to homeschool derived from what was in place at that later time, not at all from what dh and I experienced. I wish that we could have sent our children to public schools so strong as were ours.

[Pamela H in Texas]

School was a bit boring. Who wants to learn to read or multiply when you've done it, literally, for years? In high school, it wasn't as bad, but I was beyond high school immaturity. That was probably because I had a much different life than most including no jr high holding tank.

 

But school *was* a contributing factor in a more meaningful way.

 

First, I didn't do jr high. I was in an alternative program that allowed self-pacing which means I did 7th-10th grade in the 3 semesters I was there. That was nice.

 

Also, in 10th grade at public school, I learned about homeschooling and knew what I'd like to do one day :)

 

And lastly, the abuse at the school my kids would have started in was rampant so it just couldn't be a choice.

[Anstar]

DH and I were both homeschooled through middle school, and had wonderful experiences. So yes, our school experience led us to choose to homeschool, but because we had already walked down that path and knew it would be wonderful. :thumbup:

[Laura Corin]

I went to a good private girls' school for my secondary education. The school was fine: there were boring bits, but it was okay. Socially it was fine - I had my one friend who is a friend still.

 

I didn't come to home education because I thought it was better, but just because Calvin's combination of LD and giftedness was impossible for pretty much any school to cope with well. Then we moved to China and there wasn't a suitable school. We have continued home educating during our transition to living in Scotland, but the boys have now decided to go to school in the autumn. The school is, I think, a co-ed version of the one that I attended; husband went to a similar one in the States.

 

Laura

[Mejane]

I went to a "good" school, got mostly A's, had fun socially, but was bored out of my mind. I could not wait to get out. That said, my experience had nothing to do with choosing to hs. It was just what was right for our family at the time based on many life circumstances.

[elegantlion]

I was bored in school ('85 graduate) and took easy classes because I knew I wasn't going to college. I loved history, creative writing, and art and took every art, history, or non-literary writing class I could. I loved those classes.:D I even graduated a semester early and have never regretted it. High school would have been a horrid experience overall except for my junior year I made friends with the three guys who were foreign exchange students. We hung out all year and they made school life tolerable. My dh had a fairly similar experience in high school.

 

Our experience was never used as a reason to homeschool, but it comes in handy when ds states that he hates school. I usually reply that I did too and he has no clue how much better homeschooling is.

 

As we get closer to high school our experience may color HOW we plan high school. I definitely will counsel him on how to maintain a college track while being able to tailor classes to his interests.

[The Girls' Mom]

Mine was...eh...so so.

 

Not great schools. I wasn't popular, but wasn't picked on much either. I WAS bored most of the time. I went to 4 different schools from 8th to 12th grade, and accumulated enough credits to really slack off my senior year and graduate a semester early. By my junior year I was married and ready to just. be. done.

 

It was more the condition of schools NOW, coupled with what I knew went on in schools when I was a kid than my own experiences.

[zookeeperof3]

My school experience was awful, but it was just my set of problems. I went to school in the mid 80's and it was the "thing" to do to mainstream everyone. I was deaf in one ear ( had surgery last year , who knew that birds were so loud) and have 40% hearing loss in the other ear. Long story, short version is that I never understood what was going on in classroom, missed a ton of school due to ear infections, Dr appts, operations etc. No one wanted to be friends with the girl that couldn't hear them. The school refused to teach me sign language or to send me to a special ed room because there was nothing wrong with me, except for hearing loss. I loved the teacher's who wrote the assignments on the board! Then, I knew what was going on. I wound up taking extra classes at the community college, so I could graduate two years early.

 

We still sent our oldest to public school, because that's what you are supposed to do, right? He was bullied and terrorized by the other kids, Sadly, my son inherited some of my hearing problems. We took him out in 2nd grade because he couldn't take the abuse anymore, and my husband was going to get arrested ( yes, they threatened that) for telling them the bullying had to stop. Then, we found all of the gaps in his education and have been busy filling in the gaps ever since.

Kim

[Lara in Colo]

I didn't really have a bad school experience. I had poor parenting. We moved a lot and I had a lot of holes in my education because one school would teach something at the beginning of the year and I would move there at the end. School came easy for me and I never learned how to discipline myself. I never learned study habits, or had someone tell me to practice my music, I skated around living off natural talent until my JR YR in high school, when it all stopped. I couldn't continue: so I quit band, failed trig, cheated my way through AP history and french. (I still graduated in the top 10% of my class in a respected school district.)

 

I guess my decision to HS comes from my mother's complete lack of attention and my commitment to put my children first, no matter the cost. When my oldest was having some social and mild academic problems, I took the time to figure out the problems (mainly she was bored and lacked self discipline) and create a solution- to have one set of rules. one environment, one person to learn to please all day long. When I saw her doing what I did, living off talentand not learning, I knew I had to intervene.

I've gone the charter route, but next yr I'm going solo because I see that I can do a better job, (I checked out at least 20 books on HS, and when I read the WTM I just KNEW this was the way --how does the song go? I saw the light!!) SO here we are, step by step doing it.

 

Lara

[FO4UR]

I had good and bad experiences...the experience that tops the cake was the time I peed my pants in 1st grade after being refused the opportunity to use the bathroom several times. (and I had bladder problems that I saw a doc for:glare:)

 

It's the luck of the draw as to whether your dc gets a good teacher or bad...the odds are not in their favor.:glare: Poor elementary kids are stuck with this person for a LONG time!!!

 

I totally played the system in HS. I had a few gems of a teacher here and there, but for the most part I did what I had to do to get the grades (short of cheating..which most of classmates can't say). I got through calc and physics, w/o a good basic grasp of either...I took 4 years of Latin with little to show for it (compared to what I've seen HSers accomplish. kwim). I was passed over in music groups b/c my parent's weren't influential in the community (I went back and mentioned to my former teacher that I won a full ride for a Master's program based on the voice she overlooked. That felt vengefully FABUlOUS:lol:)

 

All in all, ps did not meet my needs. I'm glad I had the internal fortitude to make college different!

[Shelly in the Country]

I had a fantastic school experience...academically. (The social aspects are quite another matter.) I had a very rigorous high school experience. I went through my school's Honors program and felt well prepared for college. DH, who was homeschooled, convinced me to homeschool.

[kalanamak]

choosing to home school?

 

 

I could go on and on about this, but just today I was thinking about my last semester in high school before I dropped out. Fall of junior year: we had a week study of Paradise Lost. Since I live in a college town, there was a student teacher helping out. It was "college prep" English, which is what everyone but the lowish 10% took.

 

For one week we studied the meaning of Paradise Lost. We did not ONE second of putting it in historical context, bio of Milton, etc. AND we didn't read ONE word of the work. It was "getting you ready" to have it in Freshman year of college, two years down the pike. Every day was a 50 minute lecture re-hashing the Cliff Notes. I wanted to jump up and shout "have you all lost your minds?". This was the last step on my PS road to homeschooling.

[Catherine]

No doubt this is why it took me six years to decide ps was not good for my eldest. NY public schools, at least in the 70's were very good-even in my small rural public school, I got a reasonably good education and it allowed me to go on to a decent college, even though the vast majority of the school's grads did not attend college-because of Regents, the curriculum was good enough for grads to choose college if they wanted to.

[Charles Wallace]

choosing to home school?

 

Just thought I'd start this thread today. It came to mind while I was struggling through algebra with my dd. In my public high school (back in the 80's) a new educational trend was introduced called "the open classroom." That meant that there were no walls between any of the classrooms and the school was built in three connected large circles (called pods). Unfortunately, my math class was right next to the English class which had a wonderful teacher who read Shakespeare to his students nearly every day. I LOVE literature. I HATE math. Guess where my attention was spent every day during math period.:lol:

 

I decided I didn't want to deal with ever-changing math philosophies, bought Saxon, Saxon Teacher, and Mr. Reed's supplementary videos and I work through it all with my very patient (and mathy) dd!

 

What's your story?

 

Julie in MO

 

Hey, I used to teach in a school like that! It was utterly dreadful and the discipline problems were staggeringly bad BECAUSE of the pods. No one could concentrate.

 

I'd like to add this, though.

 

I've come to believe (and I think I've said this elsewhere on this board) that there are basically three levels of education, which I'm going to illustrate with helpful examples!

 

ENGLISH

Level 1:

The Odyssey

 

Level 2:

The miniseries with Armand Assante

 

Level 3:

Percy Jackson

 

HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE

Level 1:

"Dissect the fetal pig."

 

Level 2:

"Answer the chapter questions in the back and then we'll watch the video."

 

Level 3:

"Make a PowerPoint of what science means to you!"

 

AMERICAN HISTORY

Level 1:

"Explain the political, economic, and social causes of the American Revolution."

 

Level 2:

"Answer the chapter questions and then we'll watch Amistad."

 

Level 3:

"Make a poster describing how you feel about the Revolution."

 

...and so on. I realized when I got to college -- and REALLY when I got to graduate school -- that what I'd been given at my public, upper middle-class high school had essentially been a Level 2 education. I had a few exceptions in individual Level 1 teachers who'd really been demanding, but overall, very much Level 2.

 

As a teacher, I'm seeing too many students who've had Level 3. They get to me -- and I'm a Level 2+ teacher, basically -- and they really hit a wall. Many of my students really lack basic skills. I didn't want that for our child, and the school system really seemed unwilling to accommodate some of the issues we had, so deciding to homeschool was a no-brainer from there.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Charles Wallace

[TravelingChris]

I had some very good experiences in school, some very good teachers but I think much has changed and my children aren't me. There were crazy things going on too including the math program we had in elementary school. I also found that one of the reasons I had a good education was that teachers let me read in class. Even though my education was good for institutional education, my kids have gotten better. No, not because I am the world;s best teacher but my kids get education year round, without waiting for others or being pushed ahead even though they need more time on something. They have had wonderful opportunities do to homeschooling, too. We have more time for outside activities particularly in high school. We don't do busy work so kids learn but don't have to do worksheets in every subject every day just so the teacher can tell learning is going on. I get that information from discussion.

[Charles Wallace]

I had a horrible ps experience. I had social anxiety, and was started in kindergarten when I had just turned five less than a month before, so I was terrified and cried through most of kindergarten. My mom should have taken me out and held me back until I was ready, but she didn't actually want kids, and was just glad to have me out of the house.

 

I was also one of only a handful of poor kids in a grade full of wealthy children, so they tormented me daily because I didn't have the right clothes/school supplies/friends. Then, when I developed epilepsy in eighth grade, they'd pick on me about that too, pretending to have a seizure every time I walked by and then laughing at me.

 

.

 

Oh. My. God.

I am so sorry....:grouphug:

[tex-mex]

 

I loved school so much that I even became a public school teacher.

:iagree: I had a positive (albeit in a poor school district growing up -- no AP or top notch programs) school experience. My homelife was abusive and school was a place for me to grow and learn. (I hated being at home!) Loved my friends and small pupil:teacher ratio (we had a graduating class of 97 kids). I was active in many extracurricular clubs, worked part-time, and was the first in my family to go on to college. I chose teaching as a profession.

 

As a schoolteacher -- my eyes were "opened" to the reasons schooling was in trouble. I saw the bureacratic snags, kids lost in the cracks academically, and a system in chaos. I was very anti-homeschooling as a schoolteacher, tho'. I finally taught in a K-8 charter school aimed at hs'ers who didn't want to homeschool but were leery of the ps system. We had an incredible classical education for their children that was accelerated and in my opinion, the BEST time I had as a schoolteacher! I was finally teaching! :D

 

We chose homeschooling only due to my son being in a coma and thus diagnosed with a rare inherited disease. A simple cold or flu would put him in the hospital. God has a wacky sense of humor. I relunctantly hs'ed him since the 4th grade -- he is now a 9th grader and we both LOVE homeschooling! Son is a delight to teach! I miss ps and the classroom... but for now, we are hsing and loving it. ;)

Edited April 8, 2010 by tex-mex

[tex-mex]

Hey, I used to teach in a school like that! It was utterly dreadful and the discipline problems were staggeringly bad BECAUSE of the pods. No one could concentrate.

 

I'd like to add this, though.

 

I've come to believe (and I think I've said this elsewhere on this board) that there are basically three levels of education, which I'm going to illustrate with helpful examples!

 

ENGLISH

Level 1:

The Odyssey

 

Level 2:

The miniseries with Armand Assante

 

Level 3:

Percy Jackson

 

HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE

Level 1:

"Dissect the fetal pig."

 

Level 2:

"Answer the chapter questions in the back and then we'll watch the video."

 

Level 3:

"Make a PowerPoint of what science means to you!"

 

AMERICAN HISTORY

Level 1:

"Explain the political, economic, and social causes of the American Revolution."

 

Level 2:

"Answer the chapter questions and then we'll watch Amistad."

 

Level 3:

"Make a poster describing how you feel about the Revolution."

 

...and so on. I realized when I got to college -- and REALLY when I got to graduate school -- that what I'd been given at my public, upper middle-class high school had essentially been a Level 2 education. I had a few exceptions in individual Level 1 teachers who'd really been demanding, but overall, very much Level 2.

 

As a teacher, I'm seeing too many students who've had Level 3. They get to me -- and I'm a Level 2+ teacher, basically -- and they really hit a wall. Many of my students really lack basic skills. I didn't want that for our child, and the school system really seemed unwilling to accommodate some of the issues we had, so deciding to homeschool was a no-brainer from there.

 

:lol::lol::lol: So true!

As a former schoolteacher... it was when I was teaching in a classical charter school... that I realized what a LOUSY education I had growing up! LOL But I loved school as a kid. (Do feel a tad ripped off over the what-could-have-beens. lol ;))

 

Level 3 is so common in my experience, BTW. Shocking. And then throw in NCLB... omg. *ugh*

 

P.S. I did some observation time as a student teacher in a school with an "open pod" set up -- and thought, "Are they crazy?" It was hard for me to concentrate on what the teacher was teaching. Other classes were loud or even walking by were noisy. That was a nutty idea to teach in a building like that.

Edited April 8, 2010 by tex-mex

[Stacy in NJ]

I went to an extremely progressive open classroom school for early elementary. What a tremendous waste of time and resources. We received no formal instruction in reading, writing or math. When I (and most of my classmates) was still unable to read in 4rd grade, my father put me in a traditional school where I received remedial direct instruction. Six months later I was an avid reader. I think it was a real disadvantage to miss out on grammar stage instruction.

 

I was a reluctant homeschooler. I never had any intention of homeschooling my own kids. Circumstances, namely dyslexia and Tourettes syndrome, interjected themselves into our lives and made homeschooling an attractive alternative.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Stacy in NJ

[Guest]

I went to Catholic elementary school, where I was terrified of the nuns and told I was sinning when I turned a cartwheel on the playground and showed my underpants. Went to public high school, where I was bored out of my mind and read under my desk all the way through. When I got to college I was shocked -- thrilled at the material, panicked because I had not been taught to take proper notes, read non-fiction textbooks, or do close reading.

 

However, I thought the private preschool my daughter went to was wonderful and looked forward to sending her to K there. She was electively mute in preschool, as much as she seemed to enjoy it, and refused to go to kindergarten (the teachers agreed this was probably wise).

 

It's only in hindsight I can say it was a good thing we homeschooled, because my daughter ended up having vision problems, dysgraphia, fine motor issues, and Asperger's Syndrome. She would have floundered in however fine a situation she had been put into if she had been one of twenty other kids all competing for attention. She would have fallen right through the cracks.

[Jean in Newcastle]

School was a mixed bag but my American part of it was not good.

 

1st - 3rd, 5th to 6th - at a 1 room schoolhouse overseas. Basically like being homeschooled in a large family.

 

4th grade - American public school. I mixed up fake vomit to try and get out of school.

 

7th - 8th, 10th - 12th - College prep boarding school overseas. Excellent education which left me totally bored in college. The boarding part was a nightmare but the actual school was a dream.

 

9th grade - American public school. Horrible experience where I spent my days tutoring the druggies because they were the only ones who accepted me. The education was a joke - they put me all in 12th grade classes for that one year and even then I barely cracked open a book.

 

But the real reason I chose to homeschool was the teaching I did after college. My 4th grade girls would come in crying from recess because they would be threatened with rape.

[Chris in VA]

I had a fantastic elementary school experience, with the exception of 6th grade math, when I and 4 others were told to go to the library and teach ourselves. Really stupid idea. Loved the rest of it, tho, and truly loved my teachers.

 

Middle school was one year of ok and 2 years of being bullied, horribly.

 

High school was one year in the same district as I'd always been in and then we moved--not a bad time, great French class, lit, math, humanities. I learned to sign, met my husband, etc. It wasn't bad at all.

[tricia]

I always felt as a kid that going to school was a complete waste of my time. I preferred spending my time reading, hiking, skating, or whatever crossed my mind. I honestly felt, I mean honestly, that I must not have been loved by my parents since they sent me to school. I hated it so bad, and I just knew they didn't want me around and wanted me to suffer. THAT would be it for me. I LOVE being a mom and teaching/learning with my kids. Truly, I despised everyday I spent there. I can't even hardly say the word 'school' because of my strong hatred for it!! And it's not like I had some traumatic experience with it or anything. Just really did not want to be there. Ever! Okay, I know I'm weird!:lol:

[jujsky]

Other than jr. high, my school experience was decent. I was shy & quiet, so once I hit jr. high I was a target for bullies. I learned how to stand up for myself and had an awesome high school experience. I was one of those kids who had friends in almost every social group -- not super-popular, but well-liked by most.

 

My school experience (both socially and academically) had little impact on my decision to homeschool. I taught for a year out of college and saw first-hand how bad the schools in the state I now live in are. That, coupled with the discovery that my precious babies would be sent to the worst school in our district, and the creation of NCLB led to my decision to homeschool.

[Garga]

How was YOUR school experience? Was a poor PS experience a contributing factor for..choosing to homeschool?

 

 

Bad.

Yes.

[jazzyfizzle]

I always felt as a kid that going to school was a complete waste of my time. I preferred spending my time reading, hiking, skating, or whatever crossed my mind. I honestly felt, I mean honestly, that I must not have been loved by my parents since they sent me to school. I hated it so bad, and I just knew they didn't want me around and wanted me to suffer. THAT would be it for me. I LOVE being a mom and teaching/learning with my kids. Truly, I despised everyday I spent there. I can't even hardly say the word 'school' because of my strong hatred for it!! And it's not like I had some traumatic experience with it or anything. Just really did not want to be there. Ever! Okay, I know I'm weird!:lol:

 

 

Not at all! I know just what you mean!

[m0mmaBuck]

I had a great PS experience, both with regard to education and social factors. My decision to HS was based in part on the contrast between what I experienced and what DS was experiencing academically. My good experience made his bad experience intolerable.

[ocelotmom]

I went to one of the best schools in the state, with good academics, innovative programs, and lots of resources.

 

I had a miserable time socially, and was rarely challenged academically, despite being in advanced classes.

 

This definitely influenced my feelings about homeschooling.

 

(That's not to say it was entirely bad. There were a few teachers I'd almost move back there to send my kids to if they were still teaching, and some programs really were very beneficial.)

[Rosie_0801]

Things might have been a bit better socially if my parents had kept me back in kinder, but they didn't. Even the teachers best able to teach and keep a suitable social environment in their classrooms still have to enforce rules and use teaching methods that are unsuitable for the kids they are teaching. I remember the class complaining at having to do stupid aerobics type stuff with the rest of the school. Our teacher, to my surprise, sighed and said she knew it was dumb but she was told we had to do it. We all felt so validated by that that we went along and actually behaved ourselves.

 

I might do a crappy job, but at least I'm allowed to try to do a good job. Not one can force me to do things I think are inappropriate or stupid.

 

Rosie

[musicianmom]

Private school. My experience was about what you would expect for a moderately gifted child in an average school with no honors or AP classes, and being good in school meant you were expected to help everyone else with their homework.

 

By the time I got out my life's dream was to start my own school for accelerated learners, because I knew that traditional school did not help me fulfill my academic potential. A few years later, some of my relatives started homeschooling their kids. I was at their house a lot babysitting and read through some homeschool books and magazines. Then it all came together and I knew I wanted to homeschool my kids.

[littlebug42]

During my elementary years, I was a target. I wore glasses, was smart and in the lower end of the socioeconomic scale in a school where there was a definite hierarchy that depended on where in the district you lived. It was horrible.

We moved when I was in 7th grade into a better area all around. I had an OK Jr High and High School experience but it was dominated by a lot of drinking, irresponsible and promiscuous behavior. This is what figures highly into my desire to homeschool my daughters. On all ends of the spectrum, the social aspect was harmful to me in so many ways that were acceptable in society. It warped my ways of thinking and I went on to do more damage to myself in college following along the same vein. I want better for my daughters.

[Ravin]

My school experience was good in spots, lousy overall. My parents tried to keep me engaged in learning (G/T in the district where it was good, Saturday Scholars program, pulling me out and sending me to private school for 3 years, letting me skip a grade, letting me attend an early admissions college program), but my peers (less so in the private school, which was very small, but in K-4th and high school until I got to the college program) usually did their best to make life miserable.

 

I don't isolate DD from her peers, but I like that I'm nearby to talk to when they cause her problems. I doubt she'd have the social issues I did, she's an extrovert and has no aspie-ish tendencies that I do, but she'd have her own problems in other ways, I've no doubt. Getting her to concentrate on her lessons is hard enough when it's just us, she gets very little done at her enrichment program when they're supposed to be doing seatwork type stuff. She's sociable and distractible, which in my book makes a classroom full of other kids a less than ideal learning environment.

[Orthodox6]

(text removed by me)

Edited April 9, 2010 by Orthodox6