If you knew ahead of time that homeschooling would be temporary...

[Mommy22alyns]

Can you please share why? I'm genuinely curious. I have no agenda either way.

[astrid]

Dd is our only child, and she went to public school until April of her second grade year. For a variety of reasons, we pulled her out then and only planned to homeschool her through 8th grade. We have always planned to re-enter her back in high school.

 

Reasons are varied, but the main one is that she loves animals and science and has always had her heart set on attending the really top-notch Vo-Ag program at the regional high school in our area. It's an amazing program.

 

Molly will go to college, and we feel that she'd be well served by getting some practice at budgeting her time, sitting in lecture classes, completing assignments, and working on group projects before she gets to college (and we start paying for it! :001_smile:)

 

We just started 8th grade, and it's bittersweet. We have loved our homeschool journey, and will be sad to see it end, but are excited for all she'll experience in high school.

 

There are other reasons as well, but they've been hashed out here by others before and I've read the comments. No point in revisiting it. We all have our opinions.

 

So that's it in a nutshell. Always been a temporary gig for us, and we're so grateful we could do it.

 

astrid

[Pippen]

I pulled my daughter out of ps for 5th grade because she really, really needed to get out of the elementary school she was attending. She re-entered the middle school this year and overall it's going well, thanks especially to a couple of superb teachers.

 

We had a great year together and both of us are open to her coming home again should the need arise.

[dm379]

We move a lot. If we wouldn't have homeschooled half her education, dd would have hit 11 schools by the end of the 4th grade. Ds would have been to 10 by the end of 2nd.

 

Every time we move, I research like crazy and we make the decision all over again depending on what the local ps has to offer. I know our moving schedule for the next 2 yrs. and they will not be attending any of the local schools in any of the places we'll be living. They attend ps when I feel they can offer them more than I can. Private school is never an option because we just can't afford it.

[Jamee]

We are only homeschooling while DS is in a particular elementary school that we have some real issues with. Right now, our plan is for him to enter middle school next year. If it happens that we're still here when it's time for DS2 to go to the school, he too will be home schooled. Otherwise, we have no plans to continue. It's been good for him though. He loves have such a variety of subjects, which he should get at the middle school too. We'll see.

[Closeacademy]

Our origional plan was Montessori but with 2 dds we couldn't afford it and after a bad preschool year with ps intervention we decided to homeschool. This plan was to do it all the way through. But with the new International school with the IB program, we are thinking we will put them in there for high school. It is a charter school as well.

 

:001_smile:

[Lolly]

I pulled dd17 out after first grade. I would homeschool her until 7th or 8th when she would return to either ps or private just because it seemed like a good plan. We did follow it. I lasted all of 5 weeks before I pulled her back out. She is a senior this year.:001_smile:

[lynn]

We took ds out of school in 2nd grade. I could not take the phones calls from the school any longer. There were some women at church talking aout their homeschooling so I figured it was worth a try. DH and I decided at from the beginning that we would take it on year to year basis.

[Dmmetler]

We're on a year to year basis right now, but I anticipate hsing through at least 5th grade, maybe through 8th. DD is a really extroverted kid who does well in groups, and she's an only child, so she's one of the only personality types that I can see ps really working well for, but our local schools really do NOT do well at meeting the needs of children who are above grade level academically. The best they could offer DD was that they could set her up at a computer in the back of the room to do online classes at a higher level, and that simply doesn't work with my extroverted, love language is positive affirmations, look at what I'm doing child. Not now, anyway.

 

By middle school, though, there are some really good magnet programs that I can see might meet DD's needs in other areas (I'm specifically thinking of the performing arts magnet, but there are some other good ones, too) enough that she wouldn't mind academics being lower than she'd like, and high school has even more options, so I can see her wanting to go back then. I'm also looking at the dance schedule the older girls tend to have and thinking that it sure would be nice for the public school system to pay for at least SOME of those classes!

[snickelfritz]

WE started homeschooling because dd, at 4, was not evenly developed. She was mature in enough areas that we didn't want to hold her out ( June birthday--so we considered it), but immature in 1 critical way so that we didn't want to send her. We decided that homeschooling would be a year-by- year choice.

 

I think I'm doing a good job. But I do have a lot of anxiety about making sure we're on track. We're currently talking about putting her in a private school either 3rd (next year) or 4th. I've talked to her church teachers and seen her around peers enough to know she fits in. And that 1 major immaturity issue has resolved itself. My only remaining concern is that she is very high energy. Not ADHD, since she can focus, but she is wiggly. A large part of me feels relieved that I could be relegated to a support position for her academic decisions. But I treasure the time that I've been able to spend with them and that they've been able to spend together.

 

We're still discussing whether we would send younger dd also (because she wouldn't have a playmate at home like older sister did) or keep her home another year or so to give her the one-on-one her sister got.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I knew when I began homeschooling DS in 6th grade that he would go to public high school. DH won't allow homeschooling for high school. This is my 3d and final homeschooling year. I have enjoyed it, I just hope that it has been enough to keep DS up to where he needs to be when he goes to high school next year.

[lisamarie]

At this point the plan is to HS them through 8th grade and then to put them into a private Christian school for high school. If we had the funds, we would put them in private school the whole way, but we don't.

 

I'm not against HSing the whole way, but I just think for our kids, it'd be better for them to goto school. And to be honest, I have not seen a very positive outcome of the HSers I know who HSed through high school. Only a few went onto college and FINISHED college. I would say only 3 out of 40 of them actually got a degree--most of them are still at the CC after 5 years or else have given up on college altogether. It doesn't give me much hope for that track of things. I want my kids to goto a 4 year university and be done in under 5 years unless they go into something specialized that takes longer.

 

I've seen my friends who didn't get a degree or dragged out their programs over 10 years and it's not a pretty sight. Their lives are significantly hindered by it, they always seem to be struggling financially. I know there are other factors that weigh in on this, but for me and mine--I want my kids in and out of college and ready to live their grown up lives before they turn 24 unless they go into a specialty. And I just do not see this happening amongst the hard core HSers I know. And yes, a lot of that is due to the fact that they come from families who don't value higher education like I do. But I'm not sure I'm willing to risk it.

[angela in ohio]

I don't know how temporary (I will have been homeschooling for 14 to 16 years at the point I quit,) but I will be putting last ds in junior high or high school, so that I can go back to work to pay for college for his sisters, so that he is not homeschooling alone when they are in college, and because we think private high school will be a good opportunity for him.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

DH agreed to let me homeschool after a few bad experiences with public school, but only wants me to homeschool until 8th grade or so. He wants the boys to "experience" high school, but says I can homeschool our daughter through college. :glare:

[Laura Corin]

I expected that as Calvin got older he would need the stimulation of other students and teachers around him. For the last two years I have therefore been assuming that at least Calvin and maybe Hobbes too would be going to school.

 

Laura

[Luckymama]

We will be homeschooling our youngest for the middle-school years, 5th-8th grade.

 

The private elementary school she attended (and that our older kids attended k-8) just could not meet her needs for acceleration. Their answer for math was to just give her more of what she had already mastered :eek: I afterschooled her siblings in math for grades 5 and 6 until they were moved to a small prealgebra class----of course, by then they had already mastered those concepts :rolleyes: but that teacher was able to enrich and extend material on the fly. I couldn't see the point of paying the tuition, afterschooling math, and hanging on for two more years. Then the fabulous 6th grade science teacher announced that this academic year would his last before retirement, so she would never have his class, the favorite of both older siblings.

 

We looked at other private schools. Even the "best" didn't truly differentiate math instruction until 6th grade. She could attend the down-the-street, highly-rated, postive, creative elementary school for 5th grade but then would have to switch to a not-well-regarded middle school for 6th-8th. My sister's kids attend both of those schools and she told me that youngest was too advanced for the elementary school and would probably be eaten alive at the middle school (based on her personality----my very assertive niece is doing well finding her way there).

 

We are blessed/lucky to live in an area with much high school choice. If she should choose a charter school, we'd have her apply and hope that she'd be chosen as part of the out-of-district lottery. We can also swing the tuition for most of the private high schools, with the bonus that four-year merit scholarships (20%-full tuition, depending on entrance exam scores) are given at the schools we'd consider. Dd's siblings attend two different high schools both on quite generous merit scholarships. We expect that dd would score quite well on the entrance exam :)

 

There are co-ops and such for highschoolers in this area. I don't believe that she would receive as strong an education OR as great a selection of courses if she were to attend a co-op or umbrella-type school for high school. I believe that group discussion is an integral part of good high school courses. Since she'd be the only one at home, the group would consist of the two of us. I also don't see myself spending money on some of the (very good) dvd courses----adding those up, the equivalent courses to what dd15 is taking cost more than the tuition we pay for her! Community college is NOT an option in this county for a bright highschool student----I have friends who teach math, computer science and English at the local cc so I can make this statement for our dd. I'm sure it's an option for other students.

Edited September 19, 2010 by Luckymama

[JFSinIL]

Who would stay home (out of four kids) and who would be in school each year depended on both the needs of each kid and what the local school offered.

 

Only ONE year did I have all four kids at home. Even though I have a set of twins, one is SillyAutismBoy and a separate grade/needs all unto himself. That year did not work well for any kid except SAB - he had to have 1:1 attention and he got it.

 

Other years I had two at a time, usually SAB's twin and the next youngest kidlet. The baby was either too young, or went to preschool/K in the mornings while I worked with the older two. SAB was in inclusion, then private placement (where he still is, for three years until he ages out at 22.)

 

SAB's twin, very smart kid, came home halfway through 3rd grade - he was being sent to the library to read the encyclopedia by the teacher since he would finish his work before the rest of the class. His teacher TOLD me I was doing the right thing in homeschooling him. He stayed with me through 6th grade, wanted to try 7th in public school,....decided to come back home for 8th ;), and then went off to high school. I was able to have them place him in advanced math, Honors and AP so he'd be around fellow nerdlings ;) (and get out of the house and meet other kids - which he needed to do!)

 

The next kid came home at the start of the last quarter of first grade. I had taken the 3rd grader out first, midway through the year, got him started then took her out. Again, the teacher said I was doing the right thing - this kid, also bright, was LAZY and with 30 kids in the room the teacher could not be on her to make sure she was doing her work. She was in line to have to repeat 1st grade since she thought it easier to, for example, copy down words around the classroom (like "EXIT") on her spelling test rather than learn the actual words. I had her home until the start of 5th grade - she and I would be at loggerheads over the simplest things and we just needed to be apart for a few hours a day. Sigh. But I had gotten her up to speed, and then some, so she was able to flourish at school and is now a Jr., taking AP courses. She is also my most social kid, unlike her older brother, and NEEDED to be around other kids.

 

The last kid went to preschool/K, came home for two years, then into public school...and alternated school/home from 2nd - 6th grade! She "repeated" 2nd grade since she was delayed in language (had a bit of the same neurological problems SAB has) and after intense phonics etc. work with me the school and I agreed to put her in the 2nd grade class with the trained teacher who had been the district's reading specialist for 20 years! It was a great year! The next year the school put her in the 2nd/3rd room with a first-time teacher....ground was lost so I kept dd home for 4th and got her back up to speed. She went back to school (another social kid here!) but halfway through the 5th grade year I took her back out - the district had told the teachers to teach to the tests and aside from English/Math little else was done. Again - the teacher agreed I was doing the right thing by my kid (many of the teachers in our district also homeschooled at one time or another). I had this kid for the rest of fifth and all of sixth grade - since I used different materials than the school I restarted my dd...in SIXTH grade level work when I took her out - we kept going with math/English over the summer and by the end of sixth grade she had finished TT7, etc. The district tested her and almost put her in 8th grade (again, this social kid wanted to be back in school) but we agreed to place her in gifted-level 7th grade. She is now an 8th grader on the track to be in Honors/AP in high school next year.

 

So - it all depends on the kid (they are all so different in their abilities and needs) and what I can offer vs. the local schools. As long as I can get them in Honors/AP for most of their high school courses (the teachers are great in these areas! and the slacker/trouble kids aren't in them!!) the local high school works fine. If I had had a kids like SWB was as a teen I think I would have LOVED to continue with homeschooling high school. My one possible "willing-to-be-homeschooled" kid would have ended up a recluse had I let him stay home for high school. Sigh. It is like Laura notes - some kids need the stimulation of other teachers, too.

Edited September 19, 2010 by JFSinIL

[MorganClassicalPrep]

I don't KNOW that homeschooling is temporary, in fact I am hoping that it is a permanant solution for us.

 

But. I'm a single mom. And I have to work. Right now I am in school, but in 2 years I'll be in graduate school, and 5-6 years after that I'll be employed. I am hopeful that we can continue to homeschool through all of this, but I know that realistically there may come a time when DD will need to go to school.

All I can do is make the decision on a year-to-year basis. For now, I know that we will be homeschooling this year and next for sure. I can't make a decision beyond that until I know what my grad school schedule will look like, what area we will be in, what the schools are like, etc.

[lisabelle]

This is our first year as a hs'ing family. Ds is 11 and would be in 6th grade. In his own way, ds is motivated to learn, but about the things he wants to learn and on his own terms. In 6 years of public school, however, there has never been a single thing there that has captured his imagination and made him want to delve in deeper. I brought him home for school because I want him to recognize the intrinsic *fun* in learning. It's something I want him to appreciate by the time he enters high school, because I believe it will make him a more successful hs student, which in turn will make him a more successful college student.

 

Not that I necessarily *expect* him to want to go to college right away.

 

I also don't necessarily expect that we will stop in the 8th grade. I like homeschooling. Our district's hs resource center provides us with a great community and other interesting opportunities for learning--FIRST Lego League competition and just last week he was invited to join the Math Team. I like that, already, in just a few weeks, how much closer our family has come--how much more time we're spending doing things together.

 

So what started as a three-year plan become more open-ended.

 

And I think for all of us too, we can plan to do it for x amount of years, but changing economic circumstances can change plans too. My homeschooling plans are dependent on my dh's ability to support our family without me helping him bring in money. I'm always mindful of and grateful for the opportunity we have right now to homeschool our son.

[Guest]

DD was electively mute in preschool and the teachers told me she was not ready for kindergarten because of that. I expected she only needed a year to mature and off she'd go, so I could keep working. Nearly every year after that I expected that year to be the last one, until she was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and I realized I was in for the long run.

 

In 8th she wanted to try "regular" school, but for a variety of reasons, although she did well, it was overwhelming to her. I never expected to be homeschooling high school, but here we are.

[m0mmaBuck]

I pulled DS out of PS midway through his 2nd grade year for a variety of reasons. We are re-evaluating year-by-year to determine whether to put him in a DIFFERENT elementary school or continue to HS him. DD will be eligible for PS Kindergarten next year and that will be evaluated as well.

[Socalmom]

We pulled our daughter out of school at the beginning of 6th grade. Our intention is to homeschool through 8th grade and have her go to highschool somewhere else - our local public school, charter, or Catholic school. I am loving this time together and will be sad when it ends.

 

Margie

[AngelaNYC]

I don't start out sure that they'll go to high school, but I do prepare myself either way. I've always been in camp of letting the kids choose for themselves.

 

So far my oldest went to school til the beginning of 8th grade, homeschooled for 8th grade with the full understanding that yes, she will be going to high school (she's a senior now). Her school focuses on what she loves, she's done well, and enjoys it. I couldn't ask for more.

 

My middle child started homeschooling in 3rd grade, homeschooled for 5 years, and is now a freshman in high school. She went back and forth on what she wanted to do over the years. By the time she was about 12, she was sure she wanted to go to high school - as long as it had a strong performing arts program (dance) AND a strong academic program. She auditioned for 3 schools, got into what I believe is the best one, and she couldn't be happier. (I mean if Madonna can send her kid there, I can send mine there, right? :tongue_smilie:)

 

My youngest is 9 and has been home since he was 5. I am prepared to homeschool as long as he wants. He has the option to go to a wonderful middle school that starts in 5th grade and we've spoken about it. He's not interested at all. I do think he is leaning toward high school. With all the school choice in my city, I'm fine with it. He may choose a school for art, film, music, or even math and science. We'll see in a few years.

 

As much as I'd love to homeschool through high school (I keep a TON of high school curriculum & website links in a bookmarked folder, lol), the kids have the final say.

[ecj98]

I taught 5th grade before I quit to stay home with the kids. The public schools here are not an option, and we cannot afford private school on one salary. So, i am homeschooling for now (and enjoying it), but we plan to put the kids in school once they are all school age, and I will go back to teaching.

[min]

We homeschool periodically when we travel. I'd love to homeschool full time, but it's not right for our family just now. Other than that, we afterschool, and are planning another homeschool period next year so I'm still hanging around. Hope I won't be evicted from the board now!

Min