Question for Secular Homeschoolers...

[lovelaughs_times_three]

I live in a small town in the mid-south. As you can guess, a lot of the ones who homeschool here do it for religious reasons - although that is definitely changing. (and I'm so glad it is - btw!). I am definitely Christian, but it is not why I homeschool. However, I do believe that God helped me to come to this path. I was one of those who said, "I'll NEVER homeschool!" I have a list of things I'll NEVER do, and God keeps laughing as He checks them off - one - by - one. :D

But I would love to know...if you consider yourself secular...how would you answer the question: "Why do you homeschool?"

 

I think there are SO MANY wonderful reasons to choose this path. I'd love to hear your fresh (at least fresh for this southern, small-town girl) perspective and opinions.

[Dmmetler]

Because the school that is right for my daughter doesn't exist, and I can approximate it much more closely than the area public and private schools do. I am a christian, but homeschool secularly.

[Parrothead]

First and foremost we homeschool for academic reasons. Everything else is gravy.

[lovelaughs_times_three]

Because the school that is right for my daughter doesn't exist, and I can approximate it much more closely than the area public and private schools do. I am a christian, but homeschool secularly.

 

Do you mean right educationally? I know that a lot of Christians state that they don't want their kids to be exposed to some of the things they see happening in the schools. I'm not so sure there aren't secular parents that feel the same.

What about the local schools bothered you?

[delaney]

Because I taught here in Virginia and I know how the teachers are forced to teach to so many tests it really stinks. The public schools just can't do as well as I can with my kids and they really spin their wheels for most of HS in my opinion.

[lovelaughs_times_three]

First and foremost we homeschool for academic reasons. Everything else is gravy.

 

Hi Chucki! What made you decide homeschooling would be better academically? I also feel that way, but it was something I discovered after I started homeschooling. You, evidently, knew that going in. :001_smile:

[micheller1]

we homeschool b/c we live in a place where the schools are just terrible. My kids were just doing terrible (at least imo) and I knew that they deserved better; with some one on one they could catch up and really learn. Not just learn to pass tests.

 

I want my kids to love to learn - Explore the areas that interest them and become the ppl that G-d wants them to be. I don't want them to be crushed by a school system that doesn't care ab them.

[Night Elf]

Because they are unique individuals with their own learning styles and interests. I like to help them learn on their own terms, something that doesn't usually happen in school. I disagree with the argument that catering to their needs will spoil them. I think all children would benefit from having an IEP (Individualized Educational Program), but in schools, only the children who perform below the class average qualify for them.

[mmasmommy]

My kids went to PS. DD from K-4th and DS from K-2nd. That said we home school for academic reasons and health reasons.

 

DS has chronic Lyme disease and missed 23 days of 2nd grade due to illness. His immune system was so compromised that he caught everything. Also, both kids are advanced and the best the school could do was a once per cycle (every 6 days) pull out program that lasted for 2 hrs. When DD came home and told us she was playing Webkinz during that time it was the proverbial last straw for us.

[ChiMomNP]

We homeschool first for academic reasons. The second reason is because we love our freedom, we do not like people telling us what to do. We do not like to operate on another person's schedule. We like to travel and we loathed being chained to the local school's calendar. *I* really don't like people telling me what to do. Even in my career as a nurse and then as a NP, I would only work per diem so I could control when I worked. So I would say freedom and academics are our reasons.

[mmasmommy]

Because they are unique individuals with their own learning styles and interests. I like to help them learn on their own terms, something that doesn't usually happen in school. I disagree with the argument that catering to their needs will spoil them. I think all children would benefit from having an IEP (Individualized Educational Program), but in schools, only the children who perform below the class average qualify for them.

 

We had GIEP's (gifted IEP) for the kids in our PS. They were not worth the paper they were written on. :glare:

[goldberry]

Another Christian homeschooling secularly. Another "I'll never!" here who is enjoying being proven wrong!

 

1. Environment at the local (and only) middle school was terrible. Below average academically, plus so much trouble with drugs, weapons, alcohol, etc. The behavior issues were more important to me than the academic issues, but academic issues were factored in.

 

2. My particular DD is very social and therefore a) hurt very easily by others and b) influenced and distracted very easily by others - note: we are working on this and I expect it to improve with more maturity and room to develop on her own.

 

That's why we are homeschooling!

 

The areas we disagree with in public schooling religiously, I was fully prepared to deal with and address. I did not homeschool for those reasons, but do admit it is nice not to have to deal with them quite so much. I am a parent though, who still exposes her to those issues (evolution, morality, sex education, etc) for discussion and reasoning. It is nice to have more control over the way they are presented to her - but it was not my original impetus to homeschool.

[HistoryMom]

1. Socialization. :) Our local schools are not where I want DD learning social skills. There's a lot of intolerance and insanely low expectations.

 

2. Academic reasons. She's a smart cookie and, while the K and 1 teachers were awesome about giving her accelerated work, the 2nd grade teachers weren't willing to be bothered.

 

3. Religious reasons. We're atheists, and she got so tired of having to defend herself all. day. long.

[Jen+4dc]

Another Christian homeschooling secularly. Another "I'll never!" here who is enjoying being proven wrong!

 

1. Environment at the local (and only) middle school was terrible. Below average academically, plus so much trouble with drugs, weapons, alcohol, etc. The behavior issues were more important to me than the academic issues, but academic issues were factored in.

 

2. My particular DD is very social and therefore a) hurt very easily by others and b) influenced and distracted very easily by others - note: we are working on this and I expect it to improve with more maturity and room to develop on her own.

 

That's why we are homeschooling!

 

The areas we disagree with in public schooling religiously, I was fully prepared to deal with and address. I did not homeschool for those reasons, but do admit it is nice not to have to deal with them quite so much. I am a parent though, who still exposes her to those issues (evolution, morality, sex education, etc) for discussion and reasoning. It is nice to have more control over the way they are presented to her - but it was not my original impetus to homeschool.

:iagree: I could have written this entire post, except I have two dc with these issues!:D

[jujsky]

The school my children would go to is one of the worst in my city. My son has some minor special needs and a classroom setting would not be conducive to his learning style at this time. My daughter is a year ahead academically and I'm sure the district wouldn't skip her. I am completely against No Child Left Behind, and feel it has dumbed-down education in good schools, and hasn't done much to address the needs of schools that are really failing their children.

 

I could go on, and on......

[lovelaughs_times_three]

1. Socialization. :) Our local schools are not where I want DD learning social skills. There's a lot of intolerance and insanely low expectations.

 

 

 

Ohh! I LOVE that one!!! How refreshing for that to be a reason TO homeschool rather than a criticism of homeschooling! :D

[regentrude]

Because my kids were not challenged in school and are in need of a more rigorous academic education.

[Wheres Toto]

1. Because DS is advanced and would be bored out of his mind in school.

2. Because a bored ds is a disruptive ds.

3. Because ds is very quirky, has sensory issues and social issues that would make regular school very difficult for him.

[twoforjoy]

So many reasons here, that just added up to homeschooling being right for us.

 

I've always kind of liked the idea of homeschooling. I was just so, so bored in school. I didn't have a terrible school experience overall--I had friends, I feel like I was well-prepared academically, I liked my teachers--but I was just really bored and felt like I could have learned more, and more efficiently, on my own. So the idea of homeschooling always appealed to me, but I didn't think it was something I'd actually do.

 

When it was time for DS to begin school, our options were homeschooling, private school, or a charter school. We live in Detroit, and our kids would be attending the Detroit Public Schools if they went to public school, and that just wasn't an option for us; I think a very good argument could be made that Detroit has the very worst public school system in the entire nation. (I teach at a university in Detroit and saw the outcomes of a DPS education, and that just made me that much more convinced that it wasn't an option.) Private school was out because of the cost.

 

We decided to try a charter school. DS went for about three months, then we pulled him. It just didn't work for us. There was too much focus on standardized testing. There was too much homework. We felt like we didn't have enough time together as a family. Things were stressed and hectic. DS was reading way above grade level and they had no idea what to do with him. He was always in trouble--partly because he's just kind of a trouble-maker but partly because he was so bored--and was starting to hate school and to tell us that he was a bad kid. We were able to homeschool, so decided to give it a try.

 

It's just worked out really well for us. I like it for so many reasons: I can tailor the curriculum to fit his needs and interests, I can go at his pace, I can provide a positive and supportive influence, I get to have my kids around all day, we can just be together as a family at night instead of worrying about getting homework done and then rushing to get DS in bed so he'll be ready for school the next day. It is just a nice fit for our family.

[Just Robyn]

Because they are unique individuals with their own learning styles and interests. I like to help them learn on their own terms, something that doesn't usually happen in school. I disagree with the argument that catering to their needs will spoil them. I think all children would benefit from having an IEP (Individualized Educational Program), but in schools, only the children who perform below the class average qualify for them.

 

This. When I first started thinking about homeschooling, back before any of my children were of school age, I don't think I could have worded it quite so well. I don't think I even knew what an IEP was back then. I just knew the Pink Floyd video depicting public school as a giant meat grinder was exactly how I had felt in school and I didn't want that for my kids.

[Aquinas Academy]

We started homeschooling because DD 14 is very accelerated and would have been bored at school. Academics continues to be the main reason we homeschool, religious reasons are a bonus.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Quality and consistency of education.

[Plaid Dad]

Our dd needs more academic challenges than the local schools offer.

[wapiti]

I'm hs-ing dd10 for academic reasons. My younger ones are still in a charter school, because that is working well for now, but I expect the next two older ones will be home in a year (at the point which they move up to a different level at that school, the grade 4-6 classrooms). We live in a "great" district, but maybe that's just for average kids. For anyone with more unique strengths and weaknesses, our regular neighborhood school is more detrimental than helpful.

 

The trouble is, I'm a bit of a control freak about curricula and such, and now I'm spoiled by the opportunity to offer a completely custom education :D.

[Carrie12345]

1. Academics; I want my kids to be appropriately challenged, whether that's in their best subjects/aspects or worst subject/aspects. I'm not a fan of coasting and/or struggling.

 

2. Social; My kids don't need to be bullied, wear the coolest clothes, or hang out with questionable characters in order to make it in "The Real World".

 

3. The bus stop is a mile away. :tongue_smilie:

 

4. I want them to enjoy childhood while preparing to be adults. They don't need a 40 hour work week right now, and they certainly don't need one that appears to result in extremely extended dependency.

[JennyD]

The actual reason or the reason I tell people? I tell people that we homeschool because we love the flexibility and the individualized education. Both of which are true, of course. But the truEST reason is that deep in my control-freaky little heart, I firmly believe that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

[LibraryLover]

I am not sure I do a better job academically when they get older...I've outsourced certain programming for my oldest dd.

 

 

My reason for hsing is that I don't need them.

Edited June 13, 2011 by LibraryLover

[dangermom]

1. I think it's fun.

 

2. My idea of a good education doesn't look like the public school's idea. So, academics.

 

(Also Christian-but-not-homeschooling-for-that-reason)

[Lady Florida.]

We homeschool for many reasons, among them:

1. There's too much wasted time in both public and private school. I don't believe much can be done about it. It's the nature of the beast.

2. The emphasis on test scores rather than actual learning is unacceptable to us. This seems to be getting worse in our state every year.

3. We don't believe in a one-size-fits-all style of education. Factory style schooling is mostly a product of the Industrial Age, and IMO no longer relevant in today's world. Home education can be tailored to the individual.

 

Mostly we homeschool because I believe our local school system is broken beyond repair.

[SailorMom]

I can challenege my kids more, meet them where they are at, and make sure my son's LD's don't hold him back....

I also hate standardized testing, and we can avoid it this way :)

[Jenny in Atl]

Because my dream school does not exist; multi-age, experimental, challenging, flexible, hands-on, progressive, small teacher/student ratio, allowing kids to gravitate towards and explore their interests and dreams early on; oh and affordable too. :lol:

[ocelotmom]

Depends on who they are and why they're asking. "Because that's what works for our family" or maybe (jokingly) "Because I'm a control freak" if they're someone who I feel is asking just to make conversation, or for seemingly antagonistic/unsympathetic reasons. If it's someone who seems genuinely curious and interested, I'll go more into detail - how we want to teach to the child's pace and interests, offer things that aren't offered in most public schools, such as foreign language at a young age, and how we don't feel most schools are a healthy social environment.

[roxanne23]

.

Edited January 4, 2023 by roxanne23

[SunD]

I have four reasons. Here they are, in order of importance.

 

#1 is academics, hands down. The PS system neglected DH by ignoring his LDs and me by using me as a tutor instead of accelerating.

 

#2 is family time. DH's work schedule is definitely outside the M-F, 9-5 norm, and if the kids were in PS they would barely see each other an hour per day on school days, and not at all most weekends. We want to be able to take off when he's off, and school when he's working.

 

#3 is influences, both from the students and the teachers. I don't want to hide the world from them, but I think parents have the right to get the first crack at explaining current events, relationships, ethics, pop culture, etc.

 

#4 is related to #3 and to your question about secularism. :001_smile: As an atheist kid in PS, I was routinely harassed by both students and teachers. There are laws about what can be taught and what can be said, but more difficult is what can be implied and what you can do with your spare time. There's no law that says your English teacher can't leave Chick tracts and church flyers on your car on Saturday at the grocery store. There's no law that says your 2nd grade teacher can't ask you to stand in front of the entire class and explain why, exactly, you refuse to stand for or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. There's no law that says your biology teacher can't slyly make the "creation vs. evolution" debate day into "the rest of the class vs. SunD". I could send my kids to PS, which is freely available to them as US citizens, and spend my energy complaining and suing the district over the issues. Maybe it would make them more resilient and teach them a lesson about standing up for your rights. But I want their childhoods to be full of fun and laughter and learning. There will be plenty of hard things later.

[YLVD]

I live in a small town in the mid-south. As you can guess, a lot of the ones who homeschool here do it for religious reasons - although that is definitely changing. (and I'm so glad it is - btw!). I am definitely Christian, but it is not why I homeschool. However, I do believe that God helped me to come to this path. I was one of those who said, "I'll NEVER homeschool!" I have a list of things I'll NEVER do, and God keeps laughing as He checks them off - one - by - one. :D

But I would love to know...if you consider yourself secular...how would you answer the question: "Why do you homeschool?"

 

I think there are SO MANY wonderful reasons to choose this path. I'd love to hear your fresh (at least fresh for this southern, small-town girl) perspective and opinions.

 

I consider myself an accidental homeschooler, lol. My DD attended a wonderful elementary school, which was a public traditional and Montessori school mixed. Very small and just great. She also attended an amazing middle school. I live in a top district!

 

But, my DD ended up having surgery on an ankle and endocrine issues. Due to having insulin resistance, PCOS, which included painful cysts, and associated migraines...she was just missing too much school.

 

She also has a mild learning disability. The school did an amazing job with her, the testing, classes etc. But, I saw the damage it was doing to her self esteem. The crux of her disability is that she has all of the knowledge, but it unable to express it. She's a bright girl and struggling with that and not having great grades did a number on her self esteem.

 

Thus, the homeschooling. It has worked out very well. The hard part is that she's essentially an only child (has two half brothers but they are with her dad and step mom). She's a super-introvert and the social thing has been tough. I will be doing some things differently this fall but will still be homeschooling.

[eternalknot]

I live in a small town in the mid-south. As you can guess, a lot of the ones who homeschool here do it for religious reasons - although that is definitely changing. (and I'm so glad it is - btw!). I am definitely Christian, but it is not why I homeschool. However, I do believe that God helped me to come to this path. I was one of those who said, "I'll NEVER homeschool!" I have a list of things I'll NEVER do, and God keeps laughing as He checks them off - one - by - one. :D

But I would love to know...if you consider yourself secular...how would you answer the question: "Why do you homeschool?"

 

I think there are SO MANY wonderful reasons to choose this path. I'd love to hear your fresh (at least fresh for this southern, small-town girl) perspective and opinions.

 

I live in a small, semi-rural Southern town, too; most of the people we know are homeschooling for reasons of (Christian) faith. I'm not, have never been, and have no interest in ever being Christian. This always takes people for a loop because it's not the norm here - for people of any educational philosophy and background.

 

When asked why I homeschool, this is my standard answer: I don't like living by someone else's schedule (days, times) especially because we love to travel. Today's schools and scheduling requirements don't mesh with my idea of how I'd like to spend my time with my children.

[Laura Corin]

Originally it was because Calvin is gifted and learning disabled. I couldn't find a school that would cope with that. He was a very bright kid who was not ready to write. Later we moved to China, where local schooling was not suitable, so we continued there. Hobbes had a stutter and also benefitted from many years of not being teased while he built his confidence. Now that Calvin's problems are less of an issue, he and Hobbes are in an excellent private school.

 

Laura

[EKS]

We homeschool primarily for academic reasons with a secondary reason being socialization.

[Jennifer3141]

I actually homeschool for religious reasons, in that I don't want my children exposed to many people's interpretation of Xtianity.

 

I also homeschool because I don't want my children to grow up under the influence of patriarchy.

 

I homeschool because it's simply a better education. When schools have a teacher to student ratio of 2:1, then I'll think they are doing as well as I can. I also have a better education than 99% of most teachers out there.

 

I homeschool so I can control their diets far more carefully than the average school. I provide locally grown and/or organic produce diligently.

 

I homeschool to get better matierials. Again, most schools don't follow a classical education pattern. And I believe there is no better way to teach a subject like history and even science. I also include art.

 

I homeschool so that my kids get a ton of fresh air and activity daily.

 

I homeschool because school out of the house would be a BAD idea for my Aspie son and would probably work for DD but not in ways that I particularly want to encourage. DD is a social butterfly and I can easily see her being blissfully popular. However, I would like her to be more thoughtful around people. As much as I love her, I could see how she would probably be a teaser, maybe even a bit of a bully who would perform for a crowd's approval. That's not really where I'd like her personality to go.

 

I'll think of more later but that's off the top of my head. :D

[Desert Rat]

We homeschool to give our sons an education that we feel they couldn't get in a traditional school setting. Or, for short, for academic reasons. :)

[Satori]

Mostly for academic reasons. My dd would be bored stiff in school. I wouldn't want her to pick up a negative attitude about learning from her peers. Homeschooling allows us to go at our own pace and keep it fascinating.

[lovelaughs_times_three]

They don't need a 40 hour work week right now, and they certainly don't need one that appears to result in extremely extended dependency.

 

Whew! I agree with that one! Well put! :001_smile:

[lovelaughs_times_three]

The actual reason or the reason I tell people?

 

:lol::lol:

[Shawna in Texas]

At first it was because the town we lived in was notorious for having bad schools. When I checked into the private schools in the area, I was shocked about how much they were. Completely shocked. I thought they'd be a couple hundred a month. :lol: I was in my early twenties and came up with this grand plan to homeschool. Taught her to read and do some math and then well, I figured she was some kind of prodigy. :tongue_smilie: Way too advanced for PS. So, I told people that it was for academic reasons. Because I felt I had to nurture this "genius" in her.

 

Turns out, at this point, we homeschool because we like it and to place her in school would just cause too much chaos in our daily lives. We school in the summer so that we can take the month of December off. We like to take unplanned vacations to the beach. I don't want a life that revolves around a strict schedule. I don't know if I can. If I wasn't so tied to the way we do things here and she really wanted to go to school, I'd let her go for high school. Both of those things aren't an issue, though.

[Dmmetler]

Do you mean right educationally? I know that a lot of Christians state that they don't want their kids to be exposed to some of the things they see happening in the schools. I'm not so sure there aren't secular parents that feel the same.

What about the local schools bothered you?

 

Academically. The public schools basically told us that she'd be fine in a regular classroom grade level classroom because "she can take AP classes in high school". The private school skipped her into K early and put her in a reading group with 3rd graders, then, after K, suggested putting her, at age 5, in a grade 2/3 split class as a 3rd grader all day. Neither option seemed like a good fit. Letting my DD do academic work at a pace that's challenging for her while letting her interact with children of a range of ages and find her own peers for different activities has been a MUCH better option.

[Ellesmere]

nm

Edited December 13, 2012 by CaladwenEleniel

[Night Elf]

We had GIEP's (gifted IEP) for the kids in our PS. They were not worth the paper they were written on. :glare:

 

But would they be if you wrote and implemented them yourself? That's what I think homeschooling is. The worst time in my homeschooling was when I tried to teach my children the same way. I was advised it made things easier for me since I had other responsibilities, like being a homemaker. But my children did not do well. They needed separate instruction, separate programs, and one-on-one time with me. That was the turning point in our homeschooling. I believe in letting each child learn in their own way.

 

Our local school did not have IEPs for gifted students, or if they did, they did not share that information with me. It was a project based class and all the students worked in groups. It was additional work piled on top of the work they had to do in regular class. It was stupid. :)

[*Lulu*]

We are primarily secular in our schooling. Like the OP I meet many homeschoolers whose main purpose is providing a religious education.

 

In our case we are Christians and we are homeschoolers. Our faith is a part of our schooling because it is a part of who we are and of all we do, but it is not the primary reason we homeschool.

 

I have a background in education, and worked primarily with students who were struggling or seriously behind. I saw a definite pattern in their stories and determined that I would do everything in my power to prevent my children from falling into the situations of these students. That experience was ultimately what propelled our family into the realm of homeschooling.

Edited June 13, 2011 by BLA5

[Veritaserum]

I homeschool for academic reasons. We want our kids to have an education based on classical ideas and methods (including logic), an understanding of the world and its people (not just the US), and a love of art and literature. In short, we want them to have a liberal arts education. That is not what public schools in our area currently provide.

 

I also like that I can tailor my approach to suit each child. :)

[Rivka]

My answer turned into an epic blog post.