When did you first hear about homeschooling?

[Michelle My Bell]

I asked the "When did you first hear about the Internet" question and now I'll ask another. When did you first hear about homeschooling and what was your first reaction?

 

I first heard about it shortly after I became a christian. My oldest daughter was 3 (1997) and I met a family in my new church that homeschooled. I was fascinated by it and went to the library to learn more. This was before I had my own computer so I relied heavily on Mary Pride's Big books. I remember my first inclination was to use Unit Studies and KONOS was going to be my curricula of choice. As it turned out, I never did use KONOS and I am more classical / Charlotte Mason in my style.

 

What really won my husband over was when we went to a smallish homeschool convention with that same family shortly after. We heard a lot of speakers and browsed the materials for sale.

 

Since my daughter was still quite young, I didn't plan to buy anything; however my first ever homeschool purchase did end up being on that day. It was the "Christian Charm Course" and we never used it with any of our girls! :lol:

[Twigs]

Calvert ads in the back of magazines.

[lovelaughs_times_three]

Somewhere around 1999 when my first daughter was just a baby. A friend of mine was doing it. Actually, we weren't that close and I kind of considered her strange and akward as a person. She was the first one who talked about homeschooling, so I sort of associated the movement with my impressions of her. It was something that I didn't think was good for kids and it went on my "Things I'll Never Do" list.

 

God keeps laughing as He checks things off that list. one. at. a. time. :lol:

[SonshineLearner]

When I was 10; We visited a family where they homeschooled. Every Sunday the dad went around and fixed a separate breakfast for each child and adult. Nice first experience ;)

(So, 30 years ago)

[clarkacademy]

When my children were very young. I just had the first two and a neighbor I was friendly with talked about it. I thought she was crazy! :lol: No way I would keep them once they were school age. By the time my oldest was in third grade I was so over public school and all it's junk. My youngest two have never been It would have been the late 90's I heard of it

[JudyJudyJudy]

I first heard about homeschooling during my third year of teaching school (1990-1991). I'll admit that I had a negative attitude about it because these people weren't very good representatives of homeschoolers. They were the type who would get mad at school officials, pull the kids out of school for about two weeks and "homeschool" them, and then put them back in school. Lather, rinse, repeat. Needless to say, the kids were extremely far behind.

 

Fortunately, during my fifth year of teaching, I had an 8th grader who had been homeschooled through the middle of sixth grade. He was a wonderful kid and a terrific student. His family was very religious, so his mother was really picky about what he could read (I taught him reading and algebra); but she was always pleasant, and I gladly worked with her. That family made me see a different side of homeschooling.

[Kirch]

I'm not sure when I really first heard of homeschooling. The first time I really remember hearing about/seeing it was a family in our church when I was in college ('96 or '97). Even then, though, I was conscious that the way this family homeschooled was very different from my preconceived notions, so it must have been on my radar before that. That family probably played a big part in our decision to homeschool our kids, though--I saw what an awesome thing homeschooling could be!

[Peela]

I was at an attachment parenting and baby yoga support group. THe kids were a baby and a toddler.

I thought- what a nice idea but gosh I am looking forward to getting a break too when they go to school (tandem breastfeeding 2 kids, 17 months apart).

And...no way would dh ever, ever accept the idea of homeschooling- way too weird.

And...my oldest is such a social butterfly- she will need school.

I dismissed it, but still found it attractive.

It was definitely the natural learning type I was first introduced to. I even went an visited homeschoolers once to see what they did. But I think the biggest block was dh's attitude, which was absolutely, no, way.

 

We started when youngest was in grade 2 and struggling in school. I convinced him to give me a trial. He was always my biggest supporter after that. I have often had to push really hard to do the things I wanted but if its really right, he comes around eventually.

[mazakaal]

Sometime in the early '90's. I was going to a church in Florida and knew several homeschooling families before I had any kids or even was married.

[chepyl]

Around 1995...a girl started at my high school who had Homeschool through 8th grade. She was smart, but had no social skills! She was a friend, but I found her very odd. The same year I met my dh's family, also homeschooled, not nearly as weird :) They were pretty normal! I also said I would never homeschool!

[shinyhappypeople]

When I was in college, one of my favorite professors' kids were homeschooled. So, this would be around 1990, I guess. I thought... nothing, really. I thought it was fine, kind of cool, but never really thought much about it beyond that.

[AndyJoy]

It was 1994 and I was in 7th grade. My mom founded a Christian school that year, and two of the students were a brother and sister (13 & 15) who had been previously homeschooled. Their mom had been seriously ill for about a year and a half, and they didn't get much school done during that time, so she decided to send them to school and just keep her three younger kids at home (ages 7, 5, & 3). This was my first exposure to homeschooling, and it really didn't even register with me. I don't think I ever asked the girl anything about it! I remember my mom making comments about them being "behind", but they sure seemed to "catch up" just fine and were nice, well-adjusted kids. Over the years I met several other homeschoolers, but they were mostly those who stopped homeschooling and sent their kids to my school. Most of them sent them because they only intended to homeschool until 6th grade, not because they were having any particular problems.

 

It was 2000 (my freshman year of college) when homeschooling really came on my radar and I wished I had been homeschooled! A new friend and I spent hours that year talking and researching everything we were interested in, and homeschooling was one of the things she brought up. By the end of my first semester, I was convinced that I would be homeschooling my future children, and even mentioned it on my first date w/my (now) husband!

[LittleIzumi]

I was homeschooled for a couple of years myself. :)

[Cassy]

When the eldest two were toddlers we were on holiday at a time when everyone else was in school, and met a lovely family of three girls and a boy, all older than our two. When we asked whether they'd had any problem getting time away from school to go on a month-long holiday their response was that they homeschooled. I don't think I'd really heard of homeschooling before then, except for those highly gifted children with very driven parents who had them in university aged 12. These children were so absolutely enchanting - fun, imaginative, kind and so good with our little two - that the idea of homeschooling made a strongly favourable impression on us. At the time, although it seemed a lovely idea, I never thought I could be the kind of person who could homeschool successfully, I knew nothing about teaching at all. How times change :001_smile:.

 

Cassy

[sewingmama]

Well home educating is rather rare in Australia so I had never heard of it until 1st year University when I read Holt's How Children Fail. I remember it really resonating with me. I then read Teach Your Own. Then one day I ran across "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" in my local library.

 

After that I researched it on the web. The laws where I lived were pretty strict at the time and you couldn't homeschool unless you did distance ed or were an actual teacher so I remember thinking I would have to move if I wanted to do it.

 

I then met my Canadian husband and moved to Canada and met my first real homeschoolers and they were fantastic -I remember them being all so smart. I was so impressed with the 6 YO who was reading the bible fluently and was so mature for her age. I wanted my kids to be just like her.

 

Anyway - it was a long time till I had kids and by then the laws in Australia had relaxed somewhat which I am happy about since we ended up moving back here. :D

[Amira]

I heard about it while I was in elementary school in the early 80s. I've always known a few homeschooled kids.

 

I do spend a lot of time here introducing people to the idea. People are constantly asking me where my children attend school so I've gotten lots of practice at explaining what homeschooling is (in Russian). Homeschooling is a completely foreign concept here for many reasons.

[Donna]

I am sure I heard about homeschooling when I was in school but don't remember exactly when because it didn't really register with me much. It wasn't generally accepted then as far as I know and I didn't know anyone who did it.

 

When my oldest was 4yo and I was desperately trying to figure out what to do with him...another year of preschool or pay huge amounts of money to the private school who would let him do K (he has a late birthday...Nov), I somehow came across homeschooling again. I forget how the seed got planted but it must have been from the internet. I didn't really consider it seriously until I had read everything I could find about it and then it seemed like the only choice at the time and I figured he had an extra year anyway so how much harm could I do.

[Carrie12345]

I honestly don't know. Surely I must have heard *of it at some point, because I remember watching the live Columbine coverage, holding my 8 month old, and saying my kid was going to be homeschooled.

 

I didn't actually mean it at the time, and my kid did go to school. It wasn't until he was in 1st or 2nd grade that I seriously considered the concept, and I had "met" several homeschoolers on line by that point.

 

I met my first (to my knowledge) IRL homeschool mom about 2004-ish.

 

I was obviously either very sheltered or very oblivious to the things going on around me, lol.

[Margo out of lurking]

When a close friend's sister began hsing her Ker in 1996. We questioned (between ourselves) if she was actually fit to be a mother--after all, she lived in a great school district. To make it worse, she was a Catholic homeschooler!!!!:lol::lol::lol:

 

I later heard of two more. (I must have lived an awfully sheltered life.) One was a distant cousin who lived in the woods with no phone and ten kids, at least that's what family reported.

 

The other was another cousin with whom I became friendly via email. I bought a book on hsing to learn more, dh read it and read something in Newsweek, and we pulled dd from ps a few months later in 2001.

 

--------------

ETA: I saw Carrie's post above referencing Columbine. We lived one high school away from Columbine at the time it happened, and when we began hsing a few years later, everyone assumed it had to do with Columbine. It didn't.

[hsmamainva]

I first heard about homeschooling at a La Leche League meeting back in 1994.

 

My oldest was 3 and my second was just a few months old.

 

I loved the idea from the beginning! My husband's first reaction was, "No way!"

 

But we ended up meeting a homeschooled teen on a vacation to the beach a few months later and my husband was so impressed with her that he said, "Well....let's try it for preschool and go from there."

 

That was 16 years ago and we're still homeschooling! :D

[RegularMom]

I met my first homeschooling family in 1996 (or was it 97?) at a wedding. They were a very nice family and their children were well behaved and intelligent. But I still thought homeschooling was weird and never planned to do it.

 

Then I had kids and watched them grow and watched my eldest struggle with being in large crowds of children at preschool, and the whole time that was happening, I kept accidentally running into more and more homeschoolers or websites about homeschooling, and next thing ya know...

 

KA_BLAM. Instant homeschooler.

 

As for Columbine, yeah. I lived an hour south of there when that all happened. We listened to it on the radio at the office that whole day. Nightmare. But it didn't really factor into my homeschooling decision. That decision was more academics and sensory-related than anything else.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Well, my mom says we knew a homeschool family. I vaguely remember them, but I don't think I knew they homeschooled. But what got *me* thinking about homeschooling was when I was in 10th grade. A girl had wanted to try school despite her crazy gymnastics schedule. She was in my math class. When she was doing her withdrawl, there was some discussion about her leaving to go back to homeschooling. That sounded like a really neat idea to me.

 

Fastforward a few years and we moved into this trailer. Across the street was this house full of kids. Somehow, I got friendly with the mom and started attending church with her. She homeschooled her kids and there were some other homeschoolers in the church also. What drew me was how the kids could go their own pace (as my then 3yr old was already on a 3rd grade or so level). I really just didn't want her sitting bored in school most of the time. Hubby had been homebound for many months of 6th grade and saw the benefits socially as well as academically. So we became homeschoolers :)

[Rhonda in TX]

I'm not sure when I heard of it, but I met my first homeschooler when DS was in kindergarten. A fellow classmate had been homeschooled until the dad insisted the mom get a job and put the kids in school. I knew she really had a heart for homeschooling and we talked about it many times. She quit working when her son was in 1st grade and went back to homeschooling (and has been ever since).

 

At the time, I thought, "Homeschooling is great, but I could never do it." Never say never. :) I started when DS was in 3rd grade.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Way back in 1987 (I was dating my future husband) and one of the mothers in the church nursery I worked in homeschooled. I loved the idea and when I told my future husband about it he agreed it was for our future family.

[motherdear]

Phil Donohue had a special on homeschooling. It was very controversial and there was a LOT of criticism by callers and in the audience. I think the "professional" may have been John Holt and I remember a very intelligent young (homeschooled) girl doing a wonderful job talking about (and defending) her parents choice.

 

I later met my first homeschooling friends for the first time in 1990 and joined the bandwagon when my son became school-age around 1992?

Edited July 5, 2011 by motherdear

[FO4UR]

I don't know when I first heard of HSing. I knew people in high school who HSed.

 

One of my best friends in college HSed k-12.

 

I married a YP, and lots of the teens/children in churches where we worked HSed.

 

 

All of these were positive introductions to HSing, but there were a few moms of teens while dh was YPing that gave me books and were excellent examples of what HSing could be...For the Children's Sake was given to me and I saw the concepts play out in her dc at the same time. My oldest was a toddler at that time, and I read TWTM shortly after...and the rest is history...

[JudoMom]

A girl that lived down the street from me was homeschooled. I'm thinking they moved in somewhere around 1987 or 88 (I think I was in 6th grade)? We were friends, but she wasn't the greatest influence. Her Dad was a preacher, and her parents tried to shelter her quite a bit, but she rebelled. After high school, she was arrested for helping to steal beer and cigarettes from a convenience store.

 

I'm not quite sure how I got a favorable impression of homeschooling :lol:, but I'd decided by 1994 that I wanted to homeschool any kids I had. I'd graduated high school early in 1993 and received a full scholarship to college, but I knew I hadn't learned anything except how to play the system.

[AuntPol]

1987

My sister had leukemia and had a bone marrow transplant. She was "homebound" for a year and I think she had been at other times too. It didn't cross my radar as homeschooling being that she did work assigned by the school with my aunt, a teacher at that school being her at home tutor. It was also due to medical.

 

1996

A close friend of mine had a 4 year old son who was murdered by his step-mother. The Stepmother "homeschooled" her kids. She really didn't school the kids as was evident in how socially and academically behind the kids were but was just a control freak that was hiding abuse.

 

2000

Met some homeschoolers on a board called Frugal Moms. Most were weird. However a couple mentioned FIAR and it intrigued me and I got on that board and eventually did BFIAR for preschool at home.

 

2004

Became an afterschooler when my daughter started public school. I wanted to homeschool but was scared I would mess up my kids. The only real life homeschooler I knew was my next door neighbor and her oldest was same age as my oldest so it wasn't like she was experienced LOL and she had actually sent her kids to preschool. They moved shortly after so I have no idea if she ever really homeschooled beyond kindergarten.

 

2005

Met my DD's scout leader who homeschooled and other families at my new church. They were not any weirder than any one else!

 

2008

Started homeschooling youngest child who had trouble adjusting to school.

 

2009

Started homeschooling my oldest per her request.

Edited July 5, 2011 by AuntPol

[jelbe5]

Around 1996 or 97 Some of my friends in the Mom's Club I belonged to were considering the option. Others were planning to prep their young child for the "test" for the magnet school. The public schools in my area are pretty bad and the private schools are pretty expensive. I also prayed a lot about it and did feel lead by God. After my dh and I toured the special ed option offered to us for our son the decision was easy. We have never looked back.

[DawnM]

Well, technically I guess you could say I always knew.....my father is 76 and "homeschooled" for part of elem and middle school as a missionary kid in China.

 

Although they didn't call it homeschooling, they called it "correspondence school." They used Calvert.

 

Growing up as a missionary kid, we knew families that did correspondence school.

 

As far as people who "didn't HAVE to, but did it anyway," my first experience in the USA was when I was in Jr. High and we were in the USA for fulough. There was one family at our large chruch that homeschooled. They were weirder than a $3 bill and we thought it was the strangest thing ever. The oldest daughter ended up getting pregnant that year (she was 16) and looking back I think she just wanted OUT of that house! She was made to do all the chores, babysit her younger siblings and was kept from most of the outside world.

 

I did NOT have a very good opinion of hsing for a LONG time. I always remembered that family. I didn't understand WHY someone would hs if there were indeed school options out there.

 

Then I became a PS teacher and had even lower opinions of hsers! :lol:

 

However, I slowly came around as I met healthy families who hsed their children.

 

Dawn

[Ellie]

1980, when a new family moved into the neighborhood and said they were homeschooling.

 

We held out until 1982, and then we were assimilated. Resistance was futile. :D

[Laura Corin]

I heard about it on a board for the parents of gifted children in about 2001. I was finding it hard to get an appropriate schooling for Calvin (who is gifted/learning disabled). My first reaction was 'no way'. Two schools later, and the final teacher saying 'If I didn't have to earn a living, I'd definitely homeschool my children. Why don't you think about it?' and I was away.

 

Laura

[learningmama]

I met three homeschool students that took college classes with me in the late 90's. They were all between 15-17 years and I thought it totally unfair that they took the same classes as me, but I was 18-21 years old. I decided at that time, my future children would have the same opportunity that these students did.

[learningmama]

Actually now that I think about it, I did know two girls in my high school class that had been homeschooled for lower grades, but that fact did not phase me at the time.

[Desert Rat]

I was 15 at youth group with our church. He was a friend or maybe a cousin of one of our regulars. My very first impressions were that it must be lonely. Ha! I still worry about my own kids being lonely.

[Parrothead]

I'm going to say it was about 1996. Possibly as late as '97. I answered a call at the local mall. As I'm walking out I saw this kid about 10. Seems like he was with a parent. Since I had school-zone duty that day, I thought I was late or missed it. I asked the kid if school was already out. He said, "I'm homeschooled." I was like, "Oh, okay." Not even sure what that meant.

 

Maybe his first experience with a cop was just as baffling as my first experience with a homeschooler.

 

Years later in 2003 when I'm looking for options about dd's schooling I came across homeschooling in the library, and thought of that kid. Then, of course, came the horror stories about authorities going too far. I always hope I didn't make him or his parents nervous by asking him about school.

[Just Kate]

In high school (early 90s) we had an exchange student that I became friends with. The family she was living with homeschooled their two young children. At the time, I thought it was quite strange.

 

Fast forward a few years...my cousin homeschooled her daughter. Our entire family thought she was making a huge mistake (but we never, ever said anything negative to her - I promise!). But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding! Her daughter (and then her two sons as well) ended up being great students, caring individuals and very well socialized. :rolleyes: I remember my cousin telling me about some of the things they would do (mostly unit study things) and I found myself almost jealous of the education they were receiving (both the kids and my cousin!). They were a HUGE factor in my decision to homeschool.

[twoforjoy]

When I was a kid, we had a Girl Scout leader who homeschooled her kids. I don't know anything about their religious beliefs, but they weren't at all conservative and were very hippy/crunchy in their lifestyle. I always thought it seemed really cool, and it was always something I had in the back of my mind as something I'd like to do. I never associated it with being a religious fundamentalist or hiding your kids from the world or any of the stereotypes that, if they'd been my first introduction to homeschooling, probably would have made me think that it wasn't something that could be for me.

[ScoutTN]

late 1980's. a few families in our church hs'ed. i didn't really know them well.

 

in the early 90's i went to grad school and met many families who hs'ed and began to see the variety of ways it can look and the positive effects.

 

in the late 90's i got to know severl hs'ing families well and began to see more into the struggles, curriculum choices, educational philosophies etc.

[Ksol]

Somewhere in the 80's, because I was homeschooled then. (From about 1985-1988) It is SO different in 2011!!!

[2_girls_mommy]

In the early 80's a family that went to my elem. school was leaving school to homeschool. I remember it because my mother was intrigued. They were getting quite a bit of flack from the school system at the time, and the youngest was good friends with my sister. So my mother was interested.

 

Then in high school a girl that I knew that had a baby while still in high school left school to homeschool. She ended up graduating and going on to college a year early.

 

That is when it stuck out to me. I was amazed that somebody who had had so many problems could get their life together and get ahead. You would typically think that she would have gotten behind. I was really impressed.

 

It still didn't come up for us until dh and I were talking about school for our children. We had planned on private, but then he read an article about a family that had one in homeschool and one in P.S. He liked that their focus was what was best for each student. Then I got on the bandwagon.

[mcconnellboys]

I first heard about homeschooling in the winter of 1998/99, right after we moved here. There was a pretty large hsing community here. I was not happy with the school options I was seeing, and in talking to others about school, mentions of hsing kept cropping up. When we couldn't get my son into the school we wanted to send him to for the 1999/2000 school year, I started hsing as a stop-gap measure... and here I am, still, 12 years later....

[Wabi Sabi]

When I was in high school my boyfriend at the time had some family members who homeschooled. They lived way out in the woods in a somewhat isolated area with no neighbors, the kids seemingly had no friends and were very unhappy, and from my understanding at the time they were primarily being home educated due to not wanting the children to have any non-Christian influence in their lives. I remember one of the children (a preteen) sighing because he wasn't allowed to join Scouts or play Little League.

 

They seemed to be utterly miserable and quite frankly, to this day I still feel sorry for them and wonder what ever became of the family.

[Crimson Wife]

There was a homeschooled girl in my Brownie & Girl Scout troop. She was really nice but her parents were hippies so I'm ashamed to say that my friends and I considered her "weird". I regret it now because she probably would've made a great friend had I been able to look beyond the surface stuff.

[abbeyej]

My mom went to a home school convention when I was 3 -- so around then, I'm guessing. ;)

[Philippians 4:8]

A wonderful woman who I'd known since age 7 homeschooled her kids when it was a new concept...she has been an amazing role model/mentor to me over the years. I went to college to be an elementary school teacher but I always planned and knew in my heart that I would homeschool my kids. I did teach 2nd grade for a couple years but then started my family. I now have three, a 13 yr old, 9 yr. old and a 3 yr old and I've homeschooled all of them from birth!

[stripe]

Somewhere in the mid to late 80s at the latest because I knew someone who was being homeschooled. I was a child at that time, not an adult.

[QueenCat]

1991. I remember because elder ds was an infant. We hire a neighbor to babysit him. She homeschooled. She babysat once for us. She brought all her books with her to work while he napped. Except he didn't normally nap at the time I had her there. We came back to find a screaming child, all the baby food jars still sealed, the bottles still full and her books opened all over the table. Her reasoning: I thought he needed to cry it out, to get used to you not being there. Can you tell this is a vivid negative memory for me? The family kept themselves, and only associated with people outside of their church if it was related to making money (dad had a "house call auto repair service, boys did yard work for people, girl babysat). I didn't meet homeschoolers I liked until 1995ish...

[scubamama]

my dad's cousin and his wife HSed their 10 kids. They are an amazing example of what HSing can do for a family and a great example to the community.

There is just so much love and peace in that family! They all live on a big property with the grandparents and have a great natural lifestyle. I went to the elementary school right across from their land. I used to look thru the chain link fence longingly at Aunt Laura's and wish she would come and get me too! :tongue_smilie:

My mom probaly would've considered it but she was very ill. My dad thought they were kooks and never missed a chance to voice that. Of course, never to them. :glare:

All the kids have grown up to be mature and either off to college, started successful businesses (custom carpentry, landscaping) or on the mission field.

I just have the greatest memories of being a kid there and wanting to join the group! I didn't think I would HS but I never discounted it either.

 

Michele in So Cal

 

ds 9 dd 6.5 dd 4

[Hunter's Moon]

I really cannot remember where I heard about it. I brought it up with my parents in middle school (I believe before 7th) and they looked into it and said the state required too much. :glare:

 

Then again, at the end of my Sophomore year, a discussion in History class prompted me to bring it up again. This time, I was old enough to research, plan, and prepare everything for the school district and the school year so my parents agreed.

 

I *plan* to homeschool my child/ren in the future, and hopefully it can become a reality, but I am open to other options (such as a K-6 Montessori school in my city).

 

Ever since we began, my dad has said he regrets not looking into it more when I asked before 7th. He didn't really realize what the schools were like until I hit high school and my school was put on the list for top schools in the nation all because how many students are taking AP courses and are made to sit for the AP exam. In all my pre-AP courses, only a few actually wanted to be there. The rest were there from test scores in 8th grade and they weren't allowed to transfer unless a parent really pushed.

Edited July 5, 2011 by BeatleMania