When did you first hear about homeschooling?

[Orthodox6]

Spring of 1995. My department at the telephone company was being eliminated. The oldest two were attending a Montessori school at the time (K and 2nd). We decided to seize the advantage of my staying home, but did not know what to do about school. We felt cold-to-lukewarm about the county schools, and hesitant about publics in general. Our priest's wife (a good friend) was homeschooling, and urged us to consider doing so ourselves.

 

So we did.

[laughing lioness]

Mid 80's. Heard a homeschooler speak at a mom's mtg at church. I knew about it before then somehow, I remember hearing my Mom talk about of Holt's books (she was working on a Master's thesis) when I was in Jr. High (late 70's).

[Gailmegan]

When I was 17 (23 years ago). A friend of a friend was homeschooled because her parents were trying to shelter her from the evil world and I thought it was insane. No way would I homeschool my kids. :tongue_smilie: It never occurred to me to do so for academic reasons, until I looked into the academic quality of our school system.

[july19]

When I was a freshman in high school. I played the Oboe, and the first chair Oboe player was a homeschooler who came to our high school for band. She was absolutely brilliant, but fiercely quiet. She had 8 brothers who also came to our school for art, music, or choir. They were all very different, but all so incredibly intelligent.

 

That being said, I didn't think much about it again until I read the Pioneer Woman's homeschooling section and really started researching it. I bought The Well Trained Mind immediately and I fell in love!

[missmoe]

I grew up knowing about it. My mom homeschooled several kids at different times.

[Cindyg]

When my husband was in grad school, we were friends with another couple, and the wife was homeschooling their 5 year old. I was appalled.

 

I was a teacher then; and the wife, to me, seemed totally incompetent to teach the daughter. Looking back on that now, that seems laughable since it would have just been kindergarten. But I was flabbergasted at the time.

 

That was 20 years ago. The mom did homeschool that girl all the way to graduation. (I really don't know how their school turned out.) But I've often hoped that my shock didn't discourage her efforts.

[OLG]

1994 - friends of my aunt's in CA were homeschooling. My aunt began her campaign to get us to do it too!

[abacus2]

I don't remember not knowing about homeschooling. My mom's parents were missionaries in Africa and sent her and her siblings to boarding school in the '60s. By the time I was elementary age, homeschooling was the method of choice for missionaries. My aunt homeschooled her kids, who were only slightly younger than me, from kindergarten because their local schools were horrid. I know that some friends of ours from church were homeschooling by about 1988. All the homeschooling families I knew seemed very normal, although atypically kind.

[Night Elf]

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 was stressed about my son's problems in Kindergarten. One day while he was in school, I ran into a family of homeschoolers at Home Depot. I asked the typical questions like 'Oh, are your children not in school today?' and she told me they homeschooled. I said 'Is that legal?' and she said yes. I then asked how I could find out more and she told me to check online for Calvert School which is what they used, and also told me there numerous homeschool groups on yahoo groups. I researched homeschooling for about 2 months, showed my DH the data I compiled (he makes decisions based on logic, not emotion), and then withdrew my son from Kindergarten and the rest is history. :)

[MinivanMom]

I started a new high school my Junior year and one of the first girls I met had been homeschooled through 8th grade. I had never heard of homeschooling before, but I thought it was a fabulous idea. I decided then that I would homeschool my future children. It wasn't until years later that I heard people express concern about homeschoolers and "socialization". As a high schooler, it had never occurred to me that anyone would send their child to school to learn how to socialize.

[Mommy22alyns]

Point and laugh at me now... are you ready?

 

On the Duggars' special. :tongue_smilie:

 

See why I didn't want to do it at first? I love the Duggars but I am NOT one. :D I really, truly thought that I'd have to be just like them and wear a denim jumper or something. I didn't know that my kids could wear Gymboree and be homeschooled until I ran into a homeschooler on a Gymboree message board!

 

ETA: I must have somehow heard about it earlier than that, because while I was pg with Becca I remember talking with DH and dismissing hs'ing out of hand. Now look at us!

Edited July 5, 2011 by Mommy22alyns

[MelAR05]

I was babysitting for the pastor and his wife when I was 21 and heard they had homeschooled their children up until the fifth grade. The seed was planted then and grew from there. Twenty years later I am homeschooling. The reasons for choosing it has changed over the years but I always knew I would want to homeschool. Really never been another option in my mind until, of course, I started actually doing it. Ha! :) Still committed but didn't anticipate such a lonely road.