Jump to content

Menu

The Bad News About Homeschooling...


Recommended Posts

"...high school students who will look you in the eye rather than dismiss you as if they’ve no use for your time..."

 

I'll never forget a long haired, baggy clothed teen-age boy I visited with in the doctor's office once. I'd never met him before. He was sitting there, with a calculus book, waiting for his mom who was with his little sister seeing the doctor. That boy looked me in the eye, spoke to me politely, made general chit-chat without any "ums," or "likes" or other filler phrases, (we were the only ones in the waiting room) and basically impressed the socks off me. He was homeschooled. He was the oldest of 9 kids (after talking with him a few minutes, I actually knew who he was, his mom was a friend of my sil, who just raves about this wonderful family, but I didn't let on that I knew who he was). My boys were still little at the time of this encounter, but I knew then that I needed to homeschool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll never forget a long haired, baggy clothed teen-age boy I visited with in the doctor's office once. I'd never met him before. He was sitting there, with a calculus book, waiting for his mom who was with his little sister seeing the doctor. That boy looked me in the eye, spoke to me politely, made general chit-chat without any "ums," or "likes" or other filler phrases, (we were the only ones in the waiting room) and basically impressed the socks off me. He was homeschooled. He was the oldest of 9 kids (after talking with him a few minutes, I actually knew who he was, his mom was a friend of my sil, who just raves about this wonderful family, but I didn't let on that I knew who he was). My boys were still little at the time of this encounter, but I knew then that I needed to homeschool.

 

I loved the article and I love this post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We’ve trained our children to take part in The Great Conversation . . . and they can’t find anyone to talk to.

 

...and that would be the thought that occupies my every waking moment (and many when I should be sleeping) lately. :glare: In that boat, rowing upstream, and you'd think it would get easier but it gets harder at the end when you have to transfer them to their own boat, and help them decide how hard to row against the stream.

 

I'm not a fan of generalizations about homeschooling, or most blog posts for that matter, but that was great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:001_smile: thanks for posting this. What a great blog :001_smile:

We’ve trained our children to take part in The Great Conversation . . . and they can’t find anyone to talk to.

 

...and that would be the thought that occupies my every waking moment (and many when I should be sleeping) lately. :glare: In that boat, rowing upstream, and you'd think it would get easier but it gets harder at the end when you have to transfer them to their own boat, and help them decide how hard to row against the stream.

 

I'm not a fan of generalizations about homeschooling, or most blog posts for that matter, but that was great.

 

I love what you quoted. We are feeling this right now. It is so difficult for any of my children to relate anymore. That is the hardest part.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll never forget a long haired, baggy clothed teen-age boy I visited with in the doctor's office once. I'd never met him before. He was sitting there, with a calculus book, waiting for his mom who was with his little sister seeing the doctor. That boy looked me in the eye, spoke to me politely, made general chit-chat without any "ums," or "likes" or other filler phrases, (we were the only ones in the waiting room) and basically impressed the socks off me. He was homeschooled. He was the oldest of 9 kids (after talking with him a few minutes, I actually knew who he was, his mom was a friend of my sil, who just raves about this wonderful family, but I didn't let on that I knew who he was). My boys were still little at the time of this encounter, but I knew then that I needed to homeschool.

 

:iagree:I had a similar experience that first made me consider homeschool as a serious alternative to public schools. Having been educated to be a secondary teacher in the public school system, homeschooling was presented by my professors as a joke. Parents were fooling themselves if they thought they could even come close to replacing what the professionals could do. The few experiences I'd had with homeschoolers bore this out. Then I encountered two families that had teenagers such as you mentioned above. I remember telling my husband that if homeschooling produced teenagers who acted in such a way towards adults then I was all for it. None of the teenagers that I had taught in the ps system would have handled themselves with that amount of maturity.

 

It is so difficult for any of my children to relate anymore. That is the hardest part.

 

:iagree:My second grader loves Shakespeare, math, and poetry. When she mentions this to other children her age that are not homeschooled, they look at her like she is crazy. She has, unfortunately, quickly learned not to mention her academic likes/dislikes with ps children. They just.don't.get.it. She feels more free to be herself around the kids in our homeschool group than anywhere else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...