Educators Who Homeschool

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

Looking through the 10 teachers thread. it would seem there are many of us who are either in the business, escapees from the business, married into the business, or some variant thereof.
 
There is a Yahoo group EWH, but it's tumbleweed-quiet, and its acronym unfortunately spells "Ewwwwww!"  Even so, how many here are EWH?

[Dmmetler]

I taught k-6 music and math pull outs before having DD, then was a college adjunct from when she was 8 months until 2 years ago, when my program was cut back and, rather than pick up the classes I was offered, chose to quit entirely. I've done a few short courses in the summers since then, which works better while HSing (since there are lots of summer options for school-age children), but not taught during regular semesters.

[Melissa in Australia]

none of the above yet. BUt I am just about finished my Bachelor in primary Education and will be (hopefully) teaching towards the latter half of next year.

[Chris in VA]

Taught 1st-2nd combined, as well as lots of preschool. 

 

Dh was an adjunct at SMU and Virginia Theological Seminary. 

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

I taught k-6 music and math pull outs before having DD, 

 

Pull out music programs :banghead:  -- that's what DW has (6-8).  There's a special level of idiocy in school districts that use pull-outs for music and art.  I never heard of math pull-out.  Was that sped or gt?

[Laura Corin]

I probably don't really count: I taught in a Lycee in France as part of my French degree, then at the Sorbonne as part of a post-grad programme.  I taught EFL to post-grad engineers in Beijing, then had a lot of private students in Taiwan.  I'm not a trained teacher, but I've taught in classrooms for about five years.

 

L

[freesia]

I taught for 10 years before homeschooling. I taught 8 years at a public elementary school (4th, 1st, 2nd and 1/2) and 2 years at a private international school.

 

Dh is/was a certified math teacher. He taught 2 years of English in Hungary and then came home and subbed before switching careers.

 

I discovered homeschooling while doing a research paper on one-room schools. I was fascinated and became determined to teach my own. I love teaching. I love the flexibility, discipleship and "learning lifestyle" aspects of homeschooling.

 

Dh did not enjoy teaching, at all.

 

Our decision to homeschool was not a reaction against our experiences as educators as much as an awareness of the limitations of classroom instruction on both the academic and spiritual level.

[KrissiK]

I taught science at a Christian jr. High before we got the kids.

[regentrude]

I teach college. The decision to homeschool had nothing to do with it; it was solely caused by the disappointing academic level of my kids' middle school as compared to my own education.

[Lady Florida.]

I taught exceptional education at all three levels. My last 12 years of teaching were at the high school level. I left when I was 4 months pregnant, and never went back.

[bolt.]

I currently teach at the college level (adjunct) but do not currently HS -- currently afterschooling with the intent to HS in about 3 years. I will probably continue teaching at college while HSing.

 

The relationship is probably that I like teaching, which motivates me in both choices.

[ChiMomNP]

I was a Pre-K to grade 3 teacher before I became a nurse. My husband is a full-time college professor. I don't think it really influenced our decision to homeschool. We just didn't like public school BS. We both really value our time and freedom and found sending out son to school "confining". Our son was bored to tears too. 

[MerryAtHope]

None, but I am a child of two educators, one high school, one college!

[Ali in OR]

I taught high school math for 4 years.

 

I don't home school as any kind of reaction to schools or my teaching experience, but I think that my chosen field of teaching and my home schooling both stem from a calling, a deep desire, to teach. Just different manifestations for different epochs of my life.

[Kareni]

During grad school, I was a teaching assistant for a year; I also stepped out for a semester to teach for a professor on sabbatical.

 

When my daughter was homeschooling, I was a librarian at a homeschooling resource center which is now sadly defunct.

 

My husband tutors and teaches classes to children and teens (homeschoolers as well as publicly and privately schooled students) and adults.

 

Oh, and our homeschool graduate and now college graduate is teaching English in South Korea.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[*Lulu*]

After I finished my degree DH and I spent a couple of years living in a different state than where I had graduated while he finished out his degree. It was a stop over, so I didn't bother with my teaching certification and went to work for an accredited Sylvan.

 

I enjoyed it so unbelievably much! I was teaching algebra for HS credit as well as K-12 math remediation, some reading, and study skills. (Part of my job involved overseeing the math and study skills programs.) Through that time I came to realize that teaching small student groups was much more fulfilling than the large classroom groups I had trained for. I also was exposed to homeschoolers for the first time, (you know, outside of that one family in the neighborhood that is weird and happens to also homeschool :P ), as well as being faced with a surprising number of students who, dispite being smart and having involved families, were falling through the PS cracks.

 

We didn't make the decision to homeschool just based on my experience, but it started the conversation in our home. By the time Punk was 3 we were pretty far down the road to homeschooling. I tell people that the only benefit of my background was that it made our decision not quite the terrifying leap it could have been. (I mean, if I am qualified to teach someone else's little angels, surely I can handle my own......*she says laughing hysterically and searching for the spare duct tape*)

[NicAnn]

I never taught, but got an ECE. I have/had tutored various subjects. It is one of the numerous factors that caused us to homeschool.

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

None, but I am a child of two educators, one high school, one college!

 

OK -- you get a genetic waiver to the club.

[DawnM]

I taught high school for 12 years and was a school counselor for an additional 4.5, so over 16 years in public education.

 

I made the decision to stay home and HS when my school aged children were 7 and 5.  Oldest had some huge problems in the traditional school setting and some significant LDs.  The one on one was crucial for him.

 

I don't hate public education or any kind of education.  I plan to go back to work sometime in the future.  I have kept up all of my credentials.

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

I don't hate public education or any kind of education.  I plan to go back to work sometime in the future.  I have kept up all of my credentials.

 

People are shocked that we HS and still vote for the school budgets, but it's not really an oxymoron.  You can still love the profession, love your students, while also hating what the system has become and what it does to students.

[texasmama]

My mother was an elementary school teacher.

 

I have taught as an adjunct professor at the undergraduate and graduate levels off and on for about 12 years. Haven't taught in a couple of years. My college teaching was incidental to my decision to homeschool.

[Megbo]

My husband teaches at the college level, and taught high school for two years before going back to get his PhD. His teaching experience has not influenced our decision to homeschool, and his older son attends private school. 

[Lucy the Valiant]

I taught high school English and swore I would never ever homeschool my own (future) children.

 

Yeah. Life is funny sometimes . . . :)

 

 

[GSOchristie]

I was an elementary teacher before having Asher and until he was 18 months old. I saw how much more I could do with my kids at home just because the simple numbers and that really fueled my desire to home school.  I actually loved teaching in private school and will probably go back to that after my kids graduate.  

[jar7709]

I taught during grad school, followed by teaching at the community college level for a short while. I did not enjoy teaching at the CCs and left for industry. While that experience did not directly influence why I homeschool, it definitely influences *how* I homeschool. :)

[Maela]

For four years, I worked one-on-one (as an aide in a public school special ed classroom) with children ages 3-6 with autism.  I also shadowed k-1st grade high-functioning kids in mainstream classrooms.  I loved that job, but it also made me realize that I didn't want to become an elementary school teacher, which is what I was going to college for at the time.  It also made me realize that I didn't want my own (future) kids in school.

 

Dh is a middle school social studies teacher.  He's very good at what he does, but doesn't always enjoy his work.  I always say that if all teachers were like my dh, I might consider putting my kids in b & m school.

[Farrar]

I always wanted to homeschool, even way before I had kids or was even married.  I think both that and my career in teaching stemmed from the same interest in education.

 

However, my brief stints in public school certainly upped my resolve to homeschool.  My much longer career in a private school made me understand that schools can be really good places.

 

I'm with others who support public education as well.  I find it frustrating and at times subpar, but I think its one of society's most important services.

[lea_lpz]

I took a year off from my masters in educational counseling the first year we homeschooled and then returned at half time pace. Hoping to graduate in May 2014 with a Masters in Counselor Education and PPS / LPCC licensing requirements.

 

I plan to work part time, hopefully flexible.

[Crimson Wife]

I was super-worried about telling my IL's that we were planning to HS because they were both teachers (MIL in PS, FIL at a Catholic prep school). I was so relieved when MIL actually recommended it to me because she could see that oldest DD was not going to have her needs met in a typical classroom.

 

Ironically it's been my own parents who have been opposed to HS. They were so dissatisfied with the PS that they helped found a private school so I thought that they would totally understand why we HS. But they've bought into the whole "socialization can only happen in a classroom full of kids" myth.

[creekland]

I didn't vote...

 

I got my degree planning to go into industry (and did), then opted to get married, and after having kids, opted to stay home with them to start with.  When youngest was 3 I was thoroughly bored at home and hubby was starting his own business, so I looked for a part time job and ended up subbing (esp math/science) in our local high school.  I found I enjoyed that tremendously... so I'm still there 14 years later... thoroughly enjoying myself (most of the time).

 

However, while there, I also saw the content (or lack thereof) in our local high school.  It was very eye opening because I, myself, went to a great public school where kids regularly went to Ivy or equivalent schools. (I chose a state school and REALLY disappointed my guidance counselor and some teachers as some who were below me in ranking went to schools like MIT.)  I expected all public schools would be roughly similar, so never even remotely thought about homeschooling until my experience in the school.  Schools are not the same.

 

So... by the time oldest reached 9th grade we decided to homeschool.  All of my kids were pulled out that year (9th, 7th, and 5th) and we figured things out as we went along.  Sometime through there I found the Hive.  Oldest and middle did quite well (surpassing their peers) and enjoyed it.  Youngest did not like it and had some major mental health issues.  We ended up deciding to let him return to ps for high school.  He's done well in high school, but... that doesn't necessarily equate to as good of an education as I wish he had.  His scores are well below his brother's - and he's equally as capable.  However, I remind myself that I prefer a living son who isn't as highly educated as he could be over a dead son who was educated up to his potential.

 

So... my homeschooling years ended 2 years ago (and I'm still here...)  I still love subbing - esp since most of the time I get to teach - but I rarely have all the "other" stuff teachers have to deal with.  I have a great camaraderie with many of the kids and the other teachers, but I still get to be part time.

 

For me, it's the best of both worlds.  I did have to answer a few questions as to "why homeschooling?"  But now... my kids have proven themselves, so no one questions it.

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

I taught high school English and swore I would never ever homeschool my own (future) children.

 

Yeah. Life is funny sometimes . . . :)

 

Same here, sort of.  Pre-DD, DW was not keen on HS, based on the kids she saw coming into the system from HSing, since they tended to have big gaps in their knowledge.   Fast forward a few years, and DD is bored silly in public school K, and DW finds this blue book, faced out on the library shelf....author's name is Bauer....seems to teach at W&M.   Hmmmmm.

 

Now one of her younger colleague wants to HS, the vice principal pulled his own kids from the system, and well, maybe it's the start of something.   The insanity of the PARCC system rolling in may up NJ's HS numbers quite a bit.

[NotSoObvious]

I taught kindergarten then first grade for a total of 6 years. I also finished my masters in administration our first year homeschooling.

 

We entered homeschooling as a last resort. I'm so grateful now! I don't see us going back anytime soon.

[G5052]

I've taught at the college level for 15 years now, and I've been homeschooling for 12.  Yes, teaching college keeps me motivated.  I'm constantly amazed at how little the graduates of the local government schools have done there.

 

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

I've taught at the college level for 15 years now, and I've been homeschooling for 12. Yes, teaching college keeps me motivated. I'm constantly amazed at how little the graduates of the local government schools have done there.

Such anecdotes keep me going. Thanks!