Discovering homeschooling

[Night Elf]

 I've been homeschooling for 13 years now. I was remembering our early days. I first heard about homeschooling from a family at a local hardware store. I saw them there during the school day and asked if they were out of school for the day. The mom was really nice with me and said she homeschooled. I was floored. I'm sure my mouth must have dropped open. I asked her more questions and she told me about Calvert School. So I went home and started researching. DH wasn't on board at first. I researched it and started reading the WTM boards, and did that for a couple of months before I convinced DH to let me take ds out of school. And 2 months after we started homeschooling, DH thanked me for researching it and doing it because it made a tremendous difference in ds's life. I'm so glad I ran into that woman.

 

I've had the pleasure of talking to one person about homeschooling. She had 7 kids and hated them being in public school. At the time, I was using Sonlight, so I showed her the catalog. We talked about homeschooling in general and Sonlight in particular. I felt a little odd about being involved when she took her kids out of school. I worried that she would blame me if something went wrong. Unfortunately, we didn't really hang out in the same circle so I lost touch with her. I've always wondered if homeschooling was successful for her.

 

Just rambling right now. :)

[Carrie12345]

You know, I can't remember my official introduction to homeschooling!
I remember when Colombine happened and my oldest was a baby. I said out loud "This kid is going to be homeschooled," but I didn't mean it and I didn't really have any concept of it.

I don't remember what exactly inspired me toward that direction when he was in 1st or 2nd grade, either, but something did.  And it wasn't until 4th grade was over that we even started.

Somehow, I just seemed to fall into it!

[JustEm]

I was homeschooled in 4th grade by someone other than my parents because my mom was fed up with public school and couldn't afford catholic school. My brother and I hated it at the time, but looking back it was the best year of my education and the most fun too. I wish we had stayed. Instead we went to catholic school the next year and from then on out.

 

Fast forward college, my older sister starts homeschooling her dd and ds. She did this for a few years before needing to go back to work. My other sister started homeschooling her kids shortly after I graduated college. The idea was entirely unappealing to me. Then my oldest ds asks me to teach him to read at the age of 3 so I start. Once we start that I really start thinking about his education. I realized he'd be in the same schools I was and because of a late birthday would be the oldest in his classes. If he were to go to public school this September he'd be in kindergarten but he reads at a second grade level and does math at a mid first grade so he'd be bored an likely start hating learning. I'm thankful that this is the direction my children have led me and excited for their home education.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I'd heard of homeschooling because I was on the Mothering.com boards at the time, but it wasn't something that I'd ever considered for myself, mainly because I was working. I always had a "you are your child's first teacher" kind of mindset, though. One day I was lamenting to my best friend about sending my oldest to kindergarten because she had been tracked to the worst, and farthest, school in the district even though we lived less than a mile from the best and closest school in the district. I was also concerned because she was well beyond being ready for K and I was worried she'd be bored and miserable. My friend (a homeschooler at heart) said, "Well, you know, you could always homeschool her." And she told me about Calvert and Sonlight and Oak Meadow and so on, and it was like I heard angels singing :lol: I did a crazy amount of research and bought a used Calvert set (which I never even used), and then I read the copy of TWTM that she loaned me, and that was the end of public school for us (though who knows what the future will bring?!). 

[Lara in Colo]

I remember my eldest was having trouble in school, her teacher said that my quiet , meek child was disrupting the class.  She was failing those awful timed math tests.  The teachers were getting worse every year (great first grade, really tired and overworked 2nd grade and the third grade teacher was really new and couldn't control her class-when ever I visited there-- it was chaos!).

 

About that same time there was an advertisement on the radio for an online school-- I went to the meetings and signed her up, a months after starting, #2 wanted to join, a month after that I pulled my K'er.  

 

I don't really know when I heard about homeschooling-- I'm sure I knew before then, but I probably was convinced I wouldn't do it well. 

In retrospect, I think I was always leading that way--- the school was year round and I put all four of my children on 4 separate tracts-that way I would always have one at home by themselves and I could help them with their school needs 1:1. 

[Cinder]

I first heard of homeschooling from a family at church. I thought it was weird. I thought *they* were a little weird. Nice family, just slightly odd. And it wasn't just homeschooling that made me think so, there were other things about them. Ds1 was still an infant then. A couple years later I met my second homeschooling family, also in church. They seemed a bit more "normal" to me. Still, homeschooling wasn't something I considered.

 

We moved. I met my third homeschooling family. About a year later ds1 is in preschool. It was a private K4 program in a woman's home. He was actually a year younger than the other kids so I'd hoped to keep him in her program another year before he'd be old enough for K. But then she moved. I looked around for another K4 program but just couldn't find one to fit. By that time ds1 was also writing* and fairly taught himself to read. So I asked my friend about homeschooling him. Bought some Abeka K5 workbooks. He finished them in about 4 months. And that was how our homeschooling adventure had begun.

 

 

*About writing: When ds1 turned 3 some friends game him a wipe-off placemat with letters to trace. He insisted I show him how to draw each letter. When we went through it once he insisted I show him again. Then he just started writing. First he wrote just nonsense. Then he started asking how to spell words. And that's essentially how he taught himself to read.

[Crimson Wife]

There was a homeschooled girl in my Girl Scout troop growing up. She was really nice but her parents were hippies/super-crunchy so I thought they were weird. She wound up attending Harvard and as an adult, I regret that I didn't become friends with her because of my prejudice.

[AmandaVT]

I finished my degree in elementary ed and got my teaching certificate. But then I didn't pursue a teaching position. I kept my cushy job at a tech company that made more money. A few years and a move to a different state later, I wanted to go back to my degree, so I took a job as a para-educator in a local elementary school hoping it would lead to a full time teaching position. I learned a lot about how public schools work now and I left at the end of the year knowing that I wanted no part in public schools. Then we had DS, who is bright. I had home schooling in the back of my head because my dad would tell me every chance he got that I couldn't put my kid into school because they wouldn't know what to do with him. I had friends with kids in public schools who complained ad nauseum about the system. We visited the local private school and decided that it didn't fit our schooling plans (very unschooly). We thought about sending him to the public school anyway because he has a bit of social anxiety and we thought that public school might help. Then we realized that the bus comes at 7:45 am and doesn't drop off until almost 5pm daily. An insanely long day for a 5 year old. So public school was off the table.

 

I love homeschooling and hope to find some more local homeschoolers to work with this year. Part of me wishes that there was a great school with normal school hours close by with a great curriculum. Alas, there's not, so we'll continue with our homeschooling journey. :-) 

[hillfarm]

I worked at a medical practice where we often had to suffer through the unattended kids while their parents were with the Dr. One lady had two little daughters, Rosanna and Amanda. They were model children - polite, busy with the work they brought, pleasant to speak with, etc. They told us they were homeschoolers. That pretty much planted the seed. Those girls were such a refreshing change from the everyday kids we saw.

 

When I became pregnant with dd, dh and I discussed homeschooling and started praying about it. We felt that God was leading us to do it, so the rest was history.

 

We did (again after a time of prayer) decide to switch from traditional homeschooling to 3 semesters of high school with one of the online public schools, as a transition between our schooling and the PSEO (community college) program she will be attending for 11th and 12th grades.

 

BTW. totally off topic, but something to consider for those with middle schoolers, by attending the free PSEO program for half of high school, dd will be able to graduate with both an AA degree and a high school diploma at the same time. It appears that it will save us approximately $56,000.00 in college classes that we won't have to pay for.

[marbel]

My husband was the one who brought up homeschooling when our son was about.... 2, I think.  Yeah, a bit early.  At that time we lived in a terrible school district.  Anyway, I had never heard of it and was shocked by the concept.  I was so against it and my husband didn't persist, but he planted the seed.  So, I did what I always do when confronted with something new - started reading.  The more I read the more enchanted I became with the idea.

 

The idea solidified while we were visiting Bonneville Dam when our kids were about 4 and 2 (I think).  Our son was so interested in everything and I realized that if we were homeschooling we could do things like that on weekdays when the rangers were more available to answer questions.   We also had a group of friends who were going to homeschool so it was easy to fall into it at kindy age. 

 

We have had our ups and downs over the years.  The last few, with my son sick all the time, have been very hard.  Still I can't imagine that it would have been better for him if he'd been in school. 

[wendyroo]

When I was a teenager I worked in a church nursery; this in turn led to a ton of babysitting jobs, several for homeschooling families.  Of all the hundreds of kids I babysat, the homeschooled kids stood out as respectful, articulate and friendly.  By no means were they perfect, but compared to the general population of kids I had experience with, the homeschooled kids got along better with their parents, sibling and peers.  They were interesting kids who had hobbies, loved to read, naturally sought out learning, etc.  I was sold.

 

As a young adult I research homeschooling methods and philosophies in search of an approach that would garner all the social benefits I had seen in my homeschooled babysittees, while also providing a rigorous academic education.  My public school experience was lackluster at best; I was a profoundly gifted student in solidly mediocre schools.  My search led me to the Well Trained Mind.

 

Wendy

[Kathryn]

My oldest had food allergies and I was anxiety-ridden over sending him to school one day. When he was 2.5, DH said "why don't you homeschool him?" I thought he was insane. The only person I knew who'd been homeschooled was the poster child for unsocialized. But, I got a bunch of library books and the rest is history. By the time he was mandatory school age, he had outgrown his allergies, but we were on board for so many other reasons by then, it didn't matter.

[kiana]

I ended up *being* homeschooled after a string of attempts at school that went from good to okay to bad to terrible. My mother had only heard of it for extremely religious or extremely hippie people, but school just wasn't working.

[Erin]

 

 

 I saw them there during the school day and asked if they were out of school for the day. The mom was really nice with me and said she homeschooled. I was floored. I'm sure my mouth must have dropped open. I asked her more questions and she told me about Calvert School. So I went home and started researching

 

And THIS is the reason it never bothers me when random strangers ask me/my kid why he's not in school that day.  You never know who needs to hear about homeschooling as an option!

 

 

MY official introduction was when Trap and I were first married, 18 years ago.  We lived on a ranch in the boonies of the Nebraska Sandhills and there were several families in the neighborhood who homeschooled.  Some were a great example of the devotion and high standards of homsechooling and some were a great example of the disasters of no over sight.  :P  

Unfortunately, the disasters were the ones Trap remembered when it came time to talk him into the possibility for our boy who was drowning in school.  However, with time and Buck's assurance, he's come to realize it's probably the best choice for our kid that just doesn't fit.

[Miss Tick]

I want to use this post to say "Thank you!" To the lady in the park in Phoenix 20 years ago when I was there babysitting, who answered my disbelieving questions and made it all look normal and do-able. It was a short conversation, probably tedious for her (Think: Yes, it's legal. I decide what to teach. Have a good day.) But totally planted the seed for me.

 

I agree with Erin about answering those questions which seem ridiculous when you are "on the inside"

[Slache]

I grew up with homeschoolers. I saw firsthand the benefits of it and decided I would homeschool when I was 17. When I moved to Cincinnati my mother in law said she'd never heard of it and thought it was illegal. She knows 3 homeschool families now, not through me.

[carriede]

You know, I have no idea how I was introduced to homeschooling.

 

My aunt and uncle homeschool/ed their 6 kids, but we live 5 states away, so I never saw/talked about their schooling. Then when DH and I started talking marriage, we also talked kids, and we both mentioned and were open to homeschooling.

 

It was just always on the table.

[Kalmia]

When I was growing up in the 70s, there was a homeschooling family on a farm we passed daily on the school bus. The kids would whisper about those "weird homeschoolers" (whom they had never met) as they were driven to the most mediocre middle school on the planet. But unfortunately, my first introduction to homeschooling was vaguely negative. When my son was three, a coworker of mine was homeschooling her preschoolers and we joined in rather than start preschool so (in my opinion) young. We had a great time and it inspired me to look on the bookshelves of the local Barnes & Noble for books on homeschooling. They were few and far between! But The Well Trained Mind was among them (right next to the unschooling book that my friend gravitated to). So when my son went to school and never seemed to fit in academically or socially (public K, and two different private schools for 1st and 2nd), we got tired of paying for nothing and brought him home. Soon he will be going to private high school, but those homeschooling years pretty much saved his love of learning. So I am equally grateful to my unschooling friend and Susan Wise Bauer's classical education--vastly different but both providing alternatives for kids who don't fit the factory-model of learning.

[MrsBasil]

Internet.  I was looking for information on living frugally on a single income and being a stay at home mom.  A lot of the blogs I ran into were written by Christian homeschooling moms.  I wasn't a Christian and didn't even know the basics of Christianity either.  

 

I ended up becoming a Christian and deciding homeschooling was an interesting idea.  I researched heavily while on bedrest through 2 pregnancies, convinced my husband it was worth trying, and now live in an area with a school system whose philosophies we disagree with and we're giving it a go. 

[ThisIsTheDay]

The first time I heard of homeschooling was through a friend whose sil was doing it.  We wondered aloud about how dangerous it was, that it should be illegal. :lol:

 

Five years later, I found a distant cousin online.  She homeschooled her four children.  The only other person I knew who hsed lived in a cabin in the woods with ten kids and no phone. So I grabbed a library book about it, strictly out of curiosity.  I was in, but I knew dh would never agree.  At the same time, I brought the book on vacation with us, and out of boredom, he read the book. 

 

We knew no one IRL who homeschooled, but five months later, I pulled my dd out of her (truly amazing) ps to hs.  I cried for three weeks, sure I was going to ruin her life. 

 

She homeschooled the rest of the way through, and my younger ds has never been to ps.  My dd just completed her first year away at college.

 

Second only to our faith, it was hands down the best thing that ever happened to our family.

[AK_Mom4]

Lots of homeschoolers where we are, but I never thought we would be!  Until Kid #3 started crashing in school and we really had to do something different for him.  We pulled him out mid year and finish out 5th grade with library books.  The next year, we pulled out youngest DD who was bored in school and she has been home ever since.  Kids #2 and #3 both did public high school, then came back home for their senior year using a charter school and really benefited from having that transition year to concentrate on their own interests.

 

Like the previous poster, I try to be encouraging when people ask us about homeschooling.  There are so many options where we are that it really is pretty easy to do if you have the time.

[LostSurprise]

Back in the '80s ('84?) one of my younger brothers had a friend from the neighborhood who was homeschooled. We thought it was a bit weird,  but I was jealous. It was through a brick and mortar academy though. I think they picked up the material there periodically and were tested there, but everything else was at home. 

 

DH's aunt also homeschooled through the '90s and '00s. 

 

Strangely, everyone on both sides of the family assumed we would homeschool when our guys were born. I guess we seem like the type. 

[SemiSweet]

When I had oldest I belonged to a church that had many homeschoolers and knew that I wanted to but exh was not open to it. I ended up joining the military and leaving him so it was completely off the table. I started thinking about it again after I got out because I was taking a sociology class that had an in-depth chapter on public education, at the same time we were preparing to move to hawaii, which is known for its awful public school system, I asked dh what he thought, started reading everything and anything on the subject, and we started shortly thereafter. WTM was the first book I read about it and it just cemented everything.

 

During high school my homelife was very unstable and we moved constantly, I ended up going to the ancestor or what is now called a charter school, it was called independent study and I would meet with my teacher for an hour a week to get assignment, so the idea of alternative education was always there.

[73349]

DH and I went to public schools K-12, and so did basically everyone else we know.

 

Sometime between when DS was born and when he turned 2, I heard about homeschooling. Our school district was in the news a lot (not for good things!) and the private school where I'd taught didn't seem like a great fit--both would've involved long hours. I did some research online and found out about homeschooling, and it seemed ideal. And it really is, for us.

 

Homeschooling is fairly popular here (though not at my church), unlike the area we came from. I've talked to a couple of people about it if they seemed interested, including one newcomer to the area who was dismayed at the cost of Montessori schools here.

[shawthorne44]

The contrary side of me is pleased with F.U. nature of how I learned about homeschooling.  

 

When I was 16, the homeschoolers in my school district were sued by the state (or ISD?).  I have distinct memory of thinking, "That is possible!  Really! Staying home and reading books!?!  Really?  People do that?  Wow!"  I didn't even bring up the idea with my parents.  They are very "Do what every else is doing, unless it is dangerous" type of people.  But, I've wished for that sort of education for myself ever since that day.  When I was pregnant, I did a little research and Sonlight went Ding Ding Ding.  Then came to WTM from there.  

 

DH was not on board at first.  He went to an inner city school and he always contended that he got a great education.  I knew enough to know that Yes, he got a decent education (except for writing).  But, the school didn't teach him anything after second grade.  By high school he was sleeping in class, doing sports in the afternoons and early evenings and reading and independent studies at night.  At the beginning of the school year, he would buy the teacher edition for all his textbooks.  He would study them for about two months, and then sell them to another student for more than he'd paid.  He would turn in his textbooks, and spend the rest of the year sleeping in class and unschooling.  So, I pointed out how nice it would been if his daytime sleep was always interrupted by class bells.  

 

[dirty ethel rackham]

My oldest son wasn't potty trained in time for preschool and I was looking for alternatives.(We found out later that it was a bowel disorder.)   I wasn't sold on the idea of preschool, but EVERYONE in our town sends their kids to preschool and I was seeing that any opportunities to be with other kids would be limited without it.  I went to a La Leche League enrichment meeting on educational opportunities and the subject of homeschooling came up.  I was instantly drawn to this - getting out of the "institutional" nature of school, learning in a much more organic way, more positive social experiences with better supervision (I was bullied in school for 6 years and still have lingering effects.)  When I went to my first park meeting to learn about it and meet other parents, I felt like I had come home. These people were my people.   I started researching like crazy - reading John Holt, Dave Guterson, Christine Field, etc.  I knew that this is what we had to do.  I dragged dh to our local non-sectarian group's evening parents meeting so that he could hear from other, experienced parents.  He was amazed at how "normal" everyone seemed.  When we got into the car to go home, dh said to me "What will we tell our families?" which signaled to me that I had his full support. 

 

In the early years, I leaned toward unschooling (not the radical unschooling people talk about today, but intentionally exposing my kids to many educational opportunities and following their lead.)  My oldest was passionate about learning and we spend our days reading, exploring, etc.  We went on every field trip imaginable.  When my 3rd child came along, I was exhausted.  When my boys came to me with things they wanted to do or learn about, I too often answered "later."  But, later just never seemed to come.  So, I knew I needed a more structured approach - I needed to be more intentional.  I was introduced to the Well-Trained Mind at an evening parents' meeting.  While it was way more structured than I wanted and way more writing intensive than was appropriate for my boys, I felt like I had a road-map - a long-term vision. 

 

Over the years, due to teaching Bradley Method childbirth classes, I met so many young families.  For most of them, I was their first introduction to homeschooling and they were curious.  Many of my former students went on to homeschool their own children.  Dh is a huge advocate and has "converted" many as well. 

[KrissiK]

Well, I was at my girlfriend's house. I didn't even have kids yet and she had just pulled her kindergartener out of ps. I was horrified. But then she handed my this book, "The Well-Trained Mind" by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer and said, "read this!" And I did. And the rest is history!........ And Latin. And Greek. And literature! :)

[LMD]

My husband was the one who brought up homeschooling when our son was about.... 2, I think. Yeah, a bit early. At that time we lived in a terrible school district. Anyway, I had never heard of it and was shocked by the concept. I was so against it and my husband didn't persist, but he planted the seed. So, I did what I always do when confronted with something new - started reading. The more I read the more enchanted I became with the idea.

 

The idea solidified while we were visiting Bonneville Dam when our kids were about 4 and 2 (I think). Our son was so interested in everything and I realized that if we were homeschooling we could do things like that on weekdays when the rangers were more available to answer questions. We also had a group of friends who were going to homeschool so it was easy to fall into it at kindy age.

 

We have had our ups and downs over the years. The last few, with my son sick all the time, have been very hard. Still I can't imagine that it would have been better for him if he'd been in school.

very similar to our story! I remember vividly a conversation dh and I had in the car one day when our oldest was an infant. We were talking about a specific school that dh's brother was attending. Musing about educational choices. Dh brought up homeschooling, he'd known a slightly weird hs family growing up, I was stunned. My baby's education was way too important to experiment with. It felt like a heavy burden (still does!). Dh said since I was likely to be the stay at home parent and thus be doing the work it was my decision, but would I consider it.

I started researching and fell in love! We are both thrilled with this life.

[LMD]

actually it's funny, dh and I were discussing this last night. He had a very confused colleague asking him questions yesterday - 'are you allowed to do that?!' Blew his mind apparently! Lol.

[Storygirl]

Sixteen years ago, when DH and I were newly married, we invited a couple of friends over for chili. We sat around in our little apartment and listened while both of the women talked about how their sisters homeschooled their children and one day they would, too (they were still single at the time, and none of us had kids yet). I had heard of homeschooling, but had never met anyone who actually did it. My first reaction was that I could never do that -- it would be hard enough to be a mom without being the teacher, too.

 

But I was intrigued, and I started to do some reading. Before long, I was hooked. As a child in elementary school, I was an excellent student but extremely bored in school, although I loved to learn. I always finished my work quickly and had to wait for everyone else to be done. The only good thing about this is that I used that time to read books of my choosing. Until high school, when the classes became harder, I found much of the work to be repetitive, unchallenging, and uninteresting, though I went to an excellent school district. As I read about homeschooling, I realized how much I would have loved it as a child. I also saw that I could use my degree (I have a master's degree in children's literature) at home with my own children.

 

I feel that I should mention that my four children are nothing like me, and schoolwork does not really interest them. Only one of the four is a reader.  So I have had to change my initial ideas of what school should look like in our home. But it was my initial vision of a literature rich environment with time for my children to pursue their own academic interests that first drew me in.

[sheryl]

It was maybe 2-3 years after we were married in 1980 that I attended a Bible Study and first learned about homeschooling.  That would be about 1982 or 1983!  Yep...31 or 32 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

One of the women in my group homeschooled her kids and that's when I was bit!

[NotSoObvious]

Growing up I only knew one homeschooling family well and they were suuuuuuper religious. I met a few other homeschoolers over the years and thought they were weird. Then I became a teacher, so of course I thought everyone who homeschooled were lunatics.

 

Then, overnight, I became a parent to twin kindergartners, one of whom had special needs.

 

It took three years, but eventually I saw the light.

[ocelotmom]

I had so many little exposures to the concept that led me to it.

 

My mom was a teacher. One of her jobs prior to getting a classroom job was teaching homebound students. Not homeschooling really, but it was a seed.

 

Then there was a girl I knew who floated back and forth between private Catholic school, public, and homeschooling. Rumor was her mom made her wear a chastity belt. I can't say that was a positive exposure.

 

In high school, I was involved in a self-directed learning program for a few years. This allowed me to really pursue my interests beyond the standard classes my school offered. I also took several classes via BYU independent study courses because it was the only way I could get them into my schedule.

 

In college, I was on a Christian mailing list for a topic totally unrelated to parenting and homeschooling, but the subject came up, which was my first true exposure to the concept. I had a pretty bad time in public school in general, and the idea immediately appealed. I read more about it, discovered the concept of unschooling, read the Teenage Liberation Handbook, and it clicked with me because of my high school experience with alternative education. A friend of mine on the list who I very much respected brought up classical education and WTM, so I read some about that too, though it didn't really resonate.

 

When I was pregnant with DS several years later, I brought it up with my husband, and he agreed to the idea. When DS was 3.5, we stumbled across the local homeschool group at a park day and immediately joined it because I'd never met a group of people I clicked with so well.

 

When DS approached school age, I started to get cold feet about it. He probably would have ended up going to school except that he loved his "park friends" and wanted to stay in the homeschool group (even though he also wanted to go to kindergarten), and the school two blocks away from us closed, leaving us with a commute of several miles to get anywhere. At that time we had no car, and the school district didn't provide bus service.

 

(We were far from the worst affected by this particular school closure, though. The kids in the trailer park, one of the lowest income areas in town, got zoned to a school on the other side of the freeway. Relatively close as the crow flies, but a good 5 miles away on foot/bike since the pedestrian bridge was a ways away. I'm still pissed about that.)

 

So we went through with homeschooling.

 

One of my closest friends in the group followed WTM, so I took another look at it, and it resonated much more than it had the last time I'd looked at it, when DS was a toddler.

 

The other closest friend was an unschooler.

 

We ended up being somewhere in the middle.