General Homeschool Questions

[kahlanne]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

[Jackie]

The local schools in my area range from "fine" to "pretty good". There are a couple well-regarded private schools, including one that really fits my educational philosophy. However, my child is currently working at several different grade levels - a bit below level for handwriting and fine motor, a bit above level for math, and way above level for language. She has a strong educational drive and little patience for repetition. There is no school that will be able and/or willing to accomodate her educational needs, so we homeschool.

 

If I could find a school now that would meet her educational needs, I would probably send her; being a stay at home parent was never something I wanted. At this point, we intend to homeschool through high school. Not in my current town, but if we lived somewhere with strong magnet high school in the future, maybe those would be a good fit.

[MeaganS]

(quoting the OP for the questions)

 

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool?

I was utterly bored during school and felt like it was inefficient and a waste of my time for what I got. I knew I could do better at home if I was willing to put for the effort for my kids. I also have a special needs DD that would have a hard time being successful in a traditional school setting but does fine at home. I like the flexibility of lifestyle because my husband works strange hours and we live far away from family and I like not worrying about the school's schedule. These are the main reasons I homeschool.  I honestly don't know if the schools here are really good or not. I assume not as I've never heard otherwise and there are tons of homeschoolers here. I might consider putting my kids into a school at some point if it was honestly superior academically or for the child, but it would have to be pretty good.

 

When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

I planned on homeschooling as long as it worked for us, which ideally would be through HS, although I realize my children are still young and things may change. I'm open to whatever happens, but I hope to homeschool through High School.

 

 

[Aiden]

Why do we homeschool?

 

We're just getting started, but we're doing this because of our highly mobile lifestyle. My husband is a Foreign Service Officer, so we move to a new country every 2-3 years. Some posts have excellent international schools. Others have terrible ones. Usually when we move, it's over the summer, so it wouldn't disrupt the school year, but if we stay on schedule at our next post, we'll be leaving right at the start of the academic year, and if we go to another overseas post, we'll be required to take home leave in between, so we wouldn't arrive at our new post until well after the start of the school year. We have little to no control over our moving schedule, and limited control over where we end up. Homeschooling gives us freedom in the scheduling and in where we go--we don't have to research the schools before we decide whether or not we'd be willing to go to any given location. Although I still prefer to move over the summer, if we arrive a few months later or earlier, it's less of a big deal if we're homeschooling. We also can take our vacations whenever it works best for my husband's job and for the itineraries we want (we love to take advantage of long, relatively inexpensive re-positioning cruises, which typically happen only once or twice a year).

 

Are the schools in our area not up to par? If they were up to par, would we homeschool anyway?

 

We don't know yet. We'll arrive at our new post next week. No matter what the quality of the schools available there, we'll be homeschooling for the reasons above. I haven't even researched the quality of the schools at our next post. I have no idea what's available--but I have found a couple of other families that homeschool! :hurray:

 

Do we intend to continue through a particular grade?

 

Our plan right now is to continue as long as we're in this international lifestyle. That said, we'll evaluate our options each year and choose the one that best fits. I suspect that if we decide that homeschooling K didn't work out and we want to make a change in a year for 1st, we can do that at post, as many students in our new host country reportedly don't go to K at all. If we homeschool for 1st, we may or may not even have the option of putting our daughter in an international school for 2nd--homeschooling is generally illegal (except under certain circumstances) in our new host country, and it wouldn't surprise me if the international schools don't want to accept a formerly homeschooled student. We anticipate returning to the U.S. for a couple of years after our next post, so we think we'll be back in the U.S. for our daughter's 3rd grade year, so we could put her in public school then. We're hoping not to--we couldn't afford private school in the U.S. (we could only do it overseas because my husband's employer would pay for it since local public schools usually aren't an option), and we'd rather not put her in public school. But if it looks at that point like the best option for us, we'll take it. But I'm hoping it will work out well for us to homeschool all the way through.

 

Has this changed over the years?

 

We're just getting started, so we haven't had an "over the years" yet :)

[UCF612]

We started homeschooling for medical reasons. I never intended to homeschool. We keep homeschooling because we enjoy it. I'm not anti b&m school at all and if things changed for us either medically or financially I'd enroll them. Though I probably would go with one of 2 private schools in the area solely because we know others who attend and I like the Christian education. We take it a year at a time so I don't know what the future holds.

[Butter]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

 

I homeschool partly because I can, partly because I love it homeschooling my kids, partly because I loved being homeschooled, and partly because I'm lazy.  Seriously, public school takes ridiculous amounts of time and I hate being forced onto their schedule.  I have no problem with being on someone else's schedule for church or taekwondo or whatever, but public school's schedule really chafed at me.  The big kids were in public school for one year and the little guys for a semester when we moved to TX (grades K, 2, 6, and 9).  They were homeschooled from the start in VA and MD.  About halfway through the year there was just so much on my plate and something had to give and the something that made the most sense was public school so we withdrew the little guys.  The big kids chose to come back home at the end of the year.

 

The schools in our district are, literally, some of the best in the country.  People pay a lot to buy a house so they can live in our particular ISD in San Antonio.  The education the kids got in school was superb.

 

When we started homeschooling, when Ani was 4, we intended to homeschool them all the way through.  Obviously we changed our minds and sent them to school when we moved here, but then we changed our minds again.  We'll homeschool through the end (the kids are grades 2, 4, 8, and 11 this year).

[8filltheheart]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

 

I started homeschooling without intention.  We registered our oldest in a private K and then shortly before was supposed to start, we made the decision to hold him back.  (He only made the cut-off by a few days.)  I started teaching him to read.  I started wondering if there was a way to call what we were doing K since I had an elementary teaching degree.  I called the local superintendent's office and his office introduced me to the concept of homeschooling.

 

Since I started without even knowing what homeschooling was, it wasn't entered into with a plan.  We simply jumped in head first.  Once we started, I have never looked back.  I realized immediately that what I could do at home was far superior to anything that was going on in the local classrooms.  I do believe that my children, especially older children, could receive superior educations than what they are receiving at home.  Unfortunately, I also believe that authentically Catholic classical education with master teachers does not actually exist in modern times, so the source of that superior educations does not currently an option.   :p  So we do the best we can at home and outsource for those subjects where I know that what we could do at home would be inferior to other options.

 

I never intended to homeschool, but now I have no intention of stopping.  I have graduated 4 children from our homeschool, and God willing, I will continue homeschooling for the next 13 yrs. (My Ker will be part of the class of 2028.) Dh and I will reach retirement at close to the same time.   ;)

[SemiSweet]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

I homeschool for freedom, like our month long vacation to Southeast Asia and multiple visits to family throughout the year, as well as for continuity of education. We move frequently and I like being able to keep them going. Our current area has pretty awful schools but our next one has some great schools. We will still homeschool. I've been taking it year by year since we started and will continue doing so. I love homeschooling, but if that changes, or the kids want to go to school, or our financial position requires more of me, then we will address that as needed. I'm not anti-public school at all. My two oldest were in public school until 2nd and 4th grades, and our experience was just fine, they had some really great teachers and some that weren't as great but never any big issues.

[Loowit]

I homeschool because it is what works for our family.  We started when DD was going into K and we checked out the local public school.  Homeschool had been in the back of our mind but we didn't give it much serious thought until then.  Reading through what to expect her to come out of K with was stuff she already knew, plus we had all day K and I didn't like the idea of that.  So we decided to give it a go for a year and liked it.  For a number of years we reevaluated annually to see if we wanted to continue to homeschool, but we stopped a few years ago when none of the kids expressed any interest in public school.  We would revisit the issue if a child expressed an interest, but at this point the expectation is all of them will graduate from homeschool.

 

I am not impressed with out local school that we are zoned for.  We went through them for testing and services for our middle child and I was very unimpressed.  I also know that with my boys' learning and behavior differences that they would not do well in a public school system.  If I felt that the school could meet their needs I might reconsider, but probably not, we really enjoy homeschooling.

 

I love the freedom homeschooling gives to my family.  I like choosing books and resources that work for my particular children.  I like being able to take breaks on our own schedule if we so choose.  The only thing I don't like is the requirement for annual testing or assessment, but I see it as a hoop to jump through so we can continue to do what we want which is homeschool.  It is not all sunshine and roses, my youngest especially is difficult, but I hope that our efforts are worth it in the end.

[foxbridgeacademy]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

I homeschool because it's the best thing for my children, I'd really miss them if they were gone, and I hated school and was miserable.... I don't want them to be miserable.

 

No the schools in our current area are not good but we have HSed in places that had great schools. 

 

Yes even if the schools were top notch I would still homeschool if it was the right decision for my children (DD would probably go to P.S., DS would not).

 

I don't think I planned on a particular grade necessarily.  I had some idea that they would go to P.S. for H.S...... but we just started Ds's Freshman year so I was wrong about that.  The current plan is to HS Ds all the way through, he has a low tolerance for BS and busy work.  DD can go to PS whenever she wants, which will likely be for H.S but she does have some anxiety issues so we'll see.

[Aurelia]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

 

Why? Academic and social reasons. I don't really like some of the "social skills" kids learn in school these days, especially in middle school. Also, I hate the schools in my state spend more time doing test prep than actual learning. Even the PS teachers I know complain about it.

 

Are the schools not up to par? Would I still homeschool if they were? They're not, but we moved after DD was old enough to go to school. Before moving, we lived in a great school district, but I still didn't want to send her for similar academic and social reasons.

 

I always intended to homeschool through at least 8th grade, and consider high school when we got closer, and that still hasn't changed. High school is inching steadily closer and I'm still not 100% convinced I want to do it at home, but DD has zero interest in going to public high school and the local CC has a pilot program for high schoolers (including homeschoolers) as young as freshmen to attend part time, so I'm weighing my options.

[Reefgazer]

I homeschool because the longer DD and DS were in public schools, the clearer it became that the schools were inferior to what I could pull off.  The schools here have discipline issues, are test prep factories, and hold back bright kids for fear of tracking.  When we started homeschooling, I had to expectations about how long we would continue past that one year.  Now were in it through high school, although I am open to private school if the kids start to dislike homeschooling.

[justme824]

I initially started homeschooling because it looked like my oldest would be an only and I didn't want to send him off all day long, but rather I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. It was something that was always in the back of my mind so it was a pretty easy decision. I've since been blessed with two more (my oldest and middle are 7+ years apart), but I still have no desire to send any of my kids off to school all day long.

 

As the years have gone by we have fallen more and more in love with homeschooling. The freedom is a huge benefit for us - choosing our own curriculum, traveling off season, setting our own schedule. And even though the schools in our area are excellent, my husband and I feel we can still provide the best education to our children.

[waa510]

Why do we homeschool?

 

A ton of reasons. We started because my oldest was way beyond K level academics when she was K age. I taught her at home until K (she didn't attend preschool) b/c we were moving to parts unknown once Dh returned from Kuwait and oldest was having emotional issues at the time with her Dad being gone. Ped was concerned about putting her in preschool and felt she should be home until her angry outbursts got under control. Right now, both of my kids are very all over the place academically. They are just those kind of kids! We also love the flexibility of our schedule for travel and not having to worry about school systems when moving. Also, being able to move any time during the school year has been nice. Dh wouldn't have taken this job or the one previous if the kids were in traditional school which would have (potentially) negatively affected his career. I like spending time with my kids and being involved in their learning. I like that they get more time with Dh as we can accompany him on work trips and see him when he bikes home for lunch :)

 

Are the schools in our area not up to par? If they were up to par, would we homeschool anyway? 

 

Well, everyone's up-to-par will look different, but yes, the schools here have left me largely underwhelmed. I have pretty high standards though. If I'm going to take a hit to my family's lifestyle and give my kids up for hours a day, I need a blow-my-socks-off curriculum or school model and that just hasn't happened yet. The schools locally would still be teaching my youngest how to do basic addition and are still working through phonics. Little one is a completely fluent reader and accelerated in math (a week from 3A of MM). Oldest would be doing all-over-the-place social studies and watered down crappy science and the lit is way below her reading level. She's also ahead in Math than the level they're teaching for 4th. For me, it's not a sense of "Whoo, the school is up to par, OK, have fun at school, kids!!" That kind of implies a 'good enough'  model to me. I guess I'd probably homeschool anyway. I'm stubborn like that. ;)

 

Do we intend to continue through a particular grade? 

 

I have no idea where we'll live 3 years from now, even, so no, that's not how we operate. Homeschooling high school intimidates the carp out of me, though. However, when I was just beginning to homeschool, the idea of middle school looming sometime in the future was terrifying and now it seems like no big deal. So maybe as I get further along, high school will seem like a natural progression and not a scary undertaking. I'd like to continue through high school as I think the flexibility to intern/work/take CC or online courses as wanted etc. would be nice and would greatly mirror the college lifestyle. I remember hating the arbitrary rules in my high school and the inflexibility. So, we'll see. I don't have a solid end date in mind for either of my kids. 

 

Has this changed over the years?

 

I think as my kids get older and we do this for longer and longer I'm able to get a clearer idea of what we're trying to accomplish and how to do so. I'm getting more confident.  Skeptical, negative family has mostly shut it as it hasn't worked in deterring me. I'm enjoying the higher level schoolwork, adding in younger dd, and I'm loving that we have more options with Dh taking all kinds of great jobs in less than great school areas. The changes have been for the better. I think any radical life change starts to normalize in your life after a while and the benefits start to surface. I think that's what's going on here. 

[nobeatenpath]

Great questions! Our situation has been so up and down.

I always wanted to homeschool, but was working. Then we moved to the UK and my son started in Reception. He made it to the end of year one and I withdrew him from school - partly because he was having behavioural issues that mainly turned out to be due to being so bored in school, and partly because I was no longer working so in a position to homeschool. We planned to homeschool until at least highschool.

 

Another motivating issue was continuity - my husband is in the military and we move around very often. As someone who herself went to four primary schools and then five highschools in five years (though I am not a military brat myself) I wanted stability for my kid. Unfortunately, due to family reasons homeschooling stopped being an option for awhile. Because of the stability thing, and because it is not that difficult to finance (and is not unusual) for military families like us to send kids to boarding school, that is what we did. Again unfortunately this coincided with some health issues for our kid which made the 18 months he was there a real trial for him. We realised he had given it a good try, it wasn't working, and brought him back home to homeschool (we were in a position to homeschool again).

 

We now plan on homeschooling 'all the way through' unless Wim really wants to go to highschool. That said, he is 11 and already working at years above grade level in most subjects, so the issue would be how to integrate him back in to 'normal' classes. But it is probably not going to happen and not something we are planning on. Highschool is not as daunting as I thought it would be - we have had some serious planning sessions looking at what we feel he should achieve, and why, and when by and now everything is clearer it is easier to plan and implement. We will almost be certainly continuing to move about through his school years, so there is also the issue of stability as he starts to move in to formal testing and needing to 'stick with a system' as exams come along. And also we love it :lol: For the flexibility (we can go on holidays when suits us as a family, we can digress) and because it has meant that Wim can move through stuff at his own pace - some of it more advanced than he would in a normal classroom, a few things he has taken his time.

[LMD]

We decided to homeschool when our oldest was an infant. My husband suggested it and after some research, I fell in love. The school offerings were irrelevant, they couldn't compete in terms of philosophy or lifestyle.

Has this changed? I guess the fresh blush of first love has faded and I see that the reality is a lot more hard work than I envisioned. We still plan to homeschool all the way through. I'm an optimist!

[MolleenCarie]

I had taken some time off of school the year that I became pregnant with our first child. Then during my seventh month of pregnancy we relocated, so I wasn't even working when I mentioned that I wanted to work part-time and go back to school soon after the baby was born. DH said he would like it if I stayed home to take care of him and the baby. I immediately said OK, which meant I wouldn't be finishing my degree, as this was before online for undergrad was a real option.*

 

After about a week I realized that being a homemaker for the next sixty years would be mind-numbing, especially since I lacked any real domestic skills or a desire to learn them. I considered volunteering and home daycare. Neither would work at that time, as volunteering often requires childcare and we didn't make that much, and DH didn't want a houseful of other people's children greeting him at the end of his workday.

 

I remembered the homeschooling families I had known and admired and thought that would be a cool way to fill my time. Then I considered the many other reasons it would be a good fit for our family: we could provide a religious education without paying exorbitant fees, we could provide a continuity in education unheard of in an active duty military lifestyle, we could spend our child's educational time more wisely by catering to his strengths and weaknesses, and we could have freedom to set our own schedule.

 

It's funny bc I originally had to convince DH this would be a good idea, and now he is often the one convincing me to stick with it when I just want to put them on the magic yellow schoolbus.

 

Before my baby was even born, I had chosen to use Calvert curriculum through eighth grade and then possibly dual enrollment for high school. I liked that Calvert sent everything needed in one box, even supplies. I ended up never purchasing anything from them; in fact, the only thing of theirs I have used is CHOW. I did learn a lot from the ladies that posted on their message boards back then.

 

When my son was about three I heard of TWTM and it has been very influential in my homeschool.

 

My goal has always been to homeschool at least through my oldest's tenth grade year, since DH will retire from active duty then and we may be more settled, but I am prepared to homeschool all of them through high school if that is what is best for everyone.

 

*I did try to finish my degree, but being stationed overseas with two under two and a deployed spouse was enough stress for me, and I figured a degree with no work experience wouldn't do me any good; if I needed it in the future, I could always go back. My oldest starts eighth grade this year and I have no regrets about those big choices! (I do wish I had been more consistent with habit training in the early years, for myself and for the children.)

[HomeAgain]

Why do you homeschool?

Lots of reasons.  This year: meh schools with long hours, linguistically gifted child, poor public nutrition program, and gosh darn it, because we want to! :D

 

Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling?

There is one.  But we couldn't afford it without me working, and me working would give my child a very long day.

 

If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool?

It depends.  I'm not looking for great academically, I'm looking for great development-based structure and being child-centered instead of test-centered.  There are several schools here that get great test scores and accolades for the amount the kids know.  I still don't want to send my kid there.  OTOH, I have a teen that needed more than what home could provide here.  He is in a "great" school (even with his insane schedule looks to be less work than classical :p ) and that is best for him right now.

 

When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade?

No, it's always been year by year, on a case by case basis.  Which is better this year?  Which is better for each child this year?  What's the goal?  What best suits our family this year?  We've done school alone, school with co-ops, online school, public high school...the only lack of change is the determination to make the best choice for the best situation in the current year.  That's it.

 

Has this changed over the years?

Nope. 

[....]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

 

1.  I'm starting to forget why we homeschool.   :tongue_smilie:   The two older ones went to public school for about a year and it just wasn't a good fit for them.  My son couldn't figure out how to read, couldn't follow along with the class and needed a bunch of one-on-one help.  He also couldn't focus very long.  A couple of times, he would lie down in the corner during class and fall asleep.  The school would then call me and tell me to pick him up.  I think he was just too little to go to school.  My daughter tested in the top 1 percentile of kids her age on testing through the school district.  They had to call a gifted specialist to come out and spend a couple of days with her doing testing, interviews, etc.  I realized at that point that BOTH of them needed individual attention they wouldn't get at school.

 

2.  No, I'm not a big fan of the schools here.  We're in Texas and they're very sports-focused and crowded.  The drop-off/pick-up line is like 3 miles long.  Just not for us.  Also, I've seen some scary things here.  One friend's kid was walking through the hallway, was attacked and they broke his jaw.  I have another story, but not going to post on here, but let me just say - it wasn't a good advertisement for the ps here.  

 

I don't know how rigorous our homeschool is compared to the public schools here, but I have seen work/writing done by public schoolers and they're not at the same level as my kids.  My oldest seems to have better handwriting and writing.  Also, my kids seems to have much better conceptual math skills, mental math skills and money skills (thanks, Singapore!).  The public schoolers here seem to have more "stuff" memorized than my kids.  They can rattle off their multiplication tables...they seem to know more US history than my kids do...the younger ps students seem to be better spellers/writers than my kids at the same age.  My kids seem to know a lot more science than their public school peers.  Just my observations.

 

3.  If the schools were great, we would still homeschool.  We like the lifestyle.  It's almost 8:00 and my kids are still asleep.  The neighbor's kids are already on the bus.  We don't have the morning fights about getting ready for school, the stress of getting the kids to bed at a certain time so they're not tired the next day, crying over homework...  My oldest works one day a week at a pit bull rescue, so she can work any day of the week - we don't have to work her schedule around school.  Also, my kids are *really* into this sport.  Last year, my oldest two were #2 and #3 in the southern states in this sport.  They can work out until 8-9pm if they want to and there's no stress of "hurry up, because you have school tomorrow".  They can come home, eat, hopefully shower and pass out (Lol).

 

4.  We always intended to homeschool through high school.  I haven't changed my mind.  We still plan to homeschool all the way.

[purpleowl]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

 

It's important to me that my kids' education be with a Christian worldview.  The local public schools' academic standings don't really enter into my thought process, other than when we were house hunting and knew school zones would be important for resale value.  I used to teach at a private Christian school and thought my kids would attend there, but when I chose to quit that job I also gave up the tuition benefit there. ;)

 

Once I started homeschooling, I realized that the individualized education I can provide my kids - teaching what they're ready to learn when they're ready to learn it - is superior to the full-class instruction they would receive at any brick & mortar school.  I am honestly not sure what a b&m school would do with my particular kids academically, regardless of the school's overall academic performance.  

 

I've also come to enjoy things like being able to set our own schedule, being able to follow rabbit trails, and being able to spend time with relatives who won't be around forever.  But our primary reasons for homeschooling are religious and academic (probably "tied" for importance).

 

I currently intend to homeschool all the way through, and that was clear before the time my oldest hit official school age last year.  I am aware that life circumstances can change, but that's the plan.

[dirty ethel rackham]

We live in a school district with some of the highest ranking schools in the state.  It is also a pressure cooker - top 25% of kids at our local high school have a greater than 4.0 GPA.  And it is a fairly affluent area ... our neighborhood that has 2100-2500 sq. ft homes that are in good condition is called "The slums" by some of the  more affluent teens in our area. 

 

The reason we started homeschooling ... my oldest had a bowel disorder that would have been very difficult to manage at school.  None of the preschools would have accepted him since he wasn't "potty trained."  Way too smart to be in the developmental preschool program since he was already reading and the rest are private and can set their own rules. 

 

Why we continued ... we fell in love with the lifestyle.  I read a lot of John Holt and Growing Without Schooling magazines and just felt like this is what we were supposed to do.  We knew our kid was out of the box ... he just didn't fit in with most other kids.  While they were all "T-Rex ... ROAR", my son was talking about fossil evidence for stride length and how they were using that to determine how fast a dinosaur could run.  Adults loved him but other kids were scratching their heads whenever they saw him. He would have driven a classroom teacher nuts.   Homeschooling allowed us to find kids who were different - not just like him but in their own ways.  We loved that we could allow that passion for learning to flourish in an environment where it was encouraged, not made fun of.  I was bullied as a kid and I wanted to protect my sensitive egg-head from that pain.

 

Why we continued - part II.  Our second child was INTENSE.  We found out after the tantrum-filled preschool years that this kid had major sensory and auditory issues.  I at first thought he had a hearing problem, but after having him tested, found out the opposite ... he had unusually acute hearing, but didn't know how to process it.  He did poorly on their language testing so we got services from the school for expressive and receptive language delays but he really wasn't delayed.  He just couldn't function quickly enough in their environment and they took his slow answers to be no answers.  We did private therapy (OT, neurodevelopmental) for his issues and he improved greatly and we discovered how smart he was.  There is no way he could have functioned well in a classroom.  He had trouble in groups of kids.  Homeschooling was ideal.  Quiet environment.  Smaller groups of kids.  

 

I did plan on homeschooling all the way through unless life threw us a curveball and school would have been a better choice.  My older two did homeschool all the way through and are now college students.  Dd wants to be a "normal" teen and is going to high school part-time. 

[mamiof5]

God was calling me to do it for the longest time (since my oldest was in 2nd grade, now she's in college)...I regret not answering the call :( Religion, beliefs and because life goes by too quickly. And, just because ;) Schools quality around us is OK, it really doesn't matter for us. Hoping to do it through 12th...we'll see what life brings.

[MinivanMom]

Why do you homeschool?

Our main reason for homeschooling is to give our kids an individualized education that is academically challenging. We were also motivated by whole language reading instruction, huge pedagogical swings in math instruction, high-stake testing, ridiculous amounts of test-prep, homework loads, lack of gifted services, elimination of recess, negative social influences, and local political drama that has resulted in ongoing school reassignments.

 

Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool?

We live in an affluent, highly-educated area, and our schools are highly ranked. At the same time, our metro area has one of the worst rankings nationally for upward-mobility. In other words, our schools are high-achieving, because we have lots of bright kids who rock their AP exams and whose parents will hire tutors and fill in the gaps. The schools themselves are not so good, despite the high test scores, and our academically average and economically disadvantaged children are not being well served.

 

Even if I thought our local schools were great, with appropriately challenging curriculum and classes in French & Latin, I would have a hard time giving up the freedom that comes with homeschooling. At home my oldest, a middle-schooler, can have appropriately challenging academics without any bureaucratic hoop-jumping, and she still has plenty of time to learn two instruments and participate in several extra-curricular activities. If she went to a brick & mortar school, she would have to give up something simply due to the time demands of the school schedule and homework. For now she is thrilled to be at home.

 

When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

I started out planning to keep my oldest home for K & 1st grade, and then we would make a decision about whether we wanted to continue. By the end of kindergarten, I knew that I wanted to keep all my kids home until high school. I know that what I am offering my children prior to high school is far superior to what they would get in our local public schools . . . and . . . we simply love homeschooling: the lifestyle, the freedom, the time together. Homeschooling is fun! They will stay home through 8th grade.

 

For high school, it will depend on what each individual child wants. We do have a highly ranked local high school where they would get a moderately decent education on the Honors/AP track. More importantly, they would have an academically minded peer group, which is something we've struggled to find in the homeschooling community. I could definitely give them a more academically rigorous high school education at home, but I'm afraid it could be a lonelier experience. We will leave the decision up to each child.

[OneStepAtATime]

My kids were in school until DD was in 5th and DS was in 2nd.  The school was nice.  The teachers were nice (except for DS's 2nd grade teacher).  But both kids had strengths and weaknesses, learning challenges and learning gifts, that were not being dealt with in a healthy, effective way.  We started homeschooling after evaluations.  We started out of desperation after both kids showed signs of extreme anxiety/depression/anger/insecurity.  Brick and mortar was becoming a toxic environment.  It was only to be a temporary solution until we found another option.  We still reevaluate every year whether this is the best thing.

 

Honestly, though, over the course of our journey we realized there ARE no other really good options in our area, moving is not really an option right now either, and both kids want to keep homeschooling.  I have also found that there are many things about brick and mortar school that I now realize I don't like.  There are things in general that I find wasteful and even harmful in the current U.S. educational system.  Not every classroom all day long.  PS and Private School can be the best fit for many kids.  I just have realized that if I had to do it over again I think I would have homeschooled DD from the beginning, and I would have waited to put DS in school until he was older.

 

I have a niece and many nephews that have gone through the local ps system.  I will be honest, it was a poor fit for all but one.  Everyone else has muddled through but there have been a lot of unpleasant experiences.  For the one that is doing well, I think he would have hated homeschooling.  PS was the perfect fit for him.

 

If I had a really great University Model High School option for the kids I think I would definitely put them in a brick and mortar school at that point.  We don't have anything like that here and I don't think putting DD in one of the local high schools would be a good idea at all.  As for DS, I don't know.  I have three years to decide, though.  :)

[rosey8669]

I just moved to Mexico in June and am not sure how homeschooling works but I really need to figure this out. I cant afford to pay for homeschool and have found some great stuff online but my question is... how do I report my kids' progress? I may want to return to the states someday and have my children return to public school.

[Mrs. B]

We homeschool so the kids can have recess everyday, not have to rush through lunch, get their wiggles out when needed, freedom in scheduling for things like helping family in need or travelling, be outside in beautiful days, no homework after sitting in school the whole day, use different materials and educational methods as traditional school (we are eclectic/CMish in our approach), progress or review as needed at child's pace vs. school curriculum pace, spend more time as a family, have more time for extracurriculars and fine arts, great homeschool community programs during the week in our area, lots of their friends are homeschooled, socialize in the real world with different types and ages of people, and for us as parents to be the main caregivers and influence (note, NOT the only influence).

 

Our schools are okay-good in overall community reputation, but that is subjective. It would be fine if they needed to go to public school here. However, the limited recess time, recess cancelled if the class doesn't finish seatwork, obnoxious fundraisers pressuring kids to sell things like overpriced wrapping paper and cookie dough, short and rushed lunchtime, too much emphasis on testing at a young age (plus, taking several weeks out of the school year to prepare for the test and having unproductive school days after the test), dysfunctional comparison peers do with handheld Internet devices or pop culture, and wasted time would irk me.

 

I started out intending to send the kids to elementary school to learn the basics and have fun, then pull them out to homeschool in middle school when I feel most school time is wasted. After sending my oldest to elementary school, the things mentioned in the above paragraph got on my last nerve, plus I missed getting to be with my children their happiest time of the day and they were cranky come 3:30 when I got to spend time with them. However, there were great teachers and friends at the school, so I would have dealt with it just fine had homeschooling not been an option. It worked out that I was able to delay returning to work, continuing on a strict limited budget as a condition, and homeschool sooner than planned. The homeschool community here is great. We school outside the home just about as much as we school at home. They have several friends both in public school and homeschooled. We see their homeschooled friends during the weekdays regularly and their public school friends out and about in the community on weekends and during school breaks. It works great for us. We plan to continue as long as it is the most beneficial decision for us as a family and for each of us as individuals. The decision could change at a moment's notice not knowing what tomorrow holds. High school is iffy. We plan to consider all options for high school come 8th grade and go from there. Ideally, I'd like to homeschool and do dual enrollment come age 16 to help with advanced courses. I would also like my children to do apprenticeships or volunteer work in the areas of their interest to give them ideas of what careers would be practical to pursue given their strengths, passions, and abilities. Our public school high school would be an option, not my 1st choice, but I am open if we find it is the best choice for various reasons when that time comes. 5 years to decide about high school seems both such a long time away and just around the corner!

[KSinNS]

My oldest is on the spectrum and school was a disaster for him. After a few years of watching him get worse, we pulled him out four years ago now. And things improved dramatically for him. T was also not making progress, so I was happy to pull her out, and the others are benefiting from the individual attention of being home. All are turning out to be pretty non-standard learners.

 

We purposely bought in an area with strong schools with a good reputation for special needs. The schools in our area are likely among the best in the province, though to be fair, this is no educational Mecca. Our province generally has standards ranging from low to pathetic. If the schools could have accommodated our kids needs, they might still be there, but I'm not sure how you make a class of 25 quiet and predictable, and make all kids be nice. And in all that mayhem, notice the quiet little girl who is memorizing the books and everything you say, but understands nothing. That being said, our kids had good teachers, and I always felt they did their very best.

 

We started taking it a year at a time. At this point, I would consider putting the younger ones in school for high school if they really wanted to go. We have a very solid IB program in the public schools. S, I think, will probably benefit from staying home, but we will see.

[smudge]

My oldest DD went to PS for K and 1st. We live in the middle of SLC. NOT rural. But the poor kid spent 45 minutes on the bus am and pm. So that was the first problem. Second, the bus driver insisted my sweet little first grader sit in the back of the bus with the 5 and 6 grade kids. Apparently, driver didn't want to listen to DD laugh. Third, while rated a "good school" DD was have trouble and nobody bothered to notify me until things were bad. The whole second half of the year she was on a "behavior contract" which reinforced her feelings of inadequacy. They also did timed math tests in 1st grade. She could never advance despite trying her hardest. That also reinforced her feelings of failure and stupidity. It has taken two years for her to come out of her "I'm a failure at math" mentality. 

So yeah, HS has been a lifesaver for her. We had a bunch of psych help for her, she has ADHD, ODD, anxiety. HS has been just the thing she needed. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I homeschool because I do not delegate well.  ;)  My kids' education is my job.  I can provide a customized education that meets their needs and plays to their strengths.  So far I see no reason to delegate that job to an institution that runs by bureaucracy more than by sound educational theory.  And yes, I was a public school teacher.  This year I will graduate my first student.  I do ask my teens their opinion on public vs. homeschooling but both have been happy with the benefits of homeschooing while realizing that we are not somehow trying to duplicate public school.  

[HS Mom in NC]

Why do you homeschool?

 

I think children were designed by God to learn best in the family structure. I think individualized, subject integrated education is ideal. I think even the best public school is teaching subpar content so I’m a Neo Classical Trivium/Living Books hybrid homeschooler. I think a K-12 education is a parental responsibility, not a governmental one. I don’t believe in busy work or homework. I don’t believe in age segregated social structures or academics in most circumstances.

 

Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling?

 

Not a subject integrated Classical Education.

 

If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool?

 

No. See above.

 

When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade?

 

K-12.

 

Has this changed over the years?

 

Not yet. My older two went from homeschool to community college at ages 15 and 17 when they needed college level classes.

[kiwik]

I don't homeschool because i can't make it work financially right now. But i would if i could because;

 

The school seems to think they own my children. I think i have delegated a small part of my child's upbringong to them. I think they overstep their bounds.

 

The NZ system doesn't really believe gifted kids exist.

 

Next year tbe difference between our budget and my older son's classmtes is going to become far more obvious - if he goes on school camp he won't be able to do any extracurriculars all year. Since he loves sports and still has toileting issues and is young for year he won't be going on camp. Ditto for the ski trip - one day skiing is two lots of sports fees.

 

I find dealing with the school really stressful but my kids are not drop off and forget kids.

 

My ideal would be a 2 - 3 day a week school as my kids do like playtime and PE.

[abba12]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

 

Why do you homeschool?

 

Oh, too many reasons to list! DH and I were both homeschooled (and I also spent time in both public and private schools). Firstly, the academic opportunities that one-on-one tuition gives are huge, regardless of a schools standards there's just something to be said for a class size of 30 vs a class size of 1 (or three, or four, or whatever) from a teacher who knows the child better than anyone else. There's opportunities a public school child would likely never have, from hands on projects to special educational trips, to being available to watch and help the adults around them (helping build his own house was a highlight for DH, for example) to being available to work/volunteer during school hours (I had a job at the local nursing home when I was 14, and because I was not bogged down with schoolwork I was able to study child development and psychology at a high level as part of my schoolwork, subjects I could never access at a highschool)

 

There's the family lifestyle, closer, more flexible and natural, children learning from parents, adults and friends instead of an assortment of same-age peers, and being part of the real world every day instead of in the artificial segregated enviroment of school. Children should learn from their elders, not from the loudest of the children born in the same year as them. Bullying is a big one, as I was bullied severely as a child. The lifestyle opportunities, from impromptu trips away to choosing your own timetable, being able to work around life (eg, we school Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat at the moment). The values and worldview I can teach, and I don't just mean religious ideas though that is part of it, but I can lessen the body image issues children are having as young as kindergarten now, I know everyone my child is interacting with so I can guide them through things like good influences, and drugs. I want my children to have freedom, I consider myself to be pretty free range, but that should come with guidance. There's not much guidance in a schoolyard. 

 

Little things like being less 'busy' and more purposeful. Being able to study interests and topics relevant to the child instead of the curriculum and test. Seeing their smiling faces in the morning and sharing in the excitement of projects, the HUGE amount of extra time homeschooling allows for personal persuits (at least in elementary/middle school). And I'm sure there's a bunch more I could think of. 

 

Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool?

 

In my current area, nope, definitely not, the schools are at a very low standard. But even if we moved to a new area, a school would have to be absolutely stand-out, stellar, for me to consider it. I am a fairly organized person (though I do struggle with followthrough) and my husband and I were both identified as gifted and consider things like math to be great hobbies (lol), so I like to think we give a fairly high standard of academics. Plus, as I said before, many of our reasons for homeschooling are not academic in nature. It's a lifestyle for us. 

 

When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

 

When we began, we said we would consider 11th and 12th at a standard school depending on circumstances (in Australia these are the only two grades which matter for university entry). Nothing has changed. I might consider sending a child earlier for various reasons but our plan is definitely to school right through. 

[creekland]

Why do you homeschool? Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling? If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool? When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

 

I homeschooled because I worked in our local middle and high school and saw that their academic caliber was not up to what I wanted for my own boys.  If they had been up to snuff, homeschooling would have never crossed my mind.

 

I started when my oldest hit high school, so 9th, 7th, and 5th respectively for my guys.  We wanted to go the whole distance, but youngest wanted to return to ps for high school and we let him.

 

As I expected, youngest was indeed the least prepared for college even though my three are all very similar in academic ability.   :glare:  My older two did quite well in college.  Youngest is having to work more to build a foundation as well as handle college material and he's already written off certain majors due to how much work it will be (sigh).

[Kareni]

We began homeschooling our daughter in 7th grade due to (of all things) transportation issues.  Our daughter attended a charter school in 6th grade that necessitated a two-bus commute that added two hours to each school day.  She asked to be homeschooled the following year.  Given that I'm a micromanaging type, I had a schedule that first year with everything scheduled out in 15 minute increments.  I relaxed a bit as the years went by!  Also, we left the choice of homeschooling to my daughter.  Each year we presented options to her (i.e., informing her when a new arts focused high school opened in our area or the choice to take classes at the local high school) and each year she elected to continue homeschooling.

 

The schools in our immediate area are not great; however, had she chosen to attend them, I feel confident that my daughter would have done well.

 

Confidence in our homeschooling came with hindsight.  It came when my daughter became invested in her own education and showed her proficiency in different areas.  Outside validation from classes outside the home (both high school and college level) and test scores also showed me that she was eminently capable and was learning in ways that others could see.  I have to admit that the first college acceptance was met with great joy as were subsequent acceptances.  She went on to prosper in college and now into the world.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[tiddles]

The publics schools in our district are dreadful.

 

My two have been going to a small Christian school, which they loved for the first few years but last year things changed. My DD was beyond bored and couldn't stand going to school. My DS has ADHD and would bring most of his work home because he wouldn't get it done at school - I would spend many frustrating hours with him each evening trying to get it done, poor guy. 

 

When I suggested homeschooling, they were both very enthusiastic about it. My DD is very motivated and I believe will do a great job. My DS is a challenge... I want to strangle him on a daily basis. Hopefully it will get better.

 

We are looking forward to being able to travel for weeks at a time in the off season! Yay!!! We started early this year so that we could take a few weeks off in the winter to go somewhere warm! To me that is what makes it all worth while.

[J&JMom]

Why do you homeschool?

It seems to be the best academic option at the moment supported by observations and test results.

 

Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling?

We live in an excellent school district. I am sure they could give my older boy a good education. It is not the academics that pulled our boys out. Our youngest has special needs (ASD, Sensory, ADHD) had been in special ed since age 2. He progress well until he was mainstreamed into a kindergarten class where he slowed down a bit. In second grade he stopped improving academically, basically treading water despite almost 3 hours a day of interventions.  The school reduced their expectations for his third-grade year, content to have him achieve 2nd grade goals by the beginning of his fourth grade year. Unacceptable to us.  Since their way wasn't working, and their acknowledgement that he did best in small group environments, we, his parents, looked into other methods eventually deciding on homeschooling.

We brought our oldest home purely for convenience,  but he blossomed under this environment as well as he is advanced in reading and math.

 

If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool?

As stated above, they are academically good, just not a fit at this time for our boys.  Socially, I question whether middle school is good for anyone.

 

When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade?

The original plan was to 'catch' up our younger enough to enter 5th grade with minimal or no interventions (including ADHD medication).  Other than the medication (he still has a ways to learn to self-modulate) I am confident he could survive a 5th grade classroom at this time, but the key word would be 'survive'. We want him to thrive.

 

Has this changed over the years?

We have decided (discovered) that home is the best place for our boys in terms of their unique academic needs. The younger requires less stimulating environments and a bit of hand holding while the older can be set free to progress at his accelerated pace.   Why change a good thing?  High school is still up for debate but we have 2 years before that decision.

[Coco_Clark]

I started homeschooling because my oldest son suffer from fairly severe social anxiety and sensory processing issues. It was obvious to me, to his dad, to his therapist, and to basically everyone that had ever met him that he would not thrive in a classroom setting. He is, on the other hand, an ideal homeschooler.

 

I've continued to homeschool his brother(s) because...well, I fell in love with it. I'm a teacher at heart, and I love the family culture that being together all day provides. We have an excellent public Montessori school that I would reccomend to anyone. Maybe someday one of my younger kids will even attend it. But right now we are just having way too much fun.

[LucyStoner]

Why do you homeschool?

We started for three reasons:

 

1. Meet the needs of a gifted child that were not being met even in the gifted program.

2. Meet the needs of a child with ASD who was asynchronous in his development and needed more help socially.

3. Spare him from serious bullying situation he experienced in 1st grade.

 

We kept at it because it works for our family and has benefits we never imagined.

 

Are the schools in your area not up to par with what you can give your child by homeschooling?

The schools in my area have some good options for gifted kids and some good options for kids with ASD. There aren't many programs which will address both. I have had principals, teachers and district employees acknowledge this gap in services.

 

For my younger son, who is more typically developing, the neighborhood school is better than average but not very inspiring or interesting. We looked at it because it's a different district than the one where my older son had so much trouble. We considered sending our 6 year old there. In the end, I know that homeschooling is the only viable option for my older son and is a superior option in many ways off my younger son.

 

If this is not the case, the local schools are great academically, would you still homeschool?

If there was a kickass program we could afford that met the needs of 2e kids, we would have considered it when he was younger. Now, he's on a pretty good course and I can't see changing that. If there was a school here for my younger son that didn't run on tests, homework, busywork etc and had smaller classes and shorter hours, we would consider it.

 

When you started homeschooling, did you intend to continue through a particular grade? Has this changed over the years?

When we started homeschooling we didn't know if it was for a year or 10 years. We did it in response to an urgent need and had never imagined we would homeschool. We continuously evaluate to make sure the situation is still working and we keep apprised of what else is out there. At this point we assume our older son is home until he starts some sort of DE or early college and our younger son is home until he is both ready and wanting to go to school, if ever. I could see him going to private school or something at some point or a special magnet program.