Seeking Advice from Parents with Adult Children

[danielleisdz]

Hello, thanks for your help in advance!!

 

I am just beginning a homeschool journey with my daughters, 6&4.  We love our learning!  But I frequently feel paranoid about their future given this brave choice of homeschooling!

 

1.  What field do your children work in and are they enjoying themselves?

 

2.  Did you follow WTM strictly?  Did you include other approaches?  Did you feel that the high school years were an enormous amount of work?  Did you work hard to get ahead?

 

3.  Are you pleased, looking back, with the experience your kids had, including friendships?

 

Any tips, wisdom, perspective you could share with me would be very much appreciated!!

[BlsdMama]

I have two in college right now but I think you're looking for even older children?

[Laura Corin]

I have one in university - would that work for you?  Quote my message in your reply if you'd like me to respond.

[OneStepAtATime]

No adult kids yet but I have friends with adult kids that are still homeschooling littler ones as well.  They ALL have said that one thing they wish they had done more of with the oldest ones was spend quality time working on character and relationships and lots and lots of reading and learning life skills and cuddling and appreciating them for who they are RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT.  :)  They were so busy worrying about getting them into Calculus in 11th grade or whatever that they failed to appreciate the small child in front of them and cherish childhood.  

 

One in particular said she now still works on academics from pretty early on but not so much in a clerical, sit at this desk and work on memorizing this and that and killing the love of learning type of learning but more a work on basic skills such as reading/writing/math in small doses each day but focus more on pursuing content knowledge in a more dynamic, organic way.  Promote the CHILD'S connections to an ability and desire to learn and find value in working hard to learn something that matters to them, not just spoon feed knowledge to pass tests.

 

Good luck and best wishes.

[Hunter]

My boys are in their late 20s and did much of their homeschooling before TWTM was written.

 

Our situation was unusual in many ways. I don't know how much of it applies to many families here.

 

And much of what my older one did was illegal even in the 90's.

 

Yes, don't skimp on character to fit in more academics.

 

Most socialization issues disappear as soon as they go out to work, so don't fret and just wait.

 

Homeschooling is no more defining than attending public school. Mostly your kids will be defined by YOU, and just a bit more, than if they had attended school.

[8filltheheart]

4 of our children are homeschool grads.  Our oldest has been married for 5 yrs, is a chemical engineer, and the happy daddy of 3.  Our second oldest is autistic and struggles functioning as an adult.  He works full-time as a donation greeter at Goodwill.  Our third oldest is an occupational therapy assistant.  She absolutely loves her job and constantly says she feels blessed to have found something that loves spending her day doing.  Our 4th oldest is technically a college sophomore, but he has enough credits that he could graduate at the end of his first semester jr yr.  He is double majoring in physics and math with a minor in honors research.  He is attending college on full scholarship, so he has no desire to graduate early and is enjoying his UG experience.  He plans on grad school in physics.

 

We do not use the WTM methodology, but these forums are the best homeschooling support group available.  :)

 

We have been homeschooling since 1994.  No regrets except for pursuing college prep with our Aspie instead of vocational training.  He is a complicated young man.  

 

Homeschooling is a way of life for our family.  I still have 13 yrs left to go since our youngest just started K. :)

[creekland]

All three of mine have graduated high school.  Oldest has graduated college and been married for two years now.  He works managing a Lego resale company.  He loves his job and it uses his degree (business).

 

Middle is entering his senior year of college, but will be staying an extra year to do a (tuition free) extra study on Global Success in Africa.  He loves college and learning in general.  When he finishes that he'll likely be heading to med school.  That's not certain due to med school acceptance rates, but considering what he's already accomplished, I think he's very likely to get in somewhere - perhaps even have choices.

 

Youngest went back to ps for high school, so I won't include him much in this post (he's still fully in our family, of course!).  FWIW, he was the least prepared for college both academically and socially.  The academic part I definitely blame on ps.  The social part is probably just the way he works.  All is going well now though.

 

We started homeschooling when my oldest started 9th grade (9th, 7th, 5th respectively), so no, we did not do TWTM the way it was intended.  Even when we homeschooled we generally did our own thing.  I did not find high school to be hard work, but then again, I work in our local public high school, so my views are probably biased.  We were different than many in that I didn't "teach" my guys classroom-style.  I let them learn themselves via textbooks, the internet, and video.  Then we ended up discussing what they'd learned and I'd answer questions or help with things they didn't understand.  No regrets!

 

Of course, in our household, many of these discussions started well before they hit the topic in class, so that's probably different too.

 

There are some things I'd have done differently both with hs and parenting.  I think that's part of life without instruction books!  The Hive is an awesome resource.  My biggest regret with hs was using Rosetta Stone for language.   :glare:  It's not worth the money.  It's not worth significantly less money either.

 

The biggest thing I don't regret is traveling with our boys.  We traveled a lot and since our lives are more or less a continual educational discussion going on, they learned a ton from it plus we have great memories.  Camping in our National Parks is priceless - as is walking in a volcanic crater or lava tube, seeing the oceans from many different perspectives, seeing mountains and forests, palm trees and ice fields, etc.  Books and videos only get one so far.

 

Enjoy the time you have together!  Learning should rarely be work.  It should be discovery about the world around us and how it works.

[OneStepAtATime]

I realize I have something to add regarding social opportunities and friendships once we started homeschooling.  My son was in 2nd grade and pulled out mid-year.  My daughter, half a year later, started homeschooling for 6th.  The first year, even though we joined a homeschooling group, it was lonely for the kids.  They were used to being with peers all day long and rushing through piles of homework at night.  They honestly didn't know how to occupy themselves with extended downtime.  School used to be from 7:30 to 3:30pm M-F.  We could now cover all of that in less than half the time.  It left us not knowing what to do with the rest of the day at first and I wasn't used to not having quiet time to catch up on bills, business stuff, housework, downtime for me, etc.    

 

Two things have changed our dynamic over the past 3 years.  1.  The kids have found many areas of interest they choose to pursue on their own when we are not doing academics or extracurriculars.  This has lead to some great self-discovery and the honing of skills that could give them great personal adult pursuits as well as career paths.    2.  I started inviting various homeschooling groups to my home so they could get to know us better and we could get to know them better.  Friendships have formed from that which were not really forming before.  3.  I have made a concerted effort to network with other homeschoolers as well as groups from extracurriculars not directly related to homeschoolers so that we all have opportunities to develop not just acquaintances but deeper relationships.  Is it always successful?  No, but it has worked well in many instances, especially the end of this past year.

 

I discovered once I got into the homeschooling community and actively networked that there was a lot more out there than I was first aware of.  As an example of things the kids are able to do this year (most of it at pretty low or no cost):  Drama, Student Council, Music Lessons, 4-H, Field Trips, Engineering Classes, Stained Glass Art Classes, Spring Formal, End of Year Trips, Community Service, Yearbook, Swim Club, Swim Team, P.E., Thanksgiving Feast, Christmas parties, etc.  Most of those things they do with friends or at least other homeschoolers they know, either through homeschooling organizations or just a few parents getting together and signing up their kids for the same thing.

 

Hanging out with kids and adults of all ages has honestly been one of the big benefits of homeschooling for us.  Before, the kids really didn't want to hang out with anyone younger and even parents seemed to think that a child in a lower grade level wouldn't be a good fit for a child in an older grade level even if it was just one grade.  That has changed, something I think is very healthy.  In the larger world we do not usually segregate by age, especially that rigidly.  

 

As an example. just a few weeks ago we had a coffee chat for new homeschooling parents at a local cafe.  Our children were sitting at a large table nearby while adults sat at another table.  The age range for the kids from our group was 10 to 17.  They all laughed, played cards, played guitar and hummed along, and just generally were accepting and kind to each other.  Age was irrelevant.  As newbies started to arrive, the age range spread out more.  There were littles coming, as well as those closer to the ages of the kids already there.  All of our kids got up, politely and warmly introduced themselves to the parents and to the new kids, then invited the new kids to come sit with them.  They made a concerted effort to get to know them and make them feel welcome.  We did not prompt them to do this.  They chose to do it on their own.  There was a great sense of community, not division.

 

I apologize for the long post.  Best wishes and take care.  :)

[mom2att]

1.  What field do your children work in and are they enjoying themselves?

 

 

2.  Did you follow WTM strictly?  Did you include other approaches?  Did you feel that the high school years were an enormous amount of work?  Did you work hard to get ahead?

 

3.  Are you pleased, looking back, with the experience your kids had, including friendships?

 

Any tips, wisdom, perspective you could share with me would be very much appreciated!!

 

1. My oldest is a sophomore in college. Her transition from a homeschool program to a large state university was seamless. She did do dual enrollment while still in high school, and that was a good stepping stone. She is studying a field she loves and having a wonderful time.

 

2. I stumbled across TWTM the summer before my oldest child's K year, and I knew that was the way I wanted to educate my kids.  I love the ideas behind classical education and think that TWTM makes them very accessible, but as I got comfortable homeschooling it became more of a beacon and a guide than a strict approach to follow. Teaching the learners I have in the way that benefits them most is what I'm going for, and there is no one approach that has fit each one perfectly.

 

2a. The high school years were indeed a tremendous amount of work, and in a way I wasn't expecting. My role as "teacher" became less as my child became more independent (and took advantage of outside learning opportunities like dual enrollment and tutoring programs), and my main role became that of guidance counselor, a job for which I had no training. My second child has just started high school. It is sure to be a very different path, as he is a very different learner, but I feel a lot more confident about the guidance counselor part this time around!

 

3. Homeschooling has been a great experience for our family. We've been involved with an amazing homeschool community from the beginning, through which my children have formed strong and lifelong friendships.

 

School is just one of the many things we do together as a family, and while I love teaching my kids, the academics are not why I love homeschooling. It's the relationships we've built and the time we've spent together that have made the 14 years and counting I've put into homeschooling well worth the effort. So my "tip" is simple--put the emphasis on "home" rather than "school." Make learning just another thing you do together every day, and enjoy the time you have with your children. Take trips, make memories, have fun--learning all the while.

[abba12]

Hello, thanks for your help in advance!!

 

I am just beginning a homeschool journey with my daughters, 6&4.  We love our learning!  But I frequently feel paranoid about their future given this brave choice of homeschooling!

 

1.  What field do your children work in and are they enjoying themselves?

 

2.  Did you follow WTM strictly?  Did you include other approaches?  Did you feel that the high school years were an enormous amount of work?  Did you work hard to get ahead?

 

3.  Are you pleased, looking back, with the experience your kids had, including friendships?

 

Any tips, wisdom, perspective you could share with me would be very much appreciated!!

 

Don't have adult kids but my husband and I were both homeschooled, so maybe our stories would help?

 

1. I have chosen to stay at home and homeschool my own children. It may not be a glorious career but I'm very, very happy to have the ability to do so, and to be confident teaching my own kids. My husband began working in his fathers business, doing CNC machining, and learned quickly and well. He was one of the only people in our country able to use a particular machine at one point. The business collapsed when the GFC hit and DH has gone from place to place since. He has been such a good employee that one business he did contract work for gave him a job just because he asked for one years later, one business he chose to leave called him asking to have him back if the new job didn't work out, and the third place, where he is working now, he worked for about 4 years ago but quit because they were training up the boss's nephew to take his position (no issues, just wanting to bring family in). A few months ago he got a phone call, out of the blue, from the boss saying 'come work for me, just tell me what hours you want, and what pay you want, and we'll make it happen'. And he was true to his word. DH is no longer capable of working fulltime due to health issues, but he has 3 days a week at a wage high enough for us to be comfortable with me only working part time as well.

 

Among our adult siblings, no one has actually gone to college, but that was by CHOICE (we live in a country where college is not expected for everyone, but only if you want a specific career. We don't have liberal arts colleges or the concept of a 'well rounded graduate') we have one who works with horses, her dream job since she was a child.  One who is an artist, and amazingly good at it, she has studied at technical college. One has bought his first house, working in horticulture. One has floated around, wanting to work in sound engineering, and he had almost broken into the market before meeting his future wife online and deciding to move to America. And there's still siblings with potential coming up through the ranks. 

 

I think the lesson to be learned from our experiences is that we didn't all necessarily go into college, though the majority of us were fully capable of doing so, but we are ALL doing what we chose to without worrying about societies judgment of a man working 3-days-a-week or a woman making a career out of art with no backup, and we are all doing what makes us happy. Only one sibling has a job she isn't happy with, but it was her choice to take while she figured out where she wanted to go from here. For my family, this is the highest goal, being able to do what makes you happy. 

 

2. Our families were both very eclectic. Some WTM theories, but we figured out what worked for our families, in some cases that was living books for science, in others it was workbooks for handwriting, and in others saxon math or math u see (the only two real textbook options for math in australia when we were growing up) . You figure out what works for you, so long as you allow yourself to let go and try different things. In our country high school was not hard, perhaps in some ways even easier due to our system, but I hear it can be very hard in America. Our families did push us to remain ahead, we were both being homeschooled illegally so, at the time, it was extremely important to be able to prove it was working by not just doing as much as the schools, but better. These days, I think that's less culturally relevant, it's now legal here, and I'm not sure what our families would do. 

 

3. We have no regrets being homeschooled. We would criticize a number of things our parents did and socialization was neither of their strong points. But we believe in it enough to be doing the same for our own kids, so something worked. DH had one close friend, and many adult friends/mentors. I had a group of friends growing up who I am still connected to as an adult. 

 

Just relax, and let it be a lifestyle and a journey, rather than a checklist. I know lots of homeschool graduates who are doing very well as adults and they're some of the most confident, independent thinking people I know. 

[dirty ethel rackham]

Hello, thanks for your help in advance!!

 

I am just beginning a homeschool journey with my daughters, 6&4.  We love our learning!  But I frequently feel paranoid about their future given this brave choice of homeschooling!

 

1.  What field do your children work in and are they enjoying themselves?

 

2.  Did you follow WTM strictly?  Did you include other approaches?  Did you feel that the high school years were an enormous amount of work?  Did you work hard to get ahead?

 

3.  Are you pleased, looking back, with the experience your kids had, including friendships?

 

Any tips, wisdom, perspective you could share with me would be very much appreciated!!

 

My older kids are still in college but I'll answer any way. 

 

1.  My oldest (senior) is majoring in biology and is applying to grad schools.  He was made for this.  He loves biology and is having trouble narrowing down what he wants to study because it is all so interesting.  My 2nd kid (a sophomore) is thinking of switching from physics to something else.  K is struggling, but that is due to an organic mental illness. 

 

2. We did not follow WTM strictly.  We were already homeschooling when the first edition came out.  We started out pretty unschooly - follow their lead, provide lots of educational opportunities, lots of quality reading material around the house, lots of stuff to tinker with, but very little screen time.  They were so passionate about learning in those early years.  However, we had to move to something more structured when dd came along because, when they would come to me wanting to do something,  I found myself answering "Later." too often.  Unfortunately, "later" soon became "never."  I decided to put my John Holt readings aside and look for more structure.

 

So, I read WTM and was intrigued to have the entire 12 years laid out for me.  We tried to follow it strictly but it was too much.  My older kids were very frustrated by the amount of writing.  There was no way we would have survived if I had required that amount of writing from them.  It would have taken all the joy out of learning.  Also, there were fewer quality writing programs back then.  I kept the history and science cycles.  But I feel that science should be much more hands on in the younger years.  Less reading and writing about science and more doing.  I helped organize science clubs for my kids so that I could spread the work around :). 

 

For high school, I decided to go veer more sharply away from WTM.  My older kids were headed for the sciences and I did not feel that WTM would be a good fit for them and their goals.  Also, we were much more eclectic about English and History because we wanted to do those with other people and we often had to adjust our plans to fit what others wanted.  We did some really interesting things that were a little out of the box.  Yes, high school was a lot of work - for them and for me.  In order to provide a quality high school experience, I felt the need to start outsourcing many of the subjects.  They were at the point where they would benefit from experts in their field who were passionate about their subject, not just mom working 2 chapters ahead.  We did online classes, dual enrollment, and some homegrown classes with other parents who were interested in doing the same thing.  The other benefit was outside validation and having people to ask for letters of recommendation.

 

3.  For the most part, I am please with the experience.  I wish I had found a solution for our writing difficulties in the younger years (requiring much less than WTM recommended rather than sticking my head in the sand on that.)  It would have saved us some tears and gnashing of teeth later when I had to sit down in force them to write and get up to speed in skill.  My youngest, Dd15 is doing much better in that regard.  As far as friends are concerned, my oldest had some great friends.  I do wish I had expanded our horizons a little more trying to meet more people in the high school years.  I think we got a little too comfortable with our circle, which kept getting smaller in the high school years due to attrition in the ranks of homeschoolers.  But my not unfounded fears of meanness from the conservative Christian circles made me wary. (We weren't the right kind of Christians, being Catholic and all.)  My 2nd had social issues, but those were related to some special needs.  School would not have been better.  Dd is very different that her older siblings.  She has a great group of friends from many areas.  However, her homeschool friends were not her academic peers and she needed more of a challenge.  But she didn't want all online classes and she didn't want to just be with me.  So, she opted to attend high school part-time.  She is also loving the social aspects of high school.  She has a great group of friends there - good kids.   

 

Advice??  Short lessons when they are little.  Minimize duration of seat work. Don't forget fun.  Don't forget to just love them up.  Don't forget grace and forgiveness - for them and for yourself.  If things feel overwhelming and you aren't getting what you want accomplished, re-evaluate.  Are you asking too much of them??  Are you asking too much of yourself? Are there some undiagnosed learning disabilities?  Could you use some help?  Outside accountability?  Mother's Helper? 

 

[danielleisdz]

I'm sorry for the confusion...YES please help me!!  I am so nervous, any and all advice would be absolutely fantastic!

I have two in college right now but I think you're looking for even older children?

 

[danielleisdz]

I'm sorry for the confusion...YES please help me!!  I am so nervous, any and all advice would be absolutely fantastic!

 

:hurray:  :thumbup:  :001_rolleyes:

I have one in university - would that work for you?  Quote my message in your reply if you'd like me to respond.

 

[Targhee]

I have two married, two in university, and one in DE. We did not follow WTM really--our path has been pretty eclectic. Yes, high school was an enormous amount of work. I thought it was rough with dd #1, and then we slammed into the Academy process with #2, and I realized that we were just getting started. My oldest announced at the age of 9 that she was going to be a violin teacher. She is. She's now married to a conductor who is also finishing his doctorate. #2, at the age of 16, realized that her calling was to the military. She's about to head to a new squadron in a week, as an instructor pilot for the Navy. We made some mistakes along with way--not checking out a prof carefully enough for calculus, not doing summer music things with dd#2, not catching that the AFA didn't count Latin, etc. The biggest mistake with #3 was not pushing for her to take her prep year to West Point. She took her ROTC, was injured, and is now out of the Army, facing her 4th surgery. The best thing that we have done for all five, has been DE. My advice now? Enjoy these years. Read books, lot of books. Teach your children to work. Teach them to be trustworthy. Take lots of photos.

What is DE?

[Jean in Newcastle]

What is DE?

Dual Enrollment

[Laura Corin]

I'm sorry for the confusion...YES please help me!!  I am so nervous, any and all advice would be absolutely fantastic!

 

:hurray:  :thumbup:  :001_rolleyes:

 

I just wrote you a long post but then lost it.  The precis: no I didn't follow WTM closely but it gave me the courage to be rigorous.  He went to school for high school, which was the academic option that he needed at that point.  He's studying English and Classics at a good university and hoping to stay in academia.  Friendships were always a problem and I spent a lot of time driving him around to different activities and cultivating friendships in the village.  I don't regret home educating him for the period that I did it (age 6 to 13).

[Soror]

I'm not qualified to post here but I always remember the signature of one of the veteran posters (whose name is slipping me now), I think I've got it right, I always find it so inspiring. 

 

"Enjoy your journey. Enjoy your little people."

 

 

[lllll]

nm

[SkateLeft]

1. My adult daughter is a third year college student majoring in computer science. She spent the past summer working full-time as a software engineer for a large multinational company and loved every minute of it. They said she's the best intern they've ever had, and they want her back next summer. They recently asked if she'd be interested in doing remote work for them during the school year.

 

2. I didn't follow WTM strictly. My goal was always to use the best tool for the job and to keep as many doors open as possible, for as long as possible. I love homeschooling the high school years, and actually thought they were easier than the earlier years because the foundation was already laid. I'm graduating my 2nd high schooler this year and starting my third next week, and the high school years are my absolute favorite to teach. Sometimes I think people overthink high school. It's really not that hard. I don't need to know everything. I just need to be willing to learn alongside my kids.

 

3. Absolutely no regrets. My oldest daughter is an introvert, but has the confidence and social skills to be a well adjusted adult. My other daughter is a extroverted social butterfly who LOVES being in high school. She has loads of friends, both homeschooled and public schooled. Homeschooling worked well for both of their personality types.

 

My biggest piece of advice is to ignore what everyone else says you should be doing and trust your gut. You know your kids best. Don't think you need to know everything. Just be willing to learn alongside your kids. Don't pigeonhole your kids ("this one isn't mathy"). Kids change so much. My least mathy kid is now my engineer who loves math. :) Oh, and don't jump on every curriculum bandwagon. Figure out what works for you and resist the urge to constantly switch to the newest, shiniest thing.

 

Have fun!

[Susan in TX]

Hello, thanks for your help in advance!!

 

I am just beginning a homeschool journey with my daughters, 6&4.  We love our learning!  But I frequently feel paranoid about their future given this brave choice of homeschooling!

 

1.  What field do your children work in and are they enjoying themselves?

 

2.  Did you follow WTM strictly?  Did you include other approaches?  Did you feel that the high school years were an enormous amount of work?  Did you work hard to get ahead?

 

3.  Are you pleased, looking back, with the experience your kids had, including friendships?

 

Any tips, wisdom, perspective you could share with me would be very much appreciated!!

 

I have five adult children that were homeschooled. The oldest is married and has a daughter. She has a masters degree and works as a librarian. My 2nd daughter graduated college and is a certified music therapist. I think both of them would say they have their dream jobs.

 

My 3rd daughter is in her senior year of college, majoring in anthropology and thinking about getting a masters degree in archeaology. My 4th daughter has been in and out of college...is currently in college and looking for a job. And my son is a high school dropout, still lives at home ( he is 18) and has been looking for a job. He always struggled with academics.

 

I did not really follow WTM. I did read it. We were rather eclectic in our homeschooling. We also just covered the 3Rs. Any history and science was covered informally until middle school. All of my children went to public school for high school.

 

I think my children had a wonderful childhood homeschooling. It allowed them to be children. They had lots of time to play and just be. I think that gave them the opportunity to really know themselves and discover their strengths. They really know who they are and are comfortable with themselves. They had friends growing up but they also spent a lot of time just with each other. I think that was beneficial and they are still close as adults.

 

Some advice: Don't worry about the future. Just focus on where your kids are now and work from there. I have learned that so much of the things we worry about as parents when kids are young just doesn't matter in the big scheme of things.

 

Susan in TX

[Kareni]

I have an adult child who was homeschooled from 7th grade through the end of high school.  I'd say we homeschooled in a WTM inspired fashion rather than strictly by the book.  My daughter attended a fairly selective liberal arts college where she thrived.  She majored in Latin and minored in Geology.

 

She taught English for a year in South Korea and is now there for a second year studying the language.  She plans/hopes to teach there again next year.  Her long term goal is to become a librarian.

 

My daughter was fortunate to be able to take courses at a local homeschooling center.  She also took classes in 11th and 12th grades at the local community college.  Many of her friendships came through classes at the homeschooling center.

 

No regrets here from me (the parent) or her (the homeschooler).

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Ellie]

Hello, thanks for your help in advance!!

 

I am just beginning a homeschool journey with my daughters, 6&4.  We love our learning!  But I frequently feel paranoid about their future given this brave choice of homeschooling!

 

1.  What field do your children work in and are they enjoying themselves?

 

2.  Did you follow WTM strictly?  Did you include other approaches?  Did you feel that the high school years were an enormous amount of work?  Did you work hard to get ahead?

 

3.  Are you pleased, looking back, with the experience your kids had, including friendships?

 

Any tips, wisdom, perspective you could share with me would be very much appreciated!!

 

My children are 36 and 39yo. We began hsing when my older dd was not quite 7yo and I withdrew her from a private school during Easter break of first grade. We hsed until they began taking community college classes when they were 14.

 

Older dd graduated from the community college and transferred to a state college; she graduated with a BA in English lit. She also took some time off before graduating from the c.c. to go to cosmetology school, and she worked her way through college as a hair dresser. She is still doing that today; she thought about going to law school at one point, and took the LSAT, but she decided that she really likes doing hair, she makes good money (she and her dh bought a house in Seattle based on her income), and its flexible hours give her time to spend with her son.

 

Younger dd graduated from the c.c. with multiple degrees in performing arts-related fields, but decided not to go on to a CalState campus (long story). She taught ballet for many years and worked at Starbucks (because ballet teachers tend not to make much money!). She is happily married and living in a small town in California, where she's active in her church and in her community.

 

We hsed before WTM was written. :-) We were much more relaxed than WTMers, but it worked for us. I am happy with our homeschooling experience. Younger dd would have liked more socializing, but honestly, I don't think I could have filled her need, and I think she was actually better off for it.

 

Whatever shortcomings there might have been, if I had it to do over, I'd do it again, in a heartbeat, without a second thought.

[DianeW88]

Hello, thanks for your help in advance!!

 

I am just beginning a homeschool journey with my daughters, 6&4.  We love our learning!  But I frequently feel paranoid about their future given this brave choice of homeschooling!

 

1.  What field do your children work in and are they enjoying themselves?

 

2.  Did you follow WTM strictly?  Did you include other approaches?  Did you feel that the high school years were an enormous amount of work?  Did you work hard to get ahead?

 

3.  Are you pleased, looking back, with the experience your kids had, including friendships?

 

Any tips, wisdom, perspective you could share with me would be very much appreciated!!

 

1.  My two oldest are graduates.  My dd is married and a professional ballerina.  My ds is finishing his undergrad and starting the process of applying to law schools.  They both have full-ride scholarships, and they both have been on the Dean's List every semester.  Although the first semester of school, my dd called me all upset about that, thinking she had done something wrong. :lol:  Homeschool mom failure...she had no idea what a Dean's List was.

 

2.  No, I didn't follow WTM strictly.  I used my own method, mixing philosophies and methodologies until I had things the way I wanted them.  The high school years are my favorite years to teach.  I didn't find them to be any more difficult than the younger years.  No, we did nothing special to "get ahead."

 

3.  Yes, I'm very pleased with their experience.  My kids had as many friends as any public school kids, given that we are LDS, live in Utah, and kids are everywhere. lol

 

Advice?  Work hard, keep the end in mind, enjoy the ride.

 

[momacacia]

DH is oldest of 9. All homeschooled with some classes taken at a local Christian high school (very small) which allowed homeschoolers to participate in extra curriculars and high school science/math/music classes. MIL homeschooled in the 80s/90s. Started out with Abeka, BJU and last 2 kids (last just graduated a year ago) did Sonlight. 7 of the 9 are married, they're going on 22 grandchildren, of which are children are the most brilliant and beautiful. Oh, wait, I digress. ;)

 

In descending order of age this is what they've done:

 

1) lawyer turned small business owner doing more engineering-type work. Kind of a renaissance man.

2) MBA in finance, Certified Financial Analyst

3) Some community college, finish carpenter

4) public policy, government work

5) associates at CC, manufacturing shop manager

6) fitness instructor

7) associates degree, hair stylist

8) bachelors in public administration, going to work for government, will likely get MA and possibly PhD.

9) at CC, still figuring it out.

 

All are quite well-adjusted, a few much more social than others, but I put a lot of that on parental environment, regardless of schooling. Those that are married seem happily so.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

My DC are still young but my DH and I and our siblings were all home schooled. My DH and his brother were home schooled starting in 5th and 7th grades, I was home schooled starting in 2nd, and my siblings were home schooled all the way through. Homeschooling was fairly new back in the 80s with not many options. There was no TWTM. :-) My IL's used Abeka videos. My parents used a unit study program until a few years ago. We have no regrets and those of us with children all homeschool.

 

Here's a list of where we're all at:

 

BIL - Helicopter mechanic/supervisor, 3.5 years of college

DH - Police officer, some college

 

Me - Stay at home, homeschooling, piano teaching mom, a few college classes, when the kids are older college is the plan

Brother #1 - volunteer fire fighter, time in the Army, owned his own business, now works as successful salesman (wife also home schooled)

Brother #2 - Aircraft mechanic/supervisor, got his Associate degree as an adult (wife home schooled)

Sister #2 - happy SAHM to 3 LOs, flute teacher and care giver before the kids came along (husband home schooled - electrician)

Brother #3 - worked with troubled youth, volunteer fire fighter, does concrete work now (wife home schooled)

Brother #4 - Attending college on a full ride as Cello performance major, tree work, college baseball, etc, etc - he has loads of interests and is good at all of them

Brother #5 - painter, attending college majoring in History, considering a career in the military

Sister #2 - senior in HS, lots of time with music and 4H, working with horses and volunteering, considering college with eventual career as a midwife

 

We are all happy with where are lives are and our career choices. We are all able to support our families. We're also not afraid to learn new things and change it up at some point in the future. College was optional for all of us. We could go if we wanted but we didn't have too. I think we're all pretty much happy with our choices. :-)

[The Girls' Mom]

My oldest just graduated last year, but she is currently working in the job she's dreamed of working in since she was small.  She works part time at our library, and was promoted within a few months of getting the job.  

 

She's very pleased with her education and has thanked me for homeschooling her.  She's in college full time and doing well.  

 

High School actually ended up being LESS work for me than middle school.  We spent most of middle school moving them towards independent study.  By the end of high school, I'm only the facilitator, not the teacher.

 

We did not exclusively school the WTM way.  We followed the history cycle, did Latin, and were lit heavy, but we did whatever math and science worked best for the kids.  I did not begin homeschooling until my oldest was in the 6th grade.  If we had homeschooled from the beginning I probably would have incorporated more of the WTM ideas.  

[parias1126]

My adult child (22) graduated as a homeschooler at the age of 17. She is married, a mom to two beautiful babies and takes college courses online. She will be transferring to University next semester. She always wanted to be a mom and is making all her dreams come true at once.....being a mom and after she finishes her schooling, a teacher. 

 

I do still have a 13 year old DD, 11 yr old DS, and 8 yr old DS at home. They all have hopes and dreams for the future. It's not always just about homeschooling. Deciding to homeschool my children was a lifestyle. They're learning everyday...things they would never even begin to learn in the public school. The things that are important to me are that they grow up to be loving, caring, respectable human beings with a love for everyone, that they grow up with goals and aspirations, that they grow up being close to one another and have strong family values. 

 

Being homeschooled, my children are always WANTING to learn and I saw that slowly dwindle away when I put them in PS for a couple years due to my own personal circumstances/life situation. They are all now officially back home and their love of learning has quickly returned. They relationship between one another (as siblings) has grown stronger again. Their relationship with me has also grown stronger since they're with me 24/7 again and not spending their days in the PS. 

 

In just the two years my children spent in PS, they came home to be in the SAME EXACT place educationally (and even behind in some areas such as Grammar). I'm now working on catching them all back up. I wish I had never done it. 

 

Life is wonderful for us again. Don't let these thoughts you're having deter you from giving your children the best education possible (homeschool).