A general survey of the chat board about homeschooling

[Tap]

Just curious about what the current demographic is on the chat board.

 

What home school experiences have you had?

 

I will allow you to define "home school" how ever you would like, but I imagine it as having a planned structure and grade level goals.  To me, it would not include most unschooling, but since there are so many variations you can decide for yourself what counts in your family.

 

To me: full time, is home schooling all core classes. That can include fully at home, umbrellas, private tutors, etc, but the parent has some oversight of the material.

 

To me: part time, is home schooling part of the core classes, but the student attends a brick and mortar traditional school (ie public, private, magnet etc) for core classes part of the day. 

 

multiple answers allowed.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Tap

[Tap]

I have home schooled full time: K-9.  

DD17 K-5

DS21 5-9

DD9 Never been homeschooled.

 

I have also part time home schooled math for dd17 in 6th grade, 10th, 11th. She is dyslexic and public school math doesn't really work for her, unless she has a very strong teacher.

 

Aside from fully independent home schooling we have used 

Secular private

Religious private

Public elementary

Public high school

Umbrellas

Part time options

Dual enrollment

 

 

Edited August 13, 2016 by Tap

[Guest]

Full time from pre-K through fourth grade so far. Three students currently.

 

While I love classical and thought it would fit us best, we are quite eclectic in our curriculum selections and use both religious and secular materials, whatever I think works best for the student. I teach every subject but ballet and piano, which we outsource to private instructors, and we have used a co op for social fun and extra curriculars/fluff subjects but no core classes. Now I'm too busy with basic instruction to have time for co op :o

Edited August 13, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[Amira]

Ds17- always homeschooled full-time, almost certainly going to homeschool his senior year while doing an internship

Ds15- always homeschooled full-time, but probably going to attend an international school for his last two years (unless dh agrees that we don't want to be tied to a high school schedule our last two years of having the older boys home)

Ds8- never homeschooled, but it's always an option depending on where we live

[Tap]

I've homeschooled one child from halfway through K - 12.

 

Another from K to 7. From 8-11 (current year) she's used public school distance education.

 

Another from K-7 and continuing. 

 

We kind of did preschool at home for two - FIAR - not sure that counts as 'formal'.

Sure.  I don't know how to say "a planned curriculum that is not just play based or completely student led" succinctly. LOL If you have a word for it, let me know. Vocabulary is not my strong suit. 

Edited August 13, 2016 by Tap

[Pawz4me]

Oldest DS -- homeschooled full time from 5th through 8th grade

Youngest DS -- homeschooled full time from 2nd through 8th grade

[LinRTX]

My fourth will be in 11th grade. I formally started my oldest when he was 4, started just a few days after his birthday. He is almost 31, so almost 27 years. We have done K-12 12 full time with all of them.

 

Linda

[Guest]

dd27 and ds24 were homeschooled full time from birth or compulsory attendance age (depending on you perspective) until they were fifteen.

 

ds8 has always been homeschooled.

[hellen]

My oldest just started 6th grade. With just two weeks under my belt, I didn't feel comfortable marking the middle school column. I intend to homeschool him through 8th grade at least.

 

ETA. I've homeschooled full time grades K-5.

Edited August 13, 2016 by hellen

[Tenaj]

My oldest was homeschooled from second grade through 12th (including a super senior year).

My next was homeschooled from first grade through 12th.  It's her fault we began homeschooling at all :)  She came home from kindergarten one day in the middle of the year and told me one of her classmates was going to be homeschooled and why couldn't we do that.  She hated kindergarten - many days of screaming fits on the way to school or while waiting for the bus.  Anyway, that's why I started looking into it.  Read WTM and started teaching her to read in February with Phonics Pathways.  She finished kindergarten and that was it.

All the rest have been homeschooled from the beginning.  

[Carrie12345]

I checked all the full-times from K-9th, but 9th probably isn't *entirely accurate, since dd has technically only done part-time schooling this summer and will start a full schedule next month.  

 

Also, I *have officially schooled K in the past, but skipped it with the youngest two.  My 9yo's 1st and 2nd grade years might not even count as "full time homeschooling", for that matter.  But the girls' would.

[Jenny in Florida]

Let's see, by your definitions, I think I have homeschooled one kiddo full time K-12 and homeschooled the other full time K-10 and then part time.

 

We started formally homeschooling our daughter with kindgergarten. She was younger than traditional kindergarten age, but those were the materials I could find at the time. She did great, and we just kept going from there. Over the years, she took a few online classes through Florida Virtual School, but never attended a  brick-and-mortar school of any kind until college. Once again, she went to college early, but had completed a typical high school curriculum before she left, so we graduated her and let her move on.

 

My son was fully homeschooled through what we considered 10th grade. His last year at home was mostly online classes, but I still had a role in selection,  oversight and enforcing schedules and deadlines. At 15 (11th grade), he started dual enrollment at the community college. He took three classes per semester on campus and did two high school classes online at home. During that year, he made the decision to cram in a couple of extra classes via CLEP in order to finish off his high school requirements, which meant he condensed high school into three years and went on to full-time college enrollment after that.

 

We mostly used a pretty eclectic (read: cheap) mix of materials I strung together into a curriculum inspired by TWTM but tailored to each kid's strengths and interests. Each one of mine did a class or two a year through FLVS beginning when they were nine or 10 years old. 

 

Consequently, I'm now retired from homeschooling, but I still hang around here, because I like the conversation.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Jenny in Florida

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Hs'ed all the way...

 

#1 son is now in college,

#2 son is in 12th grade, my first student to do DE,

#3 son is in 10th, and may be the first of mine to pursue early college, and

#4 son is in 6th grade, and may be the only one to go to brick/mortar school for high school if we can afford private.

 

So I either have three or seven more years of hs'ing, including this year.

[73349]

I've...

• worked as a sub (middle and high school), daily and long-term,
• taught full-time (middle school),
• tutored I believe all grades 5 through college (including a homeschooled student),
• and then started homeschooling DS with planned stuff in preK. He's about to start 3rd. This is my favorite teaching job. :)

[DawnM]

I started homeschooling when my oldest got kicked out of Kindergarten.

 

Before that, the older two went to full time pre-school and I worked full time.

 

We didn't know then that my oldest had Asperger's.  If you have seen the show Parenthood, you will see my son.  He was exactly like Max, so much so, that when I saw that show I cried.  

 

When he was in K, I went down to half time, my husband was able to adjust his schedule, and we started homeschooling.  

 

Two years later, I quit my job completely and homeschooled and we moved across the country.

 

• Oldest was homeschooled 1st-12th.  He now attends community college.
• Middle was homeschooled K-9.  He now goes to public high school.
• Youngest homeschooled K-6.  He will go to school this year for 7th grade.

Did you read into that?  I am DONE!  This was my last year of homeschooling!

 

I officially start my full time job this Monday!

Edited August 13, 2016 by DawnM

[Wheres Toto]

We started homeschooling when my son was declassified from Early Intervention when he was 4.  He is 2E.

 

This was 2009.  From 2009 to 2013, I homeschooled full time.  We had set curriculum and did no outside academic classes.

For 2014 and 2015, I went back to work full time and we hired a full time teacher.  She taught them with a set curriculum.  I guess this could be considered "outside classes".

Since March of this year I have been back home.  We've done less school than I would prefer due to deaths in the family and various chaos but we are on track to start full speed ahead in September. 

 

We have done occasional enrichment classes - ds does some through our universities GT program - but most of our outside stuff is sports/exercise related, except for our STEM 4-H group.

[heartlikealion]

homeschooled ds up til 2nd. Now he's trying private and I'm going to give it a little time before adding more to his plate. But I would like to do some part time afterschooling stuff. We also do religion at home as it's complicated to get him to Sunday school classes where we live.

 

If we are still living here when dd is older I anticipate homeschooling her at least in the beginning.

[Hilltopmom]

Hmm, you don't count unschooling as homeschooling? What would you count that as?

 

We unschooled the oldest kids until they hit middle school, then began formal schoolwork with curriculum. They were not in a b & m school, & we filed all the paperwork with our district, met the homeschool regs for our very rigid state, including covering all the subjects (just not using parent chosen curriculum) & testing as necessary, so I'd call that "homeschooling".

 

 

 

 

Eta- our state does not allow part time homeschooling, it's all or nothing. Until they can dual enroll at the community college, at least.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Hilltopmom

[bolt.]

Can we have:

 

"I have not home schooled yet, but am currently planning for a future school year (beyond this immediate 'next' school year)."

[Closeacademy]

I have homeschooled full-time from preschool/K (more relaxed/waldorf inspired) through 11th grade so far ( we did do a few years of a couple of co-op classes and one is more textbooked based while the art/science is more interest-based learning).

 

i have worked part-time either at home or away from home ( since oldest was in jr. high) the entire time.  I had one year where we were able to only focus on homeschooling and it was so relaxing and wonderful. 

[Guest]

I have homeschooled FT since 2003. My teens were both FT hs until 9th grade where they switched to B&M school. I still hs my youngest FT; he is a rising 6th grader.

[Rachel]

Entering our 4th year of homeschooling this fall, I'll have a 3rd and 1st grader. I also have a 4 year old who loves to tell people he just does recess all day.

[ikslo]

I am homeschooling an only. He's been in daycare, but never school. So, FT K-3 for me, starting 4th this year, whilst working FT.

[Mama Geek]

I voted homeschool pre K and K.  I am officially calling dd, who just turned 6 this summer, in kindergarten this year, but she is well beyond that level in reading, writing, and math and we are starting history this fall.  We have been pretty intentional about education all along and we plan to homeschool all the way through.

[heartlikealion]

Hmm, you don't count unschooling as homeschooling? What would you count that as?

 

We unschooled the oldest kids until they hit middle school, then began formal schoolwork with curriculum. They were not in a b & m school, & we filed all the paperwork with our district, met the homeschool regs for our very rigid state, including covering all the subjects (just not using parent chosen curriculum) & testing as necessary, so I'd call that "homeschooling".

 

 

 

 

Eta- our state does not allow part time homeschooling, it's all or nothing. Until they can dual enroll at the community college, at least.

 

I figured the part time comment didn't mean anything to do with state standards/rules but rather just doing homeschooling after traditional school hours if your child is enrolled in some type of B&M school. I suppose it could be interpreted more than one way, though.

 

[Guest]

I have homeschooled since Kindergarten, kids are in 6th and 4th.

[Spryte]

Full time HS pre-K through 7th grade (starting this month).

[purpleowl]

I've done full-time, intentional, formal homeschooling at the pre-K/K and elementary levels.

 

I do all the core subjects. The girls participate in a community children's choir; oldest takes piano lessons from someone else (I am teaching DD#2 piano for now); and I'm looking into the possibility of an outside art class for DD#1 for this fall. 

[Kalmia]

I homeschooled my son from 3rd to 8th and my daughter from K to 3rd so I count myself as having the equivalent of homeschooling one from K to 8th. I still afterschool both children in language arts and my husband afterschools math.

[happypamama]

I've never sent any of my children to any brick and mortar school.  I voted that I have full-time homeschooled pre-K/K, 1st-5th, 6th-8th, and 9th-12th, although this is my first year with a high schooler.  That being said, my version of full-time for pre-K through grade 2 looks a little different from the public school's.  I am a very laid-back teacher for pre-K, K, and 1, even into grade 2.  They work on schoolish stuff when they want to, and they don't when they don't want to.  Starting in about grade 1, I require that they do a little work with me a few days a week, and it steps up from there.  My state doesn't require a portfolio until age 8, which is grade 3 for most of my children, grade 2 for my middle child, but we are still pretty laid-back, an hour of table time most days, and he doesn't get the option of declining (whereas my Ker does not have to listen to SOTW or whatever if he chooses not to).  So I voted full-time for those lower grades, because it's not like they're getting half of their academics somewhere else; everything they get, they get from me.

 

I haven't yet outsourced any academic classes, but we may next year for certain high school subjects like Spanish, since I don't speak much Spanish, and her skills are outpacing mine, or we may wait until eleventh grade and do a CC/online college class.  With a child who can't drive herself yet, running around for outsourced classes means dragging a lot of little kids everywhere, so we'll really need to weight the benefits.  At this point, I outsource martial arts because I can't teach that, and they use DuoLingo to supplement my Spanish book instruction heavily, plus they use computer programs to learn guitar and piano.  I'm still in charge of the scope of those things, as far as reporting and credits, though, so I guess it's not really outsourcing any more than I'm outsourcing history by using History Odyssey's plans.  To me, outsourcing means, "Mom doesn't have to do anything except make sure the kid attends/does the work, and put the grade on the transcript."

 

We've only ever done an enrichment co-op, and it didn't really take anything off of my plate.  Co-op always did picture study, which was cool, although I still did art/picture study at home (and one semester, I taught picture study at co-op anyway, so it definitely didn't reduce my burden, but my DD got to pick the artist).  They did things like book unit studies, Greek culture, organized games, cooking when we had a co-op -- all of those were fun and added a little sparkle to our overall program, but they didn't cut literature, history, PE, or science out of our usual days because co-op was only monthly or every two weeks for a couple of months.  But they generally had fun, so it was a good deal (and only monthly or every few weeks for a couple of months).  It was good to get to try out a classroom situation and for each to have their own little classes.  The one thing that co-op did was a public speaking class one semester.  That's harder to replicate at home, and they learned some good information, but now that we don't have that, I count speaking to the instructor at belt tests as public speaking.  I'm not interested in a heavy academic co-op or its heavy time commitment, for multiple reasons.

 

However, I'm glad there are cyber schools, online classes, academic co-ops, and whatever else, because I'm thrilled that families can choose what's right for them.  If an academic co-op makes you feel comfortable homeschooling, or if you really don't want your kids in a public school classroom but are overwhelmed with the idea of trying to teach all the subjects so you use cyber school, then GREAT!!!  I'm a huge proponent of school choice, whatever that means for every family.

[Guest]

I've homeschooled K-12.

 

Several times over.

 

And still going.

[Loowit]

I have homeschooled all of my children from K on.  This year my oldest is in 11th grade.  The plan is to homeschool all of them until they graduate high school.  All three also attended a private preschool a few mornings a week when they were 3 to 5 years old.

[Anne in CA]

I home schooled for 16 years, my son was home schooled from kindy to graduation, he has a diploma from NARHS and started CC when he was 16, and he did very well in CC. My oldest was home schooled only 5th to 8th grade and my youngest was home schooled until she began public high school two years ago. She has two more years of high school.

[medawyn]

I've been on the boards a long time, but have not yet homeschooled. I'm not planning for next year, because my "big guy" is only going to be four in February. We're still playing :-)

 

I let my DH know on about our fourth date that homeschooling was a non-negotiable for me. We'll get to Kindergarten eventually!

[SKL]

My kids are in b&m school and will most likely stay there.  Homeschooling is not really a practical possibility for us.

 

For KG, for my advanced kid, I did home-school part-time, meaning we worked on reading, math, science, and social studies in the evenings.  [ETA:  the level was more 1st/2nd grade, but I was documenting based on state requirements for KG, i.e., which subjects and how much time.]  Daycare, extracurriculars, and weekend nannies provided literature (read-alouds), music lessons, PE, art, writing, geography, Spanish, and French.  Although my kid entered b&m KG mid-year, we continued to work at home the same as before.

 

Also in KG I afterschooled my other kid in the same subjects mentioned above, but at a lower / less intense level.  For her she needed more work just learning how to read to keep up with the KG class.

 

From grades 1 onward, I've been an afterschooler for both kids.

Edited August 13, 2016 by SKL

[Crimson Wife]

I've homeschooled FT at least 1 child since '06 when my oldest did her pre-k year.

 

This year she's doing dual-enrollment at community college and will be taking her math & English there plus an elective (drama this semester and a foreign language this spring). Last year I declared her an "ungraded secondary" student on the Private School Affidavit and will do so again this year because I don't know when I will graduate her. She has already passed the state High School Proficiency exam. The English course she's taking this semester will validate 4 years of high school English. The math sequence she's taking this fall and spring will validate high school math. I am planning on having her take the SAT subject tests in U.S. and World History to validate those courses. So basically she would need 2 semesters of foreign language, 1 semester of life science, and 1 semester of physical science before I could issue her a diploma. Theoretically she could try validating the science through SAT subject tests, but I don't think she'd score high enough without first doing a CC course.

[Tap]

Hmm, you don't count unschooling as homeschooling? What would you count that as?

 

We unschooled the oldest kids until they hit middle school, then began formal schoolwork with curriculum. They were not in a b & m school, & we filed all the paperwork with our district, met the homeschool regs for our very rigid state, including covering all the subjects (just not using parent chosen curriculum) & testing as necessary, so I'd call that "homeschooling".

 

 

 

 

Eta- our state does not allow part time homeschooling, it's all or nothing. Until they can dual enroll at the community college, at least.

Sure it is, and that is why I left it open for interpretation by the parent.  Unschooling is homeschooling, but just in a different way.  That is part of the beauty of it. It is unscripted.  For some parents that means they are 100% hands off and the child learns what they learn through everyday life.....and for others that means the parents are fiercely scrambling to find ways to flush out topics to follow their child's path of interest. 

 

The families that I know who consider themselves true unschoolers, do no formal academic guidance.  The child is purely in charge of their education.  The child may decide to explore a topic in a more traditional method (ie using a math book), but the parents don't lead, at all, ever.

 

The families I know who use a mix of student led and traditional methods, seem to consider themselves home schoolers more than unschoolers.  The parents may use a few textbooks and try to stay within a year or two of state standards. 

 

Between these, I am sure there is a myriad of variations.  Again...why I left it up for the parent to decide. 

[Lady Florida.]

We homeschooled all the way, but others might not consider our final years full time.

 

Florida law allows parents to be the overseers of their children's education and still be considered homeschoolers, and that's how I define it. So, even though ds' final year and a half involved dual enrollment I still considered us full time homeschoolers. In the end, I was the one responsible for his progress (well, he was of course but according to the state it's the parents responsibility) so I was still a full time homeschooer in my view.

 

I don't define full time homeschooling as the parent always being the teacher. 

[Mergath]

We've always homeschooled (so just fill in the blank for whether you think "official" hsing starts in K or pre-K) and dd will be starting third grade this year.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Mergath

[Luckymama]

Dd16 has been homeschooled since fifth grade. I have outsourced English since 8th (online) and Arabic since 9th (online, immersion camp, university classes). She will graduate after this year :eek:

 

Dd21 and ds23 were never homeschooled.

[Tap]

Can we have:

 

"I have not home schooled yet, but am currently planning for a future school year (beyond this immediate 'next' school year)."

Sure, I changed the way I worded that one.  I changed it to ".....an upcoming school year"  :001_smile:

[MinivanMom]

I've homeschooled full-time for K-7. None of my kids have ever been to a b&m school, taken an online class, co-op classes, etc.

 

For this coming year I will be homeschooling all 5 for the first time, and my oldest will be taking her first outsourced class, an online French course.

[catz]

I've always been an eclectic homeschooler.  But at least for the families I know, I consider unschooling a form of homeschooling.  Many of the families I know are working harder to provide meaningful learning opportunities for their kids than me. 

[PrincessMommy]

I homeschool 3 of my kids K-12th.  The other three were a mix.  One was homeschooled until 7th, another 9th and my youngest until 3-4th grade (can't remember).  I haven't homeschooled since my last one graduated in 2010.

[Hilltopmom]

I've always been an eclectic homeschooler. But at least for the families I know, I consider unschooling a form of homeschooling. Many of the families I know are working harder to provide meaningful learning opportunities for their kids than me.

Yes, that's what I was trying to say in my post:)

 

Unschooling is a "style" of homeschooling, just not the "school at home" style of homeschooling:)

[KatieJ]

I HS my oldest part time 11 &12th.

#2 was home full time 6-8th grade and half days all thru Highschool.

 

My 1st was home full time thru 10th grade and then went to public school.

 

My 2nd son, and youngest was home thru 8th grade and then public school thru High school.

[luuknam]

I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should've checked we formally did PreK/K. I did some formal 1st grade curriculum with a 4.75-5.5yo and then gave him an end-of-first-grade standardized test at 5.5yo and he scored well above average. But, the PreK/K skills were almost entirely acquired in more of an unschoolish/child-led way. My other kid was public schooled from PreK3 through 2nd grade.

[Garga]

Both boys have always been homeschooled.

 

I'm currently in the throes of planning 9th grade (almost done.).

 

This year will be the first year that my oldest has outsourced classes: an online Geometry class and a co-op Spanish class.

 

As far as I know, we'll continue to the end. The boys insist they do not want to go to school and so far it's been working for us.

[littlebug42]

We are beginning 8th and 10th grade here and my girls have always been homeschooled.   Oldest may start taking community college classes this year in the spring so she would become more of a part time student.  

[FaithManor]

I homeschooled DD from 1st - 4th, rhen again, 8th - 12th. Niece for 8th grade while we had temporary guardianship of her. 1st - 12th for eldest ds. K-12 middle ds. Pre-K - 10th for youngest ds.

 

Two years and I retire from this gig.

 

In high school we have taught all of the math, science, and English/literature plus fine arts. We have outsourced some history and foreign language and ds's upcoming roborics course is outsourced.