For Fun: Homeschool Things You Just Don't Get (no hate)

[LucyStoner]

Homeschoolers who don't take Snow Days. We rarely get snow but every time we do some homeschooled posts on FB that their kids don't take snow days. God himself is telling you to relax and enjoy Netflix for a day!

Totally.

 

If we lived in Minnesota it would be different but here in the PNW, snow is a rare treat and I don't make them do much for it.

[blondeviolin]

Totally.

 

If we lived in Minnesota it would be different but here in the PNW, snow is a rare treat and I don't make them do much for it.

We live in Alaska and we take snow days. The first day it snows for the winter, we are off. If it's heavy snow later on, we'll do half day or just math and call it good.

[luuknam]

If we did that we would have a lot of time off. We got 2-4 inches a day Monday-wednesday.

 

You could just only take the snow days your local district takes. Which, around here, pretty much means only cold days, when the wind chill is worse than -15 in the morning or something (that could be a 2 hour delay, or a day off - depends)... Maybe more sensible to say "let's count that and take it on a day it's nicer weather" (in which case it'd make more sense to just say "we've got 3 snow days per year", I guess). Though we did have some snow days the year there was that 6' snow thing - we only got a little, but the kids had a few snow days due to not enough teachers being able to get to school.

 

ROSETTA STONE. Ugh. We bought the Spanish one at a really decent deal for RS.

Could not get into it. And the kids got really frustrated with all the forced review. It seemed

difficult every time to get them to a place where they could move ON in the lesson.

 

You don't have to do the reviews. It will tell you to do them next, but in reality, you can just click on any section you want to do (the little circles that look black before you've done them, and have a checkmark in them after you've done them).

 

I guess I don't get is the people who think that because you homeschool, you cook three hot meals from scratch every day or something like that.

[heartlikealion]

I don't get the downloaded, pre-designed lapbook.  We make our lapbooks for our ancients studies out of all the assignments we've completed (you know, all those coloring, narration/copywork, geography, hands on project assignments in the Activity books that go with SOTW.) I'm not into them for the cutting and pasting, I want them to be assignments the kid did themselves. As of 2nd grade we just put them in 3 ring binders because youngest didn't enjoy crafts after the novelty of that year wore off.

 

I don't get IEW.  What a waste of time-I don't consider any of those models for writing (like a 5 paragraph essay) excellent or pedagogy like "dress ups". That's just teaching unnecessarily verbose writing, which is poor writing.  I just don't believe teaching a child to temporarily write badly results in better writing later.  It looks, to me,  like developing bad habits now that have to be broken later. 

 

I don't get 100 EZ Lessons for phonics.  Why would someone want to introduce symbols for reading English that aren't actually used to read English?

 

Latin as a language study. Sure, for a kid who wants to be a doctor that might makes sense.  But if you're using it for a type of logic study, English word roots, or grammar studies to better understand objective vs. subjective case, it's a lot of investment for a low pay off.  There are better, more comprehensive ways to study all forms of logic, you can cut to the chase and learn Latin and Greek roots in English directly, and you can still learn objective vs. subjective case with an intensive English grammar program without having to master a foreign language. 

 

Studying a second language in the US.  I've lived in AZ for 43 years, attended Jr. High and Sr. High with 40% Hispanic populations, some of whom have parents who only speak Spanish, and only twice in my whole life would Spanish have been handy in real life.  Once to tell the landscapers that the hills we wanted them to create in the back yard looked like a bad boob job, and once to tell someone who had a goat farm that their goat got out of their fence and was running down the busy road.  They didn't teach either of those things in Spanish class.  So in the first situation the landscaper called his supervisor and handed me his cell phone to talk to him and he translated for us.  In the second situation I had explained in English making a goat sound and pantomiming floppy goat ears and taking her outside and pointing down the street. We were both a little embarrassed, but the goat was rescued.

 

I don't get why so many homeschoolers sign up for a group event or co-op without reading or asking about it in detail,  they don't bother getting the supplies or making their kids do the assignments, they complain about the content and schedule, they don't attend regularly and they can't get themselves there on time most of the time.  Why sign up for it in the first place?

 

The need so many parents seem to have to assess if their children meet the current criteria of gifted.  Homeschoolers can have their kids working at their ability level, so why do they need someone measure and label that instead of just starting at the beginning and moving up as needed?  I have 2 kids who could've fit that category in different ways, but instead of making it a big deal we just did what they were able to do very matter of factly.

 

Radical child driven unschooling.  I don't see how letting children always choose what they want to do prepares them for adulthood. No one else in life gets to do only what they want. If I did only what I wanted I would have more quilts made, more miles hiked, more water ways kayaked, more chocolate eaten, only Mexican cokes drunk, more books read, and more BBC binge watched.  Sigh.  If only...

 

You could say the same thing about lots of things. How often do people study a higher math in school and then say they never used it in real life? As for Spanish, at one of my jobs if I had known how to speak it I would have made more per hour. I only knew this because a coworker told me that and I guess they knew that because another coworker was bilingual? Not really sure how this came up. I think a lot of times people study another language with the intent to travel. I'm not arguing that you may not need it/find it handy in your overall life, but I figure that's the same for ASL. I admire people that learn ASL and don't need to. One of the churches I attend has an ESL night once a week. I could not communicate with anyone there. I was fumbling to ask if they needed a ride and used an app to help me translate. I found out later that I asked if they wanted to go on a joy ride :lol:

[poppy]

Flip side to the 'I don't get unschooling' post:

I don't get parents who say 'I only teach math and writing and reading .... everything else we unschool'. Nope, doesn't work like that, and it's actually really rude to the folks who unschool.

 

For me the issue is mainly that I don't think there are any very good science programs for elementary or maybe even middle school aged kids. And maybe its the nature of the subject.

Yup. I would LOVE a textbook for elementary science, but, there aren't any good ones that I've seen (secular ). So RSO it is , with its '6 pages of this and 5 pages of that ' . Same with history.

 

 

 

Thanks everyone for keeping this lighthearted - even the folks responding defensively . It's inevitable that one person's 'I don't get it' is another's favorite thing ever.

[HomeAgain]

Flip side to the 'I don't get unschooling' post:

I don't get parents who say 'I only teach math and writing and reading .... everything else we unschool'. Nope, doesn't work like that, and it's actually really rude to the folks who unschool.

 

 

 

Can you explain this better? I don't want to derail the thread, but this is very nearly my situation right here and now I'm perplexed.  We can take it to PM if you prefer.

[poppy]

Can you explain this better? I don't want to derail the thread, but this is very nearly my situation right here and now I'm perplexed.  We can take it to PM if you prefer.

 

This blog explained it better than I could with these questions:

You may do what you like, after you have completed the work I’d like you to do.

My ideas are more important than your ideas.

 

I don’t think your interests are as valuable as my ideas.

 

I don’t trust you will learn everything you need to know  while you are unschooling, so I’d like you to fulfill my requirements first.

 

What you think you need to know, isn’t what I think you need to know.

 

We’ve ticked off enough boxes this year, so I now feel comfortable giving you the freedom to direct your own learning.

 

I personally am not an unschooler.    I do a lot of relaxed homeschooling led by the kids' interest.  I wish there was  a nifty catchphrase for that. 

I  do have respect for people who give up control, reset all expectations and put their faith in their children's innate curiosity........ enough to concede the term "unschooler" to them.

[frugalmamatx]

:iagree:

 

All the conferences I've been to are either vendors hawking their wares, or speakers telling us how to homestead, grind our own wheat, or make our children one another's BFFs.

 

Uh, could you teach me how to actually *educate* my kid. Please?!

 

Yes. My personal favorites are the "Relationship" workshops and the "Preaching" workshops. Nothing against either of those but they have NO place at a homeschool convention imo

[HS Mom in NC]

Kids who show up to book club having not read the book. 

 

This is probably not a h/s specific thing....but h/s parents are supposed to be in charge of their children's education, so why would they drop Susie off and say 'Oh Susie didn't get to the book this month'. 

 

How I am supposed to conduct a group discussion about a book when kids haven't read the book ? 

 

~

 

Homeschool parents who excuse their child's very poor social behaviour with the excuse that 'he's gifted.' Lady, I know what gifted is, and it isn't a free pass to be a jerk.

 

~

 

Homeschool parents who seem not to understand that co-op is a shortened form of co-operative, which is what we sould be, instead of me doing all the work and you taking work phone calls instead. Pay someone if you need babysitting.

 

~

 

Homeschoolers who think it's OK to be late. Or to not show up to something they've RSVP'ed about earlier with no explanation. 

 

~

 

People who want their 8 year old in the teen class. because 'they are very mature for their age'. Don't care. Teens deserve their own classes.

 

~

 

Newbies who get upset when X class or opportunity isn't already organised for them. Go forth and organise your own activities. We've all had to do it.

 

~

 

Gosh, i had a lot to get off my chest this morning! Bitter, me ?

 

Amen, sister!!!

 

 

[HS Mom in NC]

Shakespeare's romantic themed plays.  It's his fault humanity has to endure romantic comedies today where people, and women in particular, are portrayed as stupid.  His nonsense made it a cultural norm and should be banished forever because of it. I actually think they're bad for society and girls in particular.

The newbies who won't bother to do basic research about homeschooling before they ask homeschoolers questions.  Some of us researched homeschooling before the internet and amazon.com because we're dinosaurs. How is it that you didn't think to google and click on links for a while first?

[mellifera33]

Kids who show up to book club having not read the book. 

 

 

 

I don't think this is a homeschool-specific issue--nobody in my mom's book club ever reads the book. Book club is an excuse to meet up, drink coffee, eat cake, and shoot the shit. 

 

This blog explained it better than I could with these questions:

You may do what you like, after you have completed the work I’d like you to do.

My ideas are more important than your ideas.

 

I don’t think your interests are as valuable as my ideas.

 

I don’t trust you will learn everything you need to know  while you are unschooling, so I’d like you to fulfill my requirements first.

 

What you think you need to know, isn’t what I think you need to know.

 

We’ve ticked off enough boxes this year, so I now feel comfortable giving you the freedom to direct your own learning.

 

I personally am not an unschooler.    I do a lot of relaxed homeschooling led by the kids' interest.  I wish there was  a nifty catchphrase for that. 

I  do have respect for people who give up control, reset all expectations and put their faith in their children's innate curiosity........ enough to concede the term "unschooler" to them.

 

 

I'm not an unschooler, precisely because I believe the ideas expressed in italics above.  :lol:

[LMD]

DS whined through several spelling programs. In the end Scribblenauts was the best one :-/

In the same vein, my ds's reading fluency improved markedly from playing Pokemon...

[HomeAgain]

This blog explained it better than I could with these questions:

You may do what you like, after you have completed the work I’d like you to do.

My ideas are more important than your ideas.

 

I don’t think your interests are as valuable as my ideas.

 

I don’t trust you will learn everything you need to know  while you are unschooling, so I’d like you to fulfill my requirements first.

 

What you think you need to know, isn’t what I think you need to know.

 

We’ve ticked off enough boxes this year, so I now feel comfortable giving you the freedom to direct your own learning.

 

I personally am not an unschooler.    I do a lot of relaxed homeschooling led by the kids' interest.  I wish there was  a nifty catchphrase for that. 

I  do have respect for people who give up control, reset all expectations and put their faith in their children's innate curiosity........ enough to concede the term "unschooler" to them.

 

 

:laugh:  From the blog, I'm getting that the only type of unschooling is what is referred to as "radically unschooling" by the majority of the population.

 

I'm going to have to think about a new term, then.  Because part-time unschooling doesn't fit, and relaxed doesn't fit, and child-led sounds wonky and weird.

[Barb_]

Natural learners is the term here used for non radical unschooling unschoolers :)

I like that!

[....]

Something that's seemed strange to me for so long:  8th grade hits and you go from tons of other homeschoolers 7th and younger to  z e r o  homeschoolers after about age 12.  At 7th/8th grade, EVERYBODY puts their kids back in public school.  And if you happen to find one lone homeschooling family who is actually homeschooling teenagers, they're outsourcing everything and 10th-12th is dual enrollment at the community college.   :confused:  No wonder there's not a lot of curriculum to choose from at the high school level.  There's no market for it like there is for younger kids. 

 

Even my 9th grader's homeschooling-BFF starts public school this week.    :(   

 

I know ONE mom IRL who is homeschooling her teenage son "ye olde fashioned-way", without outsourcing/enrolling in community college.  I told her we absolutely have to stay in touch.  Like it or not, Lady, I'm emailing you every once in a while to see what you guys are up to!   

 

Am I missing something?  It's lonely here!  Is this just a phenomenon where we live??  My kids are going to be the only weirdos with homeschooling diplomas at this rate.

[Alicia64]

I don't think this is a homeschool-specific issue--nobody in my mom's book club ever reads the book. Book club is an excuse to meet up, drink coffee, eat cake, and shoot the shit. 

 

 

 

 

 

:lol:

 

In my adult book club we joked that if we didn't arrive within the first four minutes of the book club, we'd miss the book-talk entirely! And for the record: we weren't drinking coffee. :hurray:

 

[Alicia64]

Something that's seemed strange to me for so long:  8th grade hits and you go from tons of other homeschoolers 7th and younger to  z e r o  homeschoolers after about age 12.  At 7th/8th grade, EVERYBODY puts their kids back in public school.  And if you happen to find one lone homeschooling family who is actually homeschooling teenagers, they're outsourcing everything and 10th-12th is dual enrollment at the community college.   :confused:  No wonder there's not a lot of curriculum to choose from at the high school level.  There's no market for it like there is for younger kids. 

 

Even my 9th grader's homeschooling-BFF starts public school this week.    :(   

 

I know ONE mom IRL who is homeschooling her teenage son "ye olde fashioned-way", without outsourcing/enrolling in community college.  I told her we absolutely have to stay in touch.  Like it or not, Lady, I'm emailing you every once in a while to see what you guys are up to!   

 

Am I missing something?  It's lonely here!  Is this just a phenomenon where we live??  My kids are going to be the only weirdos with homeschooling diplomas at this rate.

 

I could have written your post. I have two 13 year olds and it's tough making friends because everyone does go into public school.

[trulycrabby]

Homeschoolers who don't take Snow Days. We rarely get snow but every time we do some homeschooled posts on FB that their kids don't take snow days. God himself is telling you to relax and enjoy Netflix for a day!

We not only took snow days, but I brazenly logged them as PE. :o

[Jean in Newcastle]

Something that's seemed strange to me for so long: 8th grade hits and you go from tons of other homeschoolers 7th and younger to z e r o homeschoolers after about age 12. At 7th/8th grade, EVERYBODY puts their kids back in public school. And if you happen to find one lone homeschooling family who is actually homeschooling teenagers, they're outsourcing everything and 10th-12th is dual enrollment at the community college. :confused: No wonder there's not a lot of curriculum to choose from at the high school level. There's no market for it like there is for younger kids.

 

Even my 9th grader's homeschooling-BFF starts public school this week. :(

 

I know ONE mom IRL who is homeschooling her teenage son "ye olde fashioned-way", without outsourcing/enrolling in community college. I told her we absolutely have to stay in touch. Like it or not, Lady, I'm emailing you every once in a while to see what you guys are up to!

 

Am I missing something? It's lonely here! Is this just a phenomenon where we live?? My kids are going to be the only weirdos with homeschooling diplomas at this rate.

I've graduated one the old fashioned way. The biggest pressure I got was from other homeschoolers. (I gave them no flack - I don't care how they make things work for their family )

[poppy]

:laugh:  From the blog, I'm getting that the only type of unschooling is what is referred to as "radically unschooling" by the majority of the population.

 

I'm going to have to think about a new term, then.  Because part-time unschooling doesn't fit, and relaxed doesn't fit, and child-led sounds wonky and weird.

 

I believe unschooling  is completely child-led education, while radical unschooling expands those principles to life and parenting more fully. In terms of food, screens, hygiene, housework, etc etc.  Thus someone talking about not being a radical unschooler because she insists her kid brush his teeth. 

[Guest]

Something that's seemed strange to me for so long: 8th grade hits and you go from tons of other homeschoolers 7th and younger to z e r o homeschoolers after about age 12. At 7th/8th grade, EVERYBODY puts their kids back in public school. And if you happen to find one lone homeschooling family who is actually homeschooling teenagers, they're outsourcing everything and 10th-12th is dual enrollment at the community college. :confused: No wonder there's not a lot of curriculum to choose from at the high school level. There's no market for it like there is for younger kids.

 

Even my 9th grader's homeschooling-BFF starts public school this week. :(

 

I know ONE mom IRL who is homeschooling her teenage son "ye olde fashioned-way", without outsourcing/enrolling in community college. I told her we absolutely have to stay in touch. Like it or not, Lady, I'm emailing you every once in a while to see what you guys are up to!

 

Am I missing something? It's lonely here! Is this just a phenomenon where we live?? My kids are going to be the only weirdos with homeschooling diplomas at this rate.

It's similar here. It's hard to meet new one too because teens aren't exactly keen on hanging around with parents to have the whole "get to know you" chats like you can have with younger kids who play together. It's more drop off with teens, which makes it extra isolating for me as far as meeting other high school homeschooling parents.

[cjzimmer1]

Homeschoolers who don't take Snow Days. We rarely get snow but every time we do some homeschooled posts on FB that their kids don't take snow days. God himself is telling you to relax and enjoy Netflix for a day!

 

We don't take snow days but then we live in a state where snow is typically on the ground at least 4 months of the year.  It just doesn't excite us so no reason to take a day off.  On the other hand on the rare occasion we have a 70 degree day in April, you better believe we are have a Spring skip day.

[73349]

I don't enjoy audiobooks. They seemed like a good idea, though. My kid, it turns out, also doesn't enjoy audiobooks. :(

 

Lapbooks and crafty whatnots aren't even a thing here. Give us a text, or DS also likes video (I generally don't, though they're not bad with closed captioning).

 

We don't take a full day for snow days. Go play, come in and get dry clothes and some cocoa, and sit down to some Beast Academy. If it snowed a lot, any out-of-the-house plans we had got canceled anyway, so there's still time to get everything done.

Edited January 15, 2017 by whitehawk

[Dmmetler]

Something that's seemed strange to me for so long: 8th grade hits and you go from tons of other homeschoolers 7th and younger to z e r o homeschoolers after about age 12. At 7th/8th grade, EVERYBODY puts their kids back in public school. And if you happen to find one lone homeschooling family who is actually homeschooling teenagers, they're outsourcing everything and 10th-12th is dual enrollment at the community college. :confused: No wonder there's not a lot of curriculum to choose from at the high school level. There's no market for it like there is for younger kids.

 

Even my 9th grader's homeschooling-BFF starts public school this week. :(

 

I know ONE mom IRL who is homeschooling her teenage son "ye olde fashioned-way", without outsourcing/enrolling in community college. I told her we absolutely have to stay in touch. Like it or not, Lady, I'm emailing you every once in a while to see what you guys are up to!

 

Am I missing something? It's lonely here! Is this just a phenomenon where we live?? My kids are going to be the only weirdos with homeschooling diplomas at this rate.

You're not the only one. It's why we have started touring schools with DD. It's not that she really wants to go to school, or that we don't feel capable of making homeschooling work-it's that everyone with kids her age save one seems to be either be back in school or be doing these 2-3 day a week tutorial programs. She's getting tired of being a 12 yr old with a bunch of 4-10 yr olds.

[....]

You're not the only one. It's why we have started touring schools with DD. It's not that she really wants to go to school, or that we don't feel capable of making homeschooling work-it's that everyone with kids her age save one seems to be either be back in school or be doing these 2-3 day a week tutorial programs. She's getting tired of being a 12 yr old with a bunch of 4-10 yr olds.

 

I hear ya'!  I'm actually thinking about joining a homeschool group *gasp!* after 8 years of homeschooling.  I'm going to need to email them first.  "Um, does your homeschool group have any teenagers?  Bonus points if there are any teen boys."  Somehow, teen boy homeschoolers went extinct in the last ice age.  My daughters have been able to find friends, but my son hasn't.  Poor dude.  

 

I'm also afraid when my 9th grader's BFF starts public school this week, they won't have time to hang out anymore.  Having a close friend has been so good for her.  At one point, we actually saw her smile (it was fleeting, but it was there).  

[LifeLovePassion]

You could just only take the snow days your local district takes. Which, around here, pretty much means only cold days, when the wind chill is worse than -15 in the morning or something (that could be a 2 hour delay, or a day off - depends)... Maybe more sensible to say "let's count that and take it on a day it's nicer weather" (in which case it'd make more sense to just say "we've got 3 snow days per year", I guess). Though we did have some snow days the year there was that 6' snow thing - we only got a little, but the kids had a few snow days due to not enough teachers being able to get to school.

 

 

You don't have to do the reviews. It will tell you to do them next, but in reality, you can just click on any section you want to do (the little circles that look black before you've done them, and have a checkmark in them after you've done them).

 

I guess I don't get is the people who think that because you homeschool, you cook three hot meals from scratch every day or something like that.

Our local schools were all open, it was about -10 degrees out and they still had recess. I am in MN. We do play when it is good snow (sticky for snowmen) but not as much in January. We take days when it is nice in spring. :)

[maize]

I think "other homeschoolers" has to be my answer as well. I mean, many of them are quite nice, but I can only think of two other homeschool moms that I have really clicked with IRL.

 

Mostly we do our own thing and our group activities are regular after school extracurriculars.

[Donna]

Co-ops. We have done them before when my boys were younger but I always ended up feeling like we wasted a day we could have used doing something else so we stopped joining. I wish I liked them.

 

Craft projects. My dd loves them, though, so I found someone (a woman who was once a teacher but stopped work to homeschool her own now-grown children) creative who loves crafts/projects to work with dd once a week on language arts and she incorporates crafty projects now and then.

 

 

[kewb]

I don't think this is a homeschool-specific issue--nobody in my mom's book club ever reads the book. Book club is an excuse to meet up, drink coffee, eat cake, and shoot the shit.

 

 

I got kicked out of my first book club because I expected everyone to read the book and be able to discuss it.

 

My current book club actually spends a little time discussing the book before it devolves into shooting the breeze. I am much happier.

 

 

The lack of high school homeschoolers is an issue here. My college man will tell you how lonely it was. It was him and his best friend for the most part. We would come across one periodically but no connections made. I have the same issue with my dd.

Fortunately they have their swim friends and some local schooled friends.

Around here most of them go back to school for the sports and the social life.

I sometimes think more would stick it out if everything wasn't full of little kids.

[poppy]

I got kicked out of my first book club because I expected everyone to read the book and be able to discuss it.

 

My current book club actually spends a little time discussing the book before it devolves into shooting the breeze. I am much happier.

 

.

 

I wish women could just form clubs instead of pretending to be in book clubs.

[Rosie_0801]

I wish women could just form clubs instead of pretending to be in book clubs.

 

I hosted a monthly potluck back when I lived in the city. None of us could afford to feed everyone at once, but we could all afford to bring a dish of something. 

[kitten18]

Extreme helicoptering.

Your kid is 13 and you won't let them stay home alone for an hour in the middle of the day.

Dude...😳

[mamaraby]

We don't take snow days but then we live in a state where snow is typically on the ground at least 4 months of the year. It just doesn't excite us so no reason to take a day off. On the other hand on the rare occasion we have a 70 degree day in April, you better believe we are have a Spring skip day.

This.

 

Why am I going to take a snow day? We don't have any issues with transportation or buses because we're already home and there are plenty of times to play outside in the snow or just outside in the winter in general for the four or so months of winter. We'd much rather keep our long breaks during the holiday season and summer.

 

OR, even better, we'd much rather take off school on what is likely the last really warm day before the winter or the first really nice day in spring than a day the school district chose to take off because of road conditions or really cold weather.

[kitten18]

I wish women could just form clubs instead of pretending to be in book clubs.

I used to go to scrapbook nights and not scrapbook so that I could just hang out with other moms and shoot the breeze.

 

Edited - shoot the breeze. 😂

Edited January 15, 2017 by kitten18

[Forget-Me-Not]

Okay, so it's not something that I don't get, but it's something that others don't get, and I still don't get quite how to explain it to them. (Does that make sense?)

 

People who are interested in or new at homeschooling, who ask me how to homeschool. I have absolutely no idea how YOU should/could/would homeschool. I barely know how I'm doing it, and I'm 10 years in!

So much this! Also people who express an interest in HS and ask for info and then don't bother to reply with so much as a thanks when I write them a huge email with links. Which I no longer do (and only one person I did this for ever went on to actually homeschool).

[Crimson Wife]

Something that's seemed strange to me for so long:  8th grade hits and you go from tons of other homeschoolers 7th and younger to  z e r o  homeschoolers after about age 12.  At 7th/8th grade, EVERYBODY puts their kids back in public school.  And if you happen to find one lone homeschooling family who is actually homeschooling teenagers, they're outsourcing everything and 10th-12th is dual enrollment at the community college.   :confused:  No wonder there's not a lot of curriculum to choose from at the high school level.  There's no market for it like there is for younger kids. 

 

Even my 9th grader's homeschooling-BFF starts public school this week.    :(   

 

I know ONE mom IRL who is homeschooling her teenage son "ye olde fashioned-way", without outsourcing/enrolling in community college.  I told her we absolutely have to stay in touch.  Like it or not, Lady, I'm emailing you every once in a while to see what you guys are up to!   

 

Am I missing something?  It's lonely here!  Is this just a phenomenon where we live??  My kids are going to be the only weirdos with homeschooling diplomas at this rate.

 

Because many adolescents turn into brats and stop working for mom but they will work for an outside teacher. If your child remains a compliant student, that's fantastic but doesn't seem to be the norm from the commiserating I've gotten from other HSing moms.

 

I am still filing the Private School Affidavit so my daughter will most likely have a HS diploma, but her core coursework has been outsourced to CC.

[HS Mom in NC]

 

Am I missing something?  It's lonely here!  Is this just a phenomenon where we live??  My kids are going to be the only weirdos with homeschooling diplomas at this rate.

 

We outsourced to the community college at 15 and 17 because they were done with what's considered high school level subjects at their ages.  Why spin your wheels at home when you're ready for the next thing and get credit for it?

[Forget-Me-Not]

Add me to the Saxon and Latin Drop-out list. My 8th grader actually did 5 yrs of Latin but retained very little and when we made some changes this year it got dropped.

 

I pretty much hate all-inclusive language arts across the board, but I have a special loathing for Phonics Road.

 

Liberty's Kids. That opening song! That horrible fake English accent the one character has! The animation!

 

Anything that assumes that because you are a homeschooler you must have a particular Christian worldview.

 

Workboxes. Should be called "More-work-for-Mom" boxes.

 

Until this year I would have said lapbooks, but then I suddenly had a kid who LOVES them and then an older sibling saw it and wanted to do one after years of refusing them. Go figure!

Edited January 15, 2017 by Forget-me-not

[HS Mom in NC]

What are these snow days you speak of?

[IfIOnly]

This.

 

Why am I going to take a snow day? We don't have any issues with transportation or buses because we're already home and there are plenty of times to play outside in the snow or just outside in the winter in general for the four or so months of winter. We'd much rather keep our long breaks during the holiday season and summer.

 

OR, even better, we'd much rather take off school on what is likely the last really warm day before the winter or the first really nice day in spring than a day the school district chose to take off because of road conditions or really cold weather.

Haha, yes! I'm also from a place where we take off when there's finally a warm day after winter or like you said in fall. The schools here close occasionally due to road conditions, and I understand the places that take a snow day off because it's a rare treat, too. Schools closed for close to a week recently because a school gym's whole roof collapsed due to heavy snow weight. Thankfully, no-one was hurt!! But, yeah, we're all about when it's warm!

[Grover]

IEW

Saxon

LLATL

 

homeschool parents who opt out of parenting their child at group activities

 

school at home / spending a full public school day (and more) on school at home

[KungFuPanda]

I wish women could just form clubs instead of pretending to be in book clubs.

Book clubs are for suckers. My friends and I formed a Pie Club :-)

[KungFuPanda]

IEW

Saxon

LLATL

 

homeschool parents who opt out of parenting their child at group activities

 

school at home / spending a full public school day (and more) on school at home

I felt that way about school-at-home, but then my kids hit high school and it really does take ALL FLIPPIN DAY. I think that's the real reason all these kids go to regular high schools. If it takes all day, and you're not able to finish in a few hours or field trip twice weekly, that homeschooling lifestyle takes a hit.

[Mergath]

:laugh:  From the blog, I'm getting that the only type of unschooling is what is referred to as "radically unschooling" by the majority of the population.

 

I'm going to have to think about a new term, then.  Because part-time unschooling doesn't fit, and relaxed doesn't fit, and child-led sounds wonky and weird.

 

I've been thinking of us as "democratic homeschoolers" lately. Sort of like a democratic school, but at home. I don't pick a bunch of curricula and make dd do it or else, but I'm not okay with her doing absolutely nothing, either. We sit down and discuss what she'd like to learn, then make a rough plan for however long that will take. If she decides in the middle to switch to something else she's interested in, that's fine. My only non-negotiable is math, but we decided together which curriculum to use. The only thing she's not allowed to learn is nothing. It's a nice compromise between unschooling and public school at home.

[IfIOnly]

Because many adolescents turn into brats and stop working for mom but they will work for an outside teacher. If your child remains a compliant student, that's fantastic but doesn't seem to be the norm from the commiserating I've gotten from other HSing moms.

 

I am still filing the Private School Affidavit so my daughter will most likely have a HS diploma, but her core coursework has been outsourced to CC.

Just recently , my son wants a more peer experience for high school/next year. So there's that, too. I'm thinking CC Challenge 1 is probably our best choice. I would be happy to homeschool all the way through, though we will strongly recommending DE. Looking into options for my 8th grader. Edited January 15, 2017 by ifIonlyhadabrain

[sewingmama]

Unschoolers who think they know it all and their kids are really young.

 

Yeah sure lady..it doesnt really matter if your kid cant read or do math or much of anything but play in the mud when they are 7...you can still get away with being a holier then thou unschooler at that age...but when they are 10 without first grade skills...unschooling won't seem so successful. I hope it does work for you...which is why I follow your blog...cause I'm curious...but I dont need to read 10 posts a day about how forcing a kid to do things they havent chosen to do themselves. i.e schoolwork...is akin to child abuse.

 

Park days for older kids. Its boring for them...well at least for mine. Playgrounds are for little kids...can we please do a meet up with older kids in mind just once please.

 

Crunchy mamas and their crunchy food. 😉 If your kid has a true allergy by all means the group will comply but Im tired of eating nasty gluten free, all natural, sugar free and basically free of anything that tastes good snacks. I'm not a picky eater and will eat yuck things out of politeness but when my first reaction is to immediately spit it out...please dont bring it for shared afternoon tea. I'm tired of the mummy health wars and who can bring the healthiest food. I'll just take my kids and our packet of Tim Tams and go sit in the corner...and no sharing...because whenever I share my Tim Tams they disappear in 2 seconds and Im left with all the "healthy stuff" your own kids rejected to snarf down my "junk" food. And stop giving me the evil eye..its afternoon tea..my kids are fed fruit and stuff at other mealtimes. 🙄

[Grover]

I felt that way about school-at-home, but then my kids hit high school and it really does take ALL FLIPPIN DAY. I think that's the real reason all these kids go to regular high schools. If it takes all day, and you're not able to finish in a few hours or field trip twice weekly, that homeschooling lifestyle takes a hit.

oh sorry, I thought I added that... I mean with the little guys. I get that, if you're going to do it thoroughly, big 'uns need time.

[Guest]

I hear ya'! I'm actually thinking about joining a homeschool group *gasp!* after 8 years of homeschooling. I'm going to need to email them first. "Um, does your homeschool group have any teenagers? Bonus points if there are any teen boys." Somehow, teen boy homeschoolers went extinct in the last ice age. My daughters have been able to find friends, but my son hasn't. Poor dude.

 

I'm also afraid when my 9th grader's BFF starts public school this week, they won't have time to hang out anymore. Having a close friend has been so good for her. At one point, we actually saw her smile (it was fleeting, but it was there).

Well, these are reasons why so many long-term homeschoolers do send their teens to B&M school. The pool of friends gets tiny. Many parents are unable to teach serious math, or French, or chemistry befitting of a high schooler. If they realize this and place their kids in school, so much the better.

 

I actually do know a larger number of homeschool high schoolers than you're saying, but I'm soooooo happy I am not one of them.

[Guest]

I wish women could just form clubs instead of pretending to be in book clubs.

This is curious to me. I'm in a book club, and it really is a book club. The majority does read and discuss the book. If it stops being that, I would quit.

 

However! My Bunco group is not really a Bunco group anymore. We only play a dice game once or twice a year, though we meet monthly. We are reaally a Talk, Drink Sangria and Eat Food group. But that would be long to say. With this group, though, I don't care about the dice game. I care about the friendships.

[Guest]

What are these snow days you speak of?

Come to Maryland yesterday and I'll show you. :D (Actually, it was ice yesterday, not snow, and it didn't turn out to be that significant, but I could show you the icicles hanging off the bird feeders and the trampoline. It's pretty there, but on the road surface, not so much.)

 

ETA: punctuation

Edited January 15, 2017 by Quill