Kareni Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 1 hour ago, Heathermomster said: ETA: SWB’s comments about colleges at the end of Rethinking School prompted me to consider the tiny state school that DS currently attends. I browsed Rethinking School but did not read it closely. Can you elaborate on those comments, Heathermomster? Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted May 10, 2019 Share Posted May 10, 2019 30 minutes ago, Kareni said: I browsed Rethinking School but did not read it closely. Can you elaborate on those comments, Heathermomster? Regards, Kareni Go back and read the "Postscript About College". SWB discussed being debt free after receiving her Bachelor's degree and stressed that among her circle of academics, no one was interested in where she attended school for undergraduate work. My bright DS has dyscalculia and required a program with minimal math requirements. Every school that we looked at required pre-cal or college algebra at a minimum. His maths disability is pretty bad, so we selected a school with minimal math requirements. As it turns out, DS tested into Finite Math, worked his tail off, and earned an A. For the sciences, he took Biology/lab and Earth Science/lab and is done with gen ed science. I would prefer that DS go to a bigger school, but we don't qualify for financial aid and rely solely on academic scholarship. Given his SLDs, we compromised and placed him in a school that we can afford and has a reasonable DSS office. DS understands that he may very well be pursuing graduate work in order to find employment if he doesn't pursue a military commission. In that time, we expect that he will enter a graduate study program at a more prominent university. As it stands, he loves his uni and has adapted well. It's a struggle when two engineers marry and their firstborn is a humanities kid. Anyhoo... In the SWB's book, she mentions parental fear about getting their child getting into a good college when a child is 8 or 14 years old and behind. That has been my lived experience ever since DS with diagnosed with multiple SLDs. SWB's writing persuaded me to look at DS and try what was best for him. The kid loves history, and I can say with absolute certainty that the WTM history notebook has prepared him for research and using multiple resources. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 1 hour ago, Heathermomster said: Go back and read the "Postscript About College". SWB discussed being debt free after receiving her Bachelor's degree and stressed that among her circle of academics, no one was interested in where she attended school for undergraduate work. ... Thanks for elaborating, Heathermomster; I had forgotten that part of the book. 1 hour ago, Heathermomster said: ...he loves his uni and has adapted well. It's great to hear that your son is thriving in his new setting. 1 hour ago, Heathermomster said: It's a struggle when two engineers marry and their firstborn is a humanities kid. Anyhoo... Two PhD chemists here with a daughter who majored in Latin; I hear you! Regards, Kareni 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweets Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 On 5/8/2019 at 8:15 AM, Junie said: I have two homeschool graduates and one public school graduate. What led you to homeschool? My youngest had extreme language delay - basically nonverbal until age four. He was still not talking by the start of kindergarten. The local PS put my child in special ed immediately. It was a disaster after even the first week. We pulled him out of school and decided to homeschool until his speech issues were better. My middle son was only 11 months older, and they were very close. He was in first grade when he wanted to come home too. We had no idea that we would keep going until they graduated! Especially since my oldest tried homeschooling for one year and hated it. -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) We were very eclectic in our curriculum, except we used Teaching Textbooks all the way through. They did an outside co-op with paid classes, and for grade 12 they did dual enrollment. -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? My oldest graduated from PS, attended trade school, and is now making good money as a certified welding inspector. His personal life, however, has been a struggle. A divorce and a failed engagement. He is a wonderful single father, and I hope he finds happiness again. My second son just graduated with a Bachelors in Engineering. It took him five years, but he did it! He is working now as a project manager, a job he had started about six months ago. Truthfully, college was a struggle for him. He was more worried about his social life than his grades, so he had to catch up on his GPA. My youngest - the one with the speech problems - is now in college and majoring in History. He loves college, but he still is not sure what his life’s occupation will be. He is the only one left at home. As for me, my life really changed once we were done homeschooling four years ago. I babysit my grandchild a lot and have a small online business. I enjoy having more free time to pursue my interests now. I have enjoyed reading about the other high school graduates! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 The quote in the previous post attributed to me is not mine. I don't know whose it is. I guess the website is just being quirky again. 😉 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 On 5/5/2019 at 9:57 AM, Kareni said: When I was homeschooling, I found it interesting (and often reassuring) to hear what homeschoolers were doing post-graduation. It was a diverse group. Some entered the workforce, apprenticed or learned a trade, enlisted in the military, went on a mission, married and began a family, attended college, or .... I would be delighted if you were to share about your homeschool graduate. Please answer any or all of the following questions. (If you have multiple graduates, you might wish to make a separate post for each child.) -- What led you to homeschool? -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? I know that some of our adult children have died doing military service, from illness or accident, or from other causes. If you are willing, please remember them here. Regards, Kareni What led us to homeschool? We lived in a rough, urban neighborhood with abysmal schools. A friend was enthusiastic about homeschooling and I was intrigued by what she had to say. Read and researched a bunch and tried it out thinking, "How could anyone mess up kindergarten?" Had a blast. Fell in love. The rest is history. Re homeschool in the high school years: My dd homeschooled all the way through. For high school I taught some subjects, while others were farmed out to her father, tutors, co-op classes, and community college. We did lean heavily on WTM recommendations but didn't follow every jot and tittle. Re life after graduation: My ds chose to attend a private school for high school, and he has thrived there from the first. His GPA is high, as are his AP and college entrance test scores. He is also an Eagle Scout. Homeschool prepared him well. My dd is currently a student at Purdue, where she is thriving and due to graduate this December with a high GPA. She has no regrets about choosing to homeschool all the way through high school. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 12, 2019 Author Share Posted May 12, 2019 10 hours ago, Junie said: The quote in the previous post attributed to me is not mine. I don't know whose it is. I guess the website is just being quirky again. 😉 That is odd. My guess is that @Sweets may have used your post to copy the questions but inadvertently left the attribution. Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 2 hours ago, Kareni said: That is odd. My guess is that @Sweets may have used your post to copy the questions but inadvertently left the attribution. Regards, Kareni No, she wrote under the quote box. I think she might have quoted a post that was later deleted and the forum got mixed up. I looked for the post, but couldn't find it. But, I remember reading it a few days ago. Curiouser and curiouser. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 12, 2019 Author Share Posted May 12, 2019 2 hours ago, Junie said: Curiouser and curiouser. Definitely! Regards, Kareni 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweets Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 Hello, I am Sweets and I apologize for the quote from Junior. I had used her post to answer the questions and totally messed up on the posting I guess. Sorry for the confusion. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 We decided to hs when oldest DS was in 7th grade and began when he was entering 8th grade. We were not necessarily unhappy with our local ps, but were tired of feeling like the school schedule ruled our lives and wanted more time with our kids before they grew up and left the nest. Best decision we ever made! Hs'ing really made fostering a close relationship easier and more natural than trying to "squeeze it in" around the ps schedule. High school was accomplished with almost all courses at home. DS took 1 CC course senior year, and did a couple online at your own pace courses (no live instructor) and the rest was either on his own or with me. DS is pretty advanced academically and achieved things he never would have had time for if he'd been tied to the ps schedule for 4 years (for example, teaching himself several programming languages in his spare time and having time to tackle AoPS). While I adore WTM and have learned so much from it and gained confidence to do high school with rigor on my own with it as a guide, its humanities heavy standards are just not what my kids are looking for in an education. So we skipped Latin 😛 did a bit of logic and focused more on math and science and electives than on the classics. I did/do appreciate the WTM method of studying history and literature together, just with less emphasis than WTM gives it. I've only graduated one so far. Right now DS just finished his freshman year at Purdue studying CS while working (part time during the school year and full time during the summer) for a local engineering firm doing programming. He kept a 4.0 and was invited to join the CS Honors program. He lived at home and commuted freshman year but signed a lease for an apt with friends for sophomore year. Aside from schoolwork, he joined a group of ag students which are designing an automated ATV that farmers can use to identify and eliminate weeds in their fields (he worked on the camera and programming aspects) and he auditioned and was invited to join a gospel singing group as part of the Purdue Musical Organization for next year. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 -- What led you to homeschool? My oldest dd will be 27 this month. She homeschooled her junior and senior years in high school. I was already homeschooling my two younger children and she hated the brick and mortar scchooll -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) Unfortunately, homeschooling high school terrified me. Instead, I used an accredited online high school. She took the minimum number of classes to graduate with a diploma. -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? She was working nearly full time before she graduated as a server in a restaurant. She continued with that job after she graduated. After doing that for a few years, she was approached by the owner of a business who lured her away from the restaurant to work for his company. She's been with them for 5 years now. It's hard to explain the nature of her work. It's incredibly stressful and she often talks about moving on to something else. However, she receives a high salary and knows she cannot go anywhere else for that amount of money unless she has a higher education. Right now she's just hanging in there. She doesn't want to go to college. Her home life is happy so she considers her job to be just a paycheck. She doesn't allow it to interfere with her home life. I think her future plans are to marry and be a SAHM. I know her boyfriend wants her to have the opportunity to be a SAHM. He's currently in school and I think they are waiting to get married when he graduates and gets a good paying job. I pray that happens within the next couple of years. She really wants to have a baby by the age of 30. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 -- What led you to homeschool? I withdrew my ds from Kindergarten and homeschooled him until 4th grade when he spent 11 days in public school, then returned home and homeschooled until he graduated. School was not a good fit for him in Kindergarten. We didn't know it at the time but he has Aspergers so the classroom was just too much for him. The 11 days in 4th grade were a disaster. I was selfish putting him back in school and realized that fairly quickly and pulled him out again. -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) Like my older dd, he used an accredited online high school. He took the minimum number of classes to graduate but I made sure they included the core set of classes required by Georgia colleges. -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? After graduating, he went straight into a 4-year college and went part-time for one year. He hated it. He left school and got a stocking job in a grocery store. He worked there 13 months and hated it. He quit and stayed home for almost a year before deciding he needed to do something productive with his life. He is currently attending a technical school working for an associate's degree to become a Network Specialist. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 This is about my dd21. She didn't graduate homeschool but thought I'd share her story anyway. -- What led you to homeschool? I was already homeschooling my ds so I just added dd into our day. However, between Kindergarten and 5th grades, she tried attending school for various lengths of time. She seemed to prefer the brick and mortar way but there was always a reason she decided to come back home. I knew we could provide a better education for her but she had other ideas. -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) She chose not to homeschool high school. I was terribly disappointed that she wanted to go to a B&M high school. Fortunately she did extremely well so I know her years at home really helped her. -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? She went straight into a 4-year university and is currently in her junior year. She is a statistics major. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Sweets said: Hello, I am Sweets and I apologize for the quote from Junie. I had used her post to answer the questions and totally messed up on the posting I guess. Sorry for the confusion. No problem. Welcome to the board! :) Sometimes it takes awhile to figure out how a place works. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alewife Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 On 5/5/2019 at 9:57 AM, Kareni said: -- What led you to homeschool? I could write a book about what a disaster public school was for my kids and how thankful we all are that we began homeschooling when they were in elementary school. -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) I didn't follow WTM because I didn't feel that it focused enough in my kids' areas of interest - namely math and science. They didn't take any college classes or participate in any co-ops. Most of their classes were home-brewed with one or two online classes thrown into the mix each year. My kids each had a favorite online class: My middle son, in addition to math and computers, loves to write and really loved the WTM online rhetoric classes with Thomas Hummel. My other two enjoyed their online AP Chemistry class with Mr. M. at ChemAdvantage. -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? My oldest son is graduating in a few weeks with a bachelor of science in math and computer science. He accepted a job offer last summer, so that definitely took a lot of the pressure off heading into his senior year. He has just recently signed a lease on his first apartment. (He will be rooming with one of his best friends from college who will also be working at the same company.) While his school doesn't have any type of honors designations on the diplomas, last time we were visiting him, he took us down the hallway where his picture will be hung after graduation for being named an Academic All-American. He credits his success in college to me homeschooling him, which as you can imagine, makes me very happy. My middle child is in the midst of finals in his second year of college. He is at a liberal arts school known for its academic intensity, and has found that the college lives up to its reputation. He is majoring in math and computer science and enjoying the small classroom discussions and writing intensive classes. He loves his school, the professors, and his classmates. He was selected to be a junior advisor for next year and has been participating in training sessions all semester. He has had a rough year outside of the classroom: he suffered an injury in the fall and has been taking way too much Advil for my liking since to deal with the pain. He is scheduled for surgery on both hips when he gets home in a couple of weeks and had to rescind his summer internship and will be "stuck" at home in physical therapy instead. My youngest is graduating from our homeschool this month and is heading off to college in the fall. I was really hoping that she would accept the offer and go to the same college that my middle child is at. But, despite my middle child's hard campaigning, she chose another college. While both of them will be 9+ hours from home, the good news is that they will only be about 45 minutes from each other, making drop offs and pick-ups a little easier. She is chomping at the bit to fly the coop and begin her college career. Homeschooling was one of the best decisions we have ever made for our kids. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 On 5/5/2019 at 9:57 AM, Kareni said: When I was homeschooling, I found it interesting (and often reassuring) to hear what homeschoolers were doing post-graduation. It was a diverse group. Some entered the workforce, apprenticed or learned a trade, enlisted in the military, went on a mission, married and began a family, attended college, or .... I would be delighted if you were to share about your homeschool graduate. Please answer any or all of the following questions. (If you have multiple graduates, you might wish to make a separate post for each child.) -- What led you to homeschool? -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? I know that some of our adult children have died doing military service, from illness or accident, or from other causes. If you are willing, please remember them here. Regards, Kareni I haven't posted on the chat forum for yrs, probably not since 2008, but I followed your link here and will happily share. -- What led you to homeschool? We started homeschooling in 1994 completely by accident without knowing anything about it. Our oldest was not quite ready for K, so we decided to hold him back a yr. In Sept we basically changed our minds, and I contacated the local superintendent's office to ask if I could teach him at home since even though not licensed in that state I had degree in elementary ed. That superintendent's office introduced me to homeschooling, and we have never looked back. --How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes? Our kids have done the majority of their courses at home with me. We design courses around their interests and don't attempt to replicate ps at home. All of them have had unique high school course sequences that fit them individually. There has been the odd online course and a few dual enrollment courses interspersed depending on the student. --What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? We have graduated 5 kids from our homeschool. Number 6 wil be a sr next yr. Our oldest is a chemical engineer, has been married for 9 yrs, and is a father of 4. Number 2 is autistic and is only semi-independent. He currently lives at home and works at Goodwill full-time. Number 3 attended an Allied Health program and is an occupational therapy assistant and mother of 2. Number 4 majored in physics and math and is now a physics grad student. He just got married this weekend. 🙂 Number 5 is a rising college Jr majoring in Russian and French. She thinks her current goal is to pursue a career as a special collections librarian. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 What led you to homeschool? We couldn't afford private school tuition. We committed to 3 years of homeschooling starting in 1st grade, then we'd reevaluate. After 3 years we realized that homeschooling fit our lifestyle, committed to three more, then from there decided to go all the way through high school. In early elementary ds' grade level material spanned several grades. He was a delayed reader, but understand content and math quite readily. Homeschooling allowed him to stay on pace with subjects while remediating his reading. How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) high school was a mix of classical with a world focus, student led, and chaos. Budget was still an issue, so ds never took outside classes. My ex-dh and I separated when ds was 15, the end of what was supposed to be freshman year. I started college that fall and did school online the first year so we could continue homeschooling. We realized once I started commuting to school (30 minutes each way) that homeschooling wasn't working and graduated ds a year early. We pieced together materials, I'd loved putting together courses. Math was/is my nemesis and that's one reason we graduated him early, to get better math instruction. We studied some subjects together, like Japanese and literature. He self-studied computer science and a few other tech courses. He basically unschooled those credits. I arranged his transcript by subject and pulled a few courses from 8th grade that were high school worthy. My inspirations for high school came very much from the people on this board. I used WTM and Latin-Centered Curriculum as models yet tweaked them for ds' interests and our situation. What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? Ds will be 22 this fall (wow, he was 10 when I started posting on here). He's a senior in college. Ironically, a math major who does computer programming. He's been doing programming work with one of the professors for the last two summers. He is also a bit frustrated with school. The department is changing and he's frankly ready to be done. Homeschooling was good in that he found out that learning is not just a classroom activity. The bad part is that he hates 50 minute classes and feels like that is learning in bite sized pieces. He's toying with the idea of taking a year off to work and then finish his degree at another school. He's been considering this most of the year and then 3 weeks ago his dad (my ex-dh) died. It was sudden, yet not completely unexpected. They did not have a good relationship, Ex-dh never realized that ds grew up. I am so proud of the man ds has become. He was a rock for me after my separation, then for my mom and I as my dad fell ill shortly after my separation and died in 2015. Ds and I have a strong relationship and I believe homeschooling was a big part of that. Our homeschooling journey didn't always go as planned. We plowed through, ds enjoyed the flexibility and being able to focus on what he wanted. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 (edited) -- What led you to homeschool? (A) I attended a college that enrolled students from all over the world. I absorbed that there is no such thing as a "normal" or "regular" or "ideal" education. (B) The guy who cuts my hair mentioned they pulled his kid out of school when the teacher wanted him to take Ritalin. Parents thought he was an active boy. Once they brought him home, if he couldn't sit still to do his math, they'd send him outside to run around for an hour. Did the trick. (Who knew?) (C) My dh's PhD adviser mentioned his daughter was homeschooling his grandchildren because her husband traveled overseas so much. Why should their family be separated when the kids could learn so much in other countries. (D) I feared most elementary teachers were afraid of math, even at the fancy private schools. We decided to homeschool for K and see how it went. It went fine. (E) DH had a TA in college who was homeschooled. He seemed normal/smart. -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) One dd is enrolled in regular high school. My older daughter has mostly taken online classes. We are frequent flyers at PA Homeschoolers, and in fact, dd just returned from their annual party at the Richman farm. Also a few classes at Stanford OHS. No DE. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read any SWB books, but I intend to! -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? Now wrapping up senior year. Will be attending Stanford in the fall. Edited May 28, 2019 by daijobu 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 -- What led you to homeschool? My oldest had completed Kindergarten and 1st grade at a very expensive, private, international school. I was deeply unsatisfied with the quality of her education and how unkind and irresponsible the teachers had been. We were set to move to a less than desirable school and I would be putting my middle kid into school there as well. After spending two weeks on vacation with some great friends who homeschooled their similarly aged kids where the other mom and I talked "school" and made endless lists of resources, I ordered WTM and read it cover to cover with pen in hand, mostly on a transoceanic flight. I don't think I'd have made it so far without this board, my dear (and still endlessly patient) friend and mentor, and that first copy of WTM. -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) Two graduates so far. Both were home educated from elementary through high school. I would say we were WTM/classically inspired with a smattering of Charlotte Mason principles and some Montessori influences in the early years. I tended to look for the curricula that best suited the kids and accomplished our college prep goals. During high school they did a combination of online coursework and regular home schooling courses. I frequently wrote my own AP syllabi which we submitted to College Board. One took JROTC at our local high school for two years (he would have happily done all four if we had lived in the area sooner). We also participated in language classes as a family while overseas and one of the kids had some private tutoring to accompany one of their online courses (it was a course with little teacher presence and one that was beyond my ability to teach effectively). -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? Clemmie, the oldest, is about to start her senior year in college. She has been incredibly active in student government, participated in a international academic conference, taken on a variety of student leadership rolls, worked on college committees with faculty, administration, and the president, participated in sports and acted as team manager, and now works for admissions. She is spending the summer working in an internship in her chosen field. She disproves daily the homeschoolers are unsocialized myth. Spencer, the middle, is about to start sophomore year in college. He attends his number one choice school on a Marine Corps option NROTC scholarship. He's spending a month with us this summer before heading off with the other ROTC students for their summer program and then immediately returning to school to help lead the new students through their orientation period (it's a military school so it's more like boot camp with moments of academic advising). Winston, the youngest, is still at home working through middle school. (Yup-there is a huge gap.) Our intent is to homeschool him through high school as well. Depending on the school district we may look into more options for him to take a course or two at a local school or even add Dual Enrollment to the mix. We'll just have to see where we are in two years. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-M- Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 (edited) What led you to homeschool? Briefly, we knew we could provide a better education than the schools available to us. How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) The WTM informed our studies through the middle school years; less so during high school. Both the oldest and the youngest entered the local college as dual enrolled students for their senior year of high school. What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? My oldest became a Marine after earning his Associate of Science (AS) with high honors. As many WTMers know, he died nearly nine years ago. My daughters transferred to the state flagship after earning their AS degrees, also with high honors. Both were in the University honors program, which, as it turns out, is not common for transfer students because of the difficulty one faces in meeting the program challenges in a compressed time frame. Both succeeded. The older daughter graduated last year with a BS in psychology and several academic honors in addition to the honors program designation. She has worked as a public school paraprofessional educator for the last year. This summer, she is working in the school’s extended year program. The younger daughter graduated this May with a BS in physics, several academic honors (including highest distinction departmental honors) in addition to the honors program designation, several offers of admission to PhD programs (all fully funded), and an invitation to return to the national laboratory at which she interned last summer (an invitation she happily accepted). The PhD program she chose has set my daughters, who are best friends, on a path to the East Coast, where the older daughter will work for one more year before beginning her Masters in Teaching and the younger will begin her PhD in physics. Edited June 6, 2019 by Melissa M 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanie Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 I have so enjoyed reading this thread! I haven't posted in years, but I still pop back in every once in a while when I need a good book recommendation. I'll just talk about my kids in one post, since there are only two of them and they used the same books. -- What led you to homeschool? We homeschooled for academic reasons. -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) We did use WTM as a guide, and it was just right for us. We did not use outside classes, except for performing arts (music, theatre, dance). -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? My son was a national merit finalist, and took a full ride scholarship at University of Kentucky, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude (I think?) with a degree in classics. He is working on his masters degree (fully funded!) at University of Arizona; he is leading classics camps for high schoolers this summer, and is a TA for the Latin intensive classes. I believe he also tutors undergraduates. My daughter qualified for many scholarships, but refused to go away to school. She is taking art and accounting classes at the community college (she only attends because I require it, but she is doing very well, and I hope she'll eventually transfer to the state flagship), and works part time at the shopping center near our home. They are both very happy, and if I could go back and do anything differently, I probably wouldn't! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted June 8, 2022 Author Share Posted June 8, 2022 UPDATED: Three years have passed since my original post. You can read our story in the second post in the thread. My daughter has now been living and teaching in South Korea for almost nine years. In September, she will be finishing a two year long online TESOL master's programme. TESOL is an acronym for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Regards, Kareni 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 Update Oldest is still working as a research scientist, his work is sponsoring him through his PhD Middle 2 are still working for dwelp. Ds 3 has just been promoted to manager of his section. Dd deferred uni when the lockdowns started. She was in her last year. She got married last year and had a baby this year Ds18 started an auto apprenticeship last year and left home to be able to do it. Homeschooling really worked for my kids. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 You can scroll down on page 1 to find all my answers to all the original question, but I'll just update here with answers to: What is your child doing now?DS#1 Graduated summa cum laude in Dec. 2021 with his BS in MechEng, and was immediately hired full time by the company he interned for last summer and all autumn while he finished school. He is now happily working at this small (5 guys) Engineering firm that specializes in fire sprinkler system design for commercial buildings all over the U.S. One of his more recent assignments is for a new big casino/hotel in Vegas! DS#2 In the midst of his 6th season as a wildland firefighter. He passed his certification to be able to cut down bigger and more tricky trees with the chainsaw at the start of this season, and this year he got hired at a higher position (some supervisory work overseeing actual fire scenes) for more pay. AND he is working out of the national forest lands near our city, rather than the last 5 years where he worked in another state. Super happy for my guys, seeing them succeed in fields they love, but also seeing what great men they grown to be in their character as well. 😍 Love my guys! 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loowit Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 Update: DD changed her major her second year at community college to communications. Technically it is rhetoric and something or other, but I can never remember exactly what it is called. DH suggested she take a speech and debate class and she loved it, so she joined the speech and debate team her second year. She earned her AA and then took a partial gap year, while she worked on applying for colleges. During that time she did some tutoring, a few classes, and continued on the team. She ended up earning a speech and debate scholarship and just finished her junior year at a private college this spring. She will graduate next spring and is thinking about possibly going to graduate school. She isn't sure yet what she wants to do for a career, but she loves her language classes, journalism, history, and her job at the library, so I am sure she will find something she will love. My middle joined the Marine Corps in January. He graduated last June, but it took a while to get through the medical hurdles. He had some surgeries when he was younger and had to get the military doctors to sign off, which required seeing a few specialists. He graduated boot camp in the spring and is now doing his specialty training at a base on the east coast. He will be there most of the summer and then get posted at his permanent duty station. I am missing him a ton, but we chat online when we can. The time zone makes it hard because he keeps really early hours over there, and is about ready to head for bed by the time DH is off work. But DS seems pretty happy with is choice, even if a bit lonely and homesick. He knew he didn't want to go to college, so this is giving him job skills in something he loves. It sounds like he has connected with a church there, which I was happy to hear, and he is making friends. My youngest won't graduate for two more years. We are spreading out his high school a bit and he is doing well. He is staffing at summer camp this summer, so he will be leaving soon and won't be back until late August. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 (edited) I have one graduating TODAY! We stopped homeschooling 6 years ago. He went to public school starting in 7th grade and has gone through 12th there. He will be off to App State in Boone in a couple of months. 21 year old is studying computer science through an online program. He was homeschooled until 10th grade. He went to public school for 3 years and loved it. 23 year old stopped college and not sure what his next steps will be (Aspie.). He was homeschooled all the way through to community college at 17. Edited June 8, 2022 by DawnM 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 My oldest three homeschooled K-12. High school was a mix of co-op, home grown classes, online classes, and de. Ds # 1 is 24 yo. He is an accountant with a Big 4 accounting firm. Had a job offer September of his senior year so that was all smooth sailing. He was a 2020 grad so we were relieved his job offer survived Covid. He is still working to pass his CPA. While his peers are doing masters programs to prepare he is determined to “homeschool” it. Ds # 2 is 22 yo. He graduated college at 20 yo because he had so much de. He really didn’t like school so was in a hurry to get it done. He got a degree in marketing and works for a Major League Baseball franchise in their front office operations. Interesting career choice and he really worked the networking side and while he isn’t much of an academic he is really good at jobs and people skills. I actually thought it was not a very realistic career avenue for him to pursue (not having any connections and so many people try to work in sports) but he has made it work and is really happy in his current position. Ds #3 just finished freshman year at our state flagship university. He’s part of a cool scholarship program that provides tons of perks and opportunities (just returned from a fully funded two weeks abroad). He is doing really well and very happy. My youngest child is starting at brick and mortar high school in the fall. Many reasons but one is that I have lost confidence in homeschooling to some extent. But looking at what I wrote about my three grads that seems kind of silly! 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 2 hours ago, DawnM said: I have one graduating TODAY! My duo graduated three days ago. It's not that different yet! Though Mushroom did just get a job at a chic downtown restaurant where he hears the tips are good. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 Also updating What is your child doing now? DS graduated college with a BS in Math last year. He's been taking his gap year (lol) now. He saved enough money to not have to rush into a job during the height of the pandemic. He's still trying to figure out the next step. He lives with my mom - we all shared a house until I moved in with my SO. My mom says that he reminds her of living with my dad - their personalities are similar. So, they're really taking care of each other. My mom is in her mid 80s and has all of her faculties. Ds was born on her birthday and they have been best buddies since that day, so I'm glad they're spending some quality years together. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 We started hs'ing when oldest was in 8th grade because I hated how much time school seemed to be taking away from our family time (getting worse every year) and we wanted more family time. One of the best decisions we ever made! High school for us was not WTM or anywhere close to the level of rigor that many on these boards attain to ... but reading WTM and posts on here has given me much inspiration and confidence over the years. We did a mix of videos and books and discussion with me. Two of my current three graduates chose to self study for a few AP exams, the other did not do any APs at all and focused his time on extracurriculars. All 3 took one DE course at the local CC in an area of strength as an elective during senior year. We all do speech and debate club and drama club and both have been tremendously beneficial in so so so many ways. Oldest DS just graduated from Purdue with a combined BS/MS in CS after just 4 years. He got a job with Google and will start next month in their Chicago office. 2nd DS got a full tuition scholarship to Purdue and just finished up his sophomore year in business communications/management. He also works part time as the co-manager/owner of an ag safety training company. He lives in an apt on campus with a few friends. Oldest DD just graduated from HS and will start Purdue in the fall in developmental and family science. She got a $4000 per year scholarship and hopes to work with troubled children after graduation, perhaps at our church's children's home. She works part time at a local bakery/restaurant and will live at home and commute for at least the first year of college. We'll see after that. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 I gave homeschooling a try after our eldest attended kindergarten and I could see she was going to spend most of her time in elementary school very bored. She is six years older than her next closest sibling, so I was pregnant during K. I was reluctant because the idea of taking on homeschooling with a newborn made me nervous. However, at the end of the school year her teacher told me we needed to stop doing "educational things" with her at home and "don't read so many great books out loud to her" all so she would fit in better with the rest of the staff and be content with the curriculum offered. That boggled my brain quite a bit since we weren't doing anymore with her at home than my own mother had done with my brother and I back in the late sixties/early seventies and back then our teachers were glad she was doing that. They wished more parents were. The change in attitude and lack of challenge for a kid I thought of as bright but by no means a "genius" really upset me so we began homeschooling. That journey was easy from the standpoint that she was an easy to teach and very compliant, people pleasing crowd, and difficult because I gave up a blossoming piano performance career to make that happen, and then had two surprise pregnancies after our second child both of which were very problematic and I nearly died. I was struggling emotionally watching dh's career flourish and gain momentum while mine was dead. I needed a break, and we found an excellent Lutheran K-8 for her for 5th grade, preschool for C, and the school had an opening for a music teacher (my teaching license was current at the time, my back-up plan from my college days) and they wanted me desperately enough to put together a schedule of wonderful volunteer moms and 8th grade girls to watch our toddler and 3 year old when I was in class. We did this for 3 years and then C had a major, medical emergency whicch required us to go back to homeschooling. And as it turns out, back to no career and I was really loving my teaching job and was even doing some off and on well paid performing. That was so hard. Really, really hard. I did keep my piano and voice students. By the time C was cleared to go back to school, it was too late. Dd was in high school and none of the local public or private schools accepted homeschool credits. Once she graduated, the others had been homeschooled so long that they were way ahead of their p.s. counterparts. We couldn't find a good educational setting for them so I continued. 19 years of homeschooling in total. We were loosely WTM style especially in that I ran literature and history studies together, Great Books emphasis, cyclical Ancients - Modern and emphasized essay writing. But, where we veered off was that we had what I would call a STEM high school. Dh and I are very math and science oriented so we went much deeper with those topics, and the kids had a lot of science electives. We had a STEM club we ran through 4H until 2021, and a competitive rocketry team. Dd went to paramedic school after high school and then worked weekend shifts and holidays to work her way through U of MI because at the time, we were struggling to pay for college. She had some good scholarships but was in that first group of students who hit the crazy rising costs of higher education with the lowering of merit aid such that great students getting "good scholarships" were blindsided with how little that meant for the bottom line. Her senior year of college she met her now husband. They married before she graduated ( she had one class left), and at the same time had a scary, major health issue. She eventually was able to take the last class. But she has never worked with her degree, and she had to end her paramedicine career because of a significant injury on the job. She is now a prenatal and birth educator and loves it. Two very frightening pregnancies have resulted in two wonderful grandsons who are playing at my feet as I type. I am here taking care of them while she hopefully recovers from what could be long covid. We will see. I am homeschooling the six year old, and am loving it (surprisingly because I always said I was DONE with this) but had forgotten what wiggle worms six year olds are! How many times can he drop his pencil in an hour? I swear my grandson may have the record for it! 😀 C, the next oldest, has a bachelor's degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing and a German minor. He is currently working as an editor at a publishing company, and has himself published 11 peer reviewed academic articles. His creative writing is great, but he spends a lot of time on academic writing so who knows where this will go. He is in grad school part time, but he does plan on quitting his job in a couple of years and going full time. He has met his life partner - they had a non religious commitment ceremony but no marriage license due to their own beliefs. We adore her and love having her in our family. P, has a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Archaeology with minors in history and the Danish language. He speaks and writes Danish fluently now, and also can conversationally get along in Norwegian and Icelandic. He translates Norse runes. He is working for a museum, paying off his federal student loans, and then is off to grad school. He is taking one grad school class per semester while he works just to keep his skills current. A, just graduated last month with his bachelor's in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in something related to power or powering things or some such niche. I should ask him exactly what it is called. He has job offers and is waiting to find out some of the particulars of health benefits and what not, cost of living in each locale, before making his decision of which one to take. C and P both declared different majors at the beginning of their college journeys, and then at the end of their sophomore years, radically changed majors which caused them to take 5.5 years to get their degrees. They both went from B.S.'s to B.A.'s and the gen ed requirements were so different that they had about three semesters of "electives" for credit after the change. It worked out okay. It was hard on us financially for a while since it greatly extended the amount of time we had three in college at once. None of our boys are willing to have children so long as nothing significant is being done on human rights, maternal medical care, and global warming issues, and especially if living here in the U.S., so I think our two grandsons are all the grands we are going to get. I better stop writing. It is 7:57 am in Alabama and my grandson is waving his math book at me quite anxiously because he LOVES math, and thinks I am "da bomb" at coming up with fun ways to approach it 😁. The two year old has his favorite book and is demanding I read. My body is saying, "Seriously woman, more coffee or you aren't going to survive these people." 😂😂😂 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 (edited) On 5/5/2019 at 6:02 PM, Jenny in Florida said: The summer after her 19th birthday, she used her nest egg to move herself to NYC, where she has lived for the past five years. In her first couple of years, she held a variety of jobs and did a bunch of small, short-term performance gigs while completing a two-year acting studio program. About a year ago, she accepted her first "real" full-time job as a programming manager for a small company that produces fan and pop-culture conventions. This month, she will complete her first of three years working towards her master's degree in applied theatre. My 2019 posts, with full answers to all of the original questions for each of my graduates, are on page 1. In the meantime . . . My eldest (tag end of the original post above) is now 27 and has continued working with the event production company. They had a dip during the early pandemic closures, but are getting back on track. It's been something of a frustrating few years, because my daughter has ended up taking on a lot more responsibilities without getting the promotions/titles/raises that should go with them. Consequently, she is currently job hunting, but is looking for "the right job," rather than just a better job. In the meantime, she's keeping very busy at work planning this year's LeakyCon and BroadwayCon. She completed the course work for her MFA, but hit a wall while trying to finish the thesis. It took a big toll on her mental health, and she has basically shelved the project for now. She is investigating the possibility of becoming certified as an intimacy director. On the more personal side, she is about to move in with her girlfriend of the last little-over-a-year. They seem quite well matched and are talking about marriage sooner rather than later. On 5/5/2019 at 6:23 PM, Jenny in Florida said: Most recently, he's been focusing on auditioning for full-time, professional performance jobs and has had some good experiences. ("Good experiences" meaning that he has made it through to the end of the audition process without getting cut and has been told he is in the hiring pool, but has not yet received any offers.) He's wildly creative, multi-talented, passionate about acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to achieve his goals and has only recently turned 21. I feel confident he'll figure out a path that works for him. My son is now 24. He has held a variety of jobs in local entertainment venues (Pirates Dinner Adventure, Medieval Times, Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows), both backstage and in front of audiences. He has also continued to run and expand his business, having taught himself to make stage- and costume-appropriate weapons. His current big project is supplying the knives that will be used for the drummers in Sea World's Halloween Monster Stomp show. (You can see how his knives were used in last year's show starting at about 8:00 in this video.) He just returned from a three-week workshop in Illinois, where he earned the remaining certifications he needed to become an advanced actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. The plan is to eventually earn his fight director certification, but having reached advanced actor combatant status, he now has a three-year wait before he can test for certified teacher and then another few years before he can apply to be recognized as a fight director. In the meantime, he is talking about finally trying to finish off that BA. (Not holding my breath on that part.) His long-term plan is to open his own venue in which he could produce the kind of shows he'd like to do (heavy on stage combat and stunts, of course), but also teach classes and have a weapons-building workshop (where he could also train other people). On the personal side, he is also settled seemingly very happily with a compatible partner. She is also a performer (currently a queen at the local Medieval Times) who also juggles a day job or two. One of the ways we know they are good for each other is that she actually seems to enjoy standing in front of his knife-throwing targets They have been seeing each other for a couple of years and living together for . . . a while. (I forget when she moved in with him.) They seem to be in it for the long haul, but I have heard no talk of making it official in any way. Edited June 8, 2022 by Jenny in Florida 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 13 hours ago, Kareni said: UPDATED: Three years have passed since my original post. You can read our story in the second post in the thread. My daughter has now been living and teaching in South Korea for almost nine years. In September, she will be finishing a two year long online TESOL master's programme. TESOL is an acronym for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Regards, Kareni Hi Kareni--What programme is she doing? I'm interested in pursuing TESOL or ELL certification.🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 4 hours ago, Harriet Vane said: Hi Kareni--What programme is she doing? I'm interested in pursuing TESOL or ELL certification.🙂 My first MA is in TESOL. Back then there weren't that many programs available! What do you plan to do with it? That can determine the recommendation for certification. I know that the program I did has split into two categories now, you can focus on adult learning OR K-12, whereas I am certified preschool-community college/adult school since it was very broad when I did it. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 Just now, DawnM said: My first MA is in TESOL. Back then there weren't that many programs available! What do you plan to do with it? That can determine the recommendation for certification. I know that the program I did has split into two categories now, you can focus on adult learning OR K-12, whereas I am certified preschool-community college/adult school since it was very broad when I did it. Wow! So cool! I am interested in children and refugees. I currently teach adults as a volunteer and I really love it. My heart is always most with children, but I have vague thoughts of helping refugee families?? I have tons of experience with editing, proofreading, writing, teaching writing, and so on, so all the grammar/ punctuation/phonics stuff is right in my wheelhouse. I worked extensively for years with a foster child whose first language was something other than English. My father was a true polyglot, and though I cannot claim his amazing skill at learning and fluently speaking multiple languages, I have definitely inherited a love of foreign language learning. I think about combining all that into teaching English (perhaps also writing) to refugees or immigrants or all of the above. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 17 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said: Wow! So cool! I am interested in children and refugees. I currently teach adults as a volunteer and I really love it. My heart is always most with children, but I have vague thoughts of helping refugee families?? I have tons of experience with editing, proofreading, writing, teaching writing, and so on, so all the grammar/ punctuation/phonics stuff is right in my wheelhouse. I worked extensively for years with a foster child whose first language was something other than English. My father was a true polyglot, and though I cannot claim his amazing skill at learning and fluently speaking multiple languages, I have definitely inherited a love of foreign language learning. I think about combining all that into teaching English (perhaps also writing) to refugees or immigrants or all of the above. Are you wanting a Master's or a certificate? For what you want to do, a certificate may suffice. If you want to turn it into a career. you may need more. Are you wanting to study/learn online or in person? Most colleges have a program of some sort these days for in person learning. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasProud Posted June 8, 2022 Share Posted June 8, 2022 I started homeschooling when my children were 2, 7 and 9. (boys were 2nd/4th) I was eclectic and used what was best for each kid. We decided to homeschool because the schools were all about test scores. Plus, we would be able to work around husband's schedule, travel and do mission trips as a family. The academic rigor would be much higher than what the public school could provide. Boys graduated from homeschool. Daughter went to a Christian high school and I taught there. It closed after 25 years the summer before her senior year. She took all dual credit at the local community college for her senior year rather than transfer to a different school. All but 1 of the 8 seniors chose to do that and I had activities for them throughout the year. The school gave me their money for their senior trip and we were planning to go to Branson together. Then Covid. Poor kids. Their senior year stunk. Oldest is 27 now. Halfway through college he had a mental health issue, which culminated in him losing his last semester. Thankfully, they gave him a medical pass and he ended up taking his last 10 hours the following fall semester. He is doing really, really well now. He continues to take meds and see his doc and counselor and has had the same terrific job since he graduated, so 5 years now. He gets raises pretty much every 6 months as they see if his pay is equal with what others offer. Medical coverage. Just a really great company to work for. He still only has one friend though, and with Covid doesn't get out much. Oh, he is a computer programmer. Middle one is 25 and should be graduating from seminary in May. He graduated from college in 3 years, but then took a break in the middle of seminary as he got a bit burned out and completely flunked one semester. Part of that is that the seminary made him manager of the coffee shop and he was working 50 or more hours a week while he was taking 12 hours... Yeah, didn't work. So he quit and got a full time coffee warehouse job. However, he is back at school and doing really well. He works in a coffee warehouse 30 or more hours and took 12 hours and got an A average this semester. I am not sure what he will do when he graduates. He does not want to be a pastor. Youngest is 20 and majoring in musical theater. She will be a junior next year. Needless to say first year was a dud in the musical theater department because of Covid. However, her musical skill has increased greatly. She also made a WONDERFUL friend group. 5 of the 8 of them came down for Spring Break this year. Last year was much better and she even got a starring role in a production. Her grades are high 3.97. She is my most practical and financially frugal child, though oldest is close. She is going to do well whether she is able to get a job in the industry or not. Though they are doing well, pretty much all of them think homeschooling was a mistake because of the social aspect. We will see if they change their minds. That said, they didn't see themselves going to the local public school and often scoff at the quality of education, so... Wish I had a magic time machine to see which one would have been better. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted June 9, 2022 Author Share Posted June 9, 2022 9 hours ago, Harriet Vane said: Hi Kareni--What programme is she doing? I'm interested in pursuing TESOL or ELL certification.🙂 Her programme is through Lancaster University in England. I think this is the correct link. Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted June 9, 2022 Author Share Posted June 9, 2022 I am very much enjoying reading both the updates and the new accounts. Thank you all! Regards, Kareni 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 What led you to homeschool? When I was in college studying to be a teacher, I did a research paper on one-room schoolhouses (modern). Next to journal articles about them were articles on homeschooling. I was intrigued. I loved the idea of learning together as a family and the efficiency of teaching one on one. I thought I would be able to be a lot more creative with my teaching and "school." (That was before I homeschooled with toddlers lol) I also wanted my children to have our faith integrated into class discussions and learning. Also, after teaching 6/7 year olds for 10 years, I didn't think that the classroom (even one that allowed a lot of movement) was the ideal place for little ones. How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) Two of mine have graduated, one is presently in high school. We did not really use WTM as a guide (although I've read it many times, so probably some of it was part of my ethos.) We do a mixture of home-based and online classes with a non-academic twice a month co-op for "fun". Dd did some DE classes her senior year. We use textbooks for some classes, are creative with others (Ds is doing the World Wars this year with a mixture of Youtube videos, books, and independent research) and have done some co-op or small group based classes. We try to mix giving the children space to explore their special interests with providing a strong academic background in core classes. What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? Ds1 went on to an honors program at a small LAC. He graduated summa cum laude with majors in Philosophy and Psychology and a Communication minor. 3 months later he got a job in the tech department of his LAC and is thriving as a administrative systems programmer. He can't believe he is getting paid for doing what he used to do "for fun." Dd1 is attending university in Canada. She is absolutely thriving--particularly after Covid. Somehow she managed to have a ton of fun while still getting all A's (and a couple of A+'s--who gets A+'s in college???) She is double majoring in theater and English. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 What led you to homeschool? My dd went to a Christian school where my dh was the principal, and her 2nd grade teacher really caused her to hate school. This is not a person dh hired because this was his first year there. I took her out for 3rd grade, intending to put her back in 4th grade. I wanted more time with her and to try and reignite enjoying school. We really like the flexibility of homeschooling, and it had gone well. Dh ended up leaving that school and going to public school, so we lost the free tuition, too. We couldn't afford the school without me working and putting ds in daycare, so we continued homeschooling. We didn't set out to continue forever, but we did. How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) We attended a co-op that covered science labs, literature, and usually some kind of elective. They did some outside classes for foreign language and some writing, and both did a few dual enrollment classes. The majority of their classes and work were at home with me. What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? Both kids have gone to our alma mater, Lee University. Dd graduate in December, 2019, with her BSN, magna cum laude. She is a charge nurse on a cardiac floor of a hospital. Ds just finished his freshman year and is majoring in business management. He made the Dean's List both semesters because he has all As and A-s. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eos Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 (edited) What led you to homeschool? Oldest was a rambunctious and precocious 4 year old and I realized that he would be constantly in trouble if he went to school. I had been to "alternative" schools growing up and there aren't any where I live now, so that wasn't an option. I was reading Mothering magazine and then Growing Without Schooling and homeschooling seemed just right so he never went to school. We enjoyed it so much that we never really considered putting the next three into school. How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? WTM, etc. I can honestly say that we did high school in four different ways for four different kids. Eclectic, secular, project-based, mentor-based might encompass them all. I did read the book but did not follow it. Oldest was all about STEM and worked at a lab through high school, second was an adamant unschooler and musician, third focussed on literature and art while playing varsity soccer at the high school all four years, and fourth has done some on-line, some DE, and some at home with me in addition to doing choir and theater at the high school. Where are they now? Oldest went to an engineering college for chemical engineering, currently designs nuclear-powered engines for subs. Married to the first girl he ever dated during their first term in college. Second did a performance degree at a music conservatory, received a Fulbright research grant for historic performance and her first Master's, is heading to another Master's degree in musicology, then wants to then do a PhD and teach feminist musicology at conservatory. Third has a politics major, religion minor from an LAC and just finished an internship with an org that works with middle school and high school boys to address and reduce gender violence. He has a paid job with them starting this fall. He also works as a landscape gardener. Fourth - still a junior in high school, heading towards college application season this fall. Edited June 9, 2022 by Eos 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 *What led you to homeschool? I'm a control freak? I don't know; it always seemed like a nice idea, and a way to have lots of freedom to do what we wanted when we wanted in all kinds of ways (academically, socially, extracurricular stuff, travel, etc). And then it kept (mostly) working well, so we kept doing it. *how was your child homeschooled in the high school years? A combo of things, but more homegrown classes than not for all of them so far. We do a lot of AP classes on our own, and then we mix in outside classes and DE for stuff we don't feel competent to handle ourselves (I have a masters in English and am comfortable with humanities; DH is a high school math teacher, so that's his thing. Foreign language and sciences are the things I prefer to outsource when possible). *what did your child do after graduating? DS#1 is about to start his senior year at Macalester, majoring in math. He's had a good, albeit covid-interrupted, experience--made good friends, gotten good grades, just finished studying abroad doing a Budapest Semester in Mathematics and just started an REU at Iowa State...after which he should have a better idea about whether grad school is in his future or not. DS#2 just graduated last month and is headed to Vanderbilt/Blair School of Music as a clarinet performance major in the fall. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 (edited) On 6/8/2022 at 3:47 PM, DawnM said: Are you wanting a Master's or a certificate? For what you want to do, a certificate may suffice. If you want to turn it into a career. you may need more. Are you wanting to study/learn online or in person? Most colleges have a program of some sort these days for in person learning. I want all of the above, lol. I'd love to be back on a campus for real. Going to school again sounds like the most fun ever. Realistically, though, I worry about covid and want to be pragmatic about handling the process efficiently. I am totally open to online learning or certificates or whatever, as long as it leads to being able to do something meaningful. I would like to have enough noteworthy credentials to do something REAL to help people for the best cost and time investment. Make sense? Edited June 10, 2022 by Harriet Vane 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 (edited) Here's my 2022 update: I couldn't be prouder of my grown-up kids. Dd has been working as a public school social studies teacher since graduating from Purdue in 2019. She loves history and political science and has decided to attend grad school with hopes of teaching at the university level. She's been accepted somewhere fabulous and also offered a research assistanceship. She married a wonderful man who is smart and sweet and who treats her well, and they are having a magnificent time having many adventures together. Ds is majoring in actuarial science and currently working his second summer actuarial internship. He has passed four actuarial exams, and I am in awe of how he manages to maintain his disciplined studies while also having a blast being an extroverted college guy. In his spare time he loves working on cars, so his MO is to buy a beater for next to nothing and fix it up for his personal use. We cannot call the garage our own, LOL, but we love seeing his excitement to get his hands on the engine. Edited June 12, 2022 by Harriet Vane 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 On 5/5/2019 at 8:57 AM, Kareni said: -- What led you to homeschool? -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? I began homeschooling late in the 1st grade because it seemed like the school was not doing a good job teaching my dd to read. Then I found out she hadn't retained any math. I did put her in a different school for 2nd grade but again, they didn't teach her any math. Or they way they taught didn't work for her. I let her finish the year, and then I homeschooled for most of the rest of her school career, except for an 8th grade year at a private school. (She did learn at the private school but it was very high pressure.) I homeschooled my dd in the high school years. Dh did most of the science. I did everything else. She did not take any out of the home classes or online or college classes. I did very loosely use the WTM, especially for book recommendations for literature and history. We did Mathusee for Math, ultimately after some starts and stops. That worked really well for her and for me. It taught conceptually, which my big picture dd needed. I, with a degree in math, could tweak or supplement as needed. I very loosely used some Abeka for English, just to have an idea of what to teach when. Plus other stuff like Windows to the World. History was a variety of resources, as was science. After high school graduation, my dd attended our local university. (She got a Presidential Scholarship there, by the way.). She recently finished her junior year and has a 4.0 gpa. She is extremely well suited to the college learning environment, and I credit homeschool for that. Plus her math and writing skills are well above most of her peers. She is currently figuring out what to do after she graduates (she's a planner). Her advisor really wants her to consider further education and sent her ideas for Medical School, Physician Assistant, Physical Therapy, and Occupational Therapy. She's not sure. She's thinking perhaps a Masters in Nutrition. She might work for a year or two first. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 What lead you to homeschooling- hubby wanted the kids homeschooled, we had talked about it even before getting married and it seemed like great idea lol 😂. My oldest was homeschooled all the way through and her siblings will likely be as well. Because I knew we will homeschool, I spent a lot of time reading up on it and planning so it wasn’t too hard in the initial grades. I had some reservations about high school but my oldest was doing high school work in middle school. I stumbled upon this forum after reading the well trained mind and was really impressed by what the ladies were doing. Ladies like Kathy inRichmon, muttichen and so many others still here like 8fill, Regentude etc helped me to see what could be accomplished. My dd was able to start AP’s in middle school and graduated high school with over 50 college credits at 16. Got into all the schools she applied to including some highly rejective ones and chose a college close by with Covid and anxiety at work. She is currently doing an internship in another state 500 miles away and having a good time. Will be going into her 3rd yr of college in the fall. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted June 11, 2022 Share Posted June 11, 2022 What led you to homeschool? DS is what educators euphemistically refer to as "twice exceptional" (aka "2E"), meaning highly gifted + learning disabilities. In his case, the LDs are dyslexia, ADHD, poor working memory and slow processing speed for verbal information (but not visual information), and sensory processing/anxiety issues. He started kindergarten at 4 when we were living in the UK, but one day he came home sobbing and said his teacher told him that "no one would ever love a boy like me," so that was his last day of school in the UK. Then when he was nearly 7 we moved to the US and he started in a Montessori school halfway through 1st grade. He loved it, his teacher adored him, and he was a happy kid. But every year he fell further and further behind the "standards" and at the end of 3rd grade he was still reading and writing at a low 2nd grade level, so I naively decided have him repeat 3rd grade in public school, in order to get testing and help for his LDs and get him "caught up." That was a HUGE mistake — after year of PS the happy, curious little boy who had been rather blissfully unaware of how far "behind" he was had turned into a miserable, angry kid who hated school, thought he was stupid, and refused to do any work. So that's when I decided to homeschool him, and we never looked back. After a year of homeschooling DS, I felt like that was a better choice for our family so I pulled DD out as well. How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) We were super relaxed, eclectic, and ,interest-led in the younger years and I didn't see any reason to change that for HS. DS went from being super resistant to reading a Magic Treehouse book in 4th grade to begging to learn Greek so he could read the Iliad in the original language by 6th grade. So he took Lukeion's brilliant (and very visual) grammar class over the summer and started Ancient Greek in 7th grade; he cried over that class for hours every week but never gave up and ended with the highest grade in the class. Not bad for severely dyslexic ADHD kid who couldn't even read until 4th grade! Then he added Latin, got interested in Linguistics, and started teaching himself other languages. A lot of his middle school and high school education came from Great Courses — we watched hundreds and hundreds of hours of Great Courses lectures on history, literature, science, and linguistics, plus lots of reading and discussion. He did not do nearly as much writing as WTM recommends (or most PS kids do), but all those college lectures plus reading a lot of college textbooks and academic journals taught him how to structure an academic argument and he has turned out to be a really excellent writer whose writing has been praised by multiple professors. Outside classes included 2 years of Latin and 4 years of Greek with Lukeion, two years of lab science at the local co-op, and two online courses through Arizona State. DD is more into art, music, and dance, and is not very academically inclined. She was also not very willing to take direction from me, so we relied a lot more on co-op classes for her for HS, which she sometimes paid attention to and sometimes blew off. Her teen attitude was basically that academics were stupid and pointless, and being smart or appearing to work hard was sooo uncool, so although I occasionally wonder if she would have been better off in PS, I feel like the odds that things would have been even worse are higher than the chances that things would have been better, so I don't really regret the decision to keep homeschooling. What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? DS just graduated summa cum laude from a Big 10 school, where he had a combination of academic and athletic scholarships that covered full OOS tuition plus partial room & board. He's been accepted into grad school there, and is also a very highly ranked athlete who competes internationally for the US team. DD has had mixed results taking classes at the CC — she flunked her first semester because she got overwhelmed, didn't know how to ask for help, and just stopped attending. She didn't even realize she could have dropped the classes, so she ended up with Fs. She tried again the next semester and got As & Bs, but then ended up dropping her class the following term when she got a flakey professor and couldn't figure out when assignments were due (or sometimes even what the assignments were). She needs really explicit directions and schedules and deadlines to do well, so she switched to taking classes through Arizona State's Universal Learner program (which I highly recommend — wish we had started with this instead of the CC) and she got As last semester in Intro Psych and English Comp. She's currently taking Intro Sociology while working full time, and this fall she plans to apply to the Medical Assistant program at the CC. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 I only have one graduate so far so these stories are interesting and helpful to me. -- What led you to homeschool? The culture we found ourselves in. Both DH and I are 2nd-gen homeschoolers and it was still very much the expected thing in our circles at the time. However I wanted to do better at the academic side, as pioneer homeschools were more about ideology. The WTM (and then this forum) gave me confidence that I could do it. -- How was your child homeschooled in the high school years? (Did you use WTM as a guide? Did your child take out of the home, online classes, or college classes?) High school was a mix of print-based homeschool curriculum, online classes, and community college. In 9th and 10th, online classes were in lit and writing; in 11th, we added math online (DC college class, which was a bit ambitious); and in 12th all core classes besides SS were at the CC. This also meant he was done with school by Christmas. Throughout high school, I attempted to maintain a WTM/CM flavor by making classic lit a priority, keeping a commonplace book, and getting some logic instruction in. He also was active in Civil Air Patrol, which aligned with his aviation interests. -- What did your child do after graduating? What is your child doing now? Our DS's dream all along was to become a pilot. Back in the day, this required a 4yr degree. So the original plan was to attend college. DS was accepted to Embry Riddle and UND with partial scholarships. However after graduating, he made an abrupt change to pursuing the military. He was very close to joining Air Guard when he learned about L3, a flight school with programs that can be achieved in one year. Whiplash, anyone? So off he went to L3 early in 2020. One of the beauties of L3 was that they had a program where they would hire you back as a flight instructor after your training was done. Guaranteed income and flight hours. But then Covid hit, and while the school remained open, they shut down the hire-back program. (I think that may be back now.) I AM glad he was not in either college or the military during Covid. DS returned home to our small midwestern city and providentially landed a flight-instructor job here at the local airport. He will have enough hours within the year for a commercial pilot job, and will have his pick since there is such a shortage of pilots. He also remains active in Civil Air Patrol and plans to do some flight instruction for them. For those who are interested in the financial piece (I'm always interested in this when I listen to parents/students' plans): DH and I always said we would not pay for our kids' college, and I tried and tried to get this DS to apply for scholarships throughout high school. No cigar on the motivation. When it was time to go to school, DH agreed to co-sign on the loan, provided DS refinanced and got his name off before any marriages were to occur. After DS returned home from flight school, he was motivated to marry his high-school sweetheart. We held his feet to the fire on this agreement and Viola! It was done. (So refinancing is possible for those wondering.) I'm always amazed at what kids can do when motivated. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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