S/O memories thread-what did you think about homeschooling as a kid?

[Jaybee]

I also remember reading in our school Weekly Readers about some kids in the circus who homeschooled, and perhaps another case or two like that, though it wasn't called "homeschooling" back then. It was just what kids in the entertainment business did, often with tutors and/or using the correspondence aspect.

I used Calvert for my first in first grade. Then later on, I used it again because I was overwhelmed with life, and I knew that Calvert had a good, solid program without it being too much. Those two loved Calvert. It wasn't flashy, so I would read about parents saying it was boring, but my kids loved it. I also knew that if we needed to change plans, by going through Calvert, they would be well-prepared to go into any high school situation. Calvert was expensive, though. We only used the correspondence part 1-2 years, because my girls wanted to try it. My next kid used it through 2nd grade. By then, Calvert had made some changes that I wasn't crazy about, though I think it was still overall good (it's been a long time and I don't remember). I had a two-year hiatus of not homeschooling, and when we went back to it, I felt ready to go the pick-and-choose curriculum route again.

[sweet2ndchance]

I didn't know it was an option until my younger sister was homeschooled in 8th and 9th grade because she got mono and the schools wanted to make her repeat the 8th grade. She completed all the work that was sent home but they deemed she had too many absences and would have to repeat the grade anyways so my mom elected to homeschool her instead. They used a correspondence school, Clonlara maybe? This was in the mid-90's.

If I had known homeschooling was a thing earlier, I would have begged for it in middle school. I would have really thrived on it I think. I was just burned out on public school by the end of high school and just didn't want to try anymore. I think if I could have gone at my own pace and graduated early, I would have been much better off.

[Soror]

I don't remember how I heard about it but I remember having a desire to be homeschooled in the highschool years. I wanted away from teenage drama. Looking back I'm not sure that would have been the best thing for me. I really wanted a larger experience than I could get in my little hometown but hs'ing wouldn't have accomplished that when I couldnt' drive and the internet was barely a thing by the time I graduated. We just had crappy dial-up and no home computer until college. I've also seen that although I like staying at home and being by myself too much is not good for me. 

But part of why I really wanted to hs was because I couldn't stand the lack of independence in highschool. It just infuriated me. So, that has always been part of the reason I hs'd and one of my goals with hs'ing. I ignorantly assumed it was the same with other parents- they wanted the chance to give their kids more independence. Silly me.  Where I live it mostly quite the opposite. It still amazes me the things people control in older teenagers and even legal adults.

 

[MagistraKennedy]

I never heard of it when I was a kid. 

When we were dating, my (now) husband said to me, "So, what do you think about homeschooling?" 

I scoffed. "That's for crazy granola nutjobs!" 
Suffice to say I didn't know a SOUL in real life who homeschooled, but when I started digging deeper, found a vibrant community. 

Still glad my husband planted that seed, although I probably scared him to death. 

Years later, I heard the rest of his story. He was on a semester abroad in London with Eckerd College (late 80s) and ran into a Texan guy in the gym. Come to find out, this fellow was homeschooled and my husband found it fascinating. I would love to find this guy and tell him what an influence he had on my husband and our family. 

[Clarita]

I want to respond before I go back to read other people's responses.

I think my first inkling of homeschooling was in The King and I and they got that governess/nanny to come. I thought it was a rich person thing where they were hiring a private teacher (in fact I thought governesses were more like private professors you'd hire to teach your kids). I didn't realize a mom could do that too until my 20's.

When my son was of "going to public school age" that was when I really looked into it, before then I imagined I'd be sending my kids to a public or private school. When school enrollment was looming for my son a few of my teacher friends spoke with me about my education choices where they highly discouraged regular public school for my son. My pediatrician also grilled me about school until I told him I planned to homeschool him for preK (we get free preK/TK for kids with fall birthdays in California). He said "Fantastic homeschooling would be great for him." It's been working for us so far so we are sticking with it.  Everyone around us have been really encouraging and really see it as the best for our son.  

[Not_a_Number]

Oh, in terms of where I did hear of it -- I think I heard of it from fellow babywearers! I was really into babywearing, and specifically wrapping, and I used to admin a FB group with a babywearing mom who also homeschooled. I remember being intrigued. 

[Clarita]

I picked homeschooling because of COVID and I was afraid if schools went to full zoom again. Also the affordable private schools in the area could really only offer to have my son skip grades if he was ahead of the rest of the class and I didn't and still don't think he has the maturity for that.

[Momto6inIN]

The only homeschooled family I knew of growing up in the 80s was my mom's cousin who homeschooled her kids in Washington (state, not DC). We saw them once a year and they were very weird. But also smart. And kinda spoiled. The parents were hippies and they moved to New Zealand and renounced their citizenship when George W Bush became president, so they definitely were not right wing religious zealots 😉 But somehow I got it into my head that those were the only kind of people who would hs.

My dad was a teacher and then a principal, so he was always very against hs'ing, kind of as an affront to his profession. So as a result I always was too. When several of my sister in laws started hs'ing I said I would never shelter my kids like that.

Man plans, God laughs 😂

When I had my 5th, it was very overwhelming and we were a big family and very much outside the norm already. And my oldest was in middle school and the demands of school started taking over our lives more and more and I hated that our family life was taking the backseat. Hs'ing popped into my head one day and no matter how much I told myself it was a stupid idea I couldn't get it out of my head. So I started googling "reasons not to homeschool" and "why homeschooling is a bad idea" and instead of seeing lots of reasons why it was a bad idea I found that my stereotype of hs'ing in my head didn't match up to the reality of it.

We started that next school year and I've never looked back. And my dad has come around too 😊

[Terabith]

I forgot that when I was little, I saw an episode of "That's Incredible," or maybe there was a book?  And there was a little girl who was homeschooled, but it was presented as an option since her mother was a certified teacher.  

I also forgot about how huge homeschooling was over on mothering.com, which was the first forum I really ever frequented, when my kids were tiny.  Actually, I don't think I made my way there till my youngest was like 15 months and I was almost due with my second.  I actually recognize a few posters over here from over there!  

[Dmmetler]

Oh, I will also say-I didn't plan to homeschool (I'm a former public school teacher and college education professor!)  until I ran into this nice friendly group of mothers in the local park playground-homeschoolers who had a weekly park day. Several had younger kids the same age as mine, and I started sitting with them and talking to them and seeing their kids, and the idea was planted. When I sent L to kindergarten, I actually still would go to park day because I liked talking to them (and didn't have many other friends to talk to). They were honestly really nice about my choosing not to homeschool then, but as the year went on and things just weren't working, gently pointed out, just by being there, that there was an alternative. I still wasn't sure, but then we had the IEP meeting to figure out what to do with L for the next year, and the great solution the administration had come up with was "let's skip a grade and put the kid who is already the youngest in the class in a grade 2/3 split as a 3rd grader"; L's teacher pulled me aside and told me, flat out, that she considered that proposal child abuse for any 5 yr old, because while L definitely COULD do 3rd grade work, the amount of time 3rd graders were expected to sit still, be quiet, and the amount of writing needed in a class doing Saxon 3 and Shurley English was going to be way beyond what my "read extremely early, but tended to lag on motor skills" kid could handle. She told me "You're a teacher, why don't you just keep her home a year or two, let her play, and send her back when the other kids have learned to read and do math". 

 

When I went to my park day friends and told them that I thought we were going to homeschool, they were super supportive-including the one who gave me her well thumbed 1st edition of WTM. I joined this board soon after, and...well, I'm still here. 

[Brittany1116]

My BFF from church was the only person I knew who was homeschooled. She was the third of 4 and I have no idea if her (much) older siblings were also educated at home, but she and the youngest were. She had terrible handwriting and spelling skills, and often had workbooks scattered around her room, but I knew little else about it. It wasn't weird, cool, or anything else to me as a kid. It just was what it was. If my charter school had events where we could take a friend, I took her. We shared interests in teen celebs and makeup and Lisa Frank. I didn't even hear the word 'homeschool' again until college when I watched Mean Girls. I didn't plan to homeschool my own kids; we just realized one day we needed to. 

[historically accurate]

I didn't know one thing about it until the summer after 5th grade. The plant where my parents worked shut down, and they had been laid off for a year. We lost the house and moved into our camper. The plan was correspondence school (I have no idea what company) and travel full time. My brother and I were registered and we had the first books ready to go. The day after we moved out of the house, my father was called back to work. We ended up living in our camper for another 9 months (through a northern Illinois winter!) and not homeschooling. I was kind of bummed about not going to do school at home - how cool would it be to get through all the crap work in an hour rather than 6?!

Then, I kind of forgot all about it until college when I decided to do my communications project on homeschooling for gifted children. Fell in love with the idea of it. A couple years later I had a quirky kid who hated all kinds of busywork and learned to read before age 3, along with a special needs toddler and an infant who had surgery during the year she would've started K, and so I just kept them all home. 

[skimomma]

I babysat for a family that homeschooled.  That was my first real exposure and unfortunately, all of the stereotypes were there.  I can't say that they were religious but it was clear that the children were very sheltered.  They were not allowed to play with the other kids in the neighborhood and they did not have a TV.....which seemed horrifically odd to me in the 1980s.  I used to have this small suitcase that I brought to babysitting jobs that had crafts, games, and books to have something "new" to engage my charges with.  One "tradition" was making a personalized sticker with their names to slap on the outside of the suitcase.  The mom was horrified when she saw it and forbid her children from creating a sticker.  She should have searched the suitcase itself because I had a Ramona book that I read to the kids and later that night my mom got a call from the mother "tattling" that I had read an "inappropriate" book to her children.  My mom was just as baffled as I was.  However, I was hired again and I did not bring the suitcase.  The kids seemed well-educated as far as being able to read and do math and such.  I stopped babysitting them when they got into a habit of licking each others' tongues.  I was pretty open-minded until that moment!  

I had no desire to be homeschooled myself nor knew that it was an option.