Why do you keep your kids in school?

[SherryTX]

If the title seems provocative - that isn't the intention. I really would like to see why others keep their kids in school - especially if they are home schooling at least one of them.

 

My situation - 5 kids - 1 in college part time, 3 in ps and 1 home schooler. We started home schooling the 9 year old a few months ago because she just had too many issues in school (she has Asperger's). ANYWAY - my two older daughters are in 5th and 8th grade. I don't think I would pull them out (at this point anyway) because they have been in ps for so long and I wouldn't be sure how to proceed - but more importantly, they are my stepdaughters, and although they live with us, I don't think their mother would grant permission.

 

My youngest is in 7 and is in first grade. She does well in school, and is a social butterfly. However, she often asks for "homework" from me, and I try to oblige. I am going to order her level for Singapore math so she can home school this summer. (The 11 year old would like some home schooling this summer too. The 13 year old - not so much haha).

 

Anyway, the more I am at home with my 9 year old, the more I really REALLY want to keep my 7 year old at home for 2nd grade. I know we need to see how the summer plan goes before a final decision has been made. And also, as it stands now, my husband's opinion is "we'll talk about it near the end of summer." This is an improvement since last month it was "no, I don't think it is a good idea."

 

As it stands now, I don't see myself going back to work full time in 2009, and have been working on whittling the budget for 2010 so I don't have to so I can continue to focus on other things.

 

Do you keep your kids in ps because of financial reasons? Is it because they have reached an age where you feel the school and teach some things better? Is it for social reasons? Is it because your child wanted to go?

 

I am just curious - right now my main reason for keeping the 7 year old home is that I want to spend more time with her, and 2nd is education (though almost a tie for 1st).

 

Thanks.

[mom4him]

My two youngest have never been in ps and I don't plan on them being so.

Our oldest graduated from ps(he is now 40). Our middle child was 5 months from graduating and begged to come home. I agreed and truly found how ps had failed her. She was about to graduate and couldn't construct a sentence say nothing about a paragraph! It took her two more years to graduate but she writes beautifully now. LOL Our middle son was a 7th grader when I started homeschooling him. I pulled him because of some subject matter that was being required. I talked to the principal after several visits with his teacher. The principal basically told me that I could take it to the school board which would take about 6 wks but my son would need to be in the matterial in the mean time. NOT!!!

I love schooling our two youngest. I love spending the time with them, not worrying about bullies, unfair teachers, neg. influences etc. I get to pick the curr. that we use not someone who knows nothing about my children. I can tweak the curr. to fit each child and make it what they need.

Each family has to do what is right for them. HS is right for us.

[Mandamom]

Of my oldest 2, I homeschooled the oldest and kept the younger one in school because they are my stepsons and I only got mom's okay to homeschool the oldest. We homeschooled because the schools weren't working for the oldest while the younger was flourishing.

 

So, I homeschooled my now dd8 while also homeschooling her brother and she went to school in first grade due to the relationship between my dh and I (we had separated). That is also when I stopped homeschooling my oldest stepson.

 

Now, that we are back together and he's been unemployed for over a year I am the primary breadwinner (just bringing home slices rather than loaves) there's no way I can homeschool.

 

Currently, I am responsible for all homework and supplementary work we do after school and will be doing over the summer (my rainbow resource purchase will be around $50 for both girls this summer).

 

Currently, the job market and our financial health is such that it will take years for us to get caught up so I am expecting to be working for a while. Dh is unlikely to find a job making what he was before and if you consider my current salary and add the salaries of the positions he is looking at they don't equal what he was making before.

 

All that being said, we like our schools and teachers (at all levels) and until that changes we feel good that sending our kids to school is a good choice.

 

Yes, homeschooling would be easier but it isn't an option now.

[mchel210]

My 3 begged me to try school. All 3 started Sept 17 and my girls are doing great...my son, 13...was struggling too much. I ended up pulling him back out January after Christmas break and he is home. My girls are both in the gifted program and have very good teachers! I am very lucky that they have full time gifted classes and they are both working on very rich material. I still afterschool them! We still read our SL books. My youngest is doing abeka la and math with me still. I will most likely continue with her over the summer.

 

My son is the only one home and most likely will stay that way. He needs a lot of one on one attention as he has some LD issues and is behind in math and LA. I spend about 5-6 hours sitting and working closely with him. I dont know how I was able to do it with all 3 before...but since the girls are fine...I would prefer just letting them stay in school. Next year, my little one will start with my 8yo's teacher. I am so happy she will have her for 2 years. She is wonderful. She also has gifted children and is a gifted certified teacher so she knows how to challenge them. I still add tons of extra stuff but my girls are really happy in school...so they will stay there.

[Sue G in PA]

Well, after 4 years of homeschooling, my dd12 and ds10 decided they wanted to go back to ps. Dh and I prayed a lot about it and decided to let them try ps next year. They are both excited. We are sending ds9 back as well b/c his attitude at home just isn't conducive to learning for anyone. However, we are keeping my ds8 at home and probably ds6. For us, it's all about what is best for each indiv. child. And, as no decision is set in stone, all the dc know that they can be pulled out of ps at any moment if they are not doing well (bad grades, behavior, wrong friend choices, etc.).

[Susan in IL]

Ds1 was pulled out after 6th grade with the plan to hs for jr. high then back to ps for high school. He had many poor teachers, terrible curriculum, in a school that catered to well...I'm not going to go into that here...at the expense of average and gifted. His experience is a whole rant in itself.

 

Ds1 decided he liked being hsed so in high school, he asked to go part-time, taking 2 classes a year and doing the rest at home. He did this for 4 years since he did not want to go to the local cc for classes. He is now a jr. in college.

 

Ds2 started at the same school many years later. I hand-picked his teachers, the curriculum had changed, but the other problems still reamained. We were redistricted to a new school when he started 3rd. If we had not been, I would have pulled him out, no questions asked. I would love to hs him since he has such a love of learning. I almost did towards the end of 3rd. Ds2 and I had long discussions about it and he decided to stick it out.

 

Ds2 has never wanted to be hsed. He is more social and more importantly, he is involved with music. Not something I can provide for him or enough of outside of school. But, he knew that if things were not good at school, or if he ever wanted, I would pull him out in a minute. He is now in 10th grade and very active in school activites (not sports). I have afterschooled/summer schooled him from the beginning and will till he graduates.

 

Totally different children, totally different needs. Finances had nothing to do with it.

 

Hope this helps.

[Alisa in Florida]

Just financial in our case. I went back to work several years ago so that dh could go to graduate school. At the time, we thought it would be for just a couple of years and dh would continue to homeschool, but for a variety of reasons, that didn't work out and we put the kids in school. Dh was not employed for a few years after graduate school and even now that he is, I don't see being able to quit my job any time soon.

 

Our oldest ds starts high school next year and is excited about getting into an engineering magnet school, so I don't think we'd bring him home again at this point. Our 4th grade ds is still a possibility, though. He has some special needs that I believe would be better addressed at home.

[SherryTX]

I appreciate all the responses!

My oldest daughter is in a few honors classes, and all 3 of the younger ones (included my 9 year old that I pulled out for hs) have been in gifted classes for the past few years. Right now the youngest one is still being challenged (her first grade teacher goes out of her way to put extra stuff together for her outside of the gifted class), though my 11 year old isn't so much except for the gifted class. But she is very much involved with 3 choruses that she couldn't be if she didn't attend school.

 

As many have said - I agree - it depends on the child. That is what I am trying to make sure I am focusing on - what is best for the kids, and not me. Reading others' reasons for why they keep them in or take them out helps a lot with that - a good reminder for me.

[BabyBre]

Dh insists.

[talexand]

My kids are in school part time. They school in the morning and homeschool in the afternoon. For us the school part is for the community. Not just the kids, its for me too. THe school has a lot of parent involvement. We live in the country so there aren't neighborhood kids to play with. They also have a great math teacher. Not better than I am but I have to admit she is as good. :tongue_smilie: ANd there are actually some great programs through the school like a wetlands partnership where they spend a lot of time at the local wetlands and having the wetlands experts come to school several times a year. ANd there is a robotics club, but I run that so my kids would get it with or without school. But its fun to do with school friends.

 

Also I enjoy my morning hours. Actually I take one of two days a week and teach science enrichment classes for tag classes in different schools throughout the school district. THis doesn't make much money but I do feel good contributing something because it is tight without me working. On other days I just take a break and surf or do my homeschool planning. Oh, and there is housework. I should spend time on that too.

[mattie5]

I have four children in school. DD11 goes to a private school for dyslexia (it goes thru 8th grade). DD10 and DS6 are in the neighborhood school and DS7 is in a magnet program. We love our schools and have no issues at all except that I like the neighborhood school better than the magnet and will send the 3 there next year. We are very blessed. I am open to homeschooling for middle school or whenever the need may arise. In the meantime, I get to do the fun stuff and fulfill my homeschool fantasy during the summer!

[samba2nite]

Several reasons:

- My kids are highly social and love interacting with OTHERs (not so much each other)

- My yahoos will fight with each other since they are all so close in age (mulitples issue)

- I work out of the house and my job is stresseful and I do not like being so distracted with the yahoos when I am trying to work

- I live in a very expensive area of the country and so I need to work....granted I have scaled it down to parttime but it is distracting when yahoos are home...like now which is spring break.

- I honestly do not think I have the patience and temperment to stay home full time and teach my yahoos five days a week or four days a week all that they need to be taught to meet state requirements.

I LOVE teaching my kids, but I like knowing the basics are covered and that I can supplement what they are learning or what I think they are missing.

- I'm fortunate to live in a good school area for an inner city and have a principle that lets me pick my yahoos teachers.

- I hate the ghetto influence that inner city schools have but that is life here in CA.

- I hated the private school we were in and like the public better but wish it placed more emphasis on academics.

 

In my dream world my yahoos would be going to a classical WTM approach charter school that was 3 - 4 days a week with one or two days set aside for mom teaching. That would make me very happy.

 

Well so my for my dream.... off to watch the dinasaurs hatch and the volcano blow...all of course with Jimmy Buffet playing in the background.

[Letty's3Angels]

I have been wanting to homeschool my daughter since kinder., she is in 6th now but I haven't done so because I didn't feel confident in doing it.

The world of homeschooling was very baffling to me and I didn't know anyone personally that was doing it.

 

Now I have 3 kids in PS and have since met many hmscing families and have really looked into hmscing. I'm going to take the plunge this coming year and am going to hmscl all of them.

 

I don't know if I'll hmscl the boys all the way thru, they will start 1st and 2nd. We'll see how it goes with them. I am planning to hmscl my daughter all the way to 12th.

[5ray2006]

Currently, I'm homeschooling my Pre-K son and I have a newly turned 3yo daughter. My oldest, 8yo, 2nd grader, ds is in public school. I've posted several times that we will be homeschooling all 3 next year-our first year. However, my oldest is doing great in public school. This is our first year in public school. He has always been in private school, since he was 3yo (Montessori). Now, I've always been after-schooling him as well as the others. Basically, we've always done some type of educational activities/curriculum at home. The more I started researching curriculum, the more I want to homeschool-full time. However, due to our finances-(dh is self-employed) and I work full time outside of the home- we put our oldest in public school. With that being said- I'm NOW trying to work out a plan to homeschool my 3yo and my Kinder for the fall and send our oldest to public school for 3rd grade. There are things that he is learning in ps that he won't get from me at home. Also, we don't have any family nearby and at least he gets to have friends at school-even though we don't socialize with anyone after school hours. Hopefully, we will be leaving Texas next year and move closer to our family. :001_smile:

[Carmen_and_Company]

DS 1, Taz--I pulled DS 1 out of school his 6th grade year due to the school holding him back in math although his test scores showed the ability to do higher level mathematics. Also, ds was diagnosed with Chron's, and the school just was not accomidating enough. Taz graduated from our hs last spring & now is a college freshman.

 

DD-Storm came home in K the same year Taz came home & is still home. She's thinking about attending the same school as my youngest that I have linked in my signature for high school. We'll see. I'm not ready--sigh.

 

DS 2, Blaze-- Is adopted & attended school k-3rd gradeswhile with his bilogical family. I hs'd him the 1st school year he arrived in our home because he was so far behind academically. He longed for school and we made a deal that once we brought him up to what I felt was grade level, he could return to a school setting of my choice. He began attending a 3-day a week charter school, and when his name came up on the Nova Academy waiting list, he began there. He's happy and doing well. He'll graduate from a traditional school setting.

[michaeljenn]

We homeschooled for 7 years and then my oldest asked to try school. I think he was longing for more social interaction, and it was starting to get crazy around our house!! We have 5 children ages 13, 12, 9, 4, 2 and #6 due in September. After taking the summer to really think about it, we sent the 3 older ones. We decided that we don't know until we try and they can always come home. They all 3 love school. They love the structure and the social life they now have. It is far from perfect, but it was far from perfect at home too:lol: They also have many, many opportunities for extra-curricular that we could not provide unless we struck the lottery and hired a nanny to help with the littles while I was driving them all over town:auto: Seriously... in order to get them into "social" activities and to help me cover all their academics, it was going to cost us over $800:001_huh::001_huh: Not happening!! At this point we will continue our journey in public school, and my 4 turning 5 daughter will start next fall.

 

Like I said, it is far from perfect and I am sure I could provide them a much better education if I had more time, energy and money... but I don't. I would not trade some of the "learning experiences" and growth in character we have had this year either.

 

 

Who knows what the future will bring as we evaluate the needs of each child each and every year!

 

Jen

[SherryTX]

...how so many of you continue to check in with your situation as time goes by, to figure out what is best for both short term and long range goals for your kids.

 

I have found all of the replies very insightful, and helpful.

[MIch elle]

...him. He's been very happy in high school. It's expensive but worth it!

 

Younger brother had an opportunity to attend private middle school this fall and turned it down (different school than older ds). He'll stay home until high school at this point and attend the same school as his brother.

[nova mama]

My son is very shy and, while I am not shy, I am not very social. There are plenty of opportunities in my area to socialize homeschooling children. But given my personality, it's just not likely to happen. I felt that this would make my shy son even more introverted. I homeschooled him for preschool and he had a few friends his age, all girls. I wouldn't even say they were his friends really; mostly my friends' daughters. He goes to a fine school and I'm not concerned about the quality of the education he's receiving. But I also feel that there's a lot of room in his brain that's not going to get filled at school, and I want to help him achieve his potential.

 

I also work from home part-time, and I feel better knowing that by him being at school he will always get at least the basics, even when I get really busy and we skip school here and there.

 

I'm pretty inconsistent with my preschoolers, but I'm not convinced that they would get so much more out of going to preschool. I'm less concerned about their socializing since they're more outgoing. But, most likely they will go to PS when they are ready for kindergarten, just like big brother. If I no longer need to work by then, I may reconsider.