ShotGunWillie
New Member
Why should I homeschool? Why do you homeschool? Is it all about religious reasons or are there other reasons why you do?
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Why Should I....
- Thread starter ShotGunWillie
- Start date
It's a personal decision. Generally, people choose to homeschool because they feel they can provide a better quality education than in an existing school. Whether one chooses to send children to a local public school, a local private school, or to homeschool, it's strictly a personal decision which individuals are allowed to make.
I can tell you why I homeschool but I cannot tell you why you should homeschool.
I started homeschooling because I really felt it would be the best way to raise and educate my children but my husband was not on board. I prayed for months and when my 1st grade daughter (our oldest) was having real difficulty and was diagnosed with ADD, my husband turned around (there was a whole set of circumstances that occurred to soften his heart - it's too much to get into right now). So we took our oldest home for 2nd grade and sent the second child off to kindergarten so I could get used to homeschooling. Interestingly enough, the bad attitude my oldest had started with the year she started kindergarten began to clear up as she stayed home but now my next one was picking it up! It was clear to me that it was from school. She came home the next year for 1st grade. I homeschooled both of those girls through 8th grade and, each for a different reason, I sent them back to public school for high school.
Then I had another set of children while I was homeschooling the older two and neither one of them have set foot in a school for their education. I'm homeschooling them as I type this (my 4th grader is doing his math and my 2nd grader is writing a personal story using a word web) and the soonest they would enter school would be 9th grade like their sisters. Middle school is horrible, IMO and I'd like to keep them home for that time period and elementary school is slightly better but I prefer to keep them home.
What benefits have I found? My children are not influenced by all of the other children in school for 6 hours a day with me not there. They do not pick up sexual talk, bad language, snotty attitudes nor have to deal with bullies. They do not waste time in extra stuff that the schools do so our schooling can be done in a more economical way and we can be done in less time than the schools do it. I have my children with me all the time so I can be a godly influence on them full time rather than just in the afternoons and evenings. My children have also grown up in a more natural social setting where they are comfortable with people who are not just their age but rather can communicate and enjoy people from infancy to old age. We just had back to school night the other night at the high school and, once again, every single teacher told us that our daughter is an amazing kid who is not like many of the other kids. When I mention that she was homeschooled I either get "I would have never known - she's so well adjusted!" or "I should have known - she's so well adjusted!" LOL I got the same with my older daughter when she was in high school (she's now in college). I've also heard the same thing from their employer (they both work at the same place) and one of their customers actually offered my then 16 year old a job in her architects office because she has never seen ANYONE treat customers the way my daughter does and she wants that in her office. What a great compliment.
The negatives? Well, one is that I do not have the freedom to do what I want. Once in a blue moon, I do dream of what it would be like to have my kids in school all day and to have time for me. I haven't had much time for me at home alone and I've guaranteed myself a bunch more years of no time alone.
It's also a little nerve wracking knowing that I am fully responsible for the academic success of my kids. Fortunately they've always tested extremely well on standardized tests, never falling below the 85th percentile. Another negative is that we pay over $8000 in school taxes each year and the school district gives us nothing - so I have to personally pay for our curriculum. Finally, my kids do not have access to the school music program or sports - that is all something we need to pay for if we want our kids involved in anything (and it's private or public stuff - not school sports or anything). So I have to make sure my kids have these opportunities on my own dollar. Right now my son is in fall Little League and swimming lessons with the town and my daughter is in ballet and swimming lessons. These cost us over $100 dollars a month. Music lessons are fortunately able to be taught by my musician husband and my oldest daughter is studying to be an art teacher so she teaches art to the littles since I'm totally inept when it comes to art.
So there you go - my experiences in a very large nutshell. LOL
I started homeschooling because I really felt it would be the best way to raise and educate my children but my husband was not on board. I prayed for months and when my 1st grade daughter (our oldest) was having real difficulty and was diagnosed with ADD, my husband turned around (there was a whole set of circumstances that occurred to soften his heart - it's too much to get into right now). So we took our oldest home for 2nd grade and sent the second child off to kindergarten so I could get used to homeschooling. Interestingly enough, the bad attitude my oldest had started with the year she started kindergarten began to clear up as she stayed home but now my next one was picking it up! It was clear to me that it was from school. She came home the next year for 1st grade. I homeschooled both of those girls through 8th grade and, each for a different reason, I sent them back to public school for high school.
Then I had another set of children while I was homeschooling the older two and neither one of them have set foot in a school for their education. I'm homeschooling them as I type this (my 4th grader is doing his math and my 2nd grader is writing a personal story using a word web) and the soonest they would enter school would be 9th grade like their sisters. Middle school is horrible, IMO and I'd like to keep them home for that time period and elementary school is slightly better but I prefer to keep them home.
What benefits have I found? My children are not influenced by all of the other children in school for 6 hours a day with me not there. They do not pick up sexual talk, bad language, snotty attitudes nor have to deal with bullies. They do not waste time in extra stuff that the schools do so our schooling can be done in a more economical way and we can be done in less time than the schools do it. I have my children with me all the time so I can be a godly influence on them full time rather than just in the afternoons and evenings. My children have also grown up in a more natural social setting where they are comfortable with people who are not just their age but rather can communicate and enjoy people from infancy to old age. We just had back to school night the other night at the high school and, once again, every single teacher told us that our daughter is an amazing kid who is not like many of the other kids. When I mention that she was homeschooled I either get "I would have never known - she's so well adjusted!" or "I should have known - she's so well adjusted!" LOL I got the same with my older daughter when she was in high school (she's now in college). I've also heard the same thing from their employer (they both work at the same place) and one of their customers actually offered my then 16 year old a job in her architects office because she has never seen ANYONE treat customers the way my daughter does and she wants that in her office. What a great compliment.
The negatives? Well, one is that I do not have the freedom to do what I want. Once in a blue moon, I do dream of what it would be like to have my kids in school all day and to have time for me. I haven't had much time for me at home alone and I've guaranteed myself a bunch more years of no time alone.
It's also a little nerve wracking knowing that I am fully responsible for the academic success of my kids. Fortunately they've always tested extremely well on standardized tests, never falling below the 85th percentile. Another negative is that we pay over $8000 in school taxes each year and the school district gives us nothing - so I have to personally pay for our curriculum. Finally, my kids do not have access to the school music program or sports - that is all something we need to pay for if we want our kids involved in anything (and it's private or public stuff - not school sports or anything). So I have to make sure my kids have these opportunities on my own dollar. Right now my son is in fall Little League and swimming lessons with the town and my daughter is in ballet and swimming lessons. These cost us over $100 dollars a month. Music lessons are fortunately able to be taught by my musician husband and my oldest daughter is studying to be an art teacher so she teaches art to the littles since I'm totally inept when it comes to art. So there you go - my experiences in a very large nutshell. LOL
Part of it might be religious, but your child's learning style and ability can also play a big part. For example, my oldest daughter is gifted and was bored in Christian school. She would finish her work very quickly, then have to sit and do pointless "busy work" while she waited for the rest of the class to finish. She literally hungers to read, even the encyclopedia! Homeschooling is the perfect way to teach her, because she can learn at a quick speed and move on to something else that interests her instead of just what the curriculum suggests.
My youngest, on the other hand, is a kinetic learner--that is, she has to touch (and talk and move!) which is very difficult to do in a traditional classroom setting. She uses both sides of the brain at the same time, which basically means she focuses better with music playing, or while holding a toy or other object in one hand while writing with the other hand, or jumping on a trampoline while doing spelling words.
See, I feel that learning should be about the child and helping them learn in the best way possible for THEM. You can't do that in a regular classroom because it would be total chaos. So, teachers have the class do things as a group, or in smaller groups and everyone goes at the same speed for mass education, like an assembly line. We homeschoolers realize that learning is not a "one size fits all" deal and we use that to our children's advantage.
There are some other perks, too, like not having to start the car on a freezing winter morning to take the kids to school. You get to take your vacation whenever you want to, not just during the summer months when rates are the highest. You can school at night if it's better for your schedules, etc. The downside is you must be patient and able to deal with a lack of personal time because the kids are with you EVERYWHERE you go. Discipline is also essential.
1. Because if our children went to the local government school, they'd spend nearly three hours a day on a bus. That's time that could be spent learning, doing chores, playing, or doing that socializing that anti-homeschoolers always say our children don't ever get.
2. Because we can do a better job than government schools. Government schools (and I say this as a former government high school teacher) are set up to fail. Government schools, by their very nature, are geared toward the lowest performing students.
We, on the other hand, can customize our children's studies to build on their strengths, shore up their weaknesses, and focus on their interests.
And, as homeschoolers, we can go at our children's pace. If they're ready to move on, we move on. We don't have to wait for twenty other children. If they're not ready to move on, then we can spend a little more time on that subject.
In a government school, a child can perform well in all subjects but one but because he didn't perform well in that one, have to repeat the whole grade. Where's the logic in that?
In homeschooling, you don't have to hold back a child who's doing well in science because he's not doing well in history.
3. Because we can offer several subjects government schools do not offer. For instance, your typical government school does not teach Latin, rhetoric, economics, philosophy, or theology.
4. Because we do not want our children to be exposed to many things that go on in government schools. Peer pressure, immodest dress, profanity, political and moral indoctrination, etc. Just this morning, I was watching John Stossel's "Stupid in America" on YouTube and it featured videos of children running shirtless through the classroom, jumping on desks, etc. That's just not something we want our children exposed to.
5. Because government school children tend not to be well socialized. While the common cliche is that homeschooled children are the ones who aren't socialized, the fact is that it's government school children who sit in a classroom where they're instructed to be quiet and face the front of the class with twenty or so other children who are the same age, usually the same race and socio-economic background, etc. Our homeschooled children deal with a variety of people in real world situations every day. They're not merely confined to dealing with other children their own age.
Going back to number four, when you consider the things that go on in government schools, is that really the kind of "socialization" you want your children to have?
6. Because we just like spending time with our children.
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North Carolina Tentmaker
New Member
There is only one reason to ever homeschool. Because you believe it is what is best for your child. There are lots of schooling options and considerations today. Look at them, pray, and do what you believe is best for your children.
We homeschooled 4 children for 6 years and it was a great experience for us and our children, but right now all 4 are enrolled in our local public school system and that is working great also. We moved our kids into public school for the same reason we homeschooled them and for the same reason we had some of them enrolled in Christian schools previously, because we (my wife and I) believed it was what was best for them.
I have met many homeschool families and sadly several were, imho, homeschooling for the wrong reasons and the children were the ones who end up suffering because of it.
North Carolina Tentmaker
New Member
Let me add a couple other things.
Homeschooling is hard work, if you do it right. A lot of people do and understand that. But being an active parent of a student in a public school is a lot of work also.
Homeschooling is expensive, but so is public school, we were hoping for some reduced costs when we moved to public school but between activity fees, class dues, field trip costs, school lunch costs, athletic fees, band fees, manditory school supply lists, it seems like I am spending more now. Lunches alone are costing us $45 per week and we fed them at home a lot cheaper. Oh well.
Homeschooling is hard work, if you do it right. A lot of people do and understand that. But being an active parent of a student in a public school is a lot of work also.
Homeschooling is expensive, but so is public school, we were hoping for some reduced costs when we moved to public school but between activity fees, class dues, field trip costs, school lunch costs, athletic fees, band fees, manditory school supply lists, it seems like I am spending more now. Lunches alone are costing us $45 per week and we fed them at home a lot cheaper. Oh well.
menageriekeeper
Active Member
NC Tentmaker, I find it to be quite a bit cheaper to homeschool than to public school! I can usually buy all of our supplies for a year on what I spent for school lunches when they were in elementary and middle school. I'm thinking that now that they are in high school, things are more even. But those school lunches are killing me!
Why should you homeschool ShotgunWillie? Well, maybe you shouldn't. Not everyone is able to educate their children, whether it be a time/work schedule, talent, lack of education on the parents part, or simply a personality clash with the child you are trying to teach. (oh yeah, don't think that parents and children don't have personality clashes. Plenty do, only a few are will to admit it!)
If you want to know the absolute truth, it would be sooooo much easier on me if I had all my kids in school. Man, I'd be FREE for 8 hours everyday! Oohh, I might better not dwell on that for too long. :laugh:
Our public schools here are some of the best in the state. I go to church with the principals of 2 of them as well as more teachers than I can count. (big church lol) I am the neighbor of the assistant principal of our high school on one side and on the other side of the neighborhood lives the principal of another high school in the area (not in our district exactly) A couple of teachers live in my neighborhood and my next door neighbor's brother teaches at the high school (oh yeah, they go to church with me too. lol) The lack of information on what goes on in our "government" school is not a problem! Our schools are run by good people. But I still homeschool my youngest and might just go back to homeschooling one of my sons. How'd this happen?
Its a long story. I have two chronically ill children. When my oldest was first diagnosed with JRA in middle school, that one school refused to give her the accomodations she needed. When she began having migraines on top of the arthritis, they were less than helpful, threaten to charge us with truancy and came very near to having a lawsuit filed against them. Only after the assistance of a state advocacy organization on our behalf caused some major policy changes at that school did we back down from our intentions. At this point, though I had suggested homeschooling, my husband was dead set against it. We were products of the public schools and we did fine, so would our kids.
Our son's problems had begun when he only 9. His migraine headaches kept him in bed in a dark room for DAYS. It was a nightmare for the household, but the elementary school managed to deal quite well with him, until a medicaiton side effect caused comprehension problems. At that point, the plan we had set up for him failed and by the time we got a new one set up it was time for him to move to the middle school. Yeah, that middle school. The one we had just decided not to sue. At this point our daughter moved to the high school and we'll talk about them later.
The middle school came no closer to being able to educate our son, than they had our daughter. Not all of this was the school's fault. It is almost impossible for a school to educate a child that can't be AT school. But they could have made things much easier than they did. Our son missed 86 days that year. The school refused a homebound tutor,which would have relieved some of the stress, even though they recognized his disability! The reason? Those 86 days weren't consecutive. The last straw for that school came at the end of the year when I had to take my son to school, crying with pain, knowing they were only going to send him home again with the complaint that he was always absent. I was done. We finished that year, they 'gave' him 'C' level grades because they didn't want me to go to due process because of their lack of accomdation, but the decision was already made. I'd told my husband that if he wanted our son to go to public school the next year, it would be up to him to get him there, deal with all the docs and office visits and keep him up with the work. Of course my husband saw things my way. If I was going to be the one teaching him, I might as well be the one RESPONSIBLE for teaching him.
Back to the high school. They were amazing. I walked in with my advocate to set up my daughter's 504 plan and we didn't need one. EVERYTHING we requested to help her was given to us without the need to invoke disability or special education laws. When they asked us what we expected, we pointed to her file that they had sitting in front of them. That file was nearly two inches thick from documentation of our constant fight with the middle school for accomodations. The principal looked at us and said "we don't do things that way here."
My daughter will graduate with an advanced diploma in May. She currently has a 3.75 grade point average. She missed 26 days her freshman year, 20 her softmore year, only about 15 last year and countless classes that weren't full days of absence. And we have never been threatened with truancy court like the middle school tried to do.
My son thrived so well under homeschooling that we made up for the deficits caused by the meds and the middle school. For that reason as well as the difference we saw in his attitude at home, compared iwth the attitude our daughter had in middle school we are now homeschooling our youngest through middle school. I didn't burn my bridges with the middleschool, but I charred them well.
Now my son decided he wanted to try public high school. Being the straight forward, frank person that I can be, I have let the school know that this is an experiment. That I will not hesitate to pull him back out if his health worsens. (not doing 86 days out of school again!) And you know what? The high school continues to be helpful and I've seen good things come from my son's first 9 weeks there. They have also commented that if what we have planned for this year doesn't work, that we have several other options to consider besides homeschooling, though they agree that homeschooling had been the best answer for him.
There is no ONE right answer for how a child should be educated. In our house there is no ONE answer for all of our children. Something different has been done for each of them! :laugh:
You have to consider all your options, prayerfully, and decide what will work best for your family.
Why should you homeschool ShotgunWillie? Well, maybe you shouldn't. Not everyone is able to educate their children, whether it be a time/work schedule, talent, lack of education on the parents part, or simply a personality clash with the child you are trying to teach. (oh yeah, don't think that parents and children don't have personality clashes. Plenty do, only a few are will to admit it!)
If you want to know the absolute truth, it would be sooooo much easier on me if I had all my kids in school. Man, I'd be FREE for 8 hours everyday! Oohh, I might better not dwell on that for too long.
:laugh:Our public schools here are some of the best in the state. I go to church with the principals of 2 of them as well as more teachers than I can count. (big church lol) I am the neighbor of the assistant principal of our high school on one side and on the other side of the neighborhood lives the principal of another high school in the area (not in our district exactly) A couple of teachers live in my neighborhood and my next door neighbor's brother teaches at the high school (oh yeah, they go to church with me too. lol) The lack of information on what goes on in our "government" school is not a problem! Our schools are run by good people. But I still homeschool my youngest and might just go back to homeschooling one of my sons. How'd this happen?
Its a long story. I have two chronically ill children. When my oldest was first diagnosed with JRA in middle school, that one school refused to give her the accomodations she needed. When she began having migraines on top of the arthritis, they were less than helpful, threaten to charge us with truancy and came very near to having a lawsuit filed against them. Only after the assistance of a state advocacy organization on our behalf caused some major policy changes at that school did we back down from our intentions. At this point, though I had suggested homeschooling, my husband was dead set against it. We were products of the public schools and we did fine, so would our kids.
Our son's problems had begun when he only 9. His migraine headaches kept him in bed in a dark room for DAYS. It was a nightmare for the household, but the elementary school managed to deal quite well with him, until a medicaiton side effect caused comprehension problems. At that point, the plan we had set up for him failed and by the time we got a new one set up it was time for him to move to the middle school. Yeah, that middle school. The one we had just decided not to sue. At this point our daughter moved to the high school and we'll talk about them later.
The middle school came no closer to being able to educate our son, than they had our daughter. Not all of this was the school's fault. It is almost impossible for a school to educate a child that can't be AT school. But they could have made things much easier than they did. Our son missed 86 days that year. The school refused a homebound tutor,which would have relieved some of the stress, even though they recognized his disability! The reason? Those 86 days weren't consecutive. The last straw for that school came at the end of the year when I had to take my son to school, crying with pain, knowing they were only going to send him home again with the complaint that he was always absent. I was done. We finished that year, they 'gave' him 'C' level grades because they didn't want me to go to due process because of their lack of accomdation, but the decision was already made. I'd told my husband that if he wanted our son to go to public school the next year, it would be up to him to get him there, deal with all the docs and office visits and keep him up with the work. Of course my husband saw things my way. If I was going to be the one teaching him, I might as well be the one RESPONSIBLE for teaching him.
Back to the high school. They were amazing. I walked in with my advocate to set up my daughter's 504 plan and we didn't need one. EVERYTHING we requested to help her was given to us without the need to invoke disability or special education laws. When they asked us what we expected, we pointed to her file that they had sitting in front of them. That file was nearly two inches thick from documentation of our constant fight with the middle school for accomodations. The principal looked at us and said "we don't do things that way here."
My daughter will graduate with an advanced diploma in May. She currently has a 3.75 grade point average. She missed 26 days her freshman year, 20 her softmore year, only about 15 last year and countless classes that weren't full days of absence. And we have never been threatened with truancy court like the middle school tried to do.
My son thrived so well under homeschooling that we made up for the deficits caused by the meds and the middle school. For that reason as well as the difference we saw in his attitude at home, compared iwth the attitude our daughter had in middle school we are now homeschooling our youngest through middle school. I didn't burn my bridges with the middleschool, but I charred them well.
Now my son decided he wanted to try public high school. Being the straight forward, frank person that I can be, I have let the school know that this is an experiment. That I will not hesitate to pull him back out if his health worsens. (not doing 86 days out of school again!) And you know what? The high school continues to be helpful and I've seen good things come from my son's first 9 weeks there. They have also commented that if what we have planned for this year doesn't work, that we have several other options to consider besides homeschooling, though they agree that homeschooling had been the best answer for him.
There is no ONE right answer for how a child should be educated. In our house there is no ONE answer for all of our children. Something different has been done for each of them! :laugh:
You have to consider all your options, prayerfully, and decide what will work best for your family.
In the previous town that I lived the school or at least the teachers in my son's grade were not very good. So, out of personal choice and necessity, we home schooled out son. It worked out well. Plus, it sure was nice not being tied to the public school system schedule and the threat of being sent to court if too many days were missed. We went camping when we wanted, visited family when we wanted, etc. Plus, school for my son lasted from three to four hours and not eight. But, now that we are in a different school system and different teachers our son is back in public school and doing very well. And, we are slaves to the school's schedule but my wife and I enjoy several hours a day of having an empty nest. Of course I'm not looking forward to the day when he flies away for good. What a sad but proud day that will be.
Honestly, I think I'd rather get nothing because it seems like when you start getting things from the district, they try to get a greater hand in your homeschooling. Still bugs me, though, to have to spend that kind of money for nothing.