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02/01/2007 03:58:35 PM · #1
Okay - not going to hijack the "Anyone Else in Five Challenges Now" Thread. If you homeschool or are thinking about homeschooling, exchange thoughts here...

Mother of two: a 5 year old daughter and a 9 1/2 year old son. Been home schooling for 4 years now.
02/01/2007 04:03:34 PM · #2
I am a mother of 2. Austin who is 2 and Miranda who is 8 months. We plan on homeschooling as they get older. We have a wonderful homeschool group in our county who we are members of. Also many of our good friends, with children the same age as ours, are planning on homeschooling. Its great to know there are other moms and dads on this board to chat with. :)
02/01/2007 04:20:03 PM · #3
Graduated 92' Homeschooled final 3 years of High School.
02/01/2007 04:23:41 PM · #4
My wife and I have been homeschooling now for almost 4 years. We had given up hope of our son getting a decent education at the school he was in. Mike is now 13, doing great with school, but is reaching the limits of what we are comfortable teaching him. So we are now planning on moving to an area where he has family and friends that work in the school and so there will be a support group already in place for him when he decides to go. We will continue with the homeschooling, just not all subjects. We are still up in the air as to whether or not to homeschool our 2 younger sons. We pulled Mike from school because he has ashbergers (not sure of spelling) which is a very high form of Autism. If you didn't know Mike had this problem you would never be able to tell. He has come so far in the past couple of years.
02/01/2007 04:28:47 PM · #5
Oh no, boom. Is that an argument for or against??? :)

Just kidding.

We just officially started our 5 yo in Kindergarten. It's not an official homeschool yet, because NC doesn't require registration until age 7. He is loving it. We've played/piddled for several months, but now, we get up, eat breakfast, have school, go on about our business. Being 5, his attention span is about this long |--|, but we're doing better. We've gone from 5 - 10 minutes to 45 min to an hour.

I also have a 2 yo, but the extent of her "lessons" is to try and convince her that not every color is blue. :)

All that said, I have been involved with homeschoolers in our area for over 5 years. I provide "supplemental educational instruction" (is -- tutoring, but we can't call it that in NC) for homeschoolers, mostly writing, and I do year end standardized testing that is required. (That season is getting ready to kick off. rah.)

It's a lot of fun now. "So, does Travis start Kindergarten next year." (At which point he interjects with "I'm homeschooled"). Then, I get *that* look. And the age old question, "What about socialization?" I've learned not to answer with my original answer, "I taught public school for 8 years, I know how they are *socialized.* No thanks" to "We are making sure he has ample opportunities to be around others his age."

I don't catch as much grief over it as my sister does/did, and some of my friends because I am a certified K - 12 teacher.
02/01/2007 04:39:59 PM · #6
Homeschooler of a 5 yr. old too. probably our last year. We use calvert kindergarten cirriculum. They send all the books and materials and lesson plans. Then I send stuff periodically to a "teacher" who grades it(puts a sticker on it) and sends us both letters about how we are doing. So it's a bit more like distance learning. and when we complete it we will get a transcript showing that she graduated that year... I'm having a hard time remembering to do it everyday though. I wanted to do it the same time everyday but she rebels against structure so if I make it random to suit her moods we end up with too many days where I don't realize unil 10:oo p.m. that we didn't do it.

Originally posted by karmat:



It's a lot of fun now. "So, does Travis start Kindergarten next year." (At which point he interjects with "I'm homeschooled"). Then, I get *that* look.


LoL..Yeah, luckily my daughter has a big mouth so they don't really ask about socializing as it's apparent she's not the least bit shy. Then she talks about being diabetic and how she has type 1 and what type 1 is then what type 2 is..and they look at me like"Oh,,,she's pretty smart. huh?" little do they know I can't get her to read for the life of me...but she's a wiz at math and science.
02/01/2007 04:53:45 PM · #7
I only worked out a response to the "Socialization" question last year.

"Socialization" is very different from "Socializing".

"Socialization" is the imparting of codes of conduct and beliefs etc regarded as acceptable by society.....well I believe we can impart codes of conduct and morals far more effectively at home along the lines of what our family holds dear.

As far as "Socializing" goes, we get plenty of that. We have worked hard to build meaningful relationships with best friends, as opposed to a general relationship with many acquaintances... My children also interact with other families of children across age barriers: the 9 and 10 year olds playing happily alongside the 3 and 5 year olds. They are equally confident in relating to older children. Far more true to real life isn't it? When you leave school you're thrown into a huge mix of ages, races, cultures,beliefs...

Always fun to see the questioner squirm after giving them that response!! :-) Isn't it amazing how they will keep asking that question still, 4 years down the road as if you've NEVER thought of that very issue yourself???

But remember, most often those asking the questions are not really interested in your answers, they're more than likely wanting to find the holes in your conviction.
02/01/2007 05:12:33 PM · #8
people don't really question me about homeschooling my daughter once they realize how smart and super awesome my wife that teaches her is.
/blatant suck up
02/01/2007 05:15:18 PM · #9
Originally posted by Elvis_L:

people don't really question me about homeschooling my daughter once they realize how smart and super awesome my wife that teaches her is.
/blatant suck up


Good try..... but that part of your quoted post that I put in bold will explain to you why sucking up doesn't work on me. Better luck next time. :)
02/01/2007 05:28:03 PM · #10
back on track....

That's a GREAT answer to the socialization question, Caroline. We have some issues when out, when it comes to being quiet and not pointing. basic respect for others issues. But overall they are small things for a 4 and 5 year old. My kids say Thank you and please and all those things routinely. Will pick something up for someone if they drop it. etc.. They are very polite. I agree that school is not particularly where children learn those types of things anyway.
02/01/2007 05:38:31 PM · #11
I ask this with all due respect to parents and teachers alike.

What is the main driver for wanting to home school?

I know several people that home school. They all give the pat answers, quality of education, time with the kids, 1 on 1 instruction, etc. But almost all of these people, some very dear friends, are all fundalmentalist Christains. While not wanting to admit it, I think for most of them it is a Creation vs. Evolution thing.

Any care to shed some light on this for me?
02/01/2007 05:45:32 PM · #12
Homeschooling family here too.

Older son is 4½
Daughter is 2½
Younger son is 2 months (almost).

We knew before the birth of our oldest that we wanted to homeschool, and circumstances have ensured that it's a must - our oldest has such severe food allergies that putting him into a public school classroom would be an almost certain death sentence.

Add in that he has recently been diagnosed with high-functioning autism (Asperger's Syndrome) and I don't trust the school system to provide him with an adequate education.
02/01/2007 05:50:00 PM · #13
Originally posted by scarbrd:

I ask this with all due respect to parents and teachers alike.

What is the main driver for wanting to home school?

I know several people that home school. They all give the pat answers, quality of education, time with the kids, 1 on 1 instruction, etc. But almost all of these people, some very dear friends, are all fundalmentalist Christains. While not wanting to admit it, I think for most of them it is a Creation vs. Evolution thing.

Any care to shed some light on this for me?


We are not a religious family.

Quality of education was our driving factor.

The experiences that my husband and I had in public schools were on two very different extremes (husband graduated high school, but it not much more than barely literate; I was reading at a college level in 4th grade but not challenged) and it showed us both that there is no way for 1 person to truly address the educational needs of 30 different students in a classroom and do anything more than teach to the middle of the road.

Those students who are either ahead of or behind the game get somewhat left out.

Add in the blatant sexualization of young children, the peer pressure, drugs and violence in the schools - I want to keep my children close to me and let them be kids as long as they can.
02/01/2007 05:53:27 PM · #14
Originally posted by scarbrd:

I ask this with all due respect to parents and teachers alike.

What is the main driver for wanting to home school?

I know several people that home school. They all give the pat answers, quality of education, time with the kids, 1 on 1 instruction, etc. But almost all of these people, some very dear friends, are all fundalmentalist Christains. While not wanting to admit it, I think for most of them it is a Creation vs. Evolution thing.

Any care to shed some light on this for me?


I'm agnostic and I searched long and hard for a cirriculum that was not at all religiously influended although it does find it's way in there every now and then and we just skip that song or part of the lesson or change it.. Depending on it's significance. I did teach my daughter about hannukah this year even though we don't celebrate it. anyway...getting off track. Religon was not a part of our reasoning. The deciding factor was that the local school system is not equipt to handle a child who needs multiple shots per day, and beyond that they arent allowed to give her glucagon if she has a seizure. in the time it would take an ambulance to get to her she could suffer much more damage than she would if they would use the glucagon shot immediately and not wait for an ambulance to do it. so That was a concern, but I did concider homeschooling as far back as when I was pregnant and had no idea what type 1 diabetes was or reason to believe my children would ever have it. My reasons then were quality of education(being a 16 year old graduate who had tons of potential but no one pushing me. I napped my way through high school skimming by with fantastic grades and no one pushing me to apply myself) and also bully issues. I was so severely tortured throughout school that I never wanted my children to endure that. not a moment of it. But that was wishful thinking.. reality has brought us to homeschooling for much different reasons and as soon as Odyssey is better with her own care and knowing her bloodsugar highs and lows she will most likely attend public school. It's what she wants and her wishes are as important to me as the rest of it.

Message edited by author 2007-02-01 17:54:58.
02/01/2007 05:59:16 PM · #15
Hi there. We homeschool two girls, ages 7 and 5. We've been at it for about 3 years seriously, and off and on before that.

scarbrd - in answer to your post (and if I put my foot in my mouth I apologize):
Sometimes the 'pat' answers are just the ones that are easiest for others to accept. I have given those very same answers to several people simply out of expediency (and because they did not seem really interested in the answer). Sometimes the 'pat' answers are given because of a wish to prevent people who are essentially stangers from prying into their family's educational decisions. (Not saying that it applies to you, just that it happens.)
But sometimes, the 'pat' answers are simply the truth. We all want quality time with our kids. We know that children are able to learn better with 1 on 1 instruction. We know that the quality matters in education. Why not give these things to them so that they can blossom and grow the way that we know that they can?

But you're right, also, in that for many homeschoolers (Christian or not), the ideology of what is being taught in public schools is suspect (or even downright intolerable) according to the family's beliefs. Your example of Creation vs. Evolution being a reason to teach at home is a common one. But there are others as well: the methods (and timing) of teaching sex education, the inclusion of "death education" in some areas, the idea that "hyperactive" or "day-dreamy" kids need to be drugged into submission in order for them to learn (a particular pet peeve of mine). There are plenty of others - probably as many different "major" reasons as there are homeschooling families. Sometimes it has little or nothing to do with ideology and much to do with health reasons (Asperger's (having already been mentioned), autism, many other "disorders" (just a collective term, here), severe (read life-threatening) allergies) or environmental concerns (safety, violence, etc.).

Anyway... as I've rambled a bit longer than I intended, I'll let someone else take a crack at this.

Sara

**ETA - I can see that I'm slow around here! :)

Message edited by author 2007-02-01 18:01:29.
02/01/2007 06:06:29 PM · #16
For me, and most of the homeschooling families I know, the Creation vs Evolution is a minute part of it.

Even homeschooling, my child will learn what evolution is (though from a distinctly different viewpoint than many) as well as other "hot topics." Obviously not at the Kindergarten level, because that is just not developmentally appropriate, but I want my kids to know what they need to know to make it in this world. I want both of them to be able to go to any school they want (my 5 yo has informed me he wants to go to Duke or UNC - Chapel Hill) and succeed because they have a solid foundation. Also, I want to give them a solid foundation upon which to form their own opinions and beliefs.

So, why are we homeschooling?

I taught public school for 8 years, and I am still involved with public education at the community college level. While there are some awesome men and women in the public schools, and many who truly care for the students, public school is one primary thing -- crowd control. As a teacher, you do whatever you can to keep the students interested and behaved. What is lacking is a sense of individualism -- academically and socially. My five year old likes to yell his spelling words as he spells them. That would work wonderfully in a kindergarten with 18 - 28 others, eh?

Socialization. yep, I homeschool for the socialization. My experience showed me that in public school what most people call "socialization" is "survival of the craftiest." The kids that are street savvy, and manipulative work their way to the top, while the kids that are academically gifted get made fun of. Way uncool in my book. By homeschooling, my kids don't have to fight for attention. I've also noticed that most homeschooling children carry on conversations better with adults than non-homeschooled children. And as was mentioned before, my son plays as well with 2 year olds as he does with 11 years old.

I am a teacher. For the sanity of any classroom teacher my children might have, it is better to just keep them at home with me. (Are you sure you tried this? What about this? Here, let me help you.) I can be obnoxious in the classroom. Also, I'm a danged good teacher. :) Much better a teacher than photographer by any stretch of the imagination.

Yes, I am a Christian and that has something to do with it. I suspect I would fall under what you are classifying as "fundamentalist" but I consider myself more evangelical. If I simply wanted to avoid Creation vs. Evolution, I could send them to one of the many private Christian schools in the area.

Quality of schools -- I so hate to say this, but NC has put a magnitude of importance on testing. Test, Test, TEST. Also, the schools that my children would be going to are not that impressive. There are some good teachers and principals within them, but in order to glean the best, I would have to go to Kindergarten one place, then transfer to another school for another.

I've used some pretty broad brush strokes here, and I fully understand and believe that not all homeschoolers are geniuses (I have met some where I wanted to say, "In my professional opinion, you need to put your child in public school."), or outgoing social butterflies (I know a couple that would rather cut off their thumbs than to talk out loud), and that all public school children are NOT going to grow up to be psychomaniacs and chainsaw murderers. In my immediate family alone, my brother has three sons at public school and one at a private school, my sister does a combo homeschool/private school thing and I homeschool. It really does need to be designed to best serve the child and family.

Dang, that was long. sorry.
02/01/2007 06:45:38 PM · #17
At one point, we considered homeschooling our kids, but decided against it, for a number of reasons:

-We have reasonably good public schools in our area.

-The kids like it and their friends are there.

-In our district, a child that attends school through 12th grade gets 4 years of paid tuition at any public university in the state. This includes the University of Michigan or Michigan State Univ.

-I find that many homeschooling parents are what I would call "helicopter parents" that hover protectively over their children, guiding them through every experience.

-Many also seem to have invested so much of themselves into their children that they no longer have an identity of their own. Their world completely revolves around their child(ren) and if that child were away at school, the parent would be without their centering.

-Many of the homeschooling families we have met are uber-conservative christian. (One family that homeschools went so far as to start their own church and religious school because the Fire-breathing Baptist church they were attending was "too permissive".) These families dominate the homeschooling groups (sports, study groups etc.) in this area and put the "Jesus spin" on everything. This is not something we want for our children.

-We also don't expect the public school to completely meet the educational needs of our children. We do lots of other "educational" activities that are disguised as "fun".

Message edited by author 2007-02-01 20:31:11.
02/01/2007 06:51:30 PM · #18
my boy's 3, and we've been considering homeschooling since before he was born. i was a secondary school teacher, so i nsome ways am prepared for it. although in others - primary school is scary!

it's basically for the educational quality, as, like in many othre areas of the world, education here has become a political football, and a lot of te things happening in public schools are only bringing about ignorance and poor education. ther are wonderful teachers, but they are battling poor funding and fooling rules from the top.

why aren't i teaching? i decided to stay home, and i also would have to requalify (a ful year, full time) to teach in my home province. i qualified to teach in engalnd, and have taught in inner london schools and in botswana, from grade 7 to a level, which is first year university. a little bit of sour grapes. possibly, but i wouldn't let taht influence sending the sprog to school, if i thougth it was best for him.

so, yes, the educational quality, and the conitinuin, apparent, worsening of our society. as mentioned earlier, the earlier and earlier sexualisation of children, the concentration on rampant consumerism, the wholehearted swallowing of the message of today's media; all these things concern me.

as crystal, i was also bullied extravagantly in junior high school, and that just sucked. i really don't want him to go through that. i am also agnostic, so religion plays no part in it.

my only worry is that i won't be able to handle the continual presence of the kid. i know that sounds awful, but i have no family here (only child, and orphan) and my husband's family is on the other side of the world. so the lack of external support does play a part in my concern.

there is a waldorf school 25k. away that i'm considering. i like some aspect of the waldorf philosohpy, although am a little worired that it might be too dogmatic. that said, i have heard that some of the strict waldorfians (is that even a word?) feel it's a little too lax, so that might be good for us...

so, yeah, we're considering, but have yet to decide. if we do, i'll try to use the international baccalaureate curriculum, as that seems to be the best, most rounded curriculum out there, that truly concentrates on teaching a child to think, not just recite facts.
02/01/2007 06:54:15 PM · #19
Originally posted by Spazmo99:


-In our district, a child that attends school through 12th grade gets 4 years of paid tuition at any public university in the state. This includes the University of Michigan or Michigan State Univ.


Dude, if we had a policy like that, public school would be a strong consideration. college is expensive. :)
02/01/2007 07:05:30 PM · #20
Originally posted by cryan:

My wife and I have been homeschooling now for almost 4 years. We had given up hope of our son getting a decent education at the school he was in. Mike is now 13, doing great with school, but is reaching the limits of what we are comfortable teaching him. So we are now planning on moving to an area where he has family and friends that work in the school and so there will be a support group already in place for him when he decides to go. We will continue with the homeschooling, just not all subjects. We are still up in the air as to whether or not to homeschool our 2 younger sons. We pulled Mike from school because he has ashbergers (not sure of spelling) which is a very high form of Autism. If you didn't know Mike had this problem you would never be able to tell. He has come so far in the past couple of years.


Asperger's. I have it but i went through public school. I graduated and am in college. Im no sucess story because my life's been plagued with misdiagnoses and social distortions.

But on the upside I have plenty of people close to me, I'm no longer broke. I'm a very sucessful bracket racer and I'm in college. Im happy with having gone to public school. Honestly I think the troubles of being social with asperger's would have only been quadroupled by being at home. The neighborhood i lived in represented 10% of the schools population. Theres no way I could have met the people I had met or had the good and bad experiences I had. Being out of school in the real world i find it very hard to meet people. Being at the college makes it a bit easier. JUst make sure your son has a way to meet people later on i think this will mean alot to him. If you can help and provide this avenue then i think it will greatly lessen the impact.

But i figured I'd give you the correct spelling.

Message edited by author 2007-02-01 19:07:45.
02/01/2007 07:25:56 PM · #21
what's a bracket racer?
02/01/2007 07:31:52 PM · #22
My wife was home schooled. We are planning to home school our children.

My academic progresses were greatly impaired and under-stimulated by the public school system.
02/01/2007 07:40:48 PM · #23
Originally posted by karmat:

what's a bracket racer?


Theres two types of Drag racing.
1. Heads up or H2H or Head to Head - This is most familair two cars stage between the staging beems in front of a tree usualy .500 but a pro .400 tree is also used. Both go green at the same time both haul butt to the end of the quarter mile.

The lesser known of the two is bracket racing this allows two cars of unequal power or performance to compete.

Both cars stage just like normal. Each racer has submitted a Dial In. This is what you expect to run. Say the opponent says he will run a 12.2 and im gonna run a 13.7 My light will go green exactly 1.5 seconds before his does. This gives me the so called head start.

If we both run the exact time we said we would (also assuming we both tripped a perfect .500 reaction time) We will both reach the end of the track at the same time.

The goal is to run as close to the time you said you would without running quicker then that time. Going under is called breaking out. The person closest to their time wins.

This si common for both types but a reaction time is also figured in the Light goes from first yellow (.100) seconds to Green (.500 seconds) in .400 Seconds. The time between green showing and your cars wheels tripping the last staging beam is calculated. This adds to your final time and can slow you down in overal seconds.

Sorry to "HiJack" but karmat asked! If you have further questions Karmat feel free to PM me.

Message edited by author 2007-02-01 19:41:37.
02/01/2007 07:45:43 PM · #24
That's cool. I had never heard of that.

Okay, the things you learn on dpc.

back to the homeschool discussion. . . .
02/01/2007 07:52:39 PM · #25
Originally posted by karmat:

That's cool. I had never heard of that.

Okay, the things you learn on dpc.

back to the homeschool discussion. . . .


Neither had I, but I had a slow car so someone gave me a clue!

Originally posted by theSaj:

My wife was home schooled. We are planning to home school our children.

My academic progresses were greatly impaired and under-stimulated by the public school system.


I don't diss home schooling. I think for people with social impairment its not good. But different types of learning call for different methods of teaching. If you felt under stimulated then yes the school you were in was probably not where you needed to be. Unfortunately you cant just place a kid in any school in the area. It's regulated down to districting. Private schools and Home Schooling provide an alternative.

For me No matter what school i went to I wouldn't be able to pay attention. I'm self motivated and self interested. I grab the subjects I like and go after them. What I'm interested in makes me want to learn it and what I'm not interested or have difficulty in i do bad in. I think that class size and certain teachers may have made some subjects more difficult and maybe a smaller private school or home school would have improved my academics.

Sometimes Public schools lack the ability to follow up on things and that leaves you fallen short you find yourself trying to take a course in college just to make up for what public school didn't teach you or help you learn.

My grammer and typing are bad so before you blame public school. I have a disorder that affects everything from how i walk to my language comprehension to how i write and type. I physically have issues writing letters. Typing one hand types faster then the other so forgive my mistakes and grammar

Message edited by author 2007-02-01 19:55:16.
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