What made you decide to homeschool?

[KeriBerry]

What made you decide to homeschool?

[Tanikit]

Well we have just made the decision to homeschool my now 4.9 year old despite her actually being homeschooled full time since she was 3.5 years old. She is only required to start school next year in grade 0 (kindergarten) so up til now it wasn't a legal requirement.

There were 4 factors we took into consideration:

1. Education: will the education she gets at home be comparable or better than what she will receive at school - we believe it will be better. She is very advanced right now academically and I worried she would be very bored at school. She is also highly active and they had already suggested ADHD at her previous nursery school - I told them she can concentrate and they agreed and since this is the definition if ADHD she cannot have it. I would hate for her to be labelled something incorrectly simply because she is so busy and then have people wanting her on drugs.
2. Money: the best schools where I live are private schools and are very expensive. The public schools are not that cheap either and anything that is cheap is not worth sending any child to. On top of that there is no availability for gifted education in most schools (private or public) and while there are now 2 schools for gifted education in this country they are exhorbitantly expensive and very far from where we live. My second DD would have to go to a nursery school if I had to work to send the first to school and this would increase the fees dramatically making it not really worth while to send them both.
3. Socialisation: This is the one that worries me a little still. We took into account what opportunities exist to get my DD into sports, homeschool groups and so on. There are plenty of opportunities however at my DDs age she has had some separation anxiety and I have had to pull her out of many of the activities she has been in simply because of this. I will try again as she gets older and more independent and she must take part in some sports and groups.
4. Other factors: We considered things like schools effect on religion (she would have been in a Christian school anyway however), their disicpline methods, morals, bullying, listening to authority, taking part in group activities, outings, extra resources and decided she would (still?) be better off at home.

[KeriBerry]

Thank you for sharing I just love hearing why other's are also homeschooling. I think sharing our stories really can help give support to other homeschooling parents and people just thinking about homeschooling


The reasons you gave were very simliar to my own. I just knew my children would be better off if I took an active role in educating them and that all in all they would be happier children and one day adults as well.

I hope more people jump in soon and share now that we got things going...

[DadDude]

For me it began as a problem I had with the U.S. public school system--it is dominated by an education philosophy that undervalues knowledge and academic skills, deliberately churning out half-educated graduates. I myself am quite sure I could have learned much more under a better system, and I went to a highly-rated public school district (Anchorage, Alaska in the 1970s & 80s). But later I came to the view that an even deeper problem lay with any system of education that attempts to teach all children according to one curriculum, one set of texts, one set of methods.

The icing on the cake came for me when I found that as a work-at-home Papa, I actually have enough time to be my sons' primary educator, although Mama has taken on mathematics for H. and will increase her workload as baby becomes less dependent on her. After that I'm sure we'll split the workload. Considering how well H. has been learning so far--he just turned six--it seems it would just be a waste to take our chances even with a private school that could not be relied on to develop his abilities as well as we can do so.

My wife and I also agree that school atmosphere as become morally toxic. I mean everything--how mass media and "the cult of cool" comes to dominate the outlook of so many kids, adolescent conformism, coarse manners, rampant anti-intellectualism, rampant cheating, and on and on. It's not an atmosphere we want our sons to be "socialized" in.

[evachong]

For me is money matter! (always)

in Malaysia , our salary increment is less than the inflation, if we put our children in Montessori center for the day class we need to pay RM 600 per month. If we let our child to study in Right Brain Education Center, hahaha... cost me RM 350 ( around ) per month but only an hour per week. and also, as a parent , we are always hoping that we could give the best to our child so I have no choice and learn the technique from internet sources and work out our home school. I find that almost all my home school resources are from USA. Thanks for all free printable teaching material.

Anyway... I am now designing to combine all the method from shichida, doman, and montessori method into my fun learning skill. I already kick on my fun learning home schooling and I love it very much. 

 

[ariel]

As my daughter is almost 3 and 1/2 years old, we are leaning towards homeschool also.  Other than the reasons mentioned above, we would also add mobility.  My husband and I like to travel and not be bound by school schedules.  I hope that doesn't sound selfish.      If we can provide them with a better education with good moral values then why not.   

But two things that concern me about homeschool is that we have a difficult time establishing a schedule and sticking to it and my dd loves to be in a school setting.  Sometimes we start reading and lessons don't finish for hours because the baby interrupts or my daughter is not in the mood.   My daughter has previously gone to well chosen Montessori schools and she loves the setting of schools.  I am afraid as she sees her cousins close to her age going to school, she will have a tough time choosing homeschool.  What do you do then? 



 

[Reader in the Night]

It's a good question, since it's good to always remember one's reasons for homeschooling.
My reasons are:

1. It's important that my child stays with me most of the time. Public school in my state takes a child away from parents for 6 to 8 hours a day. I believe child-mother separation is unhealthy up till teen years, maybe even later.

2. It's important that my child spends time with his/her siblings first of all (not with children that were placed in his class by chance).

3. It's important that my child has a lot of time for free play and independent work.

4. I believe that I teach my children better and more efficiently than school would do. We read and write a lot, learn by heart a lot, review and practice a lot. We don't do busywork, projects and not many field trips (I notice people get carried away with the latter and it could take a lot of financial resources). I choose the study materials very carefully and teach them thoroughly.

5. My children have better meals at home.

In short, I home school because education at home gives better outcomes for my children's physical, psychological, moral and intellectual health.

Sincerely,

Reader in the Night

[AnnieSialo]

Well I think home schools are really helpful for kids as it help them gain confidence and moreover prepare them for further school environment.

[linzy]

For us there are several reasons...
1) Quality of education. I feel like one on one tutoring is a superior method of learning and infinitely more efficient. Even though I graduated valedictorian, got a full ride to college and went on to become a physician I feel like my education was woefully inadequate. Especially, in regards to history and breadth of literature. I feel like it is a testament to how poor our educational system is that I experienced that level of success yet throughout highschool/college often did not even attend classes. However, even when I was in class I mainly just worked on homework for other classes and watched the clock.

2)  The social situation at schools...From rampant teen and even pre-teen sex and pregnancy to drugs and alcohol. I am very familiar with this as 2 of my brothers became very entrenched in these things through exposure by friends in school. In addition the "pack attitude" in regards to things like cheating and bullying and the overall slipping moral compass.

3) The last reason is they can do so much more at home in so much less time. This gives them free time to persue hobbies, hike and just spend time outdoors being boys.

I feel like I have these two small children and one chance to give them the best possible start in life and if I let them down either by:
1) Putting them in a situation where their incompletely developed brains make poor choices with lifetime consequences or
2) Not giving them the chance to achieve and be whatever they desire

I feel like that would be very disappointing.  But I do think everyone has to make their own choice as to what's best for their family.

[Tamsyn]

Great reasons everyone.  Why did I decide to homeschool?  Because I was a homeschool graduate.    I grew up dreaming of doing all of the fun things my parents did with me when I grew up.  My family traveled a lot, but my kids probably won't have that aspect of learning as much as I did.  Like DadDude, I've seen the kind of "socialization" the public school has to offer, and I don't want my kids to have to go through that, especially in middle school.

It was because I always knew that I would be the one to teach my children how to read that I latched on to the idea of Early Learning when I first heard about it.  What a joyful experience that has been!  Instead of pulling my hair out teaching a 6-8 year old reading drills, I can calm down my screaming toddler by asking him if he wants to read a book to me.

[lizzyd]

Several reasons. First, I love spending time with my kids. I love to watch them learn. I just can't imagine handing them over to a complete stranger for most of the day. Second, I want them to have one-on-one attention that is suited towards their strengths and weaknesses and there is no way that can happen in a classroom setting. Third, I am more invested in their education than anyone else. I want to oversee it. Fourth, I don't like the peer-orientation that comes with school socialization. Fifth, I don't want them in a classroom for most of their day. Sixth, I was homeschooled myself during elementary and middle school years and it was a positive experience. That's just a few of my reasons.

[Tanikit]

My nearly 5 year old daughter today told us she wants to go to school. My husband was around when she said this and it was a good chance for us to tell her why it was a good thing she was staying home to be schooled and also to ask her and find out exactly what it is she wants - she has not been in school since she just turned 3 years old and they basically spent all day playing so for her school means play. We explained that school for older children was far less play and a lot more listening to your teacher and sitting down doing worksheets. DH mentioned that school stifles creativity and teaches you to conform (and also to rebel) We have looked up blogs recently of first grade classrooms where they spent the first work drilling things like putting your hand up to ask a question, lining up to go the toilet, lining up to go anywhere, splitting boys and girls, making them put their hands behind their backs in lines, sitting up and paying attention (what they were paying attention to I have no idea - it was to practice paying attention)

We have started a homeschool group on Friday afternoons now where she gets to play with about 5 children her age and another 15 or so who are older or younger than she is. That way she can have the play she needs and can do the academics with us over a much shorter time per day than she'd be in school. I do plan to find her a sport she can join too and she has Sunday School on Sundays which takes place in a school classroom and involves all the sitting and paying attention. Mostly though I know she will be bored at school - I told her those children would be learning their letter sounds and numbers and how to write which she already knows, but we will still have to work hard to get her the social opportunities she is now starting to want a lot.

[Krista G]

That's easy.  My love of teaching.  My love of my children and the blessing of spending so much time with them.  We would have it no other way.  My oldest is almost 17 and I cannot even believe our time together is coming to an end.  This period of life, as all stages, really flies.  Enjoy them every moment you can.

[HavingFun]

I'm trying out the homeschooling for our 4 year old.  There's a homeschool group that meets one day a week in town that we're going to check out this week.  I like the flexibility with homeschooling and we don't have to drive to town every day to drop her off and pick her up.  Homeschooling is a good outlet for creativity as well.  Plus I like the chance to spend the time with my daughter.  I'm using an existing curriculum but embellishing it with things from Jump Start and other kids' sites online.

For next year, I'm looking into an online public school called K12 (http://www.k12.com/).  Has anyone heard of this online school?  The drawback seems to be that you have to stick to their schedule each week/month/year.  So that would not allow for a student who excels in a specific subject to move ahead faster.  Also I'm not sure yet how much "homework" that program assigns if any.  I've written on their site but haven't gotten a response.

We'd consider a Christian school if we had the money and if we lived within walking distance.  There is a small Christian school 10 minutes down the road that uses a "homeschool" curriculum (paces).  A friend of ours used that curriculum and attended that school for part of her education.  She liked it and did fine with it.  Not sure yet on the cost of the curriculum if we were to do it at home versus at the school. 

[Korrale4kq]

We have k-12 here. It is free public school online. (Ohio) we have a few options for digital public school.
I am considering it for higher grades. I am not sure yet.

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