Homeschooling journey has ended. 4 kids done.

[JohnO]

It's been a long fun ride. My wife is still trying to figure out what to do with her time now that the mission is complete.

Four kids educated, 2 girls & 2 boys.

Oldest daughter pulled from public school in first weeks of 6th grade. At the time primarily due to illness however we had established a home program to substitute for a very liberal progressive Talented and Gifted program she was put in at the school. My wife got permission from the school system to teach her at home on Fridays rather that go to the TaG school. (In 5th Grade she got invited to take the SAT through a Johns Hopkins Talented and Gifted Youth program - She crushed the SAT)

We Homeschooled her right up to college. During one of her High School years she asked if she could try the public school. We gave her the OK and she lasted about 1 week. She told us it was a waste of her time and asked to come back home which we happily accommodated. She finished High School in 3 years.

She graduated at the top of her class from Hillsdale College completing one semester at Kings College Oxford University. After teaching for a couple years she went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Florida where she taught Undergrad English, earned a stipend and had her degree paid for.

Oldest son left public school the year after his sister. Once we settled into the homeschool routine we added him. He started 5th grade at home and went through High School. He graduated from Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. Currently he is working in medical diagnostic sales in CA. Along the way Eagle Scout, life guard, certified martial arts instructor and accomplished shooter.

Second daughter never saw the inside of a school till college. Currently about to start her senior year (with Grad classes) in a 5 year program leading to a Master's of Clinical Psychology at Franciscian University of Steubenville Ohio.

Second son also never saw the inside of a school. His finishing of High School prompted me to write this along with some things my wife has talked about recently. He finished school late spring early summer. Also an Eagle Scout, certified life guard. Currently a Sergeant in his police cadet post. He bested 400+ cadets in the regional cadet competition winning Top Shooter on the State Academy Range with a Sig 9mm. He got a job at a local gun store at the beginning of the COVID plague and has been busy there this summer. He is talking to recruiters and has serious desire to serve in Naval Special Warfare or some other SF capacity. (back to add this) His Navy recruiter had him take an online ASVAB type test. My son was notified that he "crushed the test and qualifies for any job in the military he wants". The recruiter is trying to encourage him to chose the Navy Nuclear Program.

What my wife mentioned is that current conditions in the country today have not only created a run on Guns & Ammo but also Homeschooling materials. Makes sense given the situation with schools today and not really knowing yet if kids will be allowed back. Some of her friends have encouraged her to take on children from other families to teach. Apparently there may be a market for people who want their kids homeschooled but don't do it themselves. I know it doesn't make sense to me but I see what they are after. My comment to my wife was, "What kind of Can of Worms" are you going to open with something like that??

She has a fully developed curriculum from K-12 and documented everything. At one time she decided to have everything documented so if anything happened to her I or someone else could carry on with her program. She has been to go to person in our large homeschooling group for guidance. Actually all this is on the forefront because our group is holding a graduation this coming Sunday which included our son and she feels that will officially close the homeschooling journey.

[LOKNLOD]

Kudos to your family. That's quite an achievement! Having grown up around several families that did it very poorly, I have a lot of respect for families that can do it very well.

We are headed into virtual schooling (in conjunction with our district) with our three this semester. Our oldest has an immune deficiency, and while we're not panicked about COVID the schools are just goofy enough that we've decided it's better to just jump straight to this rather than bother with them changing their plans constantly.

[JohnO]

Kudos to your family. That's quite an achievement! Having grown up around several families that did it very poorly, I have a lot of respect for families that can do it very well.

We are headed into virtual schooling (in conjunction with our district) with our three this semester. Our oldest has an immune deficiency, and while we're not panicked about COVID the schools are just goofy enough that we've decided it's better to just jump straight to this rather than bother with them changing their plans constantly.

My oldest was diagnosed with a Bleeding Disorder. She got her "period" at a young age and couldn't stop bleeding. All she went through turned her schedule upside down. She was on so many hormones and strange medications that she slept during the day and was awake at night. The school system wanted to send tutors but when we explained her condition it became apparent it wouldn't work.

Very fortunately part of her problem was due to an immature endocrine system and over time things normalized.

[LOKNLOD]

My oldest was diagnosed with a Bleeding Disorder. She got her "period" at a young age and couldn't stop bleeding. All she went through turned her schedule upside down. She was on so many hormones and strange medications that she slept during the day and was awake at night. The school system wanted to send tutors but when we explained her condition it became apparent it wouldn't work.

Very fortunately part of her problem was due to an immature endocrine system and over time things normalized.

That is tough, glad it leveled out. Mine has a specific antibody deficiency and chest colds go from zero to pneumonia almost instantly. She didn't get to finish Pre-k, and missed out on the last part of 6th grade as well. And COVID killed the end of 7th for her this year. Similarly, she has improved greatly with age, and despite the first doctor saddling her with IVIG infusions (presumably for life) through a great deal of advocacy (mostly by my wife) we were able to get some second opinions and another doctor who was willing to work with us on less aggressive treatment. She mostly does great these days, mostly, but we do worry about how COVID would treat her. seems like the only kids having issues are those with immune or autoimmune problems.

[JohnO]

That is tough, glad it leveled out. Mine has a specific antibody deficiency and chest colds go from zero to pneumonia almost instantly. She didn't get to finish Pre-k, and missed out on the last part of 6th grade as well. And COVID killed the end of 7th for her this year. Similarly, she has improved greatly with age, and despite the first doctor saddling her with IVIG infusions (presumably for life) through a great deal of advocacy (mostly by my wife) we were able to get some second opinions and another doctor who was willing to work with us on less aggressive treatment. She mostly does great these days, mostly, but we do worry about how COVID would treat her. seems like the only kids having issues are those with immune or autoimmune problems.

At one point during my daughter's illness the Doc's tried putting her into menopause with Depo Lupron.

It was a hell of a ride in the beginning. We took her to a pediatric hematologist who happened to be a woman. My wife asked, "Given where she is bleeding from can you work with her gynecologist to get this under control?" The jackwagon hematologist's response, "Oh no! I do what I do and a gynecologist does what they do". We did what we do and walked out!

FYI this was also a pediatric hematologist that insisted that her lab (Yale University) did not do my daughter's blood work until I showed her the BILL! Fing Boob!

[RoyGBiv]

Kudos to you and especially Mrs JohnO!

Regarding homeschooling opportunities, the market for qualified instructors is BOOMING.
My daughter is home waiting to start her covid-19 delayed internship. She has lots of experience working with kids on the autism spectrum. She put her resume out on Care.com and was flooded with interview requests immediately. Most of the interest was from families looking for help to support online schooling for two working parents. Our county just announced a ban on in-person classes until at least late September. She wound up taking a full time position with a 2 child family (one child on the spectrum) for nearly 20 bucks an hour.

Our kids stayed in the public school system through HS and were bored to tears by sophomore year. They both did quite well, so, I'm not complaining. Starting college this fall is quite the quagmire.

[Doc_Glock]

Congrats. We are in the thick of it. 2/5 heading to college this fall.

Apropos of nothing, but I love this clip.


https://youtu.be/5QTXzM3wPRw

[JRB]

Absolutely, wonderfully outstanding work! Four kids, four excellent adults that will make everything in their sphere better for them having been there. One cannot hope to do better as parents, that much is sure.
A close friend of mine chose homeschool as well. His wife does all the heavy lifting there as he's an LEO. Recently she became a similar nexus of homeschool 'how to' sorts of things and she is absolutely buried with new folks asking for help. I've done a couple of afternoons going over basic car mechanic how-to sorts of things for homeschooled kids and I was astonished at how attentive and serious they were about learning what I had to offer there. Good kids, all of them.

It is excellent that your son crushed the ASVAB - but bear in mind that there's so damn few applicants that qualify for Navy nuke, that every single fucking recruiter out there will push for Navy nuke if the applicant qualifies. I almost went Navy nuke but once I showed interest in other things, the recruiter kept steering me back toward nuke to the point where I felt like he'd never let me sign up for anything else. Then the Army offered a better bonus and 12 years later here I am.
But three people I know went Navy nuke, and not one of them was happy with it. One ended up on a carrier the other two on subs. Lots of extended floats and long hours where you will be too valuable as a nuke to get to do anything else more 'fun'. Only some of them got shore leave at any given port, because there's always gotta be bodies and backup bodies for babysitting the reactor, and they're always short of nuke people.
One told me that after basic, he never carried a weapon except for a few hours a year to qualify on an M9 and immediately go back to doing nuke stuff.

They all hated life as nukes and got out of it as soon as they could. One finished an engineering degree and direct commissioned into the Navy flight program and now flies C2 COD's and Ospreys, so he's living life right. The other two finished their enlistments and turned down hefty 5-digit bonuses to re-up.
One now works at the Pantex plant in Amarillo and the other works at a civilian nuke power plant, and I've never seen them say anything positive about the Navy since, except for the 'well it got me the job now' sorts of things.

[JohnO]

Absolutely, wonderfully outstanding work! Four kids, four excellent adults that will make everything in their sphere better for them having been there. One cannot hope to do better as parents, that much is sure.
A close friend of mine chose homeschool as well. His wife does all the heavy lifting there as he's an LEO. Recently she became a similar nexus of homeschool 'how to' sorts of things and she is absolutely buried with new folks asking for help. I've done a couple of afternoons going over basic car mechanic how-to sorts of things for homeschooled kids and I was astonished at how attentive and serious they were about learning what I had to offer there. Good kids, all of them.

It is excellent that your son crushed the ASVAB - but bear in mind that there's so damn few applicants that qualify for Navy nuke, that every single fucking recruiter out there will push for Navy nuke if the applicant qualifies. I almost went Navy nuke but once I showed interest in other things, the recruiter kept steering me back toward nuke to the point where I felt like he'd never let me sign up for anything else. Then the Army offered a better bonus and 12 years later here I am.
But three people I know went Navy nuke, and not one of them was happy with it. One ended up on a carrier the other two on subs. Lots of extended floats and long hours where you will be too valuable as a nuke to get to do anything else more 'fun'. Only some of them got shore leave at any given port, because there's always gotta be bodies and backup bodies for babysitting the reactor, and they're always short of nuke people.
One told me that after basic, he never carried a weapon except for a few hours a year to qualify on an M9 and immediately go back to doing nuke stuff.

They all hated life as nukes and got out of it as soon as they could. One finished an engineering degree and direct commissioned into the Navy flight program and now flies C2 COD's and Ospreys, so he's living life right. The other two finished their enlistments and turned down hefty 5-digit bonuses to re-up.
One now works at the Pantex plant in Amarillo and the other works at a civilian nuke power plant, and I've never seen them say anything positive about the Navy since, except for the 'well it got me the job now' sorts of things.

My son has no interest in the Navy Nuke Program. He has his heart set on Door Kicking and also wants to be a Medic. He has SEALs stuck in his head. I want him to talk with other recruiters. See what Army, Air Force ... can offer him in the SF world. I also have been talking to him about going Navy as a corpsman then put in a packet for SEALs. I keep telling him enlisting with a SEAL contract (SO) makes him needs of the Navy if he washes out. If he had a job first he would just go back.

My oldest son has a buddy who currently is a Navy Nuke. I work with two former submariners. My son doesn't seem to care for the idea of being on a submarine. I told him that Subs and SEALs could go hand and hand. He said he would deal with it when the time comes. He's a sharp kid but he also is young and feels invincible. He keeps telling me that the younger the better for body resiliency getting through SEAL training and selection. He said 19 is even better than 20-21.

I

[JRB]

My son has no interest in the Navy Nuke Program. He has his heart set on Door Kicking and also wants to be a Medic. He has SEALs stuck in his head. I want him to talk with other recruiters. See what Army, Air Force ... can offer him in the SF world. I also have been talking to him about going Navy as a corpsman then put in a packet for SEALs. I keep telling him enlisting with a SEAL contract (SO) makes him needs of the Navy if he washes out. If he had a job first he would just go back.

My oldest son has a buddy who currently is a Navy Nuke. I work with two former submariners. My son doesn't seem to care for the idea of being on a submarine. I told him that Subs and SEALs could go hand and hand. He said he would deal with it when the time comes. He's a sharp kid but he also is young and feels invincible. He keeps telling me that the younger the better for body resiliency getting through SEAL training and selection. He said 19 is even better than 20-21.



In that case, Sir, all I can say is that I am genuinely jealous of your son. My Dad is a good man, but I wish he'd given me a tenth of the support and the sage advice and perspective pre-enlistment as you've provided your son. My Dad simply didn't know what he didn't know. You *know*.

[kjr_29]

Kudos! Like you, we finished #4 homeschooling this year as well. 20years amongst the four, also 2 girls and 2 boys. My oldest is married now, and an EMT working towards becoming a paramedic. My oldest boy also crushed the ASVAB (132 GT) and is CH-47 mechanic in the Army, working through flight school, to become a Crew Chief. After some flight time, will apply to 160th. Third is a Psych major in college and #4 will be a freshman this year, Trustees scholar.

Absolutely no regrets homeschooling for 20years. It is a journey for sure, and I salute you and your wife for a job well done.


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[Elwin]

Congrats! What year did your oldest graduate at Hillsdale? My wife and I are class of ‘15. We’re hoping to have kids soon and are dead set on homeschooling from the start, possibly for many of the same reasons you did (I gather you may be Roman Catholic; my wife and I are Eastern Orthodox).

[TNK]

Congratulations. You did the right thing.

[JohnO]

Congrats! What year did your oldest graduate at Hillsdale? My wife and I are class of ‘15. We’re hoping to have kids soon and are dead set on homeschooling from the start, possibly for many of the same reasons you did (I gather you may be Roman Catholic; my wife and I are Eastern Orthodox).

Yes RC. My daughter graduated in 2012. She sang with the Hillcats while there. The first ever to be invited to sing with the faculty jazz band.

[vcdgrips]

Outside of my lane.

I have had a hand in training CGSC students since 06ish. I have had career path conversations with with dozens from multiple service branches gleaning info for talking to boys in BSA who, of their own accord, are thinking that college may not be for them right out of high school.

I understand you have reared a smart, hard working young man who will likely do what he wants, when he wants, re joining the military and his service selection.

Having said that, if door kicking, face shooting is driving the train, the Army has so many more opportunities for that than probably all the other services combined, multiple times over, which means a much larger network both in and out of the service.

If for whatever reason, he does not make a particular program in a particular time frame, there are often multiple programs where folks are still doing plenty of door kicking/face shooting.

I get why the recruiter wants him for nukes. I suspect the ASVAB for that program is of the highest tier. I worked with a guy who did that program years ago (late 70s/early 80s) as an enlisted man. He was told that the ASVAB score to be in the navy nuke sub program was higher than that for OCS off the street.


I am sure there are those who have truly BTDT on this board who would consult with you and your son off line.

Blessings to your family

DB

[jc000]

Congrats JohnO. We're in the midst of this journey ourselves, likely one of the best decisions my wife and I have ever made outside of having 'em!

[JohnO]

Congrats JohnO. We're in the midst of this journey ourselves, likely one of the best decisions my wife and I have ever made outside of having 'em!

It one of the best if not the best thing you can do for your kids. Look for a local homeschooling group with your values. Our group held regular Friday activities. Museum visits, guest lecturers, fun & games... the possibilities are endless and it's great for the kids. Most homeschoolers can get all their week's work done Mon - Thursday.

Guest lecturers included primarily parents everything from medicine, chemestry, carpentry to a grandparent who escaped Castro's Cuba during the takeover. That grandfather had all the adults present on the edge of their seats. Especially when he drew parallels to what he saw in Cuba and what he could hardly believe he was seeing in America today.

[JTQ]

Congratulations on successfully completing your journey. You should be very proud.

[JAD]

My wife is a hell of a homeschooler. We have done a couple of semesters in the course of boy’s first three grades as a way of not having to tell his teachers that they’re not qualified to diagnose. I do push to bring him back in to school almost solely because he’s an only child of older parents, and he is crazy social; and for his personality, I think that he needs to be asked to perform to other people’s standards and respect a spectrum of authority. I may call bullshit on the whole experiment by high school.

[Darth_Uno]

Very good. My brother and I were homeschooled in the ‘90’s, as was my wife, before many people heard of it. The usual response was, “Is that even legal?”

We opted not to homeschool, since we live in a small town with fairly traditional values. No way would I send him to a public school in a bigger district.

In case anyone reading this is on the fence about homeschooling and isn’t sure if they can do it, what would you say were the biggest challenges and how did you resolve them?


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[Irelander]

God bless you and your family, JohnO. That is an amazing accomplishment. Our daughter has also not seen the inside of a school but she is just starting 1st grade here at home with mommy. Kindergarten went amazingly well and she is excelling at an amazing rate. I'm completely sold on homeschooling. I hope our daughter makes good college decisions like your kids. Again, Congrats!

[JohnO]

I understand you have reared a smart, hard working young man who will likely do what he wants, when he wants, re joining the military and his service selection.

Having said that, if door kicking, face shooting is driving the train, the Army has so many more opportunities for that than probably all the other services combined, multiple times over, which means a much larger network both in and out of the service.

If for whatever reason, he does not make a particular program in a particular time frame, there are often multiple programs where folks are still doing plenty of door kicking/face shooting.


I agree completely. I have spent a good bit of time talking to my son about the different branches of the service. One of the things I discussed is how the Army has so much more to offer in the way of combat arms like Infantry, Airborne, Rangers, SF vs Navy SEALs. Since he has talked medic I've said what about Air Force Para Rescue?

I don't want to plant doubt into his head but I want him to be realistic. I discussed how even luck can be a factor. An injury while in training/selection can derail an individual. He's heard from his maternal grandfather how a leg injury in Army basic training got him rolled back. By the time he recovered and finished training the war was over and he served as occupation forces in post war Germany. Both Grandpas are gone now but his maternal grandfather served again during Korea as a commissioned officer in the Air Force.

My dad enlisted during Korea and taught artillery at Ft. Hood. That's all I know about his service but so many other relatives had so much more they never talked about and I only found out about at their wakes and funerals. At my uncle's funeral I discovered how he was (for lack of a better way to say it) afraid to go to the VA. All he ever told me was he was a radio operator in Korea. Then I found out he was a sniper. But what kept him from the VA was his fear over what he did at the Chosin Reservoir. He manned a quad 50 anti-aircraft gun and repelled countless Chinese human wave bugle charges. I guess the carnage ate at him and he felt guilt and thought it would reflect badly on him.

I've made a few casual remarks about what happens to the typical BUD/S class, starting numbers vs. graduating numbers. I told him that all the guys who undertake the challenge do so with the belief they have what it takes and many just walk away on their own. I've discussed crawl, walk, run in the context of enlisting in regular Army, Infantry perhaps, learning that job then moving up the food chain with the goal of reaching SF.

I've also encouraged my son to take some college classes first. He keeps telling me how he wants to be a SF medic. I keep telling him that a few classes like chemistry, biology, anatomy & physiology would go a long way toward setting him up for success in a .mil medic program.

As my son I know him well. I've taught him quite a lot that the typical kid his age would not have been exposed to, not that he is unique, others have done similar. He has an uncanny ability to look at anything and figure out how it works or how to fix it if it is broken. He is a really good problem solver. What I really don't know is how he would cope/handle the harsh austere conditions of highest level military screening/selection program. I'd like to think he has what it takes but I know there is only one way to find out!

[vcdgrips]

Edge/Outside of my lane

JohnO

My father graduated early during the Spring of 44. Enlisted in the Navy as radioman on a sub tender. He saw no direct combat but road out two typhoons. Coming from Oklahoma and surviving more than one tornado, he was quite impressed.

He visited Shanghai immediately after the war. What he saw and heard there sworn him off of all things Japanese, particularly cars and electronics his whole life. Buick for cars,Zenith and later Samsung for electronics.

All of that to say that one's experiences, 18-22, imprint deeply, even more so when life and death is involved I suspect.

I would bet that given his ASVAB scores, he could "contract" for a slot to be a combat medic right after his initial training. To echo a previous post of mine. he will never have more bargaining power with the military than he will right now with the possible exception of re-enlistment after he has made it into the special forces community so to speak.

As a father who has never served your thoughts of basic/combat medic school/jump school/82 or 101st and then maybe Rangers and/or SF down the line sounds like a solid plan as he grows up.

Having said that, I believe the Army has a faster track via the 18x program as others have mentioned.

Finally, has he given any thought to flying? The Army has a "street to seat" flight program for smart fit kids right out of high school.

Keep us in the loop. Again, I am sure there are BTDT folks here who can help.

[JohnO]

Edge/Outside of my lane

JohnO

My father graduated early during the Spring of 44. Enlisted in the Navy as radioman on a sub tender. He saw no direct combat but road out two typhoons. Coming from Oklahoma and surviving more than one tornado, he was quite impressed.

He visited Shanghai immediately after the war. What he saw and heard there sworn him off of all things Japanese, particularly cars and electronics his whole life. Buick for cars,Zenith and later Samsung for electronics.

All of that to say that one's experiences, 18-22, imprint deeply, even more so when life and death is involved I suspect.

I would bet that given his ASVAB scores, he could "contract" for a slot to be a combat medic right after his initial training. To echo a previous post of mine. he will never have more bargaining power with the military than he will right now with the possible exception of re-enlistment after he has made it into the special forces community so to speak.

As a father who has never served your thoughts of basic/combat medic school/jump school/82 or 101st and then maybe Rangers and/or SF down the line sounds like a solid plan as he grows up.

Having said that, I believe the Army has a faster track via the 18x program as others have mentioned.

Finally, has he given any thought to flying? The Army has a "street to seat" flight program for smart fit kids right out of high school.

Keep us in the loop. Again, I am sure there are BTDT folks here who can help.

The police officers who run the cadet program my son is in can’t get enough of him. The head officer is friends with the commander of the National Guard Air Wing stationed at BDL in Windsor Locks, CT. They have talked to my son about flight school but that hasn’t appealed to him.

Speaking of sworn off all things Japanese, my first cousin dated a Japanese guy. She brought him to a wedding many years ago. An older relative of ours (my mother’s cousin) a WW2 South Pacific vet who went on to be Winchester’s then later Olin’s chief metallurgist walked up to her at the wedding and said, “Eileen we don’t date them, we Kill them”. And he was dead serious! In the presence of her date.

[Spartan1980]

My son has no interest in the Navy Nuke Program. He has his heart set on Door Kicking and also wants to be a Medic. He has SEALs stuck in his head. I want him to talk with other recruiters. See what Army, Air Force ... can offer him in the SF world. I also have been talking to him about going Navy as a corpsman then put in a packet for SEALs. I keep telling him enlisting with a SEAL contract (SO) makes him needs of the Navy if he washes out. If he had a job first he would just go back.

My oldest son has a buddy who currently is a Navy Nuke. I work with two former submariners. My son doesn't seem to care for the idea of being on a submarine. I told him that Subs and SEALs could go hand and hand. He said he would deal with it when the time comes. He's a sharp kid but he also is young and feels invincible. He keeps telling me that the younger the better for body resiliency getting through SEAL training and selection. He said 19 is even better than 20-21.

I

An Air Force PJ (pararescue) seems like a good fit for him.
Edit to add: Show him this and have him look at the "training pipeline" at the bottom. These guys are studs and they clank when they walk.
https://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/pararescue

And mega kudos to you and especially your wife. This whole thread was refreshing to read! Maybe getting her curriculum published and marketed is what she needs to stay busy. I know you've both already reaped the ultimate reward for her work, but maybe it's time to get some monetary reward? Anyway CONGRATS!