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Thread: Thinking of home schooling my kids.

  1. #1

    Thinking of home schooling my kids.

    To any an all who are home schooling I am really interested in how you are accomplishing the education for your kids and would like to hear any thoughts about getting started or any issues you may have found along the way. I am also hearing about curriculum being used and teaching methodology.

    Specifically, @Irelander, @Lester Polfus I saw what you posted in the textbooks thread and hope that you might be willing to share where you got started and what curriculum you went with along with methodology/delivery, (i.e. online, self taught, local co-op etc.) you might be using. I have been contemplating home schooling my son. He is miserable in school and I can't say I blame him. Currently I am retired so I have nothing but time to invest in my kids and can't think of a better investment to make. To put it politely I am appalled by what my son has been learning at school and further disgusted by the lack of time kids get to socialize and generally be outside and exercise. Here in SC my kid is eating lunch at 10 AM which is freaking nuts, (when I asked why the assistant principal stated that there is barely enough time for the kids to all squeeze in for lunch), no other snacks during the day. The kids get 30 minutes on the playground daily and P.E. only two times a week for barely 45 minutes.

    Between the crap my son is repeating at home, the shit noted above and the fact that the school is literally run like a prison with music playing over a loud speaker, (so they don't talk in the lunch line) I'm about to lose it. Oh yeah, and don't get me started how I have literally been told they think my son needs ADHD medication despite no one there being a fucking doctor. Maybe if kids were allowed to move exercise and socialize during the day, (at some point) kids wouldn't be so fucking talkative. In talking with the teacher recently I found that about 60% of his class is on medication. I am really starting to feel like people are medicating the shit out of their kids because it's easier than dealing with them and I am tired of being consistently talked to about medicating my son. It seems to me like the educators here prefer it because the children are more compliant. My son is smart, articulate, reads well above his grade level and is above his grade level in math. He doesn't like to preform or do his work for his teachers but I have zero trouble with him doing his work at home. My current concern is that he is just bored and am worried about the shift in his behavior I am seeing. As of late all he talks to me about is how unhappy he is at school and how bored he is. I feel like I could easily keep him occupied and learning at home. He is naturally very curious and wants to read, learn investigate and research things. I am getting the impression that this is being squashed in class as I am being told he constantly interrupts with questions. Initially I thought this was just a personality conflict but it is the same as last year. All the staff says how polite and kind he is but I am regularly told by his teacher that he interrupts the lesson with constant questions.

    Where I am at presently is I've looked at private schools, and done some preliminary research on home schooling but everything in my area has a huge waiting list for private schools and I don't see much difference between them and public. With that in mind and the price of private school being the cost of college tuition I could invest that money and travel all over the US and abroad with my kids and truly enrich their lives and experiences. There is a great deal of learning that could be had outside of traditional school. Maybe this last part is a little self serving but I can't see the down side. Really the only thing holding me back right now is the fact that I don't feel qualified to teach every subject. I have looked at co-ops though and that looks promising. If anyone can elicit some advice I would be grateful. Please feel free to PM me if you don't want to post. I could certainly use some help. Pulling my son from school to educate at home isn't something I am taking lightly. Thanks in advance to all.

  2. #2
    I was not home schooled, but have lived in communities where it was common enough that I'm friends with several families that have. None of the children in these home school arrangements ended up with the knowledge or social skills necessary to follow a traditional white-collar career path. As someone who has succeeded on a traditional white-collar career path, this has not endeared the idea to me, personally.

    I do not know if this is a universal experience born out by the statistics, and I will say that the home school families I'm aware of produced highly intelligent, skilled children who are happy. But none are getting a Masters in biotech, moving to The Valley, and bro-ing down, if that matters to you. It matters to me.

    Again, this is my personal experience and your milage may vary.
    Last edited by TheRoland; 01-14-2020 at 06:41 PM.

  3. #3
    It does matter, I do not want my children limited by their education or the potential for further education. This is something that I have concerns about. The social aspect I am aware of in the bit of looking that I have done. To be quite honest I feel like my child already has social impairments and it seems most other children his age in the school system here are very much the same way. Very little socialization seems to happen at school here. Thank you for your input.
    Last edited by Mike C; 01-14-2020 at 06:50 PM.

  4. #4

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by TheRoland View Post
    I was not home schooled, but have lived in communities where it was common enough that I'm friends with several families that have. None of the children in these home school arrangements ended up with the knowledge or social skills necessary to follow a traditional white-collar career path. As someone who has succeeded on a traditional white-collar career path, this has not endeared the idea to me, personally.

    I do not know if this is a universal experience born out by the statistics, and I will say that the home school families I'm aware of produced highly intelligent, skilled children who are happy. But none are getting a Masters in biotech, moving to The Valley, and bro-ing down, if that matters to you. It matters to me.

    Again, this is my personal experience and your milage may vary.
    This is not universal.

    I'm a mechanical engineer and my highly successful PM was homeschooled. I've known a few others who also were successful in white collar jobs(some even have masters degrees...). In fact I'd go so far as to say the people who I know that were homeschooled seemed to display a higher level of maturity for their age.

    ETA: I was not homeschooled.
    Last edited by littlejerry; 01-14-2020 at 07:16 PM.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike C View Post
    To any an all who are home schooling I am really interested in how you are accomplishing the education for your kids and would like to hear any thoughts about getting started or any issues you may have found along the way. I am also hearing about curriculum being used and teaching methodology.

    Specifically, @Irelander, @Lester Polfus I saw what you posted in the textbooks thread and hope that you might be willing to share where you got started and what curriculum you went with along with methodology/delivery, (i.e. online, self taught, local co-op etc.) you might be using. I have been contemplating home schooling my son. He is miserable in school and I can't say I blame him. Currently I am retired so I have nothing but time to invest in my kids and can't think of a better investment to make. To put it politely I am appalled by what my son has been learning at school and further disgusted by the lack of time kids get to socialize and generally be outside and exercise. Here in SC my kid is eating lunch at 10 AM which is freaking nuts, (when I asked why the assistant principal stated that there is barely enough time for the kids to all squeeze in for lunch), no other snacks during the day. The kids get 30 minutes on the playground daily and P.E. only two times a week for barely 45 minutes.

    Between the crap my son is repeating at home, the shit noted above and the fact that the school is literally run like a prison with music playing over a loud speaker, (so they don't talk in the lunch line) I'm about to lose it. Oh yeah, and don't get me started how I have literally been told they think my son needs ADHD medication despite no one there being a fucking doctor. Maybe if kids were allowed to move exercise and socialize during the day, (at some point) kids wouldn't be so fucking talkative. In talking with the teacher recently I found that about 60% of his class is on medication. I am really starting to feel like people are medicating the shit out of their kids because it's easier than dealing with them and I am tired of being consistently talked to about medicating my son. It seems to me like the educators here prefer it because the children are more compliant. My son is smart, articulate, reads well above his grade level and is above his grade level in math. He doesn't like to preform or do his work for his teachers but I have zero trouble with him doing his work at home. My current concern is that he is just bored and am worried about the shift in his behavior I am seeing. As of late all he talks to me about is how unhappy he is at school and how bored he is. I feel like I could easily keep him occupied and learning at home. He is naturally very curious and wants to read, learn investigate and research things. I am getting the impression that this is being squashed in class as I am being told he constantly interrupts with questions. Initially I thought this was just a personality conflict but it is the same as last year. All the staff says how polite and kind he is but I am regularly told by his teacher that he interrupts the lesson with constant questions.

    Where I am at presently is I've looked at private schools, and done some preliminary research on home schooling but everything in my area has a huge waiting list for private schools and I don't see much difference between them and public. With that in mind and the price of private school being the cost of college tuition I could invest that money and travel all over the US and abroad with my kids and truly enrich their lives and experiences. There is a great deal of learning that could be had outside of traditional school. Maybe this last part is a little self serving but I can't see the down side. Really the only thing holding me back right now is the fact that I don't feel qualified to teach every subject. I have looked at co-ops though and that looks promising. If anyone can elicit some advice I would be grateful. Please feel free to PM me if you don't want to post. I could certainly use some help. Pulling my son from school to educate at home isn't something I am taking lightly. Thanks in advance to all.
    I’ve seen a lot of homeschoolers, and I’ve seen kids go back and forth between public education and homeschooling. The homeschool situations I’ve seen fail are when the barely literate are trying to save their chilluns from that damn gubmint school that’s ruining all the kids in town. Or when the homeschool mom has too many kids too keep up with and doesn’t really do anything, and homeschool dad is too busy working three jobs so mom can stay home with the kids to be involved.

    The ones I’ve seen succeed are usually when the parents go into it with both eyes open, are realistic about expectations, use real curriculum - even though they can be adaptive and flexible to the needs of their kids, they have to have a real foundation for what they are adapting or it doesn’t work well. Especially when the parents have a reasonable level of education, they are able to help their kids learn to learn.

    Re: the highlighted section: nobody really is qualified to teach every subject. It sounds like your son is in elementary school. In the early grades, general knowledge is all the teachers have to have on any given subject. They are supposed to be experts on child development and education, not on every subject that is covered. Later grades and into middle and high school, the teachers specialize. They have to!

    So, homeschooling grade school is probably something a reasonably intelligent retired dude can do, especially if you get in with a solid co-op that can make up for whatever your educational deficiencies or knowledge gaps might be.

  7. #7
    Having been home schooled since 4th grade I seem to be doing alright...

    Just like kids in public school, not every one is a rocket scientist. Every family does this for their own reasons. I was introverted as a kid (still am) the school's answer to this was to pull me from class and put me in a mentally challenged program and not inform my parents what they did. After 2 years when my Mom realized what was going on...well to this day I can't believe that school is still standing, more than one person lost their job. It took me until my mid 20s to find my social niche, I don't feel held back by that. It is just who I am.

    I can't speak to every decision that was made to my education, but I know my mother used every resource she could. Any subject she did not have a strong grasp on, she found someone who did and was willing to spend time with me on it.
    There are likely home school groups in your area that have many families that regularly meet for both social and education reasons. Prepare to butt heads on stubborn subjects if you find you kids has trouble in a subject to the point that you are arguing about it, call in an outside tutor. You local literacy center should have that available.

    We also spent a lot of time in local libraries delving in subjects that I found interesting. While there are state and federal requirements (think standardized testing) you kid can following something that THEY find interesting and are more likely to retain it.

    You will need to have a curriculum that covers all the required learning objectives and retain a folder on completed papers, tests, etc and find an evaluator that you like. The evaluator reviews everything you covered for the year to verify that all learning goal are met for a given grade level. Some off them are pretty easy to work with other not so much, luckily you can chose to use another one.

    Education can also come in different forms if you let it. My younger brother was also home schooled. Without getting too personal in his life, he had trouble reading until about 12 years old. The thing that got him over that hill was his determination to play Minecraft and read the wiki guides! He is now on his second semester in college for Electrical Engineering.

    It is a substantial lifestyle change in everything that you will do in a day, but it also offers more freedom. With a 1/1 student teacher ratio we often covered all the subjects in under 4 hours a day. Don't feel like school today? How about Saturday instead. By 15 I was largely independent in my education and was able to just follow the book work for a given day only asking my mom for help if I was stuck on something.. often math.

    A couple things you will find to be incredible frustrating is random strangers asking your kid stupid "pop quiz" questions while grocery shopping. The same random strangers will also lecture you about how you are wrong and your kids needs to be "socialized" (like a dog!), see above mention groups if that is something you feel you need. You can kindly tell these people to fuck off (I am not bitter... really!)
    Last edited by Artemas2; 01-14-2020 at 08:05 PM.

  8. #8
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    Socialization is not the disadvantage with homeschooling. The biggest challenge is making sure that the kids are not over-insulated from the normal struggles that would normally strengthen them. The he kids that don’t experience this are the ones having problems later.

    We live in a “good” school district, but every time I see their lame excuse for teaching math, my decision to send our kids to private school is validated. It is expensive but worth every penny.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Any legal information I may post is general information, and is not legal advice. Such information may or may not apply to your specific situation. I am not your attorney unless an attorney-client relationship is separately and privately established.

  9. #9
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    There were several homeschooled students in my college classes. They were generally more impressive socially , behaviorally, and just as smart.


    They were from religious homes.


    It impressed me.

  10. #10
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    We currently home school 2 of my 4 kids. We do what's best for each kid. My oldest was home-schooled, but she's now in a private school - 8th grade. One of my middle kids was unwilling to learn at home, so he goes to school. The other two are home-schooled. We like picking and choosing the curriculum and we do annual tests (graded by an outside company) to gauge progress. My wife was a teacher, so I feel like we have a good handle on the situation.

    We also have a very active home-school community at my church, there are probably 75 families participating. They also have a co-op teaching setup where they can go to classes once a week, and do the remainder of the work on their own.

    I don't see any socialization issues with my kids. As a matter of fact, I find that home-schooled kids are far more capable of talking to adults and holding a conversation. The public school kids around me seem to scatter when adults are around, or they talk to you while looking down at the floor. Home-schooled kids also seem more open to playing with kids of other ages, public school kids seem to only want to play with kids of their own age.
    Last edited by JV_; 01-14-2020 at 08:38 PM.

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