For those whose children are homeschooled, or who were homeschooled ...?

Question

could you please give me your opinions of the whole experience?

My husband and I are tentatively talking about having children. When we do and they are old enough, we would prefer to have the children homeschooled.

What we were thinking of doing was homeschooling from kindergarten to the beginning of high school. We would also enroll the children in extra curricular activities, like signing them up to play on local (not school) sports teams or in educational programs at the library, museum, etc. so that the children are socialized (and aren't cooped up in the house all the time). I was also thinking that the children could then go to a public high school, so that they don't miss out on high school sports (and possible scholarships), homecomings, proms, the dating scene, etc.

I've already researched my state's requirements (FL).

I was just wondering if anyone could share their opinions on their experiences and on my above statements about home vs. public school.

Answer 1

Well my children are in the public school.  I honestly think it is great.  They will be missing out on the peer interaction and socialization that they get from being in a class.  During class time that is.  I can barely keep up with the grade 4 home work.  It is a big year for kids.  Can't imagine trying to teach them it.  However,  I have a brother who homeschools his kids.  And i notice a big difference in the behaviour when it comes to socializing with others.  more with drawn and YES they are in ballet, gymnastics, drama, etc.... all out side of school program.  There are some key elements that they will miss out on like the buddy reading program, becomming a prefect, that help with the teaching responsibility, and skills that are hard to pick up at home.

Answer 2

I've been homeschooled for 6 years now, and I love it! I'm 16, and my brother and I went to a public school until I was in 5th grade. (Our homeschooling is really distance education through one of the universities near here. All of the lessons are planned and graded by a teacher, and we send them in after we finish.) I get to pick the classes I take, and the extra things that I do.

We live in a "frontier" area, so it's a 15 mile drive to the nearest public school. It's also further than that to the towns that have extra curricular activities.... but I don't have "socialization problems" at all. I choose the people I am around, and activities that I enjoy. I'm usually the only homeschooler there, but that doesn't bother me. (I volunteer at a girl-scout camp near my home, and sing with a group from our church on Tuesdays at the retirement home in town. I also went with a people to people group to Australia this summer.)

I get to see things that I'd never have if I was still in public school. When we travel, we take our schoolwork along. (And we can travel when my dad has a chance to, instead of during the normal school breaks. It's a lot more fun to visit places off-season! The second year after I stopped going to public school, we drove all the way to Yellowstone National Park, and since there wasn't a time constraint, we got to stop at any museum or historical place that we found on the way.)

Because I'm homeschooled, I have time after I finish my lessons for the day to work on my writing. (I'm working on my first novel, and I'm halfway done with it now.) I'm also learning how to play the celtic harp, and two languages. (Spanish and Latin.)

I think that when your kids are old enough, you should let them choose if they go to a public high school.

If they want to stay homeschooled, several universitys offer high-school distance classes that are just as good as the ones offered by public schools. Also, the university that we do our classes through offers a lot of dual credit high school courses, so I'll be a sophmore in college when I graduate high school.

(Just so you know, Scholarships don't have to be for sports! A lot of different things can lead to a scholarship. What matters is that it's for something your kid enjoys!)

Answer 3

I went to public school for a while in FL and I did not like it.  I'm now homeschooled and I like it much better.  I went to a high school that had 4,000 students.  That's a lot of kids at one place.  My teachers didn't teach.  They give you what is called "busy work."  Basically, the work load is from the book, no lecture.  You read the chapters, do the questions, and take a test that they teacher makes up themselves.  I've had teachers that would tell me..."If you don't understand, then that's your problem.  I already have me high school diploma."  This is what I went through for four years.  Now I'm doing high school all over again because I did not learn anything.  I now homeschool through a private correspondence school.  My course is designed so that I can learn on my own.  My books take you step by step through math problems and other subjects.  

One thing that I did use while in FL was their public online virtual school.  www.flvs.net  The classes are self paced and very easy to understand.  They have classes for both middle and high school students.

Another site you might want to check out is www.connectionsacademy.com

They are an online charter school.  I'm not sure if they are in FL, but check it out because FL does allow charter schools.

There are so many ways to homeschool.  Some use online schools and some just use books.  I use a combination of both.  My books are posted online and they are also mailed to me.  This is good because it gives me the chance to bring my books with me if I go on a trip.  I switched from FLVS.net to Penn Foster High School because it gave me the chance to bring my books with me if I had to go somewhere for a long period of time.  FLVS.net's workload is all online and I would have to print all the pages.  It just works out better for me with Penn Foster.  

Homeschoolers can get scholarships!  I think that in the state of FL if you get a certain amount of points on your SAT's and ACT's you can get a full or partial scholarship that comes out of the FL Lottery.

Answer 4

I was homeschooled full time, and now while I live in a 3rd world country am doing part time homeschooling.

My thoughts would be, start of with a little private school and let the children experience it. It could end up they love it and don't want to end it, but starting real school for the first time at high school could be hard. I think if you involve them in activities where they will be exposed to bad tings early on, it will make it easier at high school.

Home schooling is great over all, it just depends on how the parent does it. I would recomend it heaps!

Answer 5

I was homeschooled by my mother in typing at the age of 6 and started writing fiction and non fiction.

That experience got me an A in Middle School typing 1 and it also helped me get published at age 16, along with my unschooling in observational astronomy.

My mother also homeschooled me in music notation and theory.  That helped me in my music work dealing with bands, singers and production doing arrangements and transpositions on the fly.

She also homeschooled me in reading punch cards used in computer work.  10 punch, 11 punch, punch, etc.

Answer 6

I considered homeschooling for my 3 year old...I live in the UK and a lot of schools here have problems with overcrowding and bullying.

In the end I have decided to send her to a small private school. The reason is that I felt she would miss out on all the social activities which are centred around school.

I did consider that I could enroll her in dance, art or dram clubs but these are extracurricular activities for kids who go to school...they already have their friends at school and it's not usual to make good friends at ballet class or whatever when you are only small.

Also, the trips out to visit places as a class are invaluable and give great memories...unlss you can ind a good homeschool support network near your home of course....which I could not.

I do think homeschooling is very suitable for some children and I am certainly not ruling it out...if for example she turns out to not like school and is unhappy there, then I would definatley remove her...I just thought it best to give her a chance to try it for a few years as some kids adore the exprerience...I would recommend that you find an excellent kindergarten and school and let your kids try it out for a while...then you'll know for sure you made the right descion...good luck...it's a hard thing to face I know.

Answer 7

I was homeschooled from second grade through 12th grade (I'm now a senior at a public university).  I loved it!  Here are my thoughts on your tentative plans:

Enrolling in extra-curriculars is always a great idea, but you don't have to force them to do things they don't want to (especially once they're a little older, 9 or 10 years old).  No kid wants to be cooped up in the house all day, so I'm sure your kids would choose some activities to participate in, but they don't have to be doing an extra-curricular all the time.  I was pretty involved as a kid, though... I took gymnastics from age 6 to 10, tennis lessons one summer, some kids courses at a community college, ice skating lessons one year, a local theater play production one winter, library programs, etc.  My family was also involved in a homeschool group, which was a great social outlet (that's where I made my long-lasting friendships).

As for whether to send them to public high school, I think kids in 8th grade are old enough to decide for themselves whether they want to go back.  I went back to public school for the first quarter of 9th grade but switched back to homeschooling because I liked it better.  My brother, on the other hand, went back to public school for high school and likes it there (he's currently a junior).  I really don't feel like I missed out on anything during high school (I was still involved in youth groups, etc., and went to homecoming with friends at the public high school).  Even though my brother is in public school now, he doesn't play sports there and only goes to dances if his girlfriend "forces" him to :-)   ...You can't really dictate too much what your kids choose to do in cases like that.

As for the academic aspect... there are definitely a lot of benefits, and even though it was a little tough to homeschool for high school (because the subjects get a little more difficult, of course), I've gotten straight 'A's all through college, so I guess I learned what I needed to know!

Hope I helped some... good luck!

Answer 8

Keep kids involved in the community and activities, be a patient teacher, and maintain a schedule and it'll be fine. You sound like you'd make a great homeschooling parent.

Answer 9

I'm 12 years old and I've been homeschooled since I was 5. It gets a little lonley but I have TONS of public-school friends, because I go to middle school for basketball, and I do traveling basketball teams and stuff. I'm always the only homeschooler, and I'm ok with that. Most of my friends wish they could be homeschooled. But what really bothers me is when some rude people say "I would hate to be homeschooled" or "Homeschooling is for kids who can't be away from their parents" and they say that right to my face! But of course none of those things are true, but it still bothers me sometimes. As far as education, the reason I was homeschooled in the first place was because I was smarter than all of my classmates, so I went to the gifted program once a week. The gifted program was just like regular class time, but with less kids. I wanted to skip a grade, but my MOTHER would'nt let me, so I became homeschooled. I've been using text books and junk, but once I reached middle school I started virtual school. Virtual school is only for middle school and highschool students, but I'm glad we decided to do it. Virtual school teaches you so much in such little time! It's like online college, where you have teachers and stuff, but for middle school and high school. When it's time for me to start 9th grade, I am going to a public high school. I'm mostly going to public high school so I can get and academic or basketball scholorship. And I really miss being with my friends six hours a day every day. I hope that helped! :)

Answer 10

I was homeschooled K-12. Went to UVa, and did fine. When you ask about homeschooling, everyone says "socialization!", even though your kids can get plenty of socialization opportunities outside of public school. If you want your kid to be a conformist, approval-craving sheep, send him to public school. If you want him to learn to think for himself, homeschool him.

Think about it - is it "natural" for your children to only socialize with thousands of other children of the same age? Where else in life does that occur except for a school?

Check out www.hslda.org.

Answer 11

It is wonderful! i am homeschooled and have been for 7 years! You meet more people interact beter and are more socialized! you should definetly do it!

Answer 12

My children are homeschooled. They are 7 and 10. We, too, were thinking until high school, then "We'll see," but now we're leaning a bit more to homeschooling all the way through, possibly with some courses taken in school--but maybe not.

Sports are available everywhere here, not just through the schools, so that's not really a reason for us. Although, my dh did have that as a reason for a bit, but he has since decided that in the grand scheme of things, being part of a school team really isn't that important compared to all the other things that go with being in a public school vs. being homeschooled. We have so many community teams that if our kids really want to be in sports, they can be--without going to school. Where I live in Canada, we don't have the abundance of sports scholarships like in the US, so I can't really comment on it.

As for homecoming and prom, I don't even fully know what those are as we don't have them here; only know what they are through movies/tv. "Senior prom" I suppose would be the equivalent of our high school grad. We don't have any other fancy dances. Frankly, I don't see how those things are really important in the grand scheme of things. They only seem important because they have been so glorified. The US is the only place this huge focus exists; it is purely a cultural construct, and, imho, a questionably positive one at that. For us, they don't outweigh all the benefits of homeschooling--flexible schedule, go the students' pace, wholesome environment, school doesn't take up the whole day (which allows homeschooled students to, on average, participate in more things because they have more time).

As for the dating scene, I know homeschoolers who have boyfriends/girlfriends and date. There's nothing about homeschooling that would stop that if you are open to your teen dating. In fact, there's probably a higher chance that your homeschooled dating teen won't have s*x, end up pregnant (or getting someone pregnant) or end up at parties with drugs, alcohol and more.

The great thing is that since you don't have children yet, you've got a lot of time to figure things out. :) Just take things a step at a time and go with what truly feels right when you reach various points. It doesn't have to all be decided upon ahead of time.

Answer 13

I unschool my seven children and have always done so. We take each year as it comes but so far none of them  want to go to school and I love having them at home.

My eldest did go to school for one day and she hated it. She was tested for the entire day to see if she was on grade level (she was way above it).

No matter what people say there is no need to worry about socialization. Join a sports group, make a friend, go to their birthday party, make another friend...A lot of homeschoolers are rarely at home when you add up all the field trips, extra curricular activities, play dates...

I'm not sure what method you plan on following but I'd like to suggest an eclectic/unschooling approach for your kids early years at least. Kids need time to be kids. Being a kid isn't filling out page after page of 1+1=2. Being a kid is doing what you want to do whether it's painting a picture, going for a hike or curling up on the couch and reading. When the kid gets older you can add spelling lessons, history quizzes and math fact memorization or you can decided that those really aren't needed and continue to live and learn with your kids in a natural learn when you want, learn what you want way.

Answer 14

Go here for information on how I do it

http://homeschoolanswers.blogspot.com

Answer 15

I homeschooled my older kids, now ages 15 and 13 during their elementary years, then they chose to go to private school.

I am currently homeschooling my 8 and 6 yr olds and plan to homeschool my 1 yr old step daughter and the baby I am now expecting.

For us, homeschooling has been a positive experience. I enjoy watching my children learn. I enjoy being part of that process. I think it has made us closer as a family. It is heartwarming to see the older ones helping the little ones.

Also my children have learned to follow their own interests and they have learned that learnig is a 24/7 experience, not just something to be done during school hours.

I love the fact that they can decide what they want to learn and learn it, even if it isn't being taught at their grade level. For instance my 6 yr old decided he wanted to learn sign language. So we bought him videos and flash cards and found someone to tutor him in sign language. He is doing very well. He would never have learned that in kindergarted and 1st grade in public school. (he began studying it last year).

The kids are socialized by playing with neighborhood kids as well as scouting. I do not like some of the socializing that goes on in the public school system.

Best of luck with your homeschooling journey