Home schooling, a little advice?

Question

My daughter is in the 9th grade. For the pass year or so she has been begging me to put her into a home/ virtual school. She has her reasons why and I guess I understand. I am just afraid that she'll be missing out when graduating, walking the stage, prom, etc.

I'm also concerned that the same job/college opportunities won't be available for her because she would be a home schooled student compared to one who went to a public school.

Can someone please explain to me some things that would make me feel better about choosing home school for her?

I'd appreciate it if you could maybe give me some opinions on what you think, also. Thanks.

Answer 1

Homeschooling, even without a virtual school, is absolutely no hindrance to getting into college or getting a job.  As for the rest of it, those things must not be as important to you daughter as they are to you.  Besides, a lot of homescool groups have graduation ceremonies, proms etc. and a lot of homeschooled kids also go to prom at the public school as a date to one of the Public School students.

Homeschooling is a wonderful way to get an education, and in my opinion has more advantages than disadvantages.

Answer 2

My oldest son is a sophomore in college, so I will address the college-based question first. We didn't find any obstacles for my son even though he was homeschooled from K to 12th grade. If anything, we were (and still are) getting hounded by colleges wanting him. We had to supply the transcript that I made that listed his courses at each grade level and other basic data such as his social security number, our adddress, etc. He also took the ACT test and we had the scores sent to colleges we were looking into. Other than the normal paperwork for college entrance and financial aid that was about it. He was readily accepted and was given a full tuition scholarship (covers his full degree program). We also qualified for financial aid, so his books (about $700 per semester) are covered by that and he actually gets a $300 per quarter stippend check that covers his gas, books, food, school supplies, etc.

He is thriving at college. They (the college) asked him to come work for them in their computer/communications/security systems department. He also started and was voted president of the college's Tech Club. Just yesterday he was indoctrinated into the colleges academic honor's society. In other words, not only is entrance into college not a problem, but schoalrships and academic success will also not be a particular problem.

In our state, the homeschoolers all gather in the capitol for graduation. They have cap and gown, family and friends, a big banquet meal, and all the drama of a graduation ceremony. In addition, our local homeschool support group always has an end of the year presentation night for all the kids. The ones graduating get a special ceremony where not only do the students get a certificate but also the parents (that is fun). So our kids get to walk and be honored twice.

My daughter has had lots of public school friends through the year that she knows via our church's youth group. She went to the public school prom as a date even though she homeschools. Last year was an adventure. She got poison ivy when she went to get a wooded backgroud picture of her wearing her prom dress. The poison ivy cleared up by prom, but we had to get another dress because the original one had the poison ivy sap on it. sigh.

For her senior year, she wanted to go to public school. She has never been in public school so she was curious. She will also be going off to college quite a ways away next year, so she wanted to test her wings at public school this year. She didn't go because of the prom or the graduation walk though. She actually feels like she will miss out not getting to graduate with the homeschoolers. We have had lots of conversation related to the pros and the cons between public and homeschooling. To put it in a nutshell, she siad that she is enjoying it, but she isn't impressed with public school. This has clarified her decision about what she wants to do when she has children. She definitely wants to homeschool them.

Answer 3

Just my honest opinion here.......PROM is not a valid reason to keep a kid in school. There are so many valid reasons, but something as silly as a PROM? School is supposed to be about education, not popularity competitions and dances!

That said, homeschool is wonderful-I have seen my kids blossom socially and educationally. They can works at their own pace, and sometimes that means AHEAD of the class. Colleges ACTIVELY seek homeschoolers as well because they know that they are far superior when it comes to academics....and if prom is still an issue, many homeschool groups have their own prom

Answer 4

Funny but Homeschoolers have proms too and graduation ceremonies. Some groups have dances and clubs to join, hockey teams and soccer teams too. They are not much different they just aren't in a building or a crowded class room.

If your concerned over her job opportunities you will be surprised to know that some companies would rather choose a homeschooled individual over a public schooled one, they have had the opportunity to experience different things, so once they are in a  social environment they are just more comfortable with being themselves and knowing what it is they are doing.

Also, homeschoolers are taught handicrafts which are life skills. you can't get that in public school. It's not like back in the days when they had home economics. Now you have vocational and technical schools which teach nothing.

there's this great new website, This is a great site i just registered  they have a whole cirriculum, they explain their purpose and it's really a nice read to be honest.

www.freeworldu.org

Also join a good support group Yahoo is full of them.

Read about the laws in your state at www.hslda.org

Answer 5

well i am homeschooled and i go to a part time school.... and i love it! i was homeschooled up until the 9th grade and then i went to a public school for 1 semester then a switched to the other school.... the great thing about my school is that i still get credits so i will be able to graduate or switch to another high school if i want and i will not have any problems graduating from that school also. so just look around for parent partner schools or part time school in you area! your daughter will not have to miss out on the whole high school experience but she will get to do what she be homeschooled part time too. i really hope that this helps! Good luck on you choise!