Homeschool Parents?

Question

How many of you (If your kids wanted to) let your kids go to public school?

It's a simple poll question. I'm just curious.

=)

Answer 1

No. Up until she's 16 I'm the one who is legally responsibility for her getting a suitable education and the local public schools are not capable of providing that. I very much doubt it'll ever come up as she has plenty of friends and an active social life so why on Earth would she want to be sent to prison, sorry, public school?

Answer 2

Yes I would.  He's 15 and is old enough to have input into those decisions.

Answer 3

Hi St. Max!   Good to hear from you.

I have a 12 and 13 year old.  the older went to kindergarten and grade 1 only.  The 12 year old had never been to school.  I homeschooled them both because it was better for the elder and I could skip grades with the younger.  

My eldest never, ever wants to go back  to school and she knows if she does not do her work at home, she will have to go to school.

My youngest always had a hankering to try it out. Last fall she took the plunge and went.  She thought it was pretty exciting at first.  She works hard and I don't think she regrets the decision too much.   But next year she definitely states she wants to homeschool.  She doesn't like the slow pace and all the extra curricular stuff.   She has homework which we both think is pretty asinine considering she is in school 6 hours a day but there is no time to finish the work.  (way more than hs hours)

Public school works for some and not others.  It did not work for me or my 3 older kids.   So when I'm afflicted with the guilts about whether I'm doing the right thing I remember their botched education and social development from good old public school.

So the answer is yes.  I would let my kids go, but only if they worked hard.

Answer 4

The short answer is: No.

I am in agreement with what BraxOwl said and see no need to repeat it.

Answer 5

If mine asked to, and had reasons that he had really thought through, I would let him :)

I've asked him every year, and he's given me a resounding "nope!".  He enjoys homeschooling and doesn't want to give up the freedom that it affords him.

We live in an area with a huge homeschooling populations - over a thousand families in a 45-60 minute radius - and there are tons of opportunities for hs kids in our area.  A large university in town even has grants set aside for homeschool grads.  He doesn't want to be in a classroom all day, though he does take classes at co op.

I know not every place is as homeschool friendly as where I live, but yes, I'd let him go to ps if he truly wanted to (though we'd probably move to another district) :)

Answer 6

If my kids were 12 or older, I'd probably let them. For high school, I'd definitely let them if they wanted to. Actually, even now, if my 10yo really wanted to go to school, I'd probably let her. I wouldn't let my 7yo son--no matter how much he thinks he wants to, I know the school system well enough to know that at this point, it'd be a horrible fit and we'd have nothing but problems.

Answer 7

My son had the experience of both home school and public school.  We started out with home school first, then tried public school because I caved into other's opinion about the "socialization" myth.  After a couple of years we went back to home schooling so we could have some socialization, and because my son wanted to be out of the public school system.   You see Max, in the public school system you have false/forced socialization.  In real life do you think people only have social interaction with 25 other people in their same age group?  Not to mention in school you are not allowed to socially interact, so how do they think kids are supposed to learn to socialize?  I have read many of your answers, and you know I disagree with you most of the time,  I think a lot of your problems are not from home schooling, but from your lack of ambition.  If you put as much effort into trying to have a social life as you do into bashing home school you may be a happier person, if not maybe you would like me to bake you a cake for your pity party.

Answer 8

It depends on how old they were. Pre puberty to puberty I would take it into consideration. A 6,7,8 year old and such, I would explain why they were going to be at home studying but would not consider it.

Answer 9

It's at my child's request that I am homeschooling her.  It would be at her request that I register her to go back to a crappy school in a crappy school district with crappy teachers, since she's not looking for a crappy education.

Answer 10

He would be able to pick from one of these schools http://www.edrev.org/lisofdemscho.html#u...

As for our local public schools NO!! it does not give him the freedom that Education needs.

Answer 11

My kids are welcome to decide if they want to go to high school.  Before that no.

However, my oldest wants to do virtual for high school next year and my younger two, so far, have no urge to go back to school at all.  

They all enjoy their freedom too much to go back to a brick school.

Answer 12

Sure.

My child attended school until halfway through fourth grade, however.  She is quite aware of the problems inherent in schools, whether public or private.  She also has many friends in public schools.  

If she tried public school and wanted to homeschool again, I would also allow her to leave school.  That's what freedom is all about.

Answer 13

Like others above, we ask our ds every year.  His answer is always the same: No.

My ds knows that he is getting a much better education, has a much better chance of achieving his goal of getting into a top college, has more and better social opportunities, has good friends with whom he has a lot in common...

He recognizes that he would miss out on a whole lot by returning to PS.  But then, he / we take full advantage of all the incredible opportunities available in the real world.  Some, apparently are unable or unwilling to do this for themselves and they need more day-to-day / hour-to-hour guidance.

Answer 14

If my kids wanted to, I would let them.  If they hated it, though, I'd expect them to finish the year.  Only one of my kids has ever opted to go to school.  He went to kindergarten at our local public school.  He was home by Christmas.  At the end of each year, we always offer our kids the choice and it's ALWAYS a resounding "NO".  They wouldn't go if you paid them to!

Anyway St Max (AKA Unknown), I'm sorry that your homeschooling experience has been so bad. I'm sorry if your parents are not doing everything they can to make your childhood and education happy and exciting.  I'm sorry if you're lonely and sad.   It's not supposed to be that way.  The majority of parents that choose to homeschool are doing it to improve the education and lifestyle of their kids.  If you were my kid, I'd do whatever I could to make things better for you.  I wish I could give you a hug, kiddo.

Answer 15

If my kids really wanted to, I would let them try it.  I don't really see it happening as they know that their hairstyle and most of their favorite clothes would not be allowed.  They watch the news and hear of things such as little kids being expelled for drawing a picture of a gun.  They hear all of their friends complaining about homework and they know that while they are out playing in the afternoon, all of their friends are still at school.  I don't really see them wanting to go, and if they did, I doubt that they would go for long.

Answer 16

My kids are welcome to go back to PS if they so choose. I ask every year and every time I do they say no I want to stay home and do school there. They love the freedom of HS as much as I do.

Answer 17

Well, my son is homeschooled and my daughter is in public school.  We do what's best for each child.  My son is totally against *ever* being in a public or private school.  He sees what his sister has to go through at school and wants no part of it.  The PS kids drive him nuts.  He enjoys the freedom of working on material from 5th grade to college.

So what would I do if all of a sudden he wanted to go to PS?  Well, I'd make him write a persuasive essay about it, then "shadow" a PS student for a week, and make a long list of pros and cons.  We'd have a long discussion about it, then we'd make a family decision.

Answer 18

My parents would if I was willing to do the legwork to get in to a decent one.

My local school is a complete hellhole that nobody wants to go to. There's a high teen pregnancy rate, low graduation rate, cops in the halls, and metal detectors. They wouldn't send me there, but they'd let me go to a school where I wouldn't see people selling drugs in the halls. I took an afterschool class once with a girl who went there -a complete coincidence- and she was talking about how her boyfriend got beaten up by a rival gang member. Not fun.

For my own kid(s), I would seriously consider it around about age 10. And then I would be really sure that it would serve them best in the long run. It would be a tough call, really. On the one hand, my kid would be stuck with whatever was decided and I wouldn't have to live in the thick of my decision. On the other, as a parent, it would be my job to look out for them and do the best thing.

For my future offspring, I'm thinking of a combination of homeschooling and private/boarding school when they're older, if they're interested.

My kid would have to show sustained interest in school before I'd consider it, though. Mainly because I wouldn't want to get them stuck in a situation they didn't _really_ want. When my paternal grandfather was five, he wanted to be an Indian. I wouldn't want to land my kid in Indian school before I could be sure it would be the best thing for him.

EDIT: Max, I've seen you around here, and I just want to say I'm sorry homeschooling has been rough on you. I don't know your situation, but maybe you need to have more realistic priorities? I got really down for a while because I was seeing people walking around in huge groups, who had AIM buddy lists with -literally- 60 people on them, people who always seemed to be socially connected somehow. Then I realized that those friendships don't last. They're friends for 9th grade, but come 10th grade, most of them will part ways. I'm not saying there's no advantage to having casual friends, but you have to try and remember that the huge groups you see aren't a group of soulmates.

It's quite possible that you're too smart for the people around you. For a while I had no friends. Then I had one friend. That friend became a boyfriend. Now I have a boyfriend, and about four friends. For me, Dungeons and Dragons was a great social experience. I put out a call for a DM and a group, offering to pay the DM in pizza. The DM turned in to a douchebag a year in to the campaign, but I made some lasting friendships there. In fact, they're the backbone of my social pool.

My entire group of people I'd call friends:

Sarah

Shep

Maia

Allegra

Max (my boyfriend)

It's not a big group, but we've been buddies for a while and it's worth it.

If there's a theater group in your area, try joining it. Be a small part if you're not in to acting so you can hang out in rehearsals. You might have the unpleasant experience of being above everyone else's heads -if you have a high IQ- but that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy hanging out and s******g around.

If you're homeschooled because of some professional thing you do, and don't like it, then all I can say is that you have my sympathy and I hope things look up for you.

Answer 19

I consider a year 11 or 12 kid to be capable of making that decision themselves; but I would strongly discourage it. There are no decent public school options in this town. If we move, well I would have to take the options into account. Our old hometown had an excellent, 'pay as you can afford' private school. Small, academic and rather unusual in many ways. If we still lived there, I would accept that as a valid option. Really though, the problem with schools is that no matter how good they are, they are still schools.

Answer 20

I would if my daughter wanted to, but she doesn't.  Part time enrollment is even an option where I live, but she isn't interested.

Answer 21

I'm home schooled now, but my parents would let me go back to public school if that is what I wanted.

But, why would I want to?

My grades were suffering so bad in school, and I missed to many days, I even had to go to court.

Homeschooling is so much more better for me.

But, I'm a 100% sure my parents would let me.

Answer 22

*if* they wanted to go, we would talk about reasons and give it a fair shot. However, since the oldest four were already in public school before we homeschooled, I'm certain that they do not want to go back.

I don't know if the youngest will ever desire public school, probably not since they've heard their older siblings decry so often how unpleasant it was.

Answer 23

As their parents, my husband and I make the decisions on our childrens behalf.  Those decisions are made based on our research and experience, not what the children wish for.  If for some reason it ever became in the best interest of our children for them to attend public school, we would certainly allow them to but until that time, the answer is no.

I have an infant daughter, a son turning eight next month, and a ten year old daughter.  Among the three of them, I can tell you that the things they want are ridiculous.  My son would rather skip bathing most days and would be perfectly happy having ice cream for breakfast and passing his veggies to the dog.  My oldest daughter is a bright girl, but she does not make good decisions all of the time either-for instance, we follow a routine more than a schedule so sleeping in a little is not too big of a deal.  She would happily stay up until midnight if I let her and then sleep in until noon.  As for the baby, she would rather not wear clothes and would love it if I did not take every potentially dangerous thing away from her.  

Those are just several examples of why we make the decisions for our children.

What I would do, is try to find out why they want to go to school.  In the past, it has been because my son thought it would be cool to ride the bus (even if they did attend public school, they would be transported by their father or I), and that was remedied by going downtown and riding the public bus which satisfied his curiousity.  For a while when my daughter was younger, we would always say "Your cousins Emily and Theresa are at school right now" or "Your friend is at school right now".  She (and her younger brother) had the idea that they were all together in some great place that they were missing out on.  This is because all they heard from their friends and cousins were the cool things, not the boring and redudant occurances at school and other negative (to children) things.  We also have lunch trays that were purchased due to their curiosity and used approximately a week before the novelty wore off.

About the only aspect of public school that they have wanted to mimic and has not wore off are the cubbies and lockers (which they would not even have yet in public school), and I like those because they aid in organization.  We will continue to assess their desires and needs-both those they recognize and those they do not-and make our decision.

Out of curiousity, did you receive my email!

Answer 24

If my children wanted to go to public school, and we lived in a good school district I would let them go.  As it is now, live in a horrible school district.  I graduated from this district, so I know first hand what goes on.  It was horrible when I went to school here, and it has only gotten worse in the 11 years since I graduated.

Answer 25

My mom would, and did once at my request, but why in the world would I do that when homeschooling is so much more enjoyable? You may not have done well socially with it, but I certainly am, and I'm doing WAY more in an average school day than I'd ever do in public school.