Homeschooling in california?

Question

Pros and cons --can anyone tell me about home schooling?

for a 12 years old bou who is not doing well in school..

any iformation could help. how to do it. who is qualified, etc etc. pros and cons

how does it work..?

My son often gets detention, and i spend hours in the evening helping him with his homwork.

I have my wn business, can I bring my son with me to my own office so he do work online..

what if you have a rebel kid, and says no i do not want home schooling...what would the options be for 12 year old boy.

Answer 1

Saint is assuming that all homeschooling is the same, nothing is further from the truth.

I suggest reading Grace Llewellyn's "The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to quit school and get a real life and education" for ideas of non-traditional paths for burned-out public schoolers.

Answer 2

It was great for our family. We were much closer as a family and had more quality time. Contrary to popular belief we had much MORE socialization while home schooling, because we were able to be much more flexible. My son learned how to interact with ALL types of people, not just 25 kids in his own age group. He was able to do his work at his pace, and not have to wait for the rest of the class to catch up. Because of this, he graduated from high school and was accepted to college at 16. He holds a job and does on line school and runs his own computer repair business. There are so many opportunities he would have missed had he remained in the public school system.

Don't pay any mind to "Saint in the making".  He is a miserable child who does not want to do anything but wallow in his misery.

Answer 3

Don't do homeschooling....

I hate it....

If the kid doesn't want to be homeschooled....He knows what he's doing....

Honestly right now? I can't think of any pros, I'm so mad at homeschooling!

But what everyone will tell you is....

Homeschooling is great! You can do work on your own time! You can study for however long you want on your favorite subject! The kid can join clubs! Have alot of friends! And social life!

I however disagree....

I despise it in fact!

I'll probably get all thumbs down, as I usually do on this subject....

I'm just telling you my view though....Some people love it!

And no....To the lady below me....I don't think all homeschoolers are that way....I think most of them will regret it though....

All my best with your situation!

=)

Answer 4

I come from a family of rebels.  I let my sons go to some alternative basket weaving programs the school has so they could have a social life, and get one of those diplomas.  While they were at home I taught them at a college level on my own time.  They graduated high school with opportunity diplomas (meaningless) and were able to get high Entrance scores for junior college.  win , win, one.  The older one who would not stop playing computer games is now an executive at Electronic Arts.  The younger one works for me in my business.

Answer 5

Okay, I see a couple of big red flags in your situation and with the concept of doing anything to continue with the status quo.

First, you need to find out (or, if you know, just articulate it to yourself) why your son is getting detention. And I don't just mean what specific misbehaviors he is having, I mean what is the underlying reason for the misbehaviors. Common reasons, particularly in boys that age, are:

1-He is too advanced for the class. He gets bored easily, especially when the teacher is repeating stuff he already understands. This boredom leaves him too much time on his hands which leads to mischief.

2-He is behind the class and unable to follow the teacher. When he is unable to keep up, he tunes the teacher out, gets bored and we have a repeat of #1.

3-He has a different learning style and/or he has an undiagnosed learning disability. Either of these problems are difficult for a teacher attempting to convey information to too many students in too short a period of time to deal with. So, since his needs aren't getting addressed, he gets bored...I'm seeing a pattern.

4-At 12, he is not yet mature enough to handle the classroom setting, either emotionally or physically. If this is the case, he needs a different setting, rather than getting pushed into the wrong-sized hole.

5-He has something else going on (bullying, acting out due to issues at home). If it is something else, it is absolutely vital to figure out what it is.

Okay, now that you know what the problem is, talk to him about how he wants to fix it. Tell him that you are concerned and that you want to homeschool him because you think homeschooling will help him focus better, learn better, learn at his own pace (whatever...but only include this if you believe it). If he doesn't want to, you go into negotiation.

In this case, the negotiation is about the bad behavior, not the homeschooling. You think homeschooling will solve a problem...he is not allowed to just say he doesn't want to get homeschooled. He must say what he thinks you two should do about the problem. Let him figure out what concrete steps he can take to minimize detention and bring his grades up. Ask him what he thinks a fair deadline is to accomplish this and what standards should apply. (You are the mom...make sure his idea isn't so overly optimistic that he immediately fails to meet his goal.) Set up consequences, one of which is homeschooling (make sure he understands it isn't a punishment, it is just another solution. You are willing to try his idea first, but if that doesn't work, you have a Plan B.) Then, set the goal, track it, and see if there is impovement.

And, just a pet peeve of mine: all homework should be such that children can do it completely on their own. It is best if they are only graded on having done it, not on if they get it right (otherwise, they are inclined to just get the answers from anywhere, rather than using the assignment as a learning experience). Homework that requires parental involvement suggests a failure on the teacher's part. And the rule of thumb is no more than 10 minutes per grade level per night (and some say that is too much). So, if your son is in 7th grade, he should get no more than 70 minutes of homework per night. It is inappropriate for him to get 'hours' of homework each night. You may want to bring this to the teacher's attention. Mention "The Homework Myth" by Alfie Kohn (http://www.amazon.com/Homework-Myth-Kids... ) and "The Case Against Homework" by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish (http://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Homew... ).