Homeschooling or not?

Question

I'm at a crossroads over the decision to homeschool my children or not. If I do, I know that I won't get much support from part of our family. Some people in our small community may completely turn their backs on us. But what makes me question this whole idea is a lack of confidence in myself. I have three boys, ages 10, 6 and 3. I'm not sure how I would be able to teach all three in a days' time. As terrible as it is to admit, I wonder if I have the patience to be with them 24/7. I am pretty "laid back" and easygoing with them most of the time, however, sometimes they can drive me crazy. Also, my husband is afraid that they will never learn independance if they are with me all the time. So, what do I do? Continue researching this topic until I find someone to talk to in person about it, then convince my husband that this is the best route, or just stop fretting so much and try to stay positive about public school? I need advice from all sides of this discussion forum. Please help!

Answer 1

I've been homeschooling my kids since the birth of my eldest (12 years ago) and  their still driving me crazy. Not all the time, but sometimes. However, I don't want them to go to school. I think of the homework struggles we'd have, how we'd never get out of the door on time, how we wouldn't have enough family time, that my kids might get bullied and all the other things that are plain bad about the school system.

Homeschooling does teach you independence, school doesn't. In school the teacher tells you "Do three pages of fractions and then you get computer time." At home you (the child) as to decide which to do first, computer time or three pages of fractions work. At home you think "Do I really want to do choir?". At school you're told "All grade three students do choir so let's go."

Homeschooling is really, really wonderful. It DOES teach independents.

Answer 2

Is there a homeschool support group somewhat near you? Or even something in Yahoo Groups? There is nothing like being able to really discuss things to help sort through a decision like this. Yahoo Answers really isn't the best format.

You would not be the first person to question whether or not they could handle teaching their kids. It definitely requires creativity, but you could get ideas from other homeschooling parents, learn about programs or styles that would work for you.

I don't know a single homeschooling parent who HASN'T been driven crazy by their kids at some point. It's totally normal. I have met homeschooling parents who said that things between their kids and between parents and kids improved so much once they had had some time together as a family after beginning homeschooling (which means after having pulled the kids out of school).

Why should your sons be with you all the time? Are there no activities where you live that they could participate in? Are there no places you could send them on their own (for example, perhaps when your oldest is 12, sending him with the middle child to a playground by themselves or going to the store or any multitude of real life things that can be done). My children aren't with me all the time. And they've always homeschooled (they are 7 and 10).

Yes, continue researching and discussing with others (as I said, finding someone you can chat with--online or in person--through a support group or a homeschooling group in Yahoo Groups (ideally, one for your state or somewhat near you) would be much better than here). Reach a point where it is clear in your heart which way is best for you and your family.

Answer 3

I wish I was being homeschooled right now but unfortunetly my mother has had a smaller amount of education at this point.

Public school is horrid. Straight up, it is just horrid. Slowly more and more educated people with children are begining to realize this and are putting their kids into private schools or simply homeschooling them.

So who ends up going to public schools is children of the un-educated. They tend to have a bad attitude toward learning, and watch alot of tv, play alot of video games and are un-healthy. If your child spends every day with tons of other children like this- he/she wont question it, and will possibly do the same.  On the other hand if you keep them away from that kind of thing until they're older, they will probably understand why that was and continue those habits.

I wish you luck in raising children- it's a hard task to do right, but I'm glad you have the modivation to do so, unlike so many parents in america today.

Answer 4

You sound just like me before we started homeschooling.  However, we've been going for over 4 years now and I'm so glad we did.

Your older son is already at the age where he can do a lot independently.    The great thing about homeschooling is that it creates Independence rather then fights it.

We don't tell our kids that the sky has to be blue and the grass green (like my dd was at school).  They can explore on their own and learn things for themselves.  They can also learn that when it comes to art and imagination the sky can be purple!  *grin*

When my son was 10 we used K'Nex education kits.  My son made a huge amusement park kit and part of the educational part included science, social, english and math.  It was a great year. *sigh*  I'd love to get those young years back.  They were fun.  

Now that they are older the material is harder.  My son already knows more math then I do.  (I'm not a math fan)  However, he is able to learn it and teach me and help his younger siblings.  

HS'ers become very great learners and researchers.  It gets them ready for college in a way that ps kids aren't.    Most (not all) ps kids do as they are told and don't go any further or end up hating school by the time they are done high school.

Answer 5

Just do it!  

As for never learning independence... LOL....they are better off learning with you than being dependent on age-group peers for 12+ years.

Give them a chance to self-teach (www.robinsoncurriculum.com) and you will find that your role is one that is relaxed and doable.  When the children learn to study and have all of the tools to do it then all you need to do is supervise and play the role of Mom.

How can someone stay positive about public school?  If you are interested in home-schooling then there must be something about public-school that doesn't agree with you.

Join a local home-school organization or at least call them to get a phone number of someone in your area that you can meet and talk to.  

There is an abundance of information on the internet.

Start with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA.org) and find links to your State and community.

Go to OCEANetwork.org (Oregon but with lots of helpful information for anyone)

Sometimes it is best to decompress from other school situations.  Take a month or two and just get to know each other.  Set aside the academics and PLAY.  Go to parks, museums, hike in the mountains, play at the beach, bake cookies together, read aloud from the old classics, listen to books on tape together.  Learn how to live together, play together, work together and then introduce the concept of studying together.  You will be so pleased with your choice to homeschool.  It isn't always a fun and easy ride but it is hundreds of times better on its worst day than the stuff you'd face in public school on a good day.

Homeschooling is a wonderful way to exhibit love to your children.

Answer 6

Homeschooling is great! I pulled my daughter from public school and taught her for two years. In those two years she went from being a third grader that was at a Kindergarten level in most subjects to an advanced sixth grader, that is on high honor roll.

BUT, let me tell you it sure takes a lot of patience. I have to admit that I gained a whole new respect for teachers with 20+ students in their class.

We used an on-line program called K12, which was great because you can get all the curriculum from them and they have all of each days assignments planned out for you. Another thing I liked about them is that they are so thorough and the kids must "master" the assignment before they move on. I think in most states (they each have their own laws on homeschooling) you can dual enroll. Which means that your kids can take achievement tests, band participate in sports and some other classes in your local school district for free.

To sum it all up, I think homeschooling is better than the public schools if you can stay on a (semi) schedule and have the patience. But you do want to be sure to check the laws in your particular state for laws on homeschooling. Here is a site that will guide on each state's laws. http://www.nhen.org/leginfo/state_list.a...

Good Luck

Answer 7

If you are a high school graduate you have the skills to teach to age 14 or even 15.  If you are a college graduate skills to age 20.

After that you have to rely on BOOKS or SCHOOL in a BOX (Abeck, Penn Foster, etc.)

If you are planning for your kids to get into college they will need

Algebra ( you should be able to do part of that)

Geometry

Trig

World History

Geography

Civics

English Grammar and Composition, which SHOULD include style writing in APA, Harvard, Chicago, etc.

Biology

Chemistry or Physics

Some of this will HAVE to be out of books or SOFTWARE offerings that will cost money.

The rest you should be able to do on your own.

If you have a brain and finished school.

If SCHOOL didn't educate YOU then how will it educate THEM!

THIS is a PARADOX everyone must face.

If you  have a HIGH SCHOOL diploma and CAN't TEACH what you learned, then you learned nothing.

WHAT MAKES YOU are anyone one else think THEY WILL LEARN anything if YOU didn't!

It means your diploma is worthless and you are a nothing.

ARE you a nothing!

DECIDE!

Answer 8

When I began homeschooling, most of my family disagreed with mine and my mothers decision, and assumed incorrectly that I would not get an actual education. Even a few of our family friends began saying that, too.

However, after a few months, we showed them all the amount of work I'm doing, and they all seemed quite pleased with it, and the idea eventually grew on them.

there are massacres, rapes, murders, suicides, violence, gangs, s*x, drugs, alcohol, and bullying all over the world at public schools. As dramatic as it sounds, it's completely true.

And as for teaching your sons, your ten year old should be able to work on his own for most of his work.

I suggest you buy a lot of text books, age / grade appropriate for each of your sons, using one or two for each subject, which usually provide full lessons without the need of a teacher. You could spend one or two hours with each of them a day, while for the rest of their allocated school time, they could work alone in a designated area.

What your husband said as to your sons growing up to be independent on you is definitely not true. If you send them to lots of classes out side of school, as well as making them clean their own rooms, make their own beds, make their own lunches, etc; they will most definitely learn independence.

You should set up a high-school style timetable, and a small room (if possible) with a computer for researching, a bookshelf with an atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, etc; along with educational books on various subjects, and some books that they could read after school to encourage reading between them.

I hope I helped. :D

Good luck!

Answer 9

I LOVED homeschooling.  There is a huge homeschooling community in every State, and some have proms and football games, too!  I am in Texas and I also home schooled in WV.  They both had great benefits, but I think I liked the organized home school that Texas has better.  You will find that you can complete a whole day of schooling in the first 1-2 hours of the day.  Do you teach less?  Actually, you will probably teach MORE than you need to in that time.  Bob Jones University has great curricula and I do highly recommend them!!  They can even teach the teacher if need be!!  HA!  In public school, kids are always held back by the slowest student in the class.  They can move no faster than the class as a whole can move.  My kids (when we went back to public school) tested two grades higher than other kids their age!  I could go on and on.  I loved homeschooling, and you can too.  Find the local group (the library will have their info) and sit in on one of their meetings!  One of the other parents in our area in WV was a graphic designer, and she taught my son art.  You can farm out some classes to other parents if you are not good at a particular subject!  Also, some colleges prefer home schooled kids because those kids have really learned how to study and learn.  Public school kids are really not able to do that as well as home schooled kids because they have been in a different environment where learning is almost an enemy to be defeated.  In the home school situation, learning is literally every thing you do every moment of every day and they learn to constantly apply what they know... and they like it!

Answer 10

I hope i can help because i'm home schooled. home schooling isn't that hard. all you have to do is find the right books to teach with and make sure your children understand the work. don't feel the need to drill everything in their head the way schools do. with the oldest child i would suggest you homeschool him at least until high school that way you know he will succeed when it counts. with the younger ones send them to school when they are around 12 because you have already established a good foundation for them.

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