Under 18s are you homeschooled? What are your experiences?

Question

I want to know everything you feel about it...do you wish you had more social interaction or do you feel happier as you are? I am considering homeschooling my children in a few years....want to know what the pros and cons are?

Answer 1

My choice to leave public school, and enroll in the American School of Correspondence was the best decision I've ever made. Most of my local High Schools have been, or are on academic probation. Kids are cruel, and I was treated badly in High School. I was one of the kids that actually came to school to learn, and was ostracized for that reason. I'm so incredibly happy right now, and I have all the friends I need. I even have a local home-school students get together coming up. I meet friends from the area who are home-schooled.

Answer 2

My daughter is 9, has never been to school and I asked her these questions. She likes being homeschooled. She is happy with the amount of social interaction she gets. She is happy about being able to spend hours reading, about working at her pace, about putting work aside that she's getting too frustrated with to continue on. She has friends and does thing regularly with other homeschoolers, often with kids she's never met before. She takes swimming and skating lessons, has been in summer daycamps and more.

She doesn't feel there are any cons.

I know a couple of other homeschooled teens very well. The oldest, a 16yo, was in public school for k-6, and started homeschooling in gr. 7 after 3 years of asking her parents to homeschool. She LOVES homeschooling. It helped her catch up academically (she was 3 years behind grade level in public school), it allowed her to spend a lot of time doing her sports training, where she hangs out with other kids and has a few friends she does extra things with on weekends (or chats with online in the evenings) and allows her to work part-time as well. She deals regularly with the typical teen nonsense at her sports training since a few of the girls are nasty types she'd dealt with when she was in school, too. She's so grateful to not have gone through jr. high having to spend her days with these types. She has no desire to be in school for high school. She has too much flexibility with her schedule and is not the type who needs to be around other people constantly.

Her brother, 13, loves homeschooling as well. He started when he was 9. As much as he loves homeschooling, he does want to go to school for high school. He's far more socially oriented than his sister and wants to be a part of the stuff that goes on at school. He has no regrets about homeschooling and actually wishes his parents had done it earlier.

Answer 3

Well I am 13, this is my second year home schooling. Just like any other school it has its pros and cons. But for the most part I am very happy and have lots of friends. Some things that are good for me is that; I can work at my own pace, do high school work early and can earn more credits, I can take some college classes early, and there are lots of great co-ops and activities to get involved in. As far as more social interaction I have a lot of friends, home schooled and people in public schools. I go to a 2 day a week co-op, play on a volleyball team, and audit a college class with my older sister. I think being home schooled is good because it allows you to work at your own pace, take some classes that you are actually interested in, and you can still participate social events and sports teams. There are a lot of activities that home schoolers can get in to. Such as sports, monthly social events(i.e. dances, parties), co-ops, and much much more. I highly reccommend home schooling. But if you do do it, let your kids join classes and sports teams, because it is no fun being at home 24/7.  Participating in classes and other activities is part of the experience.

I hope this helps you!!!

Answer 4

I love homeschooling. This year, I am a senior in high school. I went to public school from 2nd grade- 8th grade. I first went into public school because my Mom got sick with fibromayalja. Then when she was getting better, she started working and a few years later, she asked me if I wanted to return to homeschooling (she had already chosen to bring my little sister home). I made my decision the day before I was supposed to start high school- I chose to come back to homeschooling.

Social interaction isn't a problem for me- I see friends at church, community college, and any time I decide to just work my schedules out with theirs to go hangout. There are also lots of other ways to get involved with other kids: sports, music, teams (chess teams, book clubs, etc.), and homeschool groups/co-ops.  If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them. I hope you have a blessed day and that you may find the correct path for your children.

I also posted a lengthy reply at (How do you chose btwn public schooling and homeschooling?):::

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 5

I loved being home schooled! When I was in grade one Mom sent me to school, only because my older brother was giving her a hard time. He thought he was the only kid out there who had to learn. All four of us went to school for two years. I found out that kids are awful. On the bus kids would pull my LONG hair and tease me about my religion. I remember coming home from school crying. I thought school was jail for bad kid’s lol. So after two years mom pulled us back out of school. We tried to keep in contact with some of our school friends but as the years went by we became too different.Most of my old friends now have potty mouth's, a nose piercing’s. Still yet I don't feel un-socialized. So many people think that home schooled kids are nerd's who cant keep up with trends, and have no life that spend there days with there mom's. I have my own small group of friends that I love. I think that’s better then a large group of friends that lie to you and talk behind you're back. I love my home schooled years. I was never pressured to do things I didn't want to do, or say things that I wasn't sopose to say. My parents had the chance to teach me what was right and wrong oppose to school kids who say everything is ok. I consider myself normal, and  I'm happy as I am. I'm very gratful to my parents for home schooling me = )

Answer 6

I am home schooled, but I don't want to be.

For your children, their home school experience will basically depend on one thing: you. You can choose to limit their social interaction, or give them LOTS of freedom.

I would suggest, if you want your children to make NEW friends, to go through a charter. There you can take classes, and since I assume this is your first time home schooling, you have teachers and a coordinator who helps you plan your children's school schedule.

Or you could go independent. There, you simply are...independent for the most part.

But if your children do not want to be home schooled, as in they are vehemently opposed to it, I would suggest you don't do it. As long as they are happy, everything should be fine.

Good luck!

Answer 7

I've been homeschooled for, well this will be my 3rd year.

It wasn't really a choice, school was really bad for me. Some really bad rumors got out about me (and I mean REALLY bad! not just like "omg Lacy has stupid hair) and nobody ever got over them. They spread to the whole town actually, so I'm pretty much Lindsay Lohan of the town. I couldn't go into school without getting nearly killed.

So I had to switch. I LOVE it! It makes me feel free! I can get stuff done! It's just sooo much better!

I don't really have any social interaction, but it's not because of me being homeschooled. I have literally 1 friend (my ex boyfriend actually) and he lives 30 minutes away.

But homeschooling does not really cut into social interraction for people who actually have friends.

If I were you, I'd definatly switch them to homeschooling.

Answer 8

I'm 16 (Junior this year)..I love being homeschooled! That's the #1 question people ask: "Well, don't you have any friends?"

Yes! I have friends! People think that just because you're homeschooled you're holed up in your house all day reading. I do my schoolwork in the morning and then the rest of the day I have time to do whatever I want. I have time to go places, do things, take up new hobbies--and it means more time for friends.

People think that the only place you can get friends is at school when in reality there are plenty of groups to join, sports, classes, etc.

I went to a regular school for 7 yrs...now that I'm homeschooled I can't really see why anyone would want to go to a public/private school.