Why would someone need to be home-schooled?????

Question

why might someone have to get home-schooled?? and if you are home-schooled does it count as completing your grade? like if you were home-schooled in 8th grade and you came back to school the next year would you be a 9th grader than??? wat are the reasons why someone would be home-schooled though??? help please. =[

Answer 1

You've gotten lots of good responses about reasons families homeschool. Homeschooling is a preferred choice for most, a second choice for some. But this is the same with other forms of school as well.

Consider these questions:

Why would someone need to attend public school?

Maybe their grades are not high enough to test into a good private school. Perhaps their family cannot afford private school and neither parent is able or willing to homeschool them.

Why would someone need to attend private school?

Perhaps they've been kicked out of public school for behavioral problems too many times, or perhaps the local public schools are too dangerous or of poor quality.

In all forms of schooling there are families who chose to do it and families who resort to doing it against their first wishes.

Answer 2

Well, I'm home-educated because...

> I chose to be home-educated;

> We live a 16 hour drive from the closest school;

> My dad refuses to pay $30,000 a year for a bunch of strangers to teach me bad habits when he can do it himself for free;

> I wish to grow up alongside my brothers and sisters;

> I wish to grow up within my own culture and society;

> I don't see any point in going away to an alien society for five years just so I can say I 'went to school' and 'learned to function in that society' when, at the end of those five years, I will never again return to that society;

> Such city boarding schools, their curriculum etc are heavily weighted towards fulfilling the needs of those kids who will go on to live and work in a metropolitan environment as adults; I won't.

> I want the freedom to push myself to achieve the most rigorous, broad, extensive education I can get;

> I want to use my time to learn those skills that will be relevant and necessary to me and my future (not some other kid's future!);

> I want the freedom to study and learn (and grow up!) in the way that best suits me and my needs and my personality;

> I want to be raised by my own parents fulltime and not by a bunch of strangers at school for 75% of the time and my own parents for only 25% of the time;

Actually they're just some of the reasons why my siblings and I are home-educated but I reckon you've got a pretty good idea by now!

PS As Unschoolers, we don't pay any attention to school years or grades or tests or anything else that goes on in schools. I couldn't tell you for sure which year I would be in if I was at school. We don't necessarily study the same things as kids do at school and we don't bother with a curriculum or anything like that. We learn whatever we want to learn and whatever we, as individuals, will need to know in order to function up here as adults.

Answer 3

One doesn't need a particular reason, per se.

Some do it because their kid has an disability (ADD, dsylexia), some do it for religious reasons, some do it for bad schools or poor schools or violence in schools.

As for what grade you get back into, that's up to the brick school to decide.  They might accept the credits.  They might test you.  They might put you in a grade based on age.

Answer 4

There are a myriad of reasons to be homeschooled; some kids are homeschooled because of problems in their local school (extreme bullying, mediocre standards, that sort of thing), while others are homeschooled because of health reasons.  Still other kids are homeschooled because their learning style doesn't mesh well with a classroom, and others are homeschooled because they learn best in a one on one or small group environment.  And still others are homeschooled because they find a classroom restrictive and distracting.

Some kids are homeschooled because of schedule needs, due to a career in entertainment or sports, while others are homeschooled because for whatever reason, it's the best environment for them.

If you complete the grade requirements, it counts as completing the grade no matter where you do it; but as a homeschooler, you can add your own requirements onto state regs to tailor your education.  (Your parents are there to assist you with that.)  If you complete 8th grade at home and come back for 9th, the school would likely test you for placement.  Schools can choose to accept your credit at their discretion.  

**Not all high schools accept homeschool high school credits, so if you homeschool 9th, they are not required to put you in 10th.  They can test you for placement, or they can just arbitrarily say that your credits don't count and you have to retake your freshman year.  Colleges across the country accept homeschool diplomas and transcripts, but many high schools don't.  Strange, but true.

Hope that helps!

Edit...from Babs: "Parents homeschool their children to spread their neo-con views onto all of southern Alabama."

Wow, I knew there was a reason I chose to spend countless hours preparing lessons for and teaching my son.  It's so that he could "spread neo-con views onto all of southern Alabama" (not that we live anywhere near, but whatever).  Yep, that's it - I've found his goal in life.  He'll be so thrilled to know.  Sheesh...

Answer 5

Spend more time together as a family.

Spend more time with children when they are rested and fresh rather than tired and cranky from school.

Avoid having to struggle to get children to do the tedious busywork that is so often sent home as homework.

Allow children time to learn subjects not usually taught in their school.

Allow children to have time for more in-depth study than what is allowed in school.

Allow children to learn at their own pace, not too slow or too fast.

Allow children to work at a level that is appropriate to their own developmental stage. Skills and concepts can be introduced at the right time for that child.

Provide long, uninterrupted blocks of time for writing, reading, playing, thinking, or working so that the child is able to engage in sophisticated, complex activities and thought processes.

Encourage concentration and focus - which are discouraged in crowded classrooms with too many distractions.

Encourage the child to develop the ability to pace her/himself - this is prevented in a classroom where the schedule is designed to keep every child busy all the time.

Spend a lot of time out-of-doors. This is more healthy than spending most weekdays indoors in a crowded, and often overheated, classroom.

Spending more time out-of-doors results in feeling more in touch with the changing of the seasons and with the small and often overlooked miracles of nature.

Children learn to help more with household chores, developing a sense of personal responsibility.

Children learn life skills, such as cooking, in a natural way, by spending time with adults who are engaged in those activities.

More time spent on household responsibilities strengthens family bonds because people become more committed to things they have invested in (in this case, by working for the family).

Time is available for more nonacademic pursuits such as art or music. This leads to a richer, happier life.

Children will not feel like passive recipients of subject matter selected by their teachers. They will learn to design their own education and take responsibility for it.

Children will realize that learning can take place in a large variety of ways.

Children will learn to seek out assistance from many alternative sources, rather than relying on a classroom teacher to provide all the answers.

A more relaxed, less hectic lifestyle is possible when families do not feel the necessity to supplement school during after-school and week-end hours.

Busywork can be avoided.

Learning can be more efficient since methods can be used that suit a child's particular learning style.

Children will avoid being forced to work in "cooperative learning groups" which include children who have very uncooperative attitudes.

Children can learn to work for internal satisfaction rather than for external rewards.

Children will not be motivated to "take the easy way out" by doing just enough work to satisfy their teacher. They will learn to be their own judge of the quality of their own work.

Children will be more willing to take risks and be creative since they do not have to worry about being embarrassed in front of peers.

Children will be more confident since they are not subject to constant fear of criticism from teachers.

Peer pressure will be reduced. There will be less pressure to grow up as quickly in terms of clothing styles, music, language, interest in the opposite s*x.

Social interactions will be by choice and based on common interests.

Friends can be more varied, not just with the child's chronological age peer group who happen to go to the same school.

Field trips can be taken on a much more frequent basis.

Field trips can be much more enjoyable and more productive when not done with a large school group which usually involves moving too quickly and dealing with too many distractions.

Field trips can be directly tied into the child's own curriculum.

Volunteer service activities can be included in the family's regular schedule. Community service can be of tremendous importance in a child's development and can be a great learning experience.

Scheduling can be flexible, allowing travel during less expensive and less crowded off-peak times. This can allow for more travel than otherwise, which is a wonderful learning experience.

Children will be less likely to compare their own knowledge or intelligence with other children and will be less likely to become either conceited or feel inferior.

Religious and special family days can be planned and celebrated.

More time will be spent with people (friends and family) who really love and care about the children. Children will bond more with siblings and parents since they will spend more time together playing, working, and helping each other.

Feedback on children's work will be immediate and appropriate. They won't have to wait for a teacher to grade and return their work later to find out if they understood it.

Feedback can be much more useful than just marking answers incorrect or giving grades.

Testing is optional. Time doesn't have to be spent on testing or preparing for testing unless the parent and/or child desires it.

Observation and discussion are ongoing at home and additional assessment methods are often redundant. Testing, if used, is best used to indicate areas for further work.

Grading is usually unnecessary and learning is seen as motivating in and of itself. Understanding and knowledge are the rewards for studying, rather than grades (or stickers, or teacher's approval, etc.).

Children can be consistently guided in a family's values and can learn them by seeing and participating in parents' daily lives.

Children will learn to devote their energy and time to activities that THEY think are worthwhile.

Children will be able to learn about their ethnicities in a manner that will not demean. Children will be able to understand multiculturalism in its true sense and not from the pseudo-multicultural materials presented in schools which tend to depict others from a dominant culture perspective.

Children will not learn to "fit into society," but will, instead, value morality and love more than status and money.

Children do not have to wait until they are grown to begin to seriously explore their passions; they can start living now.

Children's education can be more complete than what schools offer.

Children who are "different" in any way can avoid being subjected to the constant and merciless teasing, taunting, and bullying which so often occurs in school.

Children with special needs will be encouraged to reach their full potential and not be limited by the use of "cookie cutter" educational methods used in schools.

Low standards or expectations of school personnel will not influence or limit children's ability to learn and excel.

Children will be safer from gangs, drugs, and guns.

Parents will decide what is important for the children to learn, rather than a government bureaucracy.

Family will not be forced to work within school's traditional hours if it does not fit well with their job schedules and sleep needs.

Answer 6

There are so many different reasons to Home School. We do it because the schools here are terriable and we want our kids to have a faith based education. Their education is so important to us that we choose to do it ourselves.

Answer 7

There are many reasons. Some people do it for religious reasons, others for medical. I do it because we move often. But its also a great way to bond with your child.

Answer 8

Sometimes Children suffer from social anxiety to a point where it becomes the only viable solution. Yes you would be credited through your original school they give a test to confirm their accomplishments to proceed to the next grade level. Some children are home schooled up until college and are accepted at Universities after testing and verifying grade level achievement. Schools in general try not to block scholastic achievement no matter how it is acquired.

Answer 9

Homeschoolers school at home for an incredible variety of reasons.  Some do it for religious reasons.  Some feel they can give their child a better education than the schools.  There are others that home school because they don't feel the schools are safe.  We enjoy homeschooling because it allows us to tailor our children's education to their strengths and weaknesses and gives them more time to pursue their interests.

If you were home-schooled and you went back to school the next year, you would in most cases be moved up to the next grade.  Laws differ from state to state, and school systems have different requirements as to what kind of records you have to produce to prove you met the requirements for the grade you completed.

Answer 10

Yes it counts just as much as normal school

Answer 11

Homeschooling is a choice. You don't have to "need" to be homeschooled any more than you "need" to be public or private schooled.

      We homeschool because the public schools insisted our child had to be medicated with stimulants that also acted as appetite suppressants and stunted our child's growth. We complied for nearly three years, but our child still fell further and further behind in school. By third grade she still could not read or do basic math. We had tried to work on these subjects at home between Girl Scouts, jobs and dinner, but it wasn't enough. She looked frail, was behind academically, had lost her self esteem and needed to leave public schools. She was so far behind that private school seemed out of the question. Besides that, all local private schools are religious and expensive. Homeschool was our only viable alternative. Since we have begun HSing we have taken out child off all the medications we had been told she "needed" to learn. She finally started to grow and look like a normal healthy child. She has improved academically in leaps and bounds and she is a happier child all around.

  ***To address the comment about people thinking public schools are prisons, I made the comparison between the two on this Q&A section. I think I pointed out the strict schedules, lack of privacy and fourth amendment rights, presence of drugs and violence, being forced to see the same people everyday, the metal detectors, the bad food and even the occasional uniforms. I never once suggested that was the motivation behind my reason to homeschool, or anyone else’s. I pointed out those similarities in response to the same old arguments I always see in this section that claim proper socialization only takes place in traditional school settings. I have stated my reasons for homeschooling time and again on HS Q&A. Any attempt to ignore those reasons and substitute a comment meant to be somewhat ironic is done purposefully to suit the biases of an ardent homeschool hater.

EDIT: Not liking another person’s religious or political views is hardly a good argument for taking away a basic human right. Not all homeschoolers are NeoCons anyway. I'm about as liberal, a hippy democrat as you'll find and I homeschool. It is always ignorant to believe in stereotypes.

Answer 12

i was home-schooled from 3rd -6th grade because i have dyslexia.  The school system would not teach me to read.

Answer 13

If you value independent thinking and research-based knowledge, you need to be homeschooled.  If you value your family, you need to be homeschooled.  If you don't want to be a pawn of the state, you need to be homeschooled.  

"If you go with the crowd, you'll only get as far as the crowd."  If you want to get farther, you need to be homeschooled.

If you are homeschooled, what "counts" as completing a grade depends entirely on who's doing the counting.  If you're concerned about what other people keep count of in your life, then you don't want to be homeschooled.  It's not your life, anyway.

Answer 14

I am homeschooled because I have a medical condition that makes me absent quite a bit. It counts just as much as regular school.

Answer 15

There are many reasons to homeschool. Parents make the choice that best fits the child and the family. Reasons may range from having social issues at school, being too advanced for the school curriculum, falling behind academically and the school is doing nothing about it or the parents may not want the child exposed to the goverment institution or may want more of a christian education. There are many, many more reasons, so many I could not list them all.

If you were to homeschool and enter back into public school, where you are placed will depend on the state or maybe even the school district you are in. Some schools will have you take a placement test others will just ask your parents to provide your grades, transcripts or proof of academics and place you accordingly.

Answer 16

I got home schooled the last two years of school, because i do sports professionally.

Yes it counts just as much as normal school(But nor sure if you can go back to your old school) and i loved it.

At first it's way harder, because when you start of you tend to get very lazy, but with time you'll get more discipline.

Some reasons people get homeschool are:

Because of sports(to have more time to train) or any other reasons that takes up a lot of time.

If you live to far away from a school(on a farm or something)

If their parents don't want their kids to go thrue the whole brainwash schools do.(you only notice once your out of school)

etc..

Answer 17

Homeschool years do count.  Home schooling brings children away from taunting & teasing to bring them to a possibly more educational enviroment where they learn at their own speed.

Answer 18

I home school my son to preserve his love of learning and allow him to work at his own pace. To assure that he learns how to learn and not just regurgitate information on aptitude tests.

Answer 19

1)  If they love to learn and don't want to have to be told how to do it by the brain washing public school system.

2)  If they can't afford it.

3)  If they drop out of school.

4)  If they are really busy or live in a remote area.

Yes.  HS is just as real as PS.  As long as you transfer your records to the PS you can begin in the new grade or vice versa.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 20

Some of the answers above are very valid, but my reasons where different. I think everyone has a different reason to actually get started. In our case, our eyes where open to the lacking public school system soon after my daughter went to 6th grade. In a nutshell, my child had come from a very disciplined private school and was having a hard time with the fact that none of the kids at her new school would even listen to the teacher. The final straw was when she was "propositioned" (to put it nicely) by a boy in her class who had been held back a couple of times. The solution that the principal thought was appropriate  (after I threatened to call the cops due to NO returned phone calls) was to bring my child AND the boy into the same room and ask them together what happened. I pulled her out the next day. I looked into home school and did a lot of research finding that kids who do this work at their own pace, follow there interests and usually end up with better test scores. We have found all that to be true and have benefited in having a closer family, happier kids who have great friend and many interests.

Answer 21

Home schooling is a "choice".

It is a valid alternative to any form of conventional schooling, and is often times academically the better choice as well.

No one "needs" to be home schooled; they choose to do so.

You can choose home schooling from the beginning, and go all the way through high school, or do it partly for one, or several years.

Home schooling gives the parents, and students the freedom to adjust any curriculum, if they want to use one, to their own schedule, and interests.

Some students do choose to go to a conventional high school after being home schooled from K through 8Th grade.

Some will stay, and others will go back to home schooling because they see that they can finish a regular high school program often times in as little as 2 years, and start college early.

They may find out that they are either to far ahead, and do not want to repeat classes they have already done, or they are bored with the other non-academic activities, and want to direct their own education once again.

We home/unschool because it is a way of life.

Home schooling is much more than academics, and is definitvely not merely doing school @ home.

To fully understand home schooling is almost impossible because their are as many reasons as their are families.

Home schooling does however provide a truly individualized education for each student, something no conventional school could provide no matter how many "good" programs, or teachers they have.

It is simply not set up to do so.

See this free little video, it illustrates it well.

Click on the little purple box.

http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/

This web site has been posted several times by another home school mom, and provides a good comparison of home schooling versus public schooling, and as to why so many parents choose this option.

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Another great home school web site with much information is;

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

A book I would recommend you reading to get another view on home/unschooling is;

http://www.lowryhousepublishers.com/Teen...

Hope this helps a bit.

Answer 22

i recently switched to independ study because i absolutely HATED the school i was at and refused to go to school, causing my grades to drop.

yes, home-schooling is just like regular school...if you were to do it one year and go back into a public school, you would enter the next grade...except, i think it's a bit harder. you need to be motivated to stay on task and get your work done. you also tend to stay in your pajamas the whole day and get addicted to talk shows and re-runs on tvland!

:)

Answer 23

You don't "need" to be homeschooled in order to homeschool. However, there are some definite areas where homeschooling would be necessary or at least recognized as highly beneficial by the general population: illness, work (actors, for example), sports... People also choose to homeschool for many other reasons, like wanting better academics, better social milieu, better lifestyle for the kids...

If you did the same work at home as you'd be doing in school, then 1 year of homeschooling probably wouldn't cause any problems. The school might want to test or something to see if you'd learned what you need to so that you can handle the gr. 9 material. You'd have to check with the school in question. Although, where I live, you'd simply be put in gr. 9, so this would be a bit dependent on where you live. As would the someone with the Board of Education meeting with you. This is NOT common practice.

Do know that there are different types of home education: homeschooling, at-home programs offered through the school or school district, online public school programs and more.

Answer 24

Well, there are alot of reasons that people choose it...  it's whether or not they chose it for the right reasons that poses a question.  Some people live in school districts that simply aren't safe and aren't in a position to move to a better district (or simply don't want to move), some people do it because they feel that school districts are full of drugs, s*x and violence...  which sure some schools are.  I have even learned that some people choose it as a way to defy the norm and feel that schools are government funded penitentaries (lol).... Others do it simply to shelter their children and to keep them "close"....  Some do it because of their religions.  So many different reasons, a few actually make sense to me (but I still would never do it, as I feel the negatives do outweigh the positives).  Oh, heres a tidbit of info....

"If you take the ten worst years, there were about 9.3 student killings per year. If you divide that by 119,000 schools, the odds of it happening are remote. The average school can expect a student to kill someone at school every 12,000 years. Prepare your child for lightening to strike, or a hurricane or an earthquake. We do have a problem, however, with students making threats and students who are frightened.. We do need to talk with students about violence, but not necessarily the extreme kinds we hear about in the news."  That is an excerpt from a chat on CourtTV with University of Virginia Psychologist Dewey Cornell author of the book "School Violence: Fears Versus Facts."

I think more people should read what this man has to say....

Answer 25

All sorts of different reasons. Wanting to go to college sooner. getting on with their life. that is all i can think of for now.

Answer 26

some artists and athletes or busy career people need to go in this kind of procedure as long as schedules don't interfere with the other. or, there are traumatized kids that are afraid to come out of their shells and thus, parents call out tutors who visits every home within day or night. it all depends on terms. some kids have advance learnings when then have summer classes. most of all, if there's boredom regarding what to do with money!

Answer 27

Each state is different but usually a person from the Board of Education meets with the homeschooler and parents a few times a year to see what work they are doing. And yes it counts as a grade but unless you get a credit high school program it does not count for High school. You have to buy a program where you communicate online.

Answer 28

well...there are many reasons for home schooling. some people have suffered accidents and have to be kept back a year at school and they find it easier to learn in a familiar environment. some people have to be home schooled because they're travellers, and don't stay in one school for a long time so find it easier to just be schooled at home. some people are famous and have to be schooled on set, or at home. Or some people have abnormally large families, and so parents find it easier to simply teach their children all inone place, rather than try to get them all into school.

Answer 29

Since you are saying "have to" I'll address the non-choice situations. Some are discipline problems, emotional problems, some places won't allow underaged/unwed girls pregnant in classes.

Some are medical reasons. If a child is going through chemo or other extensive medical treatment there's no way he/she can keep up with regular schoolwork.