I have a few years to think about this, but I want to get some perspective. DH and I do not want our children in the public schools in our town. We have considered a private school (the one I used to teach at) or moving to one of the smaller surrounding communities. However, it will depend on how much the private school will cost in 4 years if we can go with that option.

What do you think the pros and cons are of homeschooling? Please add whether you homeschool your children or if you were homeschooled yourself if you feel comfortable in doing so.

Thanks :)

Hi :)

I was homeschooled K-8. I would have gladly stayed home through high school, but our family circumstances didn't allow for it.

Cons: For some colleges, he may have fewer opportunities for scholarships...or more, it just depends. This only applies if you go through high school.
If you get a standard curriculum, it can be expensive. The costs can be cut down by avoiding enrollment in any program; just find text books that teach what you want them to learn. Many homeschool communities also have book fairs, where you can get them cheap.
You may be harassed by the local school system, neighbors, etc. If so, call the Homeschool Legal Defense.

Pros: You can work around what you and your family need, rather than what the school system tells you to do. You can spend eight hours a day on school work like they do, but usually you can do the work for a full day in two or three hours at middle school age. Less for younger children.
You can pick your curriculum to fit your family's beliefs and your child's needs. Also his interests, so that he doesn't get bored.
You can decide what influences your child is exposed to.
Everyone will probably get the flu less, as children tend to be sent to school either sick or carrying germs.
There's no need to worry about bullies, etc.

Homeschooling helped me in so many ways; with my math difficulties, I probably wouldn't have graduated if I hadn't been homeschooled beforehand.
Though don't think it's just for children with difficulties; one of my friends went from eighth grade to going to college full-time.
To sum up before I start rambling again (yay sugar :silly: ), I think homeschooling is an excellent option for all kids.

I was homeschooled for a year. The main reason, for me, against homeschooling is teamwork and people skills. I feel these are vital for most future careers and even social situations. Even during recess, kids are interacting with each other and learning how to work and deal with others. If you are able to expose your child to social situations with peers and otherwise, I think it would be a good idea to homeschool.

I don't home school ( 4 kids), but my neighbor does, her kids no not know how to interact/behave with other kids.
I want my kids at school to socialize, go on field trips and ease into the comunity without mom at their side at all times, makes the transition into adulthood easier.
Just my opinion.

I was homeschooled K-12, as was my older brother. I also have two younger siblings who are being homeschooled, grades 5 and 12. I have known many, many families who have homeschooled. I feel pretty qualified to talk about the pros and cons. :wink:

Honestly, the cons of homeschooling are really just the terrible laws that some states have imposed upon it, and people who attack it and/or simply don't understand it.

One of the biggest criticism of homeschooling is the lack of "socialization." I can't count the number of times that people have expressed concerns to me about how homeschooled kids deal with the so-called "real world." The truth is, you can be as socially active as you want to be. I have known severely sheltered and socially inept homeschooled children (though they are definitely in the minority), and these problems were always the fault of the parents. If you want your children to have friends and to be involved in sports, field trips, etc., then you need to make efforts. It's simple: join your local homeschooling group. These used to be fairly small, but now that the number of homeschooling families has increased dramatically and continues to do so, there are large groups in almost every city or county. There are wonderful opportunities for all kinds of activities. Many groups have sports teams. All groups go on field trips of all kinds. Most have some classes. The list goes on...

There are so many pros to homeschooling that I will only list a few:

1) Family time. My siblings were among my best friends when I was growing up, and while of course we had our share of tiffs, we got along wonderfully for the most part. I have so many dear memories of doing school at the kitchen table with my siblings, playing outside with them during breaks and after school, eating lunch outside together, and so on. Having my mother for my teacher was great; it gave us so many opportunities to work together and enjoy each other. IT also gave her opportunities to discipline me when I misbehaved. :wink: That's a big consideration: you have control over your children when they are at home, and you don't have to worry about teachers' methods of discipline.

2) Individual, tailored education. All children are different, and all of them learn and grow at different paces. Homeschooling is perfect for meeting a child's individual needs! My mom was able to work with each of us and find just the right ways of teaching us. Some of us learned faster than others, and we each had our own strengths and weaknesses.

There is so much information available on homeschooling than there used to be, and there are so many more options. All you have to do is go out and get it!

I hope you do decide to homeschool! :grin:

By the way, I might add that I have seen many homeschooled kids grow into adults, and most of them are very bright, mature, well-adjusted people. They have learned to relate to all ages, not just their peers, and they are not social misfits.

And hey, all the colleges are falling all over themselves to get the homeschooled students who ace their SAT's and ACT's and have the impressive grades. :wink:

For every one example someone can show me of a bad homescooler, I can show them twenty good ones.

Thank you all very much for your opinions. It's a lot for me to think about, so I'm glad I have time. One thing I've been thinking is that I will feel like I am getting to definitely use my college education. I know there is a pretty good sized group of homeschoolers here in my town. It's a large city (to me anyway) of 110,000+ people. (I come from a town of 1400). They have a site online with a whole bunch of resources and different things they do. I just want what is best for my child(ren) and I know it is not the public school here. And I would definitely get them involved with other children so they get to socialize.

I'd still love to hear more opinions/stories. This is such a great place to hear them.

If you are able to expose your child to social situations with peers and otherwise, I think it would be a good idea to homeschool.

that's easy with a large family =) My children have learned how to respectfully socialize with all ages, rather than most of their time socializing with same-age peers. socializing my 8 yo with 30 other 8yo and expect him to come out with manners? well-that's a high hope!!! but when he has an older sibling guiding him, and he's conscious about his younger sibling copying him, it brings a whole new dimension to socializing....

Thank you all very much for your opinions. It's a lot for me to think about, so I'm glad I have time. One thing I've been thinking is that I will feel like I am getting to definitely use my college education..

your education may be nice, but it's not a necessity to homeschool. The mothers that I find burnout on homeschooling the quickest are former teachers because they tend to make their homeschooling "like school". and it's hard to get the institutionalized education methods out of them. I don't grade and test. I teach until they know the material and see if they can communicate what they learned and apply it to everyday life. testing/grading can be a hard habit to break and pretty scary. by state law, we do standardized testing every 3 years.

Honestly, the cons of homeschooling are really just the terrible laws that some states have imposed upon it, and people who attack it and/or simply don't understand it.



well-said Violet. Once you even spend a minimal amount of time researching the different methods of homeschooling and the laws, you easily see the benefits and the myths surrounding it (socializing being the biggest one) just disappear...

I was a home schooled child, i loved it and have no regrets whatsoever.

Pro's

-you build a better realtionship with your parents
-You gain a wider range of knowledge and often a better knowledge of the world since your not in a school environment.
-You gain better friendships, not school friends who you will lose contact with when you leave
-You can tailor education to your childs needs.
-You get a lot more interaction with real life situation rather than studying something. For instance, when we studied physics, we went to the Eureka museum which lets you play around with objects and experiment rather learning about it from a book.
-A lot more time and resource is availible. Your not stuck to school time, have to catch the bus and get it at 7:30. You have all day and you dont have the homework problem.And there is loads of provisions and resource for homeschooling. A lot of support.
-Feelings that come around from school evironments are often minimized. Such as not being with the in crowd or feeling inferior to the clever people and quite often if you are you can be over looked by teachers when there is a huge class. You avoid most of that.


Con's

-While you do meet a lot more people, if you do send your child back to school (such as high school or college) it can be a bid daunting and you can be very shy.
-It is a lot of work, but in my opinion worth it.
-Tendancy's to slack off writing work can appear, because your not in a class with other who are doing essays or whatever, it can be hard to get motivated.

I honstly cant think of many cons. Homeschooling in my opinion is well worth it. I dont know any mum that has homeschooled and regretted it.

your education may be nice, but it's not a necessity to homeschool. The mothers that I find burnout on homeschooling the quickest are former teachers because they tend to make their homeschooling "like school". and it's hard to get the institutionalized education methods out of them. I don't grade and test. I teach until they know the material and see if they can communicate what they learned and apply it to everyday life. testing/grading can be a hard habit to break and pretty scary. by state law, we do standardized testing every 3 years.
Thanks for your thoughts on this. There are so many things for me to think about.

I almost left teaching after one year because of several things. But one thing I didn't like was all the grading and testing. Its understandable that you have to find out if the kids know the material, but to have the child one on one, you could see that without using tests and homework. You can't do that in a school setting. I loved seeing the kids use their knowledge even if only to play Around the World and other such fun games. (Or to have fun drawing, writing, etc in their free times.)

Thanks for your thoughts on this. There are so many things for me to think about.

I almost left teaching after one year because of several things. But one thing I didn't like was all the grading and testing. Its understandable that you have to find out if the kids know the material, but to have the child one on one, you could see that without using tests and homework. You can't do that in a school setting. I loved seeing the kids use their knowledge even if only to play Around the World and other such fun games. (Or to have fun drawing, writing, etc in their free times.)

sounds like you got the basic idea of homeschooling--real life learning!!! snowwhite, from your attitude of openmindness and researching, there's no doubt you would make a wonderful homeschool momma! =)

I've been homeschooled grades 4-12, this being my senior year. I agree 100% with what the other homeschoolers have said on here, so I'll just add a few things.

People seem to think that what you are capable of teaching your child is limited by the parent's own knowledge. But the curriculums today are so detailed and comprehensive, they do all the teaching. Every detail you need to know is right there in front of you.

When it comes to academic and social opportunities, you are completely unlimited with homeschooling. As others have said, it's up to the parents to give their children socialization, but the resources are out there if people just use them. Even in public school, many kids are so isolated because of teasing or shyness or whatever. Just because they're thrown together 6 hours every day doesn't mean they're well-adjusted.

As far as scholarship opportunities go, I'm dealing with that right now. There are just as many scholarships open to me as to a public school student. Scholarships today focus on SAT or ACT scores, GPA and grades, financial need, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities. I've already got almost $13,000 per year coming for me next fall at Campbell University, where I will attend next year. My parents made sure I got volunteer work in and we documented EVERYTHING. My test scores are always in the 98th to 99th percentile and I was involved in many, many extracurricular activities. Homeschoolers tend to score higher on standardized tests, which means that if anything they're *more* likely to get scholarships. Some colleges even give preference to applications from homeschoolers. Another option while the student is still in high school is to be dual-enrolled at a community college. I've been doing this the past 3 semesters, and it's a good way to move into college life, plus the cost is much less for courses for dual enrolled students.

I don't think I could possibly have gotten a better education. Homeschooling was perfect for our family, and I think because of it we're extremely close as a family. I'm so glad this is what we ended up doing! :smile:

We're going to start homeschooling our older son next year, when he enters 6th grade. Around here, that's middle school, so he would be attending with 7th and 8th graders. Recipe for disaster, IMO. He's a very bright kid, but despite having attended day care and public school for most of his life, he is not very socialized.

That's not from lack of opportunity--it's a personality trait he was born with. Both my husband and I have varying degrees of that trait ourselves; we were the weird, smart kids who dressed a little funny. :) So we have a pretty good idea of what he's going through. Only he's got it even worse, because he's extremely hyperactive to the point of violence. Even when he was a tiny thing, I was constantly covered with bruises and scratches he had inflicted on me. We could handle that, but classroom teachers can't. He has been on medication since second grade to control his destructiveness and mood swings, and perhaps in a homeschool environment we can reduce his reliance on the drugs.

I want to spare my son what my husband and I went through in school. Both of us had nightmarish middle school experiences--I think that age range is old enough to be status-conscious and cliqueish, and too young to realize just how damaging bullying and exclusion can be to those who are the targets. I especially want to get my son's curriculum up to his personal speed, which in math, science and reading is way ahead of the pack. This kid is probably destined for MIT or Cal Tech (both his grandfathers are PhDs in physics) and so we're getting started early. I don't know if we will continue it through high school; we're going to see how it goes and take it one year at a time.

Vicky

vicki, the first year bring a child out of public school environment, take it easy. It's a lot for them to get "used to" being home 24/7 and doing things differently. A lot of mothers in this situation have to use 2-6 months to "de-school" themselves and the children. I brought my oldest home from public school after 3rd grade and it took us about 6 months to get used to our new "groove" and "rhythm"...

Vicky,
It sounds like homeschooling will definately be good for your family :)
One thing to worry about though: Be careful if you end up having him out of public school for only a year or two. That was the situation with most of the kids I know who hated being homeschooled. But of course, situations vary, and I'm sure you'll do what's best for your son :flower:

pros: who knows you child better than you?
cons: you do need patience and understanding
also its up to you how you get your kids to socialize with others. we have little problems in that area as we belong to a homelearners group and have various diff. activities.
as far as public school private school setting, i feel this... how diverse is the "socialness" when your child is in a classroom setting all day with children of the same age? also too, for a high precentage of the time they are not even allowed to talk?! my advice to people who want to teach their own is to search the net and read, read, read! :flower: hope this helps peace to ya

We are going to try homeschooling with our children. We are concerned about the many negative aspects of schooling, and expecially in making sure our children get a quality education. Both dh and I were above average students who were usually bored in class.

Don't be afraid to do a lot of reading now, or even attending some homeschool support groups. I think my first year will be easier since I've been around enough different hsing families that I already have an idea of what resources I'd like to use. It really helped me to see families that were making it work.

On the other hand, we would also like to have a large family. I know it is very possible to homeschool with a large family, but we are trying to keep from having the mindset that we MUST homeschool, or our children will die horrible peer pressure related deaths. We don't want to put too much pressure on me, or neglect the younger children. We also are going to try not to feel bad if some are homeschooled and others are not. If something isn't working, we'll change it.

Flexible and guilt-free. That's what we're striving for here. :thumbsup:

Kelly

This is a great thread! I'm considering homeschooling my littlest one when she's old enough. My other 2 (11 and 8 yo girls) are in public school, and I'm just not satisfied with it, but I feel like maybe it's too late to change now. I love seeing everyone's opinions on this, especialy people that were homeschooled themselves.

I did consider homeschooling years ago, but I was concerned about the social aspect. I had never heard of homeschooling groups until I met my mother-in-law, who homeschools her kids. Now that I'm learning more about it, I'm leaning more and more towards it.

I home schooled our 2 daughters for four years. Then their 2 brothers were born 21 months apart and I had no time or energy to continue. It was such an interesting time, teaching the girls, looking at each day like "what can we investigate today" Where will we go for a fieldtrip. Definately created 2 women (our girls are 22 and 25 now) who are life time learners. I see them think and reason their way through some of what life throws at them. Whereas, I being totally public schooled sort of separated learning into the compartment of school, instead of seeing life as a learning process.

I was not homeschooled nor did I homeschool my two daughters, although if I had to do it all over again I definitely would! But I do have an opinion based on my experience as a community college English instructor. I have had several homeschooled (k-12) students come to my classes as new freshman or sophomores and almost ALL of those students have been among the top in my classes. They are disciplined, get their work done on time, don't make excuses, and actually SHOW UP to almost all class meetings. They also contribute quite a lot to class discussions and are usually very easy to get along with. Their writing is usually far superior to others of their age group in the class as well. I have not noticed that any of these people seem exceptionally shy or socially inept.

Of course, I don't know the educational background of every single student in all my classes, but the ones I know of who were homeschooled are usually very good students at the college level.

Just my .02.