homeschools, private, public schools...here's my opinion

[Suzy]

I homeschooled for 5 years. I would have more except we were trying to keep peace with the ex-wife. The first 4 years I belonged to a local homeschool group. The 5th year I was President of the group.

People who don't know the ins-and-outs of homeschooling are against it. I was told many times about my kids not getting to socialize with others. My kids socialized more than private or public school children. As I feel all homeschool children do. Even though our children now go to a private school, I still wish for homeschooling again. Yes, we cover all areas of teaching. We have to maintain records and keep up with the number of hours per day of teaching. But I feel we can cover more in those hours and the kids learn more than a regular school setting. And by doing so, less "homework" or no homework at all. All depends how each family teaches. I said all that to say this-that gives our kids more time to socialized. My kids played soccor for a nearby town. They played baseball every year and even went to a play-off. They were members of 4-H and still are. Not to mention the activities and clubs that the homeschool groups have. My kids also played piano for 4 years. They took gymnastics and yes even the boys enjoyed that. My DD took clogging also. We were busy but not to the point of being on the go and not enjoying life. I made sure the kids (and myself) weren't overwhelmed. For the years that I kept up with it, the National Spelling Bee Champions were homeschool students. What do people have to say about that!! Sorry for the attitude there.

And as for being prepared to go to a school setting from a homeschool setting....... I can only speak for my kids, but they adjusted just fine. I even had the teachers tell me that they adjusted very well. Better than what the teachers actually thought they would. No my children don't make straight A's. Well, one does. But the others were all on the B honor roll for the year.

I have homeschooled grades from K5-6th. This will be the 3rd year that our kids will be in private school. Yes, tuition is expensive. No, we are not rich. Why do you think I am on a frugality web site? We need to save money and cut back. Public schools in our district are really bad. From the attitude of the teachers and students, No Child Left Behind Program, cameras in the classrooms and hallways and even to the doorways of the bathrooms. Police having an office in the school. Not officer-office.

One thing on the No Child Left Behind-and this is my opinion- I feel that instead of it raising the bar for the kids to work towards and get help from teachers to get there, it has lowered the bar for all children and has brought down the education. I know first hand, we did send the kids there for one year and due to our (mine and DH) frustrations with the school, we barely made it through without taking the kids out. We did finish the year and homeschooled a year until we found another school-private.

We are lucky, blessed, to find a private school like Jefferson Davis Academy. They still have prayer in the classroom. A preacher comes on Wednesday and has chapel in the gym. No this isn't catagorized as a Christian school but it does has Christain values. I graduated from a private school that didn't do that.No uniforms, but does have a dress code. My DH graduated from the public school in our district. He said that times have changed. We like private schools- we liked homeschooling better. But as I said in the beginning, we are trying to keep peace with an ex.

Ok, I got it all out. I meant for this just to be a positive thread on homeschooling, instead I think it turned into a rant for those against homeschooling. I apologize for hurting anyone's feelings. But this is my opinion on schools. Hope I still have friends here.

[Missy]

Than you for this post. It's nice to know...being a homeschool family too...that we aren't alone in it, that others have done it too.

[shortstack]

I am a public school teacher. My kids go to private school and if we couldn't afford that I would homeschool them. I think that speaks for itself.

Andrea

[grneyegrl]

i think a lot of the problems with public schools is the testing.. now they teach "for the test" in stead of testing to see what the children really know.. and they assume kids cant do this or that instead of letting them try subject..

when i was in school(grad in 1980) i remember 2 days of testing a year.. there was no prep for the test. i wasnt the best student and i tested above average and when i went to college i needed some math(algebra) only because i didnt have it in school

[savvymom]

I don't have anything against homeschooling, I think it's wonderful, just not right for our family at this time. My dd loves her school and we are extremely involved in volunteering and helping. Thank you for your experience, it's nice to hear.

[orlivin1225]

Suzy,

Thank you for that post. I fortunately live in an area where homeschooling is widely accepted. Our local newspaper just printed all of the failing grades that our local public schools received from the No Child Left Behind Act. I'm so glad that we HS'd last year...

I moved to Southern OR from SoCal where the only people who homeschooled, were those who lived out on communes and had run-ins with the ATF.

My extended family (who still live in SoCal) doesn't understand our reasoning for HSing and have a 'it was good enough for you' attitude. The difference is, public school now is nothing like the public school of (gulp) the 1980's... my child was assaulted on the playground by a female student. She walked up behind him and put him in a choke hold until he was almost unconscious... the school's response- "Oh, she just likes him..." WHAT?! There was no punishment, no ANYTHING! But if my SON had done that to a female student on the playground, you'd better believe he'd be expelled... What hypocrites!

Dh and I finally decided (with the help of some prodding from God) to HS the kids... They HATED it the first year (both are social butterflies and academics became the focus, not gossip) but we trudged along. This is our 2nd year of HSing and both are excited. Both are involved in outside social activities (DD is in soccer, and attends the youth group at church, not to mention all of her 'regular' friends and DS is hoping to start football at the YMCA soon, attends youth group at church and also has his own 'regular' friends) and both are in a much better place both academically and socially. It's amazing when you take the fear of getting your butt kicked at school out of the picture, you can see what a child is truly capable of.

(getting off of my soapbox now...) Thanks again for the encouragement!!

[AmyBoz]

I agree that George Bush has absolutely ruined education with No Child Left Behind. It's a shame that schools are being judged by failing scores when so few people actually know what the disaggregated data means and represents. I know many, many people are making the homeschooling choice these days and are very pleased with their decision. As always, whatever works for your family is best for your family. Just because it doesn't fit my family doesn't mean there's a darn thing wrong with it.

[orlivin1225]

I agree that George Bush has absolutely ruined education with No Child Left Behind. It's a shame that schools are being judged by failing scores when so few people actually know what the disaggregated data means and represents. I know many, many people are making the homeschooling choice these days and are very pleased with their decision. As always, whatever works for your family is best for your family. Just because it doesn't fit my family doesn't mean there's a darn thing wrong with it.

I completely respect anyone's decision to take advantage of public schools... what I'm tired of, is trying to explain why HSing works well for my family and that no, we aren't just 'letting them do whatever they want to do,' which seems to be the misconception.

When I brought my kids home to school last year (after they had both been in public school there whole schooling careers) I realized what they had NOT been taught (DD was definitely behind and was showing signs of a learning disorder that was never discussed or visible through her report cards, and DS was failing miserably at math, although his math grade was an A- the school year prior). I do understand what the scores mean, and I also saw the results of those scores first hand. Both of my kids are charmers, and I wouldn't doubt that their teachers let them 'skate' because they were/ are "good kids" which doesn't help them at all... These schools failed my kids, and it was reflected in the scores that they received... Now that schooling is my problem, I can't blame anything on anyone else, and I'm completely fine with that...

[elphie]

I have never really understood the debate... if everyone is doing what is best for their own kids then why does it matter to others? This has become the new "mommy wars" except now instead of arguing about if we work or stay home we argue about our choices for educating our kids. A lot of people don't understand why we homeschool. They think my ds was a problem child and we brought him home to "straighten him out". This is reinforced in their minds by the fact that dd goes to ps. The reality is that we brought ds home to RESCUE him, not straighten him out. He was miserable and his personality/learning style just doesn't do well in conventional settings. I used to jump to his defense and explain this at length to people until I realized it didn't matter what they think... I'm his mom and I know what is best for him. No matter what choices we make there will always be those who disagree... the trick is learning to let it roll off your back instead of internalizing it.

[frugalbabe]

I started a public charter school 3 years ago and my children attend that I am thinking of pulling themout next year and homeschooling them -- although walking away from a school I helped to found is such a miserable thought. The Superintendant of our neighborhood school at his last meeting stood up and told the entire room that he could care less about "No Child Left Behind" and he wanted his teachers to stop letting it rule their classrooms. This is the best thing I have ever heard this man say. I couldn't agree more. I have a teaching degree and I would never ever put my children in a neighborhood public school. I have seen too much - actually what is rather telling is I live near a major university and a majority of the professors have their children homeschooled. Makes you think. I mean if you lived near a hospital and learned that most of the doctors wouldn't let their families be treated their it would make you wonder what was wrong with the hospital.

[Mom23boys]

I think each family should do what they feel is best for their child(ren). I would not judge anyone for the way they chose to educate their child(ren).

[MoonMommy]

To each his/her own. As a parent, you do what you believe is best for your children.

Here in NY, the public schools are pretty good. I also believe that a child will do better the more a parent is involved in their education, no matter where they are educated. For that reason, I volunteer in the classroom, I volunteer to go on the field trips, and I am an active member in the PTO. Not only does it give me a chance to meet the teachers, it also gives me a feel for what is going on in school. It gives me a chance to get to know the other kids in the class. I get to know their personalities...they aren't just a name that my kid says after he gets home.

I also agree that this issue has become the new mommy wars. Why must we as women/parents fight about our choices? I realize for some people, they have to put down the choices of others in order to validate their own life choices, but I think this needs to stop. Not everyone needs to follow the same path. Homeschooling isn't my choice, but I can respect how much effort, planning, and dedication it takes a parent to HS their children.

[yankeegal]

[QUOTE=AmyBoz;983319]I agree that George Bush has absolutely ruined education with No Child Left Behind. [QUOTE]

I think you forgot the other cohort of this legislation-Mr.Kennedy? I believe he had a huge hand in it as well.
I support vouchers, home-schooling, private school, public school, charter schools, merit pay for teaching, etc...whatever works for each family and community.

[MomToTwoBoys]

The day I heard about this "No Child Left Behind" program, I instantly saw failure. I wasn't aware that the public school system was so far in distress that it needed a very poorly-constructed program tied into it. The biggest failure of the entire program is that not every child learns in the same manner as the next. It's like a treatment program for kids with autism; not every method of therapy for autistic children works for the next. There is no blanket method of improving a child's development and I'm appauled that people felt the NCLB program would have suddenly made a drastic change in every child who struggles in school.

I would have actually loved to homeschool my youngest, alas I felt he needed something more than I could give him. I don't have the patience level or the attention span to cover what he would need to be taught. It's especially difficult by having another child in the home that requires an extremely large amount of attention in order to function on a daily basis. There are many programs in the community that helps to foster a child's social interaction and in the end, it's up to each parent to help their children get that amount of social interaction that others feel makes homeschooling that much more justified.

I am looking at putting Dakota into a private school setting. This is not only to help keep him out of the public school system but to give him that much more of an edge when he goes to college. I went to public school in NY and it was terrible there. We had Locals and Regents programs and it felt so segregated. There was so much discontent amongst students because the Regents kids made fun of the Locals kids, etc. That segregation isn't what is needed in order for most children to have a good amount of social functionality when they get out of school. The NY public school system doesn't give enough initiative to children to excel and that's where it fails. Sadly, that's how most public school is. That is why I've chosen to put both my children in special programs or a charter school.

I say it's every parent's right to ensure that their child receives the level of education that they feel is going to take them the furthest they can go in life. No one should feel alienated because they're doing something that someone else looks down upon it.

[angelbumpkin]

My kids currently attend public school. I do have a problem wehn the only focus seems to be on test. I am an extremely involed at my kids school. I have homeschooled for awhile my do it again in the future.