So, I’ve been doing a lot of research and we have decided to homeschool our kids. Public school is a joke, and by all available research homeschoolers do better in college testing. One of the major things that influenced our decision on this is the Covid response in schools, and the whole white guilt thing that the schools are pushing. People say public school is free, but it isn’t. They indoctrinate your child against you, and it will eventually cost you your children. Mine will never attend public school. I also think this is an important prep as it ultimately protects the family structure.
Homeschool
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Go for it. We homeschooled ours in the 90's. They did well.
Thank you, it’s good to hear success stories. Some of the people I’ve talked to about this act like I’m going to ruin their lives or something.
3 of 5 were home schooled at least part of the time. 2 of them liked it. 1 hated it. But, that one wouldn't have liked any school. He was dyslexic, dysgraphic, had ADHD and became a mechanic. Sitting still was torture for him.
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Technically we didn't "home school" because we did our research and bought a house in a school district with a really good elementary and middle school (high school not so much, but they went to "Magnet Schools" not that high school). And I closely monitored the books they used and what they were being taught.
However, I prepared them well at home.
I come from a family of teachers. My maternal grandmother graduated from a teacher's college at 17 and taught, and my maternal grandfather taught and was a school superintendent. I had aunts and uncles that were teachers. All three of my sisters were teachers (one still is). I taught high school and college, and my wife taught middle school. So it's in the blood.
My daughter asked me a couple of weeks ago if I remembered what age she was when she started to learn to read. Because she remembered one time in preschool when she got in trouble because she followed the written directions for something. Of course, none of the other preschoolers could read so they had to follow the teacher's instructions, which were different than the written directions. At the time, she thought it was odd nobody else knew how to read, LOL.
She started learning how to read at 18 months, and was reading books to herself long before she entered preschool. (my son was a late bloomer, he didn't start until he was two, LOL) Being an advanced reader gave her a leg up on everyone else all the way through college. She scored the highest SAT in her high school (one of the top ten high schools in Georgia.)
My son also scored the highest SAT in his high school (different school).
However, I prepared them well at home.
I come from a family of teachers. My maternal grandmother graduated from a teacher's college at 17 and taught, and my maternal grandfather taught and was a school superintendent. I had aunts and uncles that were teachers. All three of my sisters were teachers (one still is). I taught high school and college, and my wife taught middle school. So it's in the blood.
My daughter asked me a couple of weeks ago if I remembered what age she was when she started to learn to read. Because she remembered one time in preschool when she got in trouble because she followed the written directions for something. Of course, none of the other preschoolers could read so they had to follow the teacher's instructions, which were different than the written directions. At the time, she thought it was odd nobody else knew how to read, LOL.
She started learning how to read at 18 months, and was reading books to herself long before she entered preschool. (my son was a late bloomer, he didn't start until he was two, LOL) Being an advanced reader gave her a leg up on everyone else all the way through college. She scored the highest SAT in her high school (one of the top ten high schools in Georgia.)
My son also scored the highest SAT in his high school (different school).
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I was a genuine "Spock Baby." My parents realized too late that following Dr. Spock's advice was a catastrophe, and later apologized to me for believing that drivel. The early child education philosophy du jour was "Don't teach your children anything, let the professionals do it. You'll just mess them up if you try to teach them."
I had a hard time learning to read in public school. I had a hard time with everything in public school. My father took me out of public school in the middle of the second grade and put me in a private school where I flourished. Then put me back in the public schools in the fourth grade. I hated just about every minute in public school.
So I made damned sure my kids would not have that problem when they started school.
I had a hard time learning to read in public school. I had a hard time with everything in public school. My father took me out of public school in the middle of the second grade and put me in a private school where I flourished. Then put me back in the public schools in the fourth grade. I hated just about every minute in public school.
So I made damned sure my kids would not have that problem when they started school.
I taught myself to read in two languages at age 3. Tested at the college level in comprehension and vocabulary in the 4th grade and got perfect scores on my ACT and SAT, back when you could do such a thing. Math…don’t want to talk about that one. LOL. Catholic education, nuns, rulers and all of that.
I think the best gift any parent can give to their child is a love of learning and critical thinking because, it won’t matter what they teach in school, they will explore it further and think for themselves.
I went to private schools after 2nd grade but, I was always “home schooled” after hours as well. Unlike most schools today, the teachers in our school challenged us to challenge them, even in Religion classes.
Since, there were not mandatory metrics of “you MUST cover this by this date and that by that date” we actually had time to discuss and debate topics in class, questioned and had to think outside the box. Consuming and spitting back information was secondary to actual thought. Teachers routinely deviated from the lesson plan and textbooks.
“Because I said so” was never uttered in our home. “Go look it up and let me know what you find” was used instead (this entailed old fashioned research at the library, which was our after-school babysitter/daycare every day, with card catalogs and real books). A rather adult discussion always ensued afterwards at the dinner table the next night.
Regardless of which mode of schooling you choose, your involvement with your children makes a difference!
I think the best gift any parent can give to their child is a love of learning and critical thinking because, it won’t matter what they teach in school, they will explore it further and think for themselves.
I went to private schools after 2nd grade but, I was always “home schooled” after hours as well. Unlike most schools today, the teachers in our school challenged us to challenge them, even in Religion classes.
Since, there were not mandatory metrics of “you MUST cover this by this date and that by that date” we actually had time to discuss and debate topics in class, questioned and had to think outside the box. Consuming and spitting back information was secondary to actual thought. Teachers routinely deviated from the lesson plan and textbooks.
“Because I said so” was never uttered in our home. “Go look it up and let me know what you find” was used instead (this entailed old fashioned research at the library, which was our after-school babysitter/daycare every day, with card catalogs and real books). A rather adult discussion always ensued afterwards at the dinner table the next night.
Regardless of which mode of schooling you choose, your involvement with your children makes a difference!
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I was the kind of student my teachers either loved or hated. There wasn't any in between. I asked lots of questions, I challenged the teachers.
When my youngest son was in Kindergarten, we went for teacher's conferences. She said two things that made me laugh.
The first was "I don't know what to do with C its like talking to a little adult". The second was "He is not afraid to challenge me on anything I say".
Apparently, they were doing a module on Columbus Day, and he raised his hand and told her in no uncertain terms that there is quite a bit of evidence that the Vikings arrived in North America long before Christopher Columbus. She didn't know what to do with that. He started home schooling the next year.
The first was "I don't know what to do with C its like talking to a little adult". The second was "He is not afraid to challenge me on anything I say".
Apparently, they were doing a module on Columbus Day, and he raised his hand and told her in no uncertain terms that there is quite a bit of evidence that the Vikings arrived in North America long before Christopher Columbus. She didn't know what to do with that. He started home schooling the next year.
We homeschool and love it! Depending on your state, it can be a pain... or not. Where we currently live, the school district doesn't even know own my kids exist, which is just how I like it.
If you would like a few tips, here they are. If not, feel free to ignore them.
1. Don't compare. To other families, other homeschool curriculum, other siblings- any of it. Kids are all unique and your family is unique. It's not going to look the same and that is a GOOD thing. There's no such thing as "ahead" or "behind" in homeschooling, only "ready" and "not ready" to learn a concept.
2. Allow the first year to be a learning year for the whole family. It takes awhile to get into a groove and there will be days when you wonder why you're doing it.
3. Don't expect geniuses. I say that because so much of our worth in the public school system was based on performance. It doesn't matter how intelligent your kids are or how well they test. What matters is that they are decent, level headed kids. A mentally challenged kid has no less worth than an advanced kid, so take the pressure off everyone and be content with progress over performance.
4. Allow them to pursue their God given talents and incorporate them into your other subjects. If you have an artist, find an artistic way to diagram sentences or whatever. Of you have a math lover, make art with geometry. Whatever.
5. Curriculum is much less important than you think... except for math. Choose a math curriculum and stick with it.
Anyway. Those are my thoughts. Good luck to you. I wouldn't trade homeschooling for the world!
If you would like a few tips, here they are. If not, feel free to ignore them.
1. Don't compare. To other families, other homeschool curriculum, other siblings- any of it. Kids are all unique and your family is unique. It's not going to look the same and that is a GOOD thing. There's no such thing as "ahead" or "behind" in homeschooling, only "ready" and "not ready" to learn a concept.
2. Allow the first year to be a learning year for the whole family. It takes awhile to get into a groove and there will be days when you wonder why you're doing it.
3. Don't expect geniuses. I say that because so much of our worth in the public school system was based on performance. It doesn't matter how intelligent your kids are or how well they test. What matters is that they are decent, level headed kids. A mentally challenged kid has no less worth than an advanced kid, so take the pressure off everyone and be content with progress over performance.
4. Allow them to pursue their God given talents and incorporate them into your other subjects. If you have an artist, find an artistic way to diagram sentences or whatever. Of you have a math lover, make art with geometry. Whatever.
5. Curriculum is much less important than you think... except for math. Choose a math curriculum and stick with it.
Anyway. Those are my thoughts. Good luck to you. I wouldn't trade homeschooling for the world!
I also hated public school. I think that’s because they don’t actually teach people to think there anymore.
I agree completely. Our involvement will most definitely have a huge difference, and that’s why we are choosing to be as involved as possible. Thank you for your comment.
Probably the best decision in my opinion. Teachers these days do not want students to question or think for themselves. They simply want to be obeyed blindly. The only thing I think schools teach people these days is to follow leftist propaganda blindly.
Thank you for your comment.
Thank you so much for your advice. Honestly, I was never real good with math so that is actually the subject I’m most worried about once my kids get older. I have a college education, so I don’t think it will be too bad, but I would have a hard time covering like advanced algebra or some concepts with geometry. I am hoping we can find a homeschool community that way maybe another parent can pick up anything we lack experience/ knowledge with.
Do you have any experience with homeschooling communities?
I do, but they don't really fit to well with our lifestyle, unfortunately. There is a great Classical Conversations group nearby. That might be something you would be interested in. I'm a bit too unstructured in my morning routine for that. We really like the field trip group near us, though.
Don't worry about teaching Math too much. We use Saxon. It's a spiral model. I don't like mastery models, personally because both kids and teacher can get rusty. Spiral means you do a little of everything each day. So, instead of having a lesson on only fractions, you'll have a micro-lesson on fractions, some opening math time on measurement conversion, a little geometry, and some equations. You rotate through different mathnconcepts and build continuously on each one, so it doesn't really translate qell to public school math.
The good thing about Saxon is that it introduces Pre-Algebra at like... I think 3rd grade level? Just super basic stuff like 2x=6, so they get used to the idea behind it before advancing. They also have some great teacher's resources.
If YouTube is still around when they are older, there are great videos for helping with concepts. If YouTube isn't around... they won't need advanced concepts. (Is that too pessimistic?)
I went to School, loved every minute of it, we didnt really have homeschooling when I was a kid (1950s-early 60s), if your kid didnt go to school you'd get the truancy officer banging on your door.
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We had five kids, and also used a homeschool community group. It was a free group, sections of it run by the people in the group. Things they did that you could participate in....math help day, sewing day, meet at the roller skating rink day, public pool day, picnics, swap day for teaching materials you were done with, testing day to see where your child was in specific subjects, baking day, sports day (like baseball) in the park...whatever a parent felt like offering to the group. It gave our homeschooling a boost when day to day felt stale.
Thank you, I will look into it.
I agree if YouTube isn’t around due to collapse scenarios we have bigger issues on our hands for sure.
Thanks again.
Sounds draconian and tyrannical to me. I really dislike how much the government wants to put their nose in our business .
That sounds amazing. When they get older I really hope we can find something like that.
Agreed. That was one consideration for choosing a new home. We wanted a very pro-homeschool state. Here, we don't even have to register since the kids have never been in public school here.
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I was the proverbial "square peg in a round hole" all the way through public school.
The small private school I went to for a while was a square hole, LOL. They actually allowed me to advance at my own rate, and used phonics to teach reading. They also had several recesses during the day (work hard a little while, play hard a little while, work hard a little while, play hard a little while, etc.) The entire school went to a skating rink on Friday afternoon.
Long story but I home schooled two of my three for a semester each. It was better for both than public school.
its how things were done back then, kids had to go to school BY LAW.
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I follow the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and they often send alerts about people who are harassed unfairly by authorities. Many of them are in the UK and the Netherlands.
By the way, Thatoneguy, you might want to check into a membership with them. If you get any pushback locally, they will fight for you in court if need be.
Well… most tyrannical things are done with the law helping so that doesn’t really surprise me.
Thank you!
I will have to look into that. Hopefully I never need it, but I have self defense insurance and this doesn’t sound much different. I will probably go ahead and sign up.
I was homeschooled after 2nd grade due to such extreme bullying and all the school told me (6-7 years old) and my mom in their office was "She needs to toughen up". Was homeschooled till high school, best decision my mom ever made ngl. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I struggled with the regular curriculum, so when I was able to learn at home, and even learned on my own (became an avid reader because it wasn't pushed on me). Was way ahead of my peers by the time I entered high school, the only things that I hated when I returned to the system, was A. They basically required all students to have cell phones (got my first cell phone bc of it) because they didn't want to have to actually put too much work into teaching aka "just look it up" instead of a textbook or any actual worksheets. (my first hs, second hs was better about this till covid hit). B. They hated any out of the box/any answers outside of their teaching. I learned so much more being at home and being able to not only learn at my own pace and not have bs curriculum shoved in my brain from school start, end and whole after school because of excess homework. But because it taught me to love learning, and I was able to find my own meanings and uses for everything I learned. The only thing public school teaches you is to retain, and if you can't retain, cheat, and if you can't cheat, copy someone else in every way to "succeed".
well it was the 1950s and 1960s. back then people followed the rules.
You were in high school when covid hit? I feel so badly for you. Around here was better than most, but they totally mangled that response.
I'm impressed with you if you're in that age range and on here. That's a pretty big endorsement for homeschooling because I was an idiot until I was about 27.
