Homeschooling

[32drawlength]

My wife has been successfully doing this for years

Best teacher : student ratio you can find

...there's usually plenty of CO-OP's that kids can be involved in and helps the parents who aren't able to teach chemistry to have their kids in chemistry.
There are entire sports organizations (HSAA, CHANT, etc) for homeschool students and Boy Scout groups (Plano Troop 226).

***People always are worried about socializing....that's never been an issues, never...these kids get involved in the CO-OP's, sports and etc they'll make plenty of friends

Many of the HS students excel academically, have better communication skills and even do well with sports vs non-HS students

I'd say go for it...

[lovemylegacy]

Check out post #5.

This is what I know about the social awkwardness, that is a inherited characteristic. We home school our daughter and there aint a awkward bone in her body. She converses with adults like she is an adult. We do not shelter or shield her, she plays with PS kids, plays public/select soccer, she is being taught by a college music professor on the piano. She thinks for herself, which isn't encouraged in PS. I actually have to pull the reigns on this sometimes.

The reason we home school is, the education system isn't educating. We saw this to late in our youngest son and decided to HS our daughter. We have no regrets.

[jer_james]

Nothing is 100%. Every kid / person is different. Learn your kiddo, and determine what is best for their personality.

[doppelganger]

Regarding the whole "social" aspect of HS'ing.

My oldest hasn't met a stranger she couldn't discuss things with. On the other hand, my youngest is very shy, but once she gets to know you, she does become more sociable. The oldest is a free spirit and the youngest is very methodical, not because of HS'ing, just their personalities. Kids are unique persons and they'll be who they are, either in public school, home school, or private school.

My oldest, because she's homeschooled is able to actually work on her business after she's done with her work that day and not have to rush things when getting home after 4 or 5 . She's started a french macaron business. already selling to friends, teachers, and even has an order for a local business this week.

HS'ing is what you make of it, like all parts of life. You get out what you put into it.

[mastercraftka]

Been HS'ing for about 10 years with the oldest and the youngest knows nothing different.

Pros:

• Everything can be a educational outing (vacations, day trips, etc...) as a HS'er you tend to look at all trips as a way to do some history or educational outing. e.g. we did the colonial triangle (virgiana) for Christmas (williamsburg, yorktown, richmond) as well as a week in D.C. So the kids got to see the places they were studying or will study for American history
• You set the curriculum (cater to the kids pace and likes, but you still have to do things they don't like at times)
• There is an ENDLESS amount of resources on the internet
• Texas is very pro-homeschool, unlike some other states
• You don't have to do it alone. There are co-op organizations, which we are part of one. So this is a hybrid system where your kids go to a "school" one or two days a week and the rest of the week they are doing their work at home, etc...
• You don't have to be an expert in everything. There are resources for your kids to get classes in topics you are not good at or don't have experience in
• If you do things right, you'll see your kid become way more proficient at self-study and being able to think on their own.

Cons:

• it's a lot of work. there are parents that do homeschool and I feel sorry for their kids, as they aren't learning anything.
• You have to be diligent
• You have to be a hard*** with them at times
• There will be crying, both you and the kids
• There will be times you want to quit, but you have to stick it out
• Your kid will begin to think on their own and question everything..HAHA...get ready for debates, that's all I have to say

This sums it up pretty good!! I am an administrator in a public school I see parents taking kids out to home school all the time 99% of them don't do the kid justice at all and most come back and then we are left with a kid that is behind.
Also public schools magically get better right about the time kids enter 7th grade!!! sports!!
I would never tell a parent that homeschooling is not a good idea that is a personal choice all I can tell you is that it is not as easy as it seems and most parents (that I have dealt with) failed their children.

I went to public school all 13 years, then a private college and then a public University for my masters. I make 6 figures and well adjusted.(so i think).

Personal choice IMO and good parents will have kids in public schools that do great!!! Bad parents will fail their children in either setting.

[Hillbilly Rockstar]

Hey, thanks everyone for the input. Some great information on here.

[TXHUNT3R]

I have weighed in on this before. http://discussions.texasbowhunter.co...d.php?t=457455

I was Home schooled K-12

You can read my posts in the link. I am NOT for Homeschooling

[stickfigure]

We homeschooled our oldest completely through high school and home schooled the other 2 for awhile until we felt it made sense to send them to school. All have been above average academically, and have better social skills than I do. We did make a great effort to utilize CO-OPs and other opportunities to make sure our kids were around other kids and adults so that they would get adequate socialization. It is a personal decision that may change over time. There are a lot or resources for a parent that really wants to pursue it.

[sierracharlie338]

Ill toss my 0.02 in here. I have never been homeschooled or homeschooled anyone but I have spent some time with a few good friends that were home schooled and have observed something that all three of them showed despite different experiences from different families.

All three had issues in social settings and skills. Of course for my example there is someone somewhere that will say that have never seen that so YMMV. One was and still is severely awkward in everyday interactions and another is mostly normal in social settings but you can see little things here and there that are off.

I think it is all dependent upon how they are raised as they grow older. My daughter was behind socially when she was younger. When she was put in daycare/preschool it helped her growth tremendously having that social interaction. I hope you get it figured out either way and whatever you do stick with it!

Good Luck

[Nate Riley]

We plan to start home schooling next year. The kids will be going into the 1st and 4th grades, although we have considered letting the youngest do 1st grade at public school for a variety of reasons. My wife has been a PS educator for, but she is not entrenched in the system and has some non-conformist beliefs on educating.

Check out post #5.

This is what I know about the social awkwardness, that is a inherited characteristic. We home school our daughter and there aint a awkward bone in her body. She converses with adults like she is an adult. We do not shelter or shield her, she plays with PS kids, plays public/select soccer, she is being taught by a college music professor on the piano. She thinks for herself, which isn't encouraged in PS. I actually have to pull the reigns on this sometimes.

The reason we home school is, the education system isn't educating. We saw this to late in our youngest son and decided to HS our daughter. We have no regrets.

I have often said that HS kids that are weird are weird because their parents are weird. They would be weird in public school (and bullied in the 1990's). I went to a small private school and we had a lot of home schoolers that were associated with the school and play sports with us and such. That is the basis for my opinion.

I have known HS kids with normal parents and they were just as normal as public school (but smarter than average).

I understand the desire to keep your kids home and sheild them. But, you’ve got to send them out into the real world at some point and most are ill prepared. I think there is no replacement for exposure and guidance.

I think that home schooling to shield one's kids is a mistake. If the goal is a superior education and the parent has proper goals to develop a well rounded kid, then everything should work out.

[Hocks & horns]

Home school is what the parents make of it. If you push good study habits, the kid will have good study habits. If you let your kids screw off then that's what you'll get.

Home school kids have just as many opportunities for being socialized as public school kids. You can enter home school sports teams, which generally play private schools or enter other outside sports programs.

[Dents]

Posts #17 and #19 are very similar to my experience with my two kids.

[Kdog]

There is no one size fits all. I don't think you can attribute everything about a "home school kid" due to the fact that they are home schooled. There are a lot of generalizations about it that may/may not be true.

My wife is a teacher and we started home schooling our kids because they simply could not learn in a school environment. There are many reasons as to why, that I don't need to get into here. For them home school was the best option. Prior to that they attended a private school.

I think there are a lot of pros/cons to consider. And they will not apply equally to all kids.

Good luck whatever you decide.

[Kdog]

There is no one size fits all. I don't think you can attribute everything about a "home school kid" due to the fact that they are home schooled. There are a lot of generalizations about it that may/may not be true.

My wife is a teacher and we started home schooling our kids because they simply could not learn in a school environment. There are many reasons as to why, that I don't need to get into here. For them home school was the best option. Prior to that they attended a private school.

I think there are a lot of pros/cons to consider. And they will not apply equally to all kids.

Good luck whatever you decide.

That being said I will list some pros/cons that come to mind.

Pros
1) Flexible schedule, you are not tied to a school calendar. My son and I got to take advantage of that this year, we spent a lot of time hunting.
2) One on one (or close to) attention from the teacher. The teacher can actually take the time to teach and make sure they understand before moving on.
3) No need to worry about the kids being exposed to things they are not ready for. This can be good/bad. They will need to go out into the world eventually, so of course they need to be prepared. However, with home schooling I think there is a little more opportunity to provide guidance.

Cons
1) It takes a lot of discipline and work on the part of the teacher. The teacher has to maintain lesson plans and make sure the kids are on track.
2) Kids can be hard to motivate.
3) For the parent that is primarily responsible for the education there can be very little in the way of breaks and time away from the kids.
4) Sometimes it is difficult for family/friends to understand that you are not on summer vacation 24/7/365, there actually has to be times when school has to get done and other things take a back seat.

This was mentioned above, but something else you may look into is a hybrid program. Where the kids attend school 2 days a week and spend 3 days home schooled. We have some friends who do this at a school in Austin. It works well for them.

[RJH1]

Pro: too many to list. We homeschooled our kid and he seems to socialize fine, and graduated with honors from college. Everyone that meets him seems to like him. I agree with the poster that said, "some people are just weird and so their kids tend to be too".

Cons: It is a lot of work. Your kid will get out of it what you put in and if you screw it up, you cant blame some one else if you screw it up.

With all that said, you have to ask yourself, "Who do you really want to raise your kid? The public school system, other kids in school, or you"?