rsschneck said:
I love our Elementary and I love our high school. Our middle school does not have such good reports. We have 2 more years before middle school. Do you think you could homeschool for 3 years and then put your kids back into the Public School system? Do you think they would be at the same level?
Karen do you think your kids are learning the same things the kids in Public Schools are learning? I would be afraid of not giving my daughter a good education. I had a few subjects I had problems with (ie. Geometry) and do not think I could teach them very well. How many kids are you homeschooling and what grades are they in?
No. I don't think my kids are learning the same things as the PS kids are learning. They are learning more.
I've had contact with some of the kids in the local PS's and to steal an old line "they don't know jack."
Granted, we do NOT live in a very good school district. We are rural and have a lot of kids from tough family situations. I've also noticed that the kids I've had contact with don't really know how to LEARN. They are spoon fed the information and are expected to spew it back out when called upon to do so (mostly for the state proficiency tests) There seems to be a lot of "teaching to the test."
They've also lost control of a lot of the kids. I have a friend whose cousin is a 2nd grade teacher at the local school and basically has no control over the students. They swear at her, they talk on their cell phones, etc....and she can't do much about it b/c disciplining a kid in school now-a-days is a big no-no (what happened to the paddle that we had used on us in middle school????)
As to whether the kids would be at the same level depends on what you did with them at home. If you were serious about schooling and got a good curriculum, they'd probably stay on track.....or be ahead of their peers. If school was a lot more laid back and you skipped more days than you did school, there'd probably be problems.
I've totally enjoyed learning right along with my kids. Harder subjects (like these pre-algebra ones I'm doing now) were a natural extension of what I had been doing. It would be hard for most to pull a kid out during these harder subjects and try to relearn material that you last did in the mid-80's!) Of course, most cities have fairly good sized homeschooling groups and there are a ton of resources through those (co-ops, tutors, etc)
I'm homeschooling two right now. I've got a 7th grader and a 4th grader. I "teach" most of the subjects with the 4th grader. My 7th grader has just started "self-teaching" herself. Meaning she reads what she needs to read, does the activities she needs to do, and then takes an assessment (if there is one for that lesson) She needs some help here and there, but I'm more of a facilitator this year than a teacher. It's great that she's stepped into the role of teaching herself....that will lead to a lifetime of learning.
HTH
Thx, Mary! 
