Any homeschoolers?

[BabyPiglet]

Hello. My DD is 14. In this state when they are in 9th grade they are allowed to go to college half a day and high school half a day. Well they just changed it and now kids are not allowed to leave school early for college. I really think this a good chance for her because she's very smart and get's bored by the stuff they theach in high school so I have decided to homeschool her. What do you think. It's a really great chance for her and I know she can handle it. Whats the reasons you started homeschooling your kids?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Wow--I didn't know of such a law.

In Florida--students are "dual enrolled" when they do college at high school age. Either they go to campus--or one of the HS teachers teaches the course (like a satellite campus).

They do it for many reasons--one--why take the same course twice and two--ease the cost of college since the state picks up the tuition when you are in high school. If they ever did that--I think we'd have total anarchy.


My girls are little still.

We homeschool for academics, faith, travel, influence--and the list goes on.

Currently we are shopping for next years curriculum. My oldest will be in first grade.

Check to see if there are any home school groups in your area. www.hslda.com will have state links to help you find something as well as a summary of the laws in your state. Each state differs--some require a diploma or a college degree and others do not.

Happy homeschoolin!

 

[SaintsdoDisney]

We homeschool and love it!

My oldest will be 10 in a couple of months. We decided to homschool for many reasons. Teaching our Faith as the first, then for academics, and it fits our family better than the normal school week because my dh works long hours so we are able to let the kids stay up with their dad until 11 pm some nights and then sleep in untill 9:30 am the next day. Also, my dh always has Sunday off, never Saturady, but may get off one dy during the week so that is like our Saturday.

Sounds like you are excited about homeschooling. That is great! Yes, check out about the homeschool laws in your state if your already have not. And a support group can be a great thing to get invovled with for you and your daughter!

 

[Nascia]

We are technically in a virtual charter school. Basically, we teach our boys and the school oversees their education by providing materials, a teacher and testing. We pulled our oldest out of school primarily because we live in a very rural area that is very intolerant. We started seeing changes in his attitude toward certain groups and the difficulties he was having (socially) in school himself. We would love to put them into private school, but there are none in the area that are nonsecular. We want to instill in them diversity, tolerance and understanding, something that was definately lacking in the public school. We are also able to place an emphasis on math and science.

From what I understand, homeschooling is becoming more mainstream and an excellent way for advanced students to customize and accelerate their learning. There are tons of resources on the web for those schooling at home. I think there is a thread here regarding homeschooler that is quite long.

Good luck on whatever you choose.

Kelly

 

[princesspwrhr]

We homeschool, it started out for academic reasons and now has evolved into so much more, it really is a way of life not just an educational choice and we wouldn't have it any other way. The best thing to do is to check out yoru states laws. You can just google '[your state here] homeschool laws' and come up with a lot of hits. The hslda site someone else posted will have a summary of yoru states laws but it's always best to also read the entire thing as written for yourself. You shouldn't feel the need to join any organization unless you want to. Also check with the community college about their requirements for dual enrollment or young students. Often the community colleges have someone in admissions familiar with homeschoolers and homeschool laws because a lot of homeschool students do dual enroll in community college during the high school years.

Good luck! The journey is amazing!

 

[Dznypal]

My friends son is now homeschooled for HS--

he was "asked" to leave 3 different middle schools--

he finally got out of middle school and started HS--coulnd get up in the morning so our "wonderful" public system has a program called the Lighthouse its a program for kids that cant get up in the morning!!! (besides Milwaukee Public schools that is the biggest joke I ever heard of)

that really teaches the kids responibility "poor Johnny cant get up for school in the morning we'll start a program so he can go to school later!!!

off track so now hes homeschooled!!! thats turning out to be a joke too and both his parents are teachers!!!!

since we live in Milwaukee are choice were either public or private (which of course we had to pay the tuition without any help)

I guess I never thought of homeschooling as an option cause we felt that kids learn not only by books but also by the life around them.

some of the things were good some not so good but they learned

 

[disneymom3]

Dznypal--exactly, kids do learn what is around them and I don't want to expose my kids to a lot of the garbage in public schools. Not saying it is all bad, but there is an element there that I don't have to expose my kids to and therefore, I don't.

Our main reason for homeschooling started out as academics. When DD got in trouble in the school library for checking out a chapter book she was reading to herself, that was pretty much what pushed me over the edge. Now, as another poster stated, it is simply our way of life and we love it. I love learning with my kids, they love the time they spend with each other and the freedom they have. Once, their own lessons are done, they can go outside and play or read a book or color a picture or whatever. They don't have to wait around for others to catch up. On the other side of the coin, if they do NOT get that when you take some away, it means there are less than you started with, we can work it out until they do. As they get older, I add in more structure but since the oldest is 9, we don't have to have undue worry about that.

We also love being able to schedule our vacations when they work for DHs schedule without having to worry about missing school. We either take school with us, or we plan ahead and figure out what needs to be done when. In the springtime here in MN you either have gorgeous weather or cold rainy weather. On nice days, we do our min of school and then we go outside to play. On rainy days like today, we work on projects and get more schoolwork done while we are inside.

Here in highschool, jrs and srs can take classes at ANY accredited in state college and the state pays for it. How awesome is that? My oldest for sure and we will see about the boys will be taking advantage of that program. In the meantime we have no end of opportunities for kids to take classes through Community Ed, co-ops, art schools, theater, etc for enrichment and to build friendships outside of our family.

Good luck in your decision. I always say life is too short for a child to spend 6 or 7 hours a day not learning anything.

 

[Jesussavedme]

I totally agree. My son was doing terrible in Elementary School. The big classes were a problem, he wasn't receiving the attention he needed. He was ADHD and would leave the classroom due to being bored, the teacher would NEVER notice he was gone, I would get a call that they noticed he was missing and they'd find him an hour later in the library or in someone elses classrom!

His teacher even thought homeschooling was wonderful and would benefit him greatly, and it did. I did put him back into public school for middle school, since my ex-husband and I couldn't come to an agreement on the homeschooling issue, sadly. When the Principal was going through our portfolio she was flabbergasted. She readily admitted that my son never would have learned all of the things he learned, if he was still in the public school system.

Now THAT says something.

Another issue we're having now, is even though he has outgrown the ADHD, he has trouble making friends. All of the kids his age that he is encountering swear, or smoke, or cheat or lie, or are mean, or prejudice, or worse. He has yet to make one true friend who has morals and values that we instill into our children. I'm sure they're out there! But he's not finding them and I feel bad for that. I want him to befriend anyone he wants to, but urge him to stand up for what he believes in, and he does.

So he remains friend-less basically at school, and why be alienated when he could be in a homeschool group with other children who are being taught the same principles as your own child!!!!
He can interact with them, go on fieldtrips with them, socialize with them and learn with them.

Here's wishing I could homeschool again and blessings to all of you who do!
Bravo! Good job!

Julie

 

[JennyW]

My daughter turns 5 next month, and we're going to homeschool both our kids from the start. We are both well educated and I know we could do a better job than most teachers out there. Plus they are both quite intelligent, and may not be challenged enough in the school system (which around here is only so-so). My big challenge is finding materials that are not faith based!!! I guess the homeschool powers that be think everyone homeschools for religious reasons. We'll probably end up making up our own curriculum.

jenny

 

[Nascia]

Jenny,

We had the same problem with curriculum. We have found that both K12 and Calvert are fairly non secular, somewhat pricey though. The Calvert 3rd grade reading does have a bit too much religion for me, so we did modify some of the lessons.

You may want to check out and see if you can enroll in a virtual charter school. I know Connections Academy (we are enrolled in Pa) has a school in AZ. They provide a computer, printer, internet reimbursement, the curriculum and also organize field trips. We have a teacher that we submit assignments (3-4 / subject, sometimes less) to every other month. We also talk with her every other week, more if needed. It's really flexible and we are able to modify the lesson based on our son's learning style and interest. They are extremely supportive and fit our family well.

Kelly