Considering homeschooling

[Naisy68]

Um, 5 kids ages 3-20. Plenty of 'drama' for us! Plus, there are plenty of opportunities for group learning at homeschool groups and other places. Where, in the 'real world' do you ever function with 25-30 people exactly your age? Doesn't happen. Learning in groups with a large age range is actually much closer to a normal work environment. Plus, if you think that homeschooled kids lives are without 'drama', well it just ain't so (parent of 3 homeschooled teens here) , but it can be more easily kept separate from school.

To answer your second question, my DS is now a 4.0 student at RIT, largely because of the study habits he learned as a homeschooler. Because of the small group nature of homeschooling, kids learn to seperate education and socialization, instead of conflating the two as public school kids do. This allows them to compartmentalize and prioritize thier lives better, I think. We do school, and we do socializing, and occasionally the two are at the same time, but not that often. With public school, most kids go to see their friends, and occasionally learn something, so it's all the same to them. (I went to public school, btw)

Sure some kids will get distracted by the new social opportunities of college, but that's true for kids from all backgrounds. When a public schooled kids parties too much and flunks out of college, no one blames it on public schooling.

Well stated -- and thank you!!
I want to add here that it is vital to remember that all kids learn differently, some kids do very well in a public school setting, others thrive in a homeschool setting. The students that I know that have been homeschooled also excelled in their college and university careers and were also well rounded socially.
When I spoke of the drama in my daughter's class last fall, it was constant. There was no constructive learning time. We tried several things to try to help the teacher but she was tenured and not about to change how she did things or take suggestions. We tried to move our DD to another class but due to class sizes, it wasn't an option. The teacher also had a LOT of personal issues going on last year and was not in school a lot due to some things that were going on in her life. They could NOT find a substitute to go in there on a regular basis due to the negative behaviors that were happening in her class. My daughter handled the drama just fine by ignoring it and realizing that her work could get done a lot easier by bringing it home. I felt for the kids whose parents were not able to help them in this way.
Also, for the record - there are a lot better ways for kids to socialize with their peers rather than what they get in a public school classroom, lunch room or at recess.

 

[DreadpiratK]

Some of my favorite answers to the 'homeschool critical':

Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.

Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.

We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.

Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.

Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

Socialization? Yes, we're trying to avoid that!


I've been collecting them for quite a while now. I think the second is my favorite, but I've used them all now and again. I have a longer list somewhere from 20 years of homeschooling. You have to have some fun after all.

 

[MommyBryn]

I haven't had a chance to read all of the replies, but I have a couple of things to add...

One of the BEST books (and least overwhelming, IMO) I've read is Catherine Levison's "A Charlotte Mason Education". It's obviously based on Charlotte Mason's method (which I now adore), but I read it after reading tons of other "typical" homeschooling stuff, and Catherine's book was by far the best resource for me at that point. It kinda felt like the most simple way to look at homeschooling and then I could build up from there (if I chose to). So maybe something to look into.

Also, as far as the socialization, Sara at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly shared some good articles on that. Her actual post was about unschooling, but still all the same...
http://walkslowlylivewildly.com/2010/04/16/unschooling-a-life-of-freedom/

My DH and his 5 siblings were all homeschooled (very much so) and they are by far the MOST social family I know. Me, I was in public school all my life and am FAAAAAAR from social. It's really the type of person that makes the difference in the end, not the schooling.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly.

Maybe it's because I work with words for a living, but this has always been a pet peeve of mine. They're just slightly different words, but pack a different punch.