I don’t think it is selfish to want to home school. If you were selfish you would send your kids to school and enjoy yourself.

What I’d really like to talk about is the social aspect of home schooling- it’s really not as bad as some people say! It could very much just depend on the child. Correct me if I’m wrong, but are there not socially challenged kids in public schools? The answer would definitely be yes. I was in girl scouts, i did sports and i didn’t suffer at all. My mother has gotten tons of compliments from adults on my social skills and etiquette. With home schooling, it is so much easier for your children to better control who they want to associate themselves with- meaning they don’t need to be influenced by people they’d rather not.

I don’t know about where you live, but Communion preparation is done through our parish, not through the school. Same thing for Confirmation. Even if your school does do the prep, surely there is something through your parish for those Catholics who don’t go through the school? Is a 6-month preparation with friends so important to stop you from homeschooling? If so, then you need to look at your drive to homeschool and if this is really the right thing for you. Good homeschooling takes real dedication on the part of parents, which is why such a small percentage of families do it–it’s not for everybody.

No more yearbooks/videos/special events: why not? Why not get involved with a homeschool group and suggest the creation of a yearbook? (Although, is this for your children’s benefit or for your sentimental value because that’s what you had growing up?) Videos–why not? Videos of what? I’ve got videos of my kids putting on Shakespeare plays with popsicle stick puppets, skating routines and more. Special events? Like what? It’s not like special events don’t happen, they’re just different. Like our Not-Back-to-School party each Sept. 🙂 It’s something put on by one of our local homeschool groups and it’s definitely special to be out at the park when you know a ton of kids have started their routine of being in school for 7 hours a day.

You have your memories of things you found special; homeschoolers have their own memories, just different. Some get caught up in all the hype and wished they been to high school, for example, but the teens I know who homeschool are very happy with their lives and don’t have to have lived the lives their parents lived to have grown up with special memories.

Figure out why you want to homeschool and why you want them to be in school. If having the same type of memories you had is that important to you, then don’t homeschool. If being together more is more important to you and you are determined to make it work, then homeschool.

Can you say that you feel that this is where God is leading you? Does hubby agree? I had clear confirmation from the Lord that this was what we were to do. If that is so then go for it! He won’t fail you or your children!

Seton Hall offers homeschool curriculum, there is also a Catholic Charlotte Mason group out there (try google – sorry I don’t have the addy), several specifically Catholic homeschool groups.

check out http://www.hslda.org for your State info and laws, they also have hsgroup listings at times.

As far as the special activites- God will provide a replacement or help you with that desire, as someone else stated some homeschool groups offer these things.

Best wishes.

Trust me, your daughter will get better preparation for First Communion (Confirmation for that age??? strange) with you at home, but most likely the parish will make you enroll her in the classes for kids who don’t go to their school. So she’ll be with a group anyway, and after a while she won’t even remember who she was in class with, anyhow. I prepared my kids outside of their classes. They approved because I showed them my prep materials and the priest took a few minutes to check their knowlege before they first went to confesssion, just to make sure they had thorough understanding of what was going on.

Choir shouldn’t even be an issue, no reason why she can’t be in that.

Thank GOD your son won’t have to experience “real” school, unless you decide to send him when he’s older. Even a wonderful Catholic school can’t replace a good education in the home. Also, most homeschool parents have the attitude “better civilized than socialized”. Your son won’t miss a thing if you make an effort to connect with other homeschool kids (our sons were all in Scouts, for example, and scout troops that aren’t organized for homeschool kids will also let them in).

Most areas have homeschooling organizations who will try to organize events, even yearbooks, it’s just that the parents are the ones who are behind the planning. In our area there were both secular and Catholic homeschool organizations who had annual graduation ceremonies for the homeschoolers.

Don’t even entertain the notion that it won’t work. You already show that you have the balanced attitude to make it work. You can enroll in a program if you like that will provide standardized tests at the end of the year if you are worried about academic progress. There are so many programs to choose from, although you don’t need any of them to do a good job.

Gas prices being what they are, invest instead in some really cool resources and plan on getting them involved with like-minded families (Scouts, 4H, drama groups, the list is endless) and just plan on it working.

Actually, I re-evaluated the situation yearly… I had 4 kids homeschooling at once… and for each kid things worked out differently over the years. But every one of them is grateful for their homeschooling years. My oldest got his GED at 17, my next graduated from homeschool high school and got a college degree, my next two sons went to junior high and high school, and I have a much younger 8th grade girl in public school.

You may want to check for homeschool groups in your area, many groups are very active. Ours includes monthly field trips, a co-op, a yearbook, support group meetings, monthly activities like swim days and park play days, etc.

There are also groups in many areas like choirs, bands, sports teams, art classes, etc. that are directed toward homeschoolers. My son (9) actually asked me to cut down on his activities because we were never home! Now he plays baseball (the homeschool team is part of the city league, so he plays against public and private schools), is active in Scouts (the homeschool pack is one of the most active in the area), and is active in AWANA and other church activities. When a field trip comes up that he’s interested in, he goes. If he’s not interested in it, we read a good book.

Trust me, there are definitely ways to get your kids involved while homeschooling them. You might even be able to find groups in your area by googling the name of your city, county or state and “homeschool group”. Good luck!

Homeschooling is awesome! You can spend that 3 hour car trip doing things together instead of discussing what you will do once you get home! You will save the gas money too!!! Don’t they do instruction for 1st communion at other times besides school? What do they do for the children that don’t go to the Catholic school? Why can’t she join the choir? There are no other practices besides when school is in session??? Maybe you could drive her there for those practices but still homeschool her.

Good luck to you!

The criticisms about the socialization of home schooled children has become ridiculously cliche. In our experience we have found home educated children to be remarkably happy, mature, and well-adjusted. Pray with your husband to see if this is God’s call for you. I wish you well!!!