As someone who brought my kids home from public school, I can tell you they are much better off. Many people who are against homeschool a) don’t really know many, if any homeschoolers; and/or b) have an agenda.

Socialization is a non-issue. My kids do not miss out on ANYTHING, in fact they have a very rich and varied life experience. By way of example, my son is now a senior in high school and will be taking classes for college credit this year. He plays varsity sports, is a youth leader in our church, sings in a band, works part-time in a computer related job that pays very well, has been out of the country twice, has gone down to help with Hurricane Katrina relief twice, played and participated in the Mid-South Shakespeare Festival, and I could go on and on. He has not been tied down by the traditional school year schedule and gains many opportunities as a result. (Withdrawn, sheltered children with poor social skills are not a result of homeschooling, but of a certain type of parenting – you can find homeschooled AND public-schooled kids who fit that description.)

He just took his college entrance exams and scored WELL above national average, and is waiting to find out if he made National Merit. He will be able to participate in a graduation ceremony at our nearest large city (30 min drive), most groups in large towns offer graduation ceremonies that you can participate in. They often also have yearbooks and homeschool “proms”.

I have many friends who are teachers. They do a wonderful job but the truth is they have MANY kids they need to work with, and I only have my two. (In middle/high school they may have 20 kids per class x 5 classes per day – or more!)

If you are considering homeschool I encourage you to research the facts and make your decision based on those facts alone – not what misinformed people may tell you.

Heck, don’t even take MY word for it!!! : )

Check for yourself.

There are some sites that REALLY helped me as I agonized over whether to take my kids out of school, maybe you will find some help here:

http://www.geocities.com/the_green_willo…

Good luck and God bless! 🙂

We do home school our children. These are the reasons why.

Public school teachers were rushing our children as well as others through the educational process. We do not and strongly emphasize repetition.

Our children were being bullied, threatened, and their lunches were being stolen. At home, there is none of this.

At home there is no school shootings, no stabbings, no sexual assaults, thefts, harassment because of lack of interest in sports or not being part of the cool crowd. In public schools this problem still exists.

If a child is in trouble at school the parent must attend a meeting and then doesn’t even know the whole side of the story. At home, that’s impossible to pull off. The parent truly knows the child.

No one teacher can teach better than a parent. A teacher does it as an occupation. If you think about it, what person in their right mind takes pleasure in spending all day with someone else’s child?

You, the parent, control the education and the environment, not the school board.

You can arrange field trips and know your children are safe with you, not the school.

People talk about socialization issues. Look at the violence, segregation, and crap in schools today and then tell me about socialization.

I home-schooled three of my children before it was popular.

Home-schooling is an alternative that we are given as parents when we want more for our children.

Pros: You control what your child learns and how much they learn. (This is a real advantage because in public or private schools your child will be taught but not necessarily will he/she learn. Often a child will grasp only bits and pieces of a concept while the class moves on).

Your child does not receive the pressure from a teacher to perform a certain task. (Most children learn at different rates and absorb information at different rates. Without pressure the absorption can be more complete.)

Your child learns things that he/she is interested in and can delve deeper into these subjects.

Your children are exposed to different social situations without the pressure of peers. (When you go to different functions with your child they learn to deal with people of all generations not just a group of loud, undisciplined, insecure, peers who want to bully.)

All in all a child who is home-schooled is more self-reliant, self-confident, shows strong leadership qualities, is goal oriented, all the qualities that colleges are looking for in their student body.

Cons: I never found any other than it consumed a lot of my time. But there is no greater reward, or better sacrifice than to make a difference in the life of your child.

You need to be totally organized and believe in what you are doing, have a good sense of humor and always remember that if the toilet overflows during class that it becomes a very good lesson about the sewer systems and how important they are. 🙂

Well, I was homeschooled my whole life, and there are definitely pros and cons. Let me give you my experience as someone who has actually been in that situation.

My mother enrolled us in acredited (very important if you plan on homeschooling through high school for a smooth enrollment in a university) homeschool programs that had options of going to a small co-operative classroom environment or doing all your work on your own. I did both and I liked the social interaction of the co-op classroom, but i enjoyed the ability to get my own work done independently as well. We had certified teachers come and do home visits once every 1 to 2 weeks to make sure we were up to speed and doing well and getting all our classes completed.

If you have the ability to be there for your kids when they are younger, especially, it will be easier on them. Once they’ve been doing it for awhile, they can catch on and get things done on their own.

Homeschooling is not great for everyone. Some need the classroom attention and social interactions. One option is what I did – I concurrently enrolled in a local community college from 8th grade through 12th grade. These classes counted for high school AS WELL AS college courses and I took my language, math, and several electives there. By doing this, I tranferred over 40 units as a freshman in college and got alot of general studies requirements out of the way.

What is important though, is to involve your children in several extra-curricular activites so they can still have to social interaction and exposure to the outside world. I have met MANY homeschoolers that are stereotypically withdrawn, sheltered, and have poor social skills, and you DON’T want that for your children! Trust me. Maybe after elementary school and/or junior high, you can give your children the choice to go to a public school setting. The transition might be rough, but with enough preparation before, it won’t be too bad.

I don’t know your reasoning behind your wanting to homeschool your kids, but don’t let your reasons get in the way of what they want to do academically and socially. Give them options once they have the ability to make a fair and educated decision. Homeschooling gives your children the chance to have individual attention which is very important to children with ADD, developmental disorders, or who are very smart. They can advance as they learn, not as the public school system decides. I was 2 grades ahead before I went into junior high. My sister skipped 2 grades as well.

I enjoyed homeschooling and thought that my mother did a very good job of exposing me to the world and making sure my education wouldn’t suffer at all.

If you are well informed and have a good homeschooling program, your children will benefit as well. Good luck!

I homeschool my 9.5yo/5th grade son, I brought him home from private school four years ago. I originally brought him home for academic and health reasons; prior to moving here he was in a very accelerated private school, which he adored. When we moved, there was nothing in this area that even remotely compared, except one school that was a 45 minute drive each way and close to $15,000 per year (neither of which was feasible for us). He was also critically ill with SARS about 5 years ago, and the diseases that go through most schools were too much for his lowered immune system.

Pros: Wow, where do I start? First off, he is sooo much healthier than he ever was, even pre-SARS. The only thing we’ve been to the doctor for in the past 3.5 years (other than checkups and such) are a spider bite and a nose bleed that wouldn’t stop. Previously, we were so regular that the admit folks at the ER knew us by name 🙂

His being able to study at his own pace, and according to his interests, has been invaluable. He’s a total whiz at math and science – goes through curriculum in 1/3 to 1/4 the recommended time, with full retention – so he can go through those as quickly and deeply as he would like. He likes studying history chronologically, and loves reading historical fiction and biographies, so we are able to do that. He loves to write, but has a fairly rare form of dyslexia that makes spelling a chore, so I am able to remediate with that while letting him dictate his writing projects and edit them on the computer screen. When I let him do this, his work is 4-5 years above grade level.

I can also let him study his spelling with an online curriculum that teaches exactly how he needs to learn; I’ve tried nearly everything else out there (borrowed from friends, etc.) and nothing has worked at all. This one works for his needs nearly perfectly.

Because his work is done by the time his friends get home, he has the evenings to participate in Scouts, AWANA, baseball, family time, extra projects, etc. He also has time after school to play with his friends, without having to get inside for homework.

Because he is socialized by our community, rather than by a homogenous group of 9-10 yo’s, he is just as able to work with kids his age, as he is to read to a preschooler at the library, as he is to speak with an adult, as he is to visit with a senior citizen. He has a safe place to figure out who he is and how he should act in certain situations without being told that he’s a freak, or he’s dumb, or that kids don’t want to be his friend because he’s not just like them. He also has teachers (in co op) that have smaller classes (8-12) and are more able to meet each student’s needs…so he learns how to function in a classroom while learning to be responsible and learn from different teachers.

He talks freely with me, everything from theological questions to “will I be hairy like Dad when I grow up” 🙂 The first 6 mos. that we homeschooled, I got to know him better than I had in the previous 6 years. He’s not a clingy momma’s boy by any means, but we do have a good, close relationship. I know for a fact that he’s not embarrassed or scared in the least about talking with his dad or me about anything – and I do mean anything.

Lastly, his dad and I get the majority say in what influences he has growing up. We have final say over when he learns what, in which environment, and from whom. We don’t limit his education – he studies world religions and their histories, he studies evolution and creation side by side, he’s learning his 4th language now – but we do structure it in the way that is best for him. I respect teachers, very highly, but their hands are tied in some ways. Because they have 25-30 students in a classroom, and because their curriculum choices are often handed down from administrators, they are not able to tailor individual curricula to each child’s needs. They have to teach to the majority and help the minority in any way they can…but if a child is too far outside the norm (like my 9.5yo that’s getting ready for Algebra in the spring and tackling my college theology syllabi), there’s really very little they can do.

Cons…none that I’ve seen. Occasionally, he’ll have a clerk in a store ask him why he’s not in school, and he’ll respond that he is. Then, he’ll go on to estimate the order, figure out the change, and tell them exactly what we’re going to do with whatever we’re buying, and why 🙂

One thing I will say – if you are going to homeschool, you have to be willing to put the time into it. There are plenty of resources out there, some of them are even scripted for the lessons, but it does take legwork and prep, and it takes research. But honestly, even though it isn’t always convenient, it is soooo worth it 🙂

No. The biggest part of going to school is social exposure.

You definitely shouldn’t home school your children. They need social exposure, they need friends, they need the occasional teasings, and they need to go to school