Anyone home school???
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive January 2005:
Anyone home school???
Hi, my name is Amy and I am new to the board. My dd is only 6 months old, but I have decided to home school her (the schools where I live are HORRIBLE, we live outside DC) I was wondering if anyone homeschools. I have checked out some books to read up on it and the websites out there boggle the mind with so much info! I live in Virginia, it would be great to chat with some parents who are veterns to this. Thank you.
Hi Amy!! My name is Crystal, welcome to the board! We have a few homeschoolers here (I'm not one of them, my kids are only 2) so I'm sure you will get lots of insight. I'm interested in the responses you get, because with schools today I've been considering the idea myself.
Hi Amy. My name is Yvonne. I am on my second year of homeschooling. My children are 10 and 8. I wish I had done it sooner. My kids are doing extremely well. My son was never challenged in school so he now works at his level. My daughter had straight A's but due to FCAT was still in danger of failing. We pulled both of them up midway last year. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Yvonne
Hi, Amy
My name is Donna
I had a friend who home schooled her kids as well as a few other children, the home schooling mom's got together and they would take turns teaching the kids, which gave each mom a break. My friends kids were ahead of the other public taught kids, the reason being is because at home it is one on one, and at school you have 1 teacher and 20- 28 kids in a class. I did not home school my kids because they have learning disabilities, and they needed the resource room at school. I think if you have other home schooling mom's in your area, to join a group, then you can take the kids, swimming, and other outside activities, for their pe time. My friend had thousands of dollars invested in books, desks, etc... but she really seemed to enjoy it for a time, now the kids are all in public school, but I think it really helped them get a good start. I just have one question how do you know the school is terrible ? I just ask because all three of my daughters have went through our high school, and another lady I know put her child in a totally different school , drove miles out of her way because she heard from other people how bad the school was. I have never had a problem with the school , nothing that could not be discussed and solved.I just though it strange at the time that she would not enroll her daughter and do the judging for herself rather than listen other people. Anyway welcome to the board you will really like it here, bye for now
Hi Amy! Welcome! I have been homeschooling my older DS since last March. We pulled him out in the third quarter. He was in tenth grade at the time.
Our reasons were many. First, DH and I both object to the lack of dress code and decorum in our local high school. The girls dress like hookers, and the language and actions of the students are not what we want him exposed to.
Also, he has ADHD and can't stay focused for too long. He is a good kid, and not a behavior problem AT ALL, but has a time limit on attention. The high school decided last year to go to "block scheduling", where they have fewer classes per day, but the classes are two hours long! At home, we work at our own pace. We spend, on average, 45 minutes to an hour on each subject. We might keep going, or take a break and have a cup of coffee. We both love it. My other DS is in a private school for special needs students. He is in the tenth grade, and DH is at work, so the house is nice and quiet. Shawn is very bright, so he is a joy to teach, and I learn (or re-learn, too).
Both boys are adopted, and came from an early childhood of trauma and abuse. The school that Mike is in is very loving and nurturing, with only six students in the class. Shawn gets to be home and bond with me, something they never had before.
There is a wealth of information on line for home schooled students. We use text books from Bob Jones University Press. They are affordable, and very good quality. We also do projects using newspapers, etc.
It works very well for us. Feel free to ask anything you want. I'll be glad to help.
I don't homeschool, but have considered it. My daughter is in kindergarten, but hasn't been challenged by anything yet. Even preschool was boring for her. She reads on a 3rd grade level as of last November. I know that if I homeschooled her we could move right ahead and get into some subjects that would interest her as well as challenge her.
I intend to wait until first grade and see what that brings. Kindergarten tends to be a little juvenile and first grade is very different.
Thank you for all the replies! As to my schools here being horrible...the elemterary school down the street where Katie would go had a teacher stabbed by a kid, the write ups in our local paper scare me, and I was a elementry school nurse for 4 years, and know how education has gone down the tubes. if I lived in a different place, I might feel differently. I am from Florida and dh is from Idaho. We are in Manassas, VA due to my dh job. We cannot afford private school with me not working (which we feel is more important than most of my paycheck going to daycare). I agree with the other mom who does not condone the dress codes, etc. I do not condemn anyone who uses public schools, and by no means are all of them bad. If we were in Idaho, I would send her to public school. I am looking into it all and reading up alot on it.
Thank you all.
Hi, Amy. I don't homeschool, but have considered it several times, and am considering it at present if things don't change for my older son. He's 11yo and in 6th grade, and is in a self contained classroom right now. He's a smart kid and part of his behavioral problems at school could be that he's not challenged enough and that the teachers teach to "round holes" and he's a "square peg." He's also ADHD and Bipolar, and it doesn't help that he's often misunderstood at school, not only by the other students but most of the staff. We're in Colorado right now and the public schools where we are are pretty good. There are other districts in our city that aren't so good. We did live in Prince Georges County in Maryland for Robin's 1st and 2nd grade (Randy, my younger ds's pre-K and K). Schools there were horrible. You know it's bad when you visit and see roaches (live, not drug paraphanalia--but I'm sure they could have been there) and bullet holes in the school's windows. Also, because of their budget, Robin usually wouldn't bring homework home after about the 15th of each month because his teacher had gone over her "paper quota" for the month. Anyway, I'd say if you know the schools are as bad as you think and you're able, go for it. My neighbor homeschools her 6 1/2 yo dd and she's already doing 2nd and some 3rd grade stuff. In public school she'd be bored out of her mind doing 1st grade things. We may move this summer and if we do, I'll look at it again. We'll have to see where we move to and what the schools are like. Good luck with your decision. 
Hello Amy, first of all welcome to the board. I don't homeschool , but my cousin was and she actually got her HS diploma at the age of 16. Like Donna's friends kids she was ahead of the regular school kids. I'm not too far form Virginia(just up the road in DC)I pulled my daught out of DC Public School when she was 3 y/o, I placed her in a Charter School ( Arts and Technology School) and they do incorporate this into there cirriculum(sorry for the spelling). She is 9 now in the 4th grade and I love it, Each class has a teacher adn a assistant, there are no more then 15 kids per room each room has a computerds for the children, there is a dress code, uniform, neat clean clothes, boys must wear a belt with there pants( no slouching pants)young lady no hanging earings. I'm not sure if they have expanded Charter Schools to Virginia yet, if you decide that your not goin gto go with the homeschooling I recommend looking into a Charte School if theyhave them there in Virginia( and with charter school you do not have to live in the school boundaries as long as you can get to and come to school. Well good luck I hope you find what you are lookingbut my best advice is you knwo oyur child so go with wht you feel would be better for them
Also something to look at, in our school district you can partially enroll your kids. I have a friend who homeschools her kids and they do all their subjects at home except for band which they take at school. Other parents that I know who homeschool in our town do the same, either for band, or chemistry, or subjects that they dont have the skill to teach well. My friend homeschools not because the schools are so horrible it is that she works swing and if she didnt homeschool she would only see her kids on the weekends. It works well for them. But also it is a ton of work and only gets to be more work as the kids get older.
Amy, I was overwhelmed at first by the amount of info out there. The first step is to locate your states rules for home schooling. Ours actually had a printable book that gave advice on getting started. Each state requires different things.
I am enrolled with a 600 (or umbrella) school. This allows me to do as I wish with no need for annual testing or evaluation. We have tested to see where we are and both kids tested above grade level.
We used A Beka curriculum last year. This year we have a variety of curriculums. I am thinking seriously about going back to A Beka next year. A Beka tends to run at a higher level and it is very user friendly. By the end of last year my kids were going through there work without much involvement from me.
When my kids were in public school they brought home homework every night that took 2+ hours. Homeschooling--We start school at 9 AM and are usually done by noon! They are doing more work and getting it done quicker because there is no need to go from classroom to classroom or have to try to get the teachers attention if they do not understand something. One on One definitely means a much shorter day than regular school.
I do not believe it is more work--as far as I helped them with homework from public school and that is no different from what we are doing now.
The older they get, the more available programs there are to help in any area you do not feel confident in teaching.
A Beka even has dvds that have teachers teaching and you mail them the work and it gets graded and records are kept by them.
That is one option---we do NOT do that. I just buy the child's kit and parents kit from them.
Yvonne
Yvonne, where did you buy the A Beka kits from? What exactly is a child/parent kit? Is the parent kit the answer key? Are there any textbooks or is it all workbooks? My daughter is in private school where they use A Beka but I've heard A Beka for school is different from A Beka for homeschooling. Do you know if this is true? Also, all she has at school are workbooks that have the info and the worksheets together, no textbooks. It's soooo easy and I'm hoping that the homeschool version would be similar.
I'm not thrilled with her school. Some teachers are great (she has six as she switches classes, third grade) but two of them are making me crazy. They've taken it upon themselves to guilt the kids into thinking they are bad for wanting to trick or treat, they have said specific political candidates are bad, and they have said my daughter's lunch was inappropriate and made her cry cause she felt so inadequate when it's her PARENTS who pack her lunch. Sheesh, if they have a problem with it, talk to US, not her. They've also discussed other subjects that are not appropriate to the subject matter at hand. And the teachers KNEW several of the kids trick or treated and KNEW their parents were voting for these 'bad' politicians, so to purposely spend the whole class period saying how bad it/they are, was really mean.
Anyway, I digress. I'm obviously seriously thinking about homeschooling so anymore info you have would be great. Do YOU get bored doing this? Do you miss your 'alone' time now that you have your kids 24/7? Do your kids get along well? Do you belong to any groups?
KATE..
OK I do not have the school version to compare but I believe it is exact same thing. Yes, workbooks are textbooks.
http://www.abeka.com/
Is where you can buy them. The parent kit is a teachers kit (teachers guides and answer keys).
I feel like I had to fight for my kids education when they attended public school and now I know they are learning and I spend LESS time working with them than I did when they went to public school.
It is an adjustment with 24/7. I noticed it in particular when I wanted to get Christmas shopping done.
I am not bored. I feel proud of what they are accomplishing and that I have a roll in their development. I think my relationship is much better with them. My son has taken to art and we make a lot of cool things together. My daughter wants to be a chef and has been cooking a lot of our evening meals. I feel like a new world has been opened up to them and our entire family is benefiting from it. By taking their education into our hands the kids have felt like they have more choices and voice what more they want to learn. What I am trying to say is, it seems like they have a larger desire to learn now.
My kids get along 100% better now than when they went to public school. I think it is because they work as a team. Now I am lucky in the fact that my son is advanced for his age. This allows me to teach them both the same grade. I am not sure I would find it as easy if I were teaching multiple grades.
Alone time....Hmmm good question. Other than running errands and wishing I could do them myself the answer is no. I do not sit them all morning. When they start in the morning I go in my room with coffee and catch carol duval or get on the computer. That is my time to get ready for the day. We do a lot of fun things (field trips) in the afternoon that I am enjoying as much as the kids.
I have not joined a group though I email some moms I "met" on a support group board. There are a lot of groups to join. I just find our way is working right now so have not gone that route.
Feel free to ask me any more questions!
Yvonne
Yvonne, I just looked at your profile. Did you know your son is 87 years old??? rofl I was just wondering what your kids age difference was. Had to laugh!
LOL Cat---He is 8! Thanks for letting me know. I fixed it.
Hi Amy, I have two kids, a daughter (6 1/2) and a son (3). My daughter has never been to school and I'm hoping to keep it that way for both of them.
You've got a LOT of time to research and read and that's a major plus. Start here - http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/
and
http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/
They've both got links to lots of different sites and deal with many different styles. And there are a whole range of styles to fit your family. We unschool here which basically means we don't take a schoolish approach to learning. No grades, lessons, tests, etc. Information on our style can be found at www.unschooling.com.
Raid your library for John Holt who has some great books on how children really learn and take out anything relately homeschoolish. Join email lists and ask all the questions you need.
Most importantly, sit back and watch how your child learns things (and they do this all the time with no help from us) so when it comes to recognizing what style will work you have your childs learning style in mind.
And lastly, don't think of homeschooling as an alternative to a bad school. Think of it as a whoel different lifestyle and adventure that not many kids get to have. It's a really, really fun and free way to live.
Good luck!
Unschooling mom said it well when she said don't look at as runnign away from bad schools. Another important thing to keep in mind is remember to do what is best for your child and make decisions one year at a time. I always thought I would homeschool my daughter. By age 4 I saw that it might not be best for us. So we sent her to preschool, then to kinder. At that time we moved to a bad school and academically it just sucked! So I decided to homeschool. Well after talking to my daughter she said " mommy without school we never see anyone my age" and I thought about that and she was right. I really didn't do well in the social department for any of my kids, i still don't. I am a recluse. My ideal day doesn't involve other people EVER! Anyway, so there are times that I look at what she has heard in school, things we struggle with etc, but I know that at this time public school is the right choice for her (and my boys). My youngest is on the brink though, I am torn though. So we pray about it, read about it and then make decisions. Anyway, I think planning this far in advance is great. Find a homeschool community, shadow some familes, see what that lifestyle is like. And then each year make a decision on what is best for that year.
Kaye - I can so relate to you. I am a recluse, too. I enjoy being home, and if I'm not, I don't mind being alone at all. After working with the public for years, as I am older, I love my books, my music and my knitting.
Of course, I don't include my DH or DK's in the "people" that I like being away from. I am never happier than a weekend when we are all home, and can play a board game or watch a movie together. Fortunately, we're all like that here. We're enough for each other.
Kaye-
I too am sort of a recluse. I worked as a nurse 14 years and as a flight attendant for 3 years. I do not do the "socializing thing" either. I know when I home school, I will have to get Katie involved in groups and stuff, but my zeal for all that is less than exciting for me, but I am excited for her.
I have written down all the info everyone has given me (thanks so much)and as time goes by, will ask a few of you who do it some questions.
This board is so mature and helpful (unlike alot f others out there). I am so glad I found you all. Thanks bunches!!!
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