Homeschooling (moral, choice, evolution, creation, church)

[jeffrey]

My wife homeschools also, and I think you will find that stat wise, homeschooled children score better on most tests. There are plenty of support forums to help. The laws very from State to State on what it takes to homeschool.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

My wife homeschools also, and I think you will find that stat wise, homeschooled children score better on most tests. There are plenty of support forums to help. The laws very from State to State on what it takes to homeschool.

I would agree with you here Jeffrey. I teach 190 high school kids every Sunday. Guess who asks the most questions and are my brightest students?
HOMESCHOOLED KIDS.

[Evenstar]

I home school 3 children, they are 12, 8 and 5, and to be honest I would not have it any other way.
My children, ask alot of questions, they have many different values on life, I teach them do not judge, unlike a public school.
So far this school term we have learnt about 4 different Religions.
My 8 year old daughter is now doing 3rd grade maths, my eldest can spell better than myself
If you feel the need to homeschool you go girl, and im telling you now there will never be a dull moment in your home again.
Also how can a teacher really know the needs of your child? You know them better than any other person in this world...... Mother knows Best!!

[Evenstar]

Originally Posted by Christiangirl0909

I disagree with most homeschooling simply because I think it's to soft, but everyone's situation is differant. A lot of my homeschooled friends get up at 10:00 am and stay in their pj's all day. They don't have to face real problems, which I think is a bad thing. They will never have to suffer 45 minutes of embarassment during intramurals, they'll never be laughed at, they'll never have to stand up for themselves. I just think that is sheltering a child to much.

I like my public school, even though we are taught things that I do not agree with, like evolution and the basics of Islam and other religions. There are also other disadvantages of public school that don't have to do with the curriculum. Although I wouldn't personally want to be homeschooled and would never homeschool any children that I might have, the decision is up to you.

Well, We dont face real problems eh?
No of course we don't, my 12 year old can balance a check book, he knows the value of REAL money, he can also cook.... most full grown men cant cook hun.
Are you jealous we get to spend all day in our pj's?
My children were in public school, at the time my then 9 year old came home, asking questions about porn, in his Computer lesson a child also 9 pulled up a porn site. Makes you think what the family does all day in his home.
Same class the police were called because a 9 year old boy was making death threats to other children, who he disliked..... What a lovely grown up little boy... NOT!
My daughter was was just 6 and found a dirty picture on her school bus, she was also picked on "every day"
You may not care to much about your Children, but I do mine, I don't wish them to do drugs, get shot, be picked on or become narrow minded.

Its all to easy to get up in the mornings, throw your kids on a school bus, and not think about them again until 3pm.
My kids are with me 24/7 and I love it.

[Green Gaia]

Originally Posted by evearael

... and though it would be easier to toss them on the bus and forget about it, I'm concerned that isn't the best choice.

Yes, homeschooling is wonderful for those with that option and the desire and ability to do it. If it is what you and your kids want, go for it and have fun!

But those of us who choose to send our kids to public schools (or have no other choice) don't just toss them on the bus and forget about them. I'm at my son's school at least once a week for something helping in the classroom and many other parents are as well. I really feel he is in the best place for him. Please don't think that those of us who don't homeschool or can't pay for expensive private schools don't care about our children's education.

[MysticSang'ha]

Originally Posted by Evenstar

Well, We dont face real problems eh?
No of course we don't, my 12 year old can balance a check book, he knows the value of REAL money, he can also cook.... most full grown men cant cook hun.
Are you jealous we get to spend all day in our pj's?
My children were in public school, at the time my then 9 year old came home, asking questions about porn, in his Computer lesson a child also 9 pulled up a porn site. Makes you think what the family does all day in his home.
Same class the police were called because a 9 year old boy was making death threats to other children, who he disliked..... What a lovely grown up little boy... NOT!
My daughter was was just 6 and found a dirty picture on her school bus, she was also picked on "every day"
You may not care to much about your Children, but I do mine, I don't wish them to do drugs, get shot, be picked on or become narrow minded.

Its all to easy to get up in the mornings, throw your kids on a school bus, and not think about them again until 3pm.
My kids are with me 24/7 and I love it.

WELL SAID!!




I homeschool my daughter, who is 7 (going on 16 ), and my son goes to a public school. I would homeschool them both, but my son is autistic and has special needs with his educational methods that I can not give him.




I think the concerns for socialization in homeschooled kids are grossly overstated, and widely misunderstood. What the concerns are about socialization is the socialization with only the child's peers. The longer I teach our daughter at home, the more I see her acquire socialization skills in other areas - and not merely in an insitutionalized setting. We belong in a homeschooling consortium, where a group of us families meet occasionally to organize field trips; clubs for writing, biology, and ecology; workshops for theater, painting, and dance; language labs in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Latin, and even Swahili!



Homeschooling groups that are popping up more and more around the country will go even a step further, become more sophisticated in providing opportunities for the kids, and organize homeschooled sports teams like basketball, football, dance and cheerleading squads, and hockey (to name a few). There are even homeschooled kids that organize their own Winter Ball and Prom.




I agree with Evenstar, I wouldn't have done this any other way. Sure, my daughter stays in her PJ's until noon on many days..........but so do many hard-working entrepeneurs of home-based businesses who work out of their own kitchen. Does that make them any less of a worker because they are their own bosses?





Peace,
Mystic

[evearael]

Thank you so much for all your advise!

Oh, and Maize, I certainly don't believe that everyone who tosses their kids on the bus forgets about them. Sometimes that is the best option available. I'm just testing the waters as far as what the best and most viable option my family has. I'm a military wife, so I'm expecting to up and move, sometimes on very short notice, all over the country and probably the UK, and I'm concerned that would make the public school option too disjointed to be beneficial at all. Homeschooling would at least provide some continuity, no matter where we are.

[MysticSang'ha]

Originally Posted by evearael

Thank you so much for all your advise!

Oh, and Maize, I certainly don't believe that everyone who tosses their kids on the bus forgets about them. Sometimes that is the best option available. I'm just testing the waters as far as what the best and most viable option my family has. I'm a military wife, so I'm expecting to up and move, sometimes on very short notice, all over the country and probably the UK, and I'm concerned that would make the public school option too disjointed to be beneficial at all. Homeschooling would at least provide some continuity, no matter where we are.

Short message to Maize: I understand your point of view. Since my son goes to a public school, I've met many MANY parents of public-schooled children who are concerned with their kiddo's education AND the education of the rest of the kiddos in their school.



Military wife here, too, evearael. Although my husband's in the Army Reserves, we did experience his absence when he was called up to active duty to spend 14 months in Iraq and Kuwait. I haven't gone through the experience of moving the family from city to city, or base to base, but I know quite a few military families that successfully homeschool their kids for the very same reason that you want to.




Search the web. There are dozens and dozens of resources at your disposal to help narrow your decision to homeschool. My best advice is to get the facts straight about what your state's laws are with what is expected OUT of homeschoolers, as well as how homeschoolers are protected BY the state that you live in. We live in Illinois, where homeschoolers don't have to submit to state testing. But our state differs widely from many other states in the U.S. that either require the parents or guardians to submit their kids to testing, to provide evidence every so often of lesson plans, and so on and so on.




Good luck on your journey!





Peace,
Mystic

[Melody]

Originally Posted by Christiangirl0909

They don't have to face real problems, which I think is a bad thing. They will never have to suffer 45 minutes of embarassment during intramurals, they'll never be laughed at, they'll never have to stand up for themselves. I just think that is sheltering a child to much.

You've given a lot of very good reasons for homeschooling. People don't send their children to school so they'll be humiliated and picked on. They send their children to school to *learn*. Unfortunately, in many public schools, the learning is taking a back seat to the less than desireable informal learning that steals the innocence from a child.

I admit to wanting to keep my sons as innocent as I could for as long as I could and I believe we managed to do that successfully. I have a 22 year old, 21 year old and 13 year old. I've been told by those who know my sons that they have a gentleness that is uncommon in today's young men. No, my sons didn't learn how to be picked on or bear up under humiliation and so they grew up with an incredibly strong sense of self-worth. I have no doubt that when life's problems come along, they will have the strength of character needed to deal with them.

Did I shelter my children. Absolutely! All I have to do to know I made the right decision, is to look at the way they're living their lives and the decisions they are making.