Any other homeschoolers on here?

[DuckyBoys]

Quote:
Hi Heather,

I have to laugh at your comment about using chickens as a learning experience - that's how all this funny business started with me. I purchased an incubator so we could "hatch some eggs" - little did I know that I'd be hooked in a month and have a dozen of the little buggers straight from the hatchery!

I gave up on eggs for now - way too much money for someone with no experience. So yeah - all this for "school" and he barely looks at them!

Oh well - I'm perfectly satisfied with how things turned out.

 

[RobinEgg]

We first started considering homeschooling when the oldest started school, but sad to say now we succumbed to peer pressure and sent him to public school , by the time he was in the 7th grade , we had our fill of the public school scam. We had only the support of my wonderful mom, to this day (10 yrs) she is the only family support we have. Our youngest has never attended public school, and the older two are attending college with no difficulties. I can't understand why people feel you can't teach children at home. A parents job is to teach and it starts at birth. It's so wonderful to hear from all homeschoolers, especially those who don't have the support system. Hang in there! I can't say the nonbelievers will ever come around to our way of thinking but our children will be safe and happy.

 

[momma's chickens]

My dh and I are seriously considering home schooling our 7th grader next year and our 3rd grader next year. I think I will end up doing Idaho Virtual Academy. I really want to be in control of my children's education but at this time I am scared that I won't be able to do a good job. I fear that they won't learn enough or be current with their peers. I did Idaho Virtual academy with my dd for kindergarten and we completed it and she started first grade ahead of where she needed to be. It is my seventh grader I worry about; I don't want to "slow him down". He is currently on high honor roll and does very well in school socially. I just don't want my children in public school with other people's influences for 9 hours a day.

I have some minor issues with the schools this year but nothing that is really major. My second grader is currently attending a one room school house with one teacher, two aides and 24 students, K-6th. She seems unhappy though and I also want her home.

I have a very disabled, non-verbal, no hand use 4 year old who I will keep in the public special needs preschool. She goes 1 1/2 hours three days a week. The teachers there LOVE her to pieces and it gives her a different experience. I work 25 hours a week, but dh is home due to back injury and hip injury.

I am not sure why I am telling all of this, but your homeschool stories have made me more determine to pull my kids (the older two) out of the public school system and bring them home and educate them. Thank you for sharing your stories!

 

[AngelzFyre]

Momma's chickens, I don't think you'd ever regret pulling your other 2 out and home schooling.
There is no way they'd get behind with one on one attention and no distractions like they have in school.
I USED to worry about the same thing when I first started 7 yrs ago but now know for a fact that even if we did half of what we did in our home school curriculum, it'd be more than most get in the 8 to 9 hours a day they sit in class!
We use the standard SATs to test and see where we are yearly and my 2 have scored consistently higher (*post high school* since 5th and 6th grades) than any of their public school friends.
There are so much more curriculums available, and extracurricular co-ops also activities for them to learn from, it's basically infinite in what they can achieve.
Of course it's different for everyone, but I've found that the home schoolers we are around are much more well rounded and seem more confident than their public school peers. They don't have to fight daily for attention and approval, nor do they have to be part of the "herd mentality" that so many succumb to.
I'm not saying home schooling is for everyone..it's not. I'm just saying that I don't think you'll regret your decision to bring your other kids home to join the ones you're already teaching.
There should be home school groups in your area to join and they can do activities with them socially, as well as any extra tutoring or mentoring they may need. Parents co-op and teach what they excel in or get teachers/former teachers to tutor after their regular hours for a fee.
This helps immensely in areas you may not feel as confident in.

Good luck with everything and if you need any help, I'm sure we all will do all we can to advise and steer you in the direction you need for them.

Take care!
Randi Lynn/AL

 

[DTchickens]

i've been homeschooled since kindergarten. when we moved to a... Bad school district i guess you could say?...

 

[momma's chickens]

AngelzFrye, thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. I am 99.9% I am going to homeschool next year. You are right, I can definitely do this.

 

[CarolinaGirl]

I'm a homeschool graduate

I graduated in 2006. I loved being homeschooled, honestly. I had many more chances to try things that interested me (such as my animals).

My mom and dad pulled me out of public school when I was in 3rd grade. Once I hit highschool, I was given the choice of public, private or home, and I chose to remain home. I don't regret my choice to be homeschooled. It opened many doors for me actually.

As for curriculum, we used Switched On Schoolhouse for a couple years until I got sick of being strapped to the computer and begged for books... then we got LifePacks by A Beka, I think? I loved those because the small little books made me feel like I was actually making progress when certain subjects (MATH

) were hard on me.

 

[DuckyBoys]

My daughter graduated last December from homeschool. She did go to high school for a year in 10th just to see what she was missing, but she was clearly over it after a few months and came home for 11th. I have NO regrets for taking on my children's education, even the many years where I felt we did nothing because there is always a year or two where you do double and suddenly your child is back where he should be or even ahead a year, as was our case.

I am already purchasing my curriculum for next year - very much looking forward to using Teaching Textbooks for math, the Multimedia Classroom from the History channel for eastern civilization history, and Rosetta Stone for Japanese. We also have a new writing program we are trying - Jump In Writing - and lots of old stand-bys like Climbing to Good English and Pathway Working With Words. This is my son's first year not using Pathway Readers for reading - gonna do real literature this year.

Very exciting! Planning on reading Big Red, Call of the Wild, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Man in the Ceiling, I am
the Cheese, and Dogsbody. 6th grade will be so much fun!

 

[DTchickens]

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Im sorry... but.... " the man in the ceiling"? LOL... Im sorry but is that a horror book? honestly i think i would be a bit scared if there was a man in my ceiling

 

[lilcountry]

Quote:
Thats the same around here.

Where in NC are you? Im in my second year of college and the schools I went to were fine, b/c my county is growing we went to new schools every new grade like from elementary to middle to high, so maybe a little unorganized from being new, but overall I wish when I had kids they could go through exactly how I did. I do admit things are growing and changing! But if/when I have kids I will look for environments as close to mine. COUNTRY!