Homeschooled? how come there are so many on here?

[Chicky Tocks]

My son is not at this time homeschooled but I seriously considered it before getting him out of junior high for several reasons....

#1 The schools are overcrowded and the bullies have been running the show at my son's school. There are no tolerance to bully posters all over the school but the teachers and principals fail to enforce it when it happens right under their noses, and those that are bullied are standing before them pouring blood on the floor with 10 witnesses. All the while they refuse to acknowledge and nothing is done.

#2 The no-tolerance rules only apply to stupid things. A kid says a cussword and they call school security. I was called by the school once because of the anti-drug tolerance rule. My son was giving "smarties" to kids and telling them they were smart pills. The principal was serious as a heart attack! Says that references to pills was made so that was the breaking of an anti drug tolerance rule.

#3 A lot of todays teachers have no business being teachers. They have no patience and are cranky old bittys. The answer to most of their problems is to send the kid to the principals office where then they're labeled and shipped off-campus to alternative classes.

I must say though that since my son has moved to high school, there haven't been as many problems.

 

[juliemom25]

Ok, after reading through 6 pages of posts, I must chime in. I may be new to chickens, but I know home schooling.

I initially home schooled because I am a SAHM and I figured why not. Now I have become pretty passionate about it. My two oldest (the only two old enough to be in school right now) just finished 3rd and 5th grade. They are excelling far above their age level in their school work and they are extremely well adjusted. Both kids are very social and have close friends that attend public and private schools. I love getting to make our own schedule. We get done in 4 hours a day what takes other schools 2 or 3 days to do. I know because we use some of the same curriculum that our local private school uses. We can vacation whenever we feel like it and we get to have our kids home with us! More important than any of that is that I get to teach my kids what I feel they need to learn. I hate having the government choose what my kids learn. My husband and I know and love our kids more than anyone, we will always look out for their best interests.

Now I am not saying home schooling is for everyone. Some really great parents just aren't able to home school, for various reasons. Home schooling does take dedication and lots of effort. Sometimes it is just down right hard, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

You know when we first started home schooling my mom/my extended family (all of whom we are very close to) was very skeptical. We got comments like "my kids were going to be socially inept" and "how can you really do them justice, your not a teacher (although I do have my BS in Social Work)," but now we showered with compliments on how great our kids are and how well adjusted they are turning out to be!

Julie

 

[LA~Poulet]

There are a lot of homeschoolers out there!

I read a report recently estimating that over 1 million Americans would be homeschooling this year.

My guess would be that there might be a high number on this forum (I had noticed in some sig tags) because people who tend to be more DIY type with raising chickens/producing eggs and food or even branching out into more unusual pet types might be more DIY about other things as well-anything from gardening to soap making to education. Just my guess.

Two of my closest friends were schoolteachers before having their own children, and they both homeschool now. I was homeschooled until 11th grade when I went to a public high school b/c I wanted to be around my friends more-I'm now homeschooling my own children. Going back I wouldn't change a thing-love it! My siblings feel the same way, and we never had any issues many have mentioned with socialization-probably b/c we were constantly out and about with other kids, both homeschooled ones and friends in school. Homeschooling is steadily gaining in popularity, and in our area, there are large groups with many things available to h/sers, like art classes, sports, 4H clubs, etc. The older kids even have basketball and football teams which compete in a league with smaller private schools so they don't miss out on sports if they opt to stay home through highschool years. I know it isn't for everyone, but it can be really great.

 

[LA~Poulet]

Quote:
I totally agree with all your reasons, I could have written your post!

 

[Blackbird]

to you Julie!

I think I'm with KattyKillfish in the whole public school thing..

I'm not exactly homeschooled;
At my old public school over half of the kids use drugs, quite a few are pregnant and I've heard way too much about who has STDs.. Aside from all the usual drama and the jerks, shootings, bomb and stabbing threats... it def wasn't worth any of it. And of course the needs of the students went according to their last name and family's place in society.. my family of self sufficient farmer types didn't have the greatest name..

The real hitter was a lot of the teachers, if you didn't understand something the first time, it was kind of like tough luck. It didn't help that I went to one of the worst schools in MN, the whole system was pretty corrupted and not many people cared. In band my friend wanted to play the flute, he has his own already and is great at it but the band teacher wouldn't let him because it was a 'female instrument', I on the other hand played French horn, but there was a whole 2 notes that I couldn't get, I asked the instructer for help, he said he'd plan the next day after school to help me, he never showed up and I was told to return the instrument. I had one teacher who would swear at me (and several others) daily, to my face and behind my back, everyone else thought it was funny

My mom contacted the head and they said that they would fire him, but when I left the school they still had him around. I left the public school and joined an online school; they had meetings, events, and other things around the state as well as teachers who would call weekly besides email frequently. The school unfortunatly 'remodeled' and changed everything around, so I decided to try public school again.

The lady handling class set ups and switches (who also hates my grandmother, so that could be a factor) lied to my face telling me that they did not have my transcript from the other school and refused to give me the classes I needed, so I wouldn't have enough credits to graduate. I talked to the principal and he found it in her desk but by then it was too late to switch classes without getting an F in them.

I left the school after a week and a half. In those 7 days I was offered a variety of drugs 3 times, one of which the teacher saw and asked what was in the chewing tabacco container and the kid said that it was jerky, but it was really some white powder stuff, the teacher believed him and left it at that, how convenient. Anyway, as I said I left and joined a different online school, where I currently am, and I'm very happy and get A's.

Anyway, my horrible expirience revealed; I think it definitely depends on your local public school, some public schools are absolutley great and kids can do great in them. Others are like mine.
Homeschooling in general... I believe that if the parent does not enforce curriculum or whatever it may be and lets the kid do whatever, obviously will not succeed. Those people give a bad name to homeschoolers because they no where near possess the ability to teach others that sort of thing.. So yes, parental involvment is the biggest part of it. It all depends on the kids needs, what the school is willing to provide, you have to pick and choose what is right.

I'm with Scoop on sports and prom.. It usually goes by who has the better last name and how well you look. I was never considered good enough for sports and prom.. def overrated.. do you know how much that costs now days?!? I was asked by a couple girls from the old school but declined.

Oh, I also wanted to add about what others were saying as being basically socially retarded.. In public school I was like #1 social outcast and was pretty shy, just didn't fit in or spoke up from fear of being rejected. Now I can easily talk to strangers and whomever, I really don't care what they think now, and as long as I'm being me I'm ok

Yup. how corny

 

[jonathansenn]

I should probably start another thread for this, but I ask this anyway.

How would you fix public education in America so that it would be a better or more attractive alternative than homeschooling?

I personally would make it more like college where you have the flexibility to choose times, teachers, and classes to suit your interest. I would also make parents pay tuition every year. Before you throw things follow along.

When your child starts pre K you receive a voucher for 16 years of tuition. This pays for pre k, k-12, and 2 years of college. If your kid is smart enough to pass the grades the first time, this would pay for some of their college. If you kid fails, well then you have to pay for that year over again. I think would work because you would see more parental involvement, Better schools (cause they would want your child to pay their school), and less discipline problems (you get suspended and fail a grade it cost parents money).

 

[aidenbaby]

I think a good step towards fixing the school system is doing what Colorado does. If I want to send my kid to ANY school in the state, I can. There are online homeschool-type charter schools, reular public school, all sorts of charter schools, and private schools. My dad is the elementary principal for a k-12 charter school and tells me that every year they have to compete through testing, student-teacher ratios and extracurricular programs for enrollment. He likes that it makes it so that you HAVE to have a well run school or you won't get funding. (He is with Collegiate Academy of Colorado.)

Personally, I've been looking at going through one of the virtual charter schools here. The one I've been looking at uses the K12 program, provides everything we'll need (even a computer if I remember right) and has school outings and field trips. The ONLY reason I am not sending my kids to my dads school is because of the 1 1/2 hour drive from here to there.

 

[LA~Poulet]

I think a voucher system of some sort would definitely help-when there is no choice, schools don't have to compete or strive for betterment or to please parents/students. Something more similar to what is used in schools in Europe, for example, where the money goes with the child.

One thing I would definitely do away with is tenure and teacher's unions. If a teacher does a horrible job, the school should be able to fire them. That goes both ways-if a teacher does a wonderful job, they should be eligible for pay increases and people should be able to have choices for putting their child into that teacher's classes. The monopoly created by having children bracketed into schools by region, where many can't afford any other option (private school or homeschool/online alternatives) is no incentive for schools to do better.

I'd also like to see the standardized curricula removed and much of the standardized testing restructured or eliminated, I think the teacher should have more control over how they teach in the classroom. What works for one teacher and group of kids isn't necessarily best for the class down the hall. Also, when the books and methods are constantly changing, it creates more expense and time/confusion/paperwork on the teacher's part, not to mention how confusing it is for kids to learn math on the point system one year and then have that struck out b/c it isn't working and switch to a totally different method the next year.

 

[jonathansenn]

LA~Poulet :

I think a voucher system of some sort would definitely help-when there is no choice, schools don't have to compete or strive for betterment or to please parents/students. Something more similar to what is used in schools in Europe, for example, where the money goes with the child.

One thing I would definitely do away with is tenure and teacher's unions.

Teacher tenure is a joke. Trust me. Tenure only means they have to tell you why you are being fired. I have seen many tenured teachers let go.

I have taught for 14 years and never been a part of a teacher's union.

LA~Poulet :

If a teacher does a horrible job, the school should be able to fire them. That goes both ways-if a teacher does a wonderful job, they should be eligible for pay increases and people should be able to have choices for putting their child into that teacher's classes.

The only way to get a pay increase at school is to coach.


Man I agree with you.​

 

[aidenbaby]

Jonathansenn - The teachers at your school don't get raises? That would be a crappy place to work. This is the first year that the teachers at my dad's school aren't getting raises (he hasn't had one for the past two years either). Unfortunately, even with holding off on raises he still had to cut back on a few positions because of the economy. People losing their jobs means that fewer taxes are being paid which in turns means that school are getting less money.