Question for all the Teenagers/Kiddos on here

[MRNpoultry]

I went to public school all the way to 7th grade. Home school is alot better tham public school. I have learned alot more since I have been home schooled. And I have alot more free time, it only takes us 2 hours to finish school for the day.

 

[amyquilt]

Quote:
It's the "junk" that bothers me. Especially with Felicity being such a follower.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

I went to public school all my life and loved it. I feel that if I would have been home schooled I would be more shy. I like to talk and am always causing trouble and if I wouldnt have gone to public school I think I might have been more quiet and not as sociable. I have a few friends that are home schooled and a couple turned out ok because they were in 4-H and very active with fairs and such, then I have a couple homeschooled friends that talk to 3 or 4 other people and they hate crowds.

 

[grace6691]

sure, theres "junk" at public schools, but going to them helps you learn how to say no. also, from my experience private school kids have more in the way of drugs because they can afford more

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

I stared in a privite school k-8th and 9-11 in public I loved both even though public is not as nice you have alot more things to choose from. and alot more tools. (Thats where all the taxes go) My sister goes to privite 9th and has no access to anything of what i have access to.

 

[CountryMom]

So well put Chirpy.

I see more home school families involved and loving their lifestyle of education with socialization really being a minor concern. More times than not it is a distraction to what is really important - an education. Like I said before, you can have mass quantity socialization or you can have quality socialization. As a number one comment I hear and read and have other say that is a complaint, socialization is really not an issue if the parent keeps their children well rounded in their education and activities.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

I think the biggest, more important issue I had with homeschooling than socialization, or parents who don't know how to educate... was exposure to different races, cultures, etc. Research, and learning about culture, is not the same as seeing culture day to day. There was a girl who did homeschooling through the school, she would get the work, do it at home, and then once a month she'd attend a day of school to hand in all her work. She was REALLY SMART, but she was sheltered, and had major problems with understanding and accepting other cultures, races, etc.

Parents really do need to have the ability to go on "vacation," to other countries in order to teach culture, or at least go to the city... I grew up in the suburbs and country, but my parents are both English, and both love India. I spent much of my childhood in Little India in Toronto, but also in England... I experienced different cultures first hand, I was raised on Punjabi music, and curries, and my bestfriend was from Pakistani immigrants to England... I wasn't homeschooled, and I'm glad I wasnt, but I would have liked much better to have gone to an English Boarding School, and I would have LOVED to have attended a Welsh Boarding School... as my dads family is Welsh, and I resent my parents a bit for not ensuring I grew up speaking Welsh as well as English.

 

[PotterWatch]

I wasn't going to post here since you had specfically asked for opinions from kids, but I just can't stop myself, lol. I am (as you can see from my siggy), a homeschooling Mom. I am even an unschooly Mom, meaning that most of the learning my children do is led by life, not workbooks or schedules. My oldest son did go to private school for Kinder and part of 1st grade but we pulled him out of 1st due to bullying, a horrible teacher, and issues with the school board decisions. My youngest son has been to preschool, but never grade school. I LOVE homeschooling. I have a hard time hearing opinions about homeschooling from those who have never done it. Just as I tell my kids about eating lima beans; you can't say you hate it if you have never tried it!

I agree with Chirpy on what she said about socialization. I suppose I am lucky in that I live in an area with lots of homeschoolers. We have to pick and choose which events, parkdays, and field trips we can fit in our schedule; there are more than enough to go around. If we didn't have all those opportunities, it certainly would make homeschooling more challenging.

As far as homeschoolers being exposed to different races, cultures, etc... I fail to see how that is really a homeschooling issue. There are plenty of public schooled kids who only learn about different cultures through books. My kids are lucky enough to live in an area where they are surrounded by people of all different backgrounds, but not everyone has that luxury.

"sure, theres "junk" at public schools, but going to them helps you learn how to say no"
I think that the fact there is the "junk" to say no to shows that not every child does learn to say no (as we all are aware). I don't want my child to be exposed to that kind of influence as young as they would be in public school. I think the longer they have to be themselves without all the peer pressure, the better off they will be in the long run.

I think that you need to sit down with your daughter and find out exactly what it is about public school that she misses and work together to try and find ways for homeschooling to fill those needs.

 

[amyquilt]

Thanks so much everyone for posting your thoughts! I do appreciate it, from students and parents! Guess I worded the post title wrong....

It seems to be the socialization is what she misses. Our family has been through a lot this past school year and even though our intentions were great, things didn't always work out for us to have Felicity included in all the things we would have liked.

We've still got several weeks to make our decision.

Thanks again!

 

[jessica117]

Something else that should be factored in is the quality of the public school in your area. I live in Podunk, Nowhere, USA and our public school system is more than a bit lacking. I graduated from said school. I moved here from a wonderful school district in the 5th grade where I was a slightly above average student by their standards. When I enrolled here I spent about 2 years twiddling my thumbs while everyone else caught up, meanwhile learning on my own out of pure boredom, preventing my classmates from ever catching up. The district was only interested in the government funding that my head was earning, so there was no way they were going to advance me.

I actually had a teacher in high school make the statement, "A liter's bigger than a gallon, ain't it?" He was serious! I just hung my head in shame.

I did finally talk the school board into letting me leave a semester early but only because my 18th birthday was in November and had already passed, and I just wouldn't give up. By the time I finally got out of there and in to college, I was totally burnt out. I ended up dropping out within 2 years.

If my parent's had been able to homeschool me I think things would have defiantly turned out much better. That is why I have decided to homeschool my kids. My son is only 3 and my daughter is 7 months, so I haven't officially started yet, but that is the plan. The only way we would consider public schooling is if we ended up moving far away from here, which isn't likely to happen.

Sorry, didn't really expect this to run so long, but I had to add my 2 cents.