What you think about homeschooling??

[TexasLisa]

And whatever you do, do NOT do Saxon Math. It's a horrible math curriculum and I hate it. Thank goodness we're changing next year.

I will have to humbly disagree with you on that. I started out using Bob Jones Math with my children. I didn't care for it. I switched to Saxon Math. For those of you who haven't tried it, you can go online and they have 'placement tests' for your child to take. You grade the test yourself. This tells you where to start your child in Saxon math. Saxon constantly reviews. Geometry is interwoven through all the books.

Having said that, when I first switched my children did not like Saxon. Why? They were use to colorful pictures, funny figures, etc. Saxon Math is black and white. It took them a while to get use to the program.

That is the beauty of homeschooling. We are so lucky to have so many options to choose from. Good luck!

Lisa

 

[Amastacia]

i went to a (fairly terrible) public high school and hated every day of it. that being said, it was also an important experience. don't think of public schools as a place to gain a formal education. you are far better off doing that at home. it is, however, also important to learn the social lessons you can learn there. yeah, your peers probably suck. i know mine did. and most of the teachers were only there to get summers off. but, as my mother always told me, school is about learning how to give what they are looking for. i believe it is an Einstein quote "i never let my schooling get in the way of my education" or something like that. it is a very good point.

people can be home schooled the whole way and end up perfectly functional and well educated. at the same time, they can be raised sorely lacking in people skills and certain forms of discipline. if i'm reading things correctly, you have done public school so far, so the people skills shouldn't be a problem, but high school will teach you important skills if you plan to go to college. a few friends of mine that were home schooled had a hard time finishing college because they kept dropping classes or failing them because they didn't have the discipline to work at something they didn't enjoy.

i suppose my thought is think very very hard about why you want to home school. and keep in mind that it will mean you have even more time with your parents. i don't know about you, but when i was that age that would not have been a good thing.

good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[chickencrazy429]

Quote: Yes, Saxon is a good program-- though sometimes it doesn't explain things too well, but you see Math is not my strong subject-- I got Grammar genes from my Mom and not the math genes from my Dad. And the fact that it reviews so much is a good thing about it. The point is-- I, personally, don't like Saxon mostly because I am not very good at math- I just don't enjoy it! But, it does work for others, so really it works for you. I also did this other curriculum (Teaching Textbooks) it was WAY too easy for me, but it was fun to do on the computer since they include CD-ROMs and you can do it on the computer. Good luck with your decision!

 

[chickmamalee]

I have homeschooled for 9 years. My daughter starts 9th grade and my son starts 3rd grade this year. I am also the Administrator of the homeschool ministry at our church (for almost 7 years). We have 75 families. I can honestly tell you my children lack nothing when it comes to socialization and are basically social butterflies. They are active in the Youth and Kids Groups at church. They have a lot of friends. Many of the students in my group also participate in sports, karate, gymnastics, dance, etc. so they stay very well socialized. We use the Alpha Omega curriculum and love it. I used Abeka on both up through 2nd grade. (Tried Bob Jones once and hated it)
Our new baby chicks are a great educational opportunity for my kids. My daughter wants to be a Veterinarian someday so she loves it. Both of my kids love being homeschooled and enjoy it greatly.
In my 7 years of having interaction with other homeschool families I have watched many of the graduates go on to college (some with full scholarships) and succeed. I have watched them work jobs and be great employees. I have seen parents put their kids back in school out of fear of the "stereotypes" out there and seen their children struggle in public school. Not to say homeschooling is for everyone. It's not. Some parents don't have what it takes to teach their children. It takes a lot of time and commitment. And some students just are better off in a classroom environment. They can't be disciplined enough to do the work without peers to be compared to. And some just don't do well either way. So, it can be a great thing for some but may not work for others.
Good luck to anyone wanting to do it. It is challenging but VERY rewarding!!

 

[oldrooster]

i went to a (fairly terrible) public high school and hated every day of it. that being said, it was also an important experience. don't think of public schools as a place to gain a formal education. you are far better off doing that at home. it is, however, also important to learn the social lessons you can learn there. yeah, your peers probably suck. i know mine did. and most of the teachers were only there to get summers off. but, as my mother always told me, school is about learning how to give what they are looking for. i believe it is an Einstein quote "i never let my schooling get in the way of my education" or something like that. it is a very good point.

people can be home schooled the whole way and end up perfectly functional and well educated. at the same time, they can be raised sorely lacking in people skills and certain forms of discipline. if i'm reading things correctly, you have done public school so far, so the people skills shouldn't be a problem, but high school will teach you important skills if you plan to go to college. a few friends of mine that were home schooled had a hard time finishing college because they kept dropping classes or failing them because they didn't have the discipline to work at something they didn't enjoy.

i suppose my thought is think very very hard about why you want to home school. and keep in mind that it will mean you have even more time with your parents. i don't know about you, but when i was that age that would not have been a good thing.

good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Perhaps it had to do with the parents and/or the community they lived in, some parents over shelter their children. Also if there is not a home school group that is available for the families to meet ans socialize with in some communities there is little or nothing for socialization for the youth there but public school. I have family in a rural county and they had little league baseball/softball soccer, and also scouts and 4-h nothing else. so the home school kids socialized one to three times a month average every year with scouts/4h and 3-7 times a week with baseball/soccer (practice and games) for 3-5 months. and that's if they are athletic, otherwise at middle school or high school they are out of sports. and usually scouts because many kids drop out about middle school and there may not have a true troop for the upper ages, and those kids understandably don't wish to be in the same group with kids 2-6 years younger and behind in ranks. And some here have commented that some home school kids only know people with their religious belifes that may be true to some extent with over protective parents, or as I said rural or perhaps inner city raised kids where there are few social activities for kids out of the school system

Quote: Yes, Saxon is a good program-- though sometimes it doesn't explain things too well, but you see Math is not my strong subject-- I got Grammar genes from my Mom and not the math genes from my Dad. And the fact that it reviews so much is a good thing about it. The point is-- I, personally, don't like Saxon mostly because I am not very good at math- I just don't enjoy it! But, it does work for others, so really it works for you. I also did this other curriculum (Teaching Textbooks) it was WAY too easy for me, but it was fun to do on the computer since they include CD-ROMs and you can do it on the computer. Good luck with your decision!
I went to a public school but the school system had a set number of text books set by the state to choose from for each subject and my local school system always used the same publisher, because the problems where great and layout of the textbook was good, but the instructions where horrible, it was like they where written in a foriegn language and poorly translates. So the teachers had to teach it from scratch, without the book instructions being used whatsoever. But we learned how to do the problems.

 

[Chickies4ever]

And whatever you do, do NOT do Saxon Math. It's a horrible math curriculum and I hate it. Thank goodness we're changing next year.

It IS awful! I am possibly doing online math next year.