Homeschooling - is it worth it?

[Rebbetzin]

Over the years of watching friends and family members, I have seen a vast difference in the kids that are home schooled as opposed to those that are in the Gov't/Public schools.

Home schoolers can sit quietly and not be a distracton in most adult settings. They are great at making converstation with adults. They for the most part are more mature, helpful, grateful, courteous, and respectful.

I am a fan of home schooling, I home schooled my daughter during her High School years. We lived on a mountain, she had to travel 37 miles on a bus on a winding road, and was too carsick every day to really get much out of school.


My 12 grandchildren are home schooled. And they are great kids!!

 

[old fashioned]

I'm a little late with this post (last post was months ago) but I will anyway even if what I say is repeating what others have already said.

My kids are now 10 & 8 and have always went to public school other than preschool thru our church and I'm a stay at home mom because at the time was too expensive for daycare. When they were old enough for school I was glad to send them off because I desperately needed the break, or so I thought at the time. I've regretted that decision ever since. I'm not confident enough in my own ability to teach them to their full potential. I realize public and/or private schools don't either, but if I were to h/s them I want to know for sure I'd do a much better job and not just barely get by. Also 10yo has always wanted to go into the Army and as I understand it nowadays they won't let anyone in without a diploma, NOT a GED. I may be wrong, but this is what I've heard.
Thing is, my common sense tells me that it will all work out much better than my fears-but it's just taking that first step that's so hard.

What I've seen in comparing our family with others that have everything with both parents working is that the parents buy those gadgets, toys and electronics for their kids and have them signed up for too many activities is to "make up" for no real family time. As if their mind set is "keep the kids busy with ball games or ballet, newest video games, cell phones, ipods, whatever so I don't have to have a close personal relationship with them and they can't see the guilt in my eyes because I had to miss out on their school science project because of a board meeting"
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh on working parents, I do understand the need for both parents to work. Not just financially, but also for that sense of self independence. In working you are still teaching your kids valuable life lessons. Just don't "buy" your kids attentions.

Yes, I've questioned my decisions about quitting work and staying home and about school vs homeschool. But if I had it to do over again, I'd probably still opt to stay home, but would have h/s from the start. I haven't given up on the idea of h/s (or I wouldn't be reading this thread) and maybe one of these days I will get off the fence and jump right in.

Ultimately, the choice is yours to work or not, h/s or not and either way you go is not set in stone and you can go back. If you love staying home and homeschooling your kids, then don't give that up for love or money. Your kids are your responsibility, their life and education. If you go back to work you will be handing over that responsibility to others-school, daycare, friends, relatives, neighbors and in a round about way other kids. Who they spend the most time with is who has the greater influence on their life and their direction. Exposure to outside influences are rarely healthy influences. Good luck.

 

[Big Daddy]

Our 2 middle daughters got way off track in elementary school. Then our youngest daughter got diabetes on her 4th b-day. The school told us they could not monitor or give her injections and my DW would have to drive to the school to do it herself. So at that point we decided that it had to be HS for her. So lets do them all.

We found a real good program that provided the entire curriculum with computers. Kids are taught via computer or just work books with parental supervision. They even provided social get togethers so the children would develop social skills. So they were taught mostly by my DW as in about 99%.

This year we decided to send them back to public school. Primarily for social skills. We don't have a problem with our kids being exposed to the real world. Coping with other people is a big part of leaning how to survive. Children need to see that other people have different beliefs and values and not everyone is nicey nicey. I was afraid the younger ones would have some problems and they have had a few. However I just went to parent teacher conferences and all 5 are doing extremely well. They are favorites amongst their peers and each is very well liked by their teachers. The 2 older girls are in middle school and are both on honor roll for the time being.

So it would seem that the 2 years at home schooling have helped bring them back up where they should be. At this point I think we would have a hard time getting them back in to HS again. They all have a lot of friends and get really upset when they are sick or can't go for some reason.

To the OP. If you are capable of earning enough money to actually make it worthwhile to return to the work force then you shouldn't feel guilty. Lor hasn't been in the work force since 1997. We calculated her salary ten subtracted gas, car maintenance, clothing, make up, hundreds of panty hose. day care and the cost of missing work when your kid is sick. For us that meant she needed to gross about 25k to make it worth while. If you want to stay at home with the kids and HS but need more money, you might check into foster care or possibly drop in babysitting sick kids for those working moms. Whack them for 60.00-100.00 when their day care won't except the kid and set up a quarantine area in your house.

 

[FarmerChick]

homeschooling isn't worth it to me...financial or otherwise.

I want public school for Nicole and all that goes with it. I had good schools and I hope that Nicole will also. From what I seen down here the schools she will be attending are great.

It is what you want. I don't think you can "trade money and other issues' for "what you truly want for your kids"

It is hard when on the fence. You either want to work and make more money and live that way---or you want to stay home, be frugal and more and teach the homeschooling aspects.

Yea there isn't really any security with any decisions in life. We choose the best path we can and keep the old fingers crossed!

 

[me&thegals]

If the only issue is your children not having as much gadgets as other kids, the homeschooling is going well and you/they love, then stick with homeschooling! I don't believe *things* make kids happy. Time with and love from their parents make kids happy.

If money is seriously tight (like it sounds) and you really don't see any other places to cut, then consider public schooling. But, consider the possibility that this will have costs of its own--field trips, school supplies (maybe more or newer than you would use at home), nicer clothes?, school fees, lunch money, etc.

You can also be hugely supportive of your children while they are in public school. It doesn't have to be completely one or the other. Even while they are in public school, you could volunteer in their schools/classrooms, help on field trips, have lunch with them occasionally, be very interested in their school work, etc.

 

[FarmerChick]

Can another Mom homeschool someone else's kids?

I don't know if that isallowed?

Anyone know?

 

[farmerlor]

Can another Mom homeschool someone else's kids?

I don't know if that isallowed?

Anyone know?

It may depend on the state. You can here in Colorado.

 

[me&thegals]

I always thought a 5-family homeschool co-op would be really neat. Each family homeschools the group 1 day per week, focusing on what that family is really interested in or good at--math, reading, writing, science, history, for example.

Parents could still even have outside jobs if wanted/necessary under that structure. It would just take a lot of communication and trust among the families that everyone is doing a quality job with each other's kids.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I would have loved to take on a neice or nephew if one of my sister-in-laws could have come over everyday and help me with my things while I taught a while.
I am not a trusting person, so now that I have begun teaching, I can't see that I will go public again. I put up with bullies and trouble makers when I was in school and I was lucky to by pass it with most of my kids, but half-way through I had a change of heart and child # 4 has never been in a class room and child # 3 has been pulled out and is studying with me. # 5 is only 3 years old.
About a year ago something terrible happened at the public school my 14 year old would have been at. We didn't know at first what it was; only that they were in lock-down and that the parents were lined up waiting to collect their kids. Well apparently a child shot a gun in a classroom and asked a student to leave the room with him....he didn't comply. The child left the room, went in the bathroom and shot his head and died a few days later.
My phone started ringing with parents commenting that,'I must be glad my kids are home with me.' which I said,'diffinetely.'
Well.....wouldn't you know that the boy which was asked to leave the class happened to be my godchild (my brother's son). That was his last day at school for months. He began to be homeschooled. Not by me; by a computer. It didn't work out for him. He is back at school.
Never would I have thought something like that would happen in my hometown. We know each other. We use guns to hunt rabbits. We speak French and make gumbos and sleep with our doors unlocked.
We use Seton Home Study and I can get a lot done in a little time, just like I can let a week go by and know I have to play catch up, but I will force myself to be disciplined as long as I possibly can because I can't see that what they are missing from attending public school is something they really need.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

We did a co-op one year. It was great. We had several families with children (most of them) in the same age range. What we did was meet two days a week for 1/2 day and cover the subjects we had decided on (history, science, writing, art). We provided a full teaching in those subjects so they didn't have to be covered separately. It was absolutely wonderful.

Usually once school was finished, we'd spend the rest of the day and evening together. As moms, we were friends and could socialize and work on projects together. And the kids of course had fun playing.

There are a lot of skills that are more easily taught in a group -- or I should say teaching methods that work better if you have at least several kids. We also put on plays, did our own field trips, etc.

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And regarding having to have a diploma to join the military -- you can check to see if there is an umbrella school you can set up with that will provide a diploma instead of a GED.