<p>I was in school for...12 years.
Nursery school all the way up to 10th grade.
I loved school before high school.
I am pretty sure that it was just my school, but I was put through hell there.
Not by the students, the students were fine. The administration made my life hell. I have quite a lot of health issues, one being a cyst on my brain that causes me to have frequent migraines. The administration put me in truancy court for missing so much school.
That was their solution.
Like I was some horrible girl.
I stuck it out because they said it would be for the better for me, and at that point I just wanted school to work for me.
After a month of having a constant migraine from the stress of truancy court, my mom decided to get me out of that mess. She called up the assistant principle and asked him how she could get me out. He said the only option was to homeschool me.<br>
I was homeschooled for barely 6 months. I was ready to start school back up in September, but through a Head Start program at the community college. I went to get my transcripts from the school, and they had the nerve to tell me that I wasn't allowed to do the program because I wasn't considered a senior. They said my homeschooling classes did not count since I switched half way through the year.
They approved the classes I took.<br>
They then said I would have to go back to 10th grade for missing so much school in 10th and 11th grade. I cried and cried, but the new head of the guidence(who was actually helpful) convinced me to drop out and get my GED. He said it was my best option since I definitely didn't belong in 10th grade. It was really hard for me to do, but I did it. I now start college in a week, a full semester ahead of my class.
So yeah, thats kinda off topic...But that is why I was homeschooled, and my result from it.</p>
<p>I know that this might sound concieted or sterotypical. I think homeschooling is great. You really get to learn a lot more and concentrate on yourself and your education. Its outstanding in that way.</p>
<p>Would I ever let my child be homeschooled? Absolutely not. My best friend was homeschooled. She has been out of homeschooling for three years. She is very socially akward. I also know three others...all of whom are socially akward. Even though you have the amazing education, there is nothing that can truly replace a high school experience. You learn about yourself, self-esteem, confidence, bullys, and everything. My friend was never ever really made fun of before. When she came to my school (an actually very good competitive high school that sends numerous people to IVys yearly), she was made fun by people. She didn't know how to react. As much as I adore my best friend, I think her college experience will be tainted because of her lack to learn social skills. She is very close-minded about issues, because she was raised in an enviroment that only really showed her one side. she didn't really have school as an outlet to her kids her own ages views, etc.</p>
<p>^^I must disagree. Painting with a broad brush, public school kids are social deviants, closed-minded about those who are different. So much is said about diversity yet they are all the same. Public schools tend to show just one side to which its members must conform.<br>
"Society everywhere is in conspiracy against every one of its members."
Emerson.</p>
<p>What do people learn from bullies? How many bullies is enough to ensure a child has a good education?</p>
<p>Post #142 sounds like an unintentional condemnation of school culture.</p>
<p>I can't let this topic pass without stating my opinion. I personally do not buy in to the homeschooling thing as long as you have a decent alternative school system. Here in the South, some of our friends do it because they resent the lack or religion in the public schools, so they withdraw from society and anyone who does not follow their religious beliefs. Some do it because they think they can teach better than the schools due to disc. issues in schools, slow kids, etc. For some, this may make sense. From our perspective, one of us being schooled in private school and one from public schools and with 2 kids, both in gifted public programs right now, school is about more than just 'learning' and 'education'. It is about tolerating the 'slow' kid bogging down the class. It's about dealing with kids who cause problems, learning to wait patiently until your question can be asked. Learning to tolerate people who don't care for you, may not dress like you, may not like school. It's also about learning to work together with others. If parents want to pull their kids and homeschool them and then supplement it with baseball or church youth activities to 'socialize' them, they may learn more academically, but in my opinion, will not be as well prepared for the frustrations of life. It's hard to generalize because I knwo some great homeschooled kids and some not-so-great ones. I say that they are better off in society, learning to work and live together than they are being sequestered at home all the time, away from social opportunities and chances to establish bonds with others. I know I could not do my kids justice by teaching all subjects at home. I leave that to the teaching professionals, the people trained and committed to doing it, even taking into account the issues with schools. To each his/her own, but I will stick to the private schools and public school systems to better equip my kids for life.</p>
<p>Why choose a private school if there is a public school in town?</p>
<p>That is a question we all struggle with. When we have a high quality public school offering 28 AP courses, etc. why pay for private? In our case, we have a gifted S who we believe can do more academically than he is presented with at his public school. We also are seeking a smaller environment where he cannot disappear into the masses and will be required to be more assertive, etc. We believe that can be accomplished better at a private school with less than 200 in each grade as opposed to 500-600 per grade. We also want him to have maximum opportunity to get in the best universities given his intellect. The private schools have an aggressive college counseling office and they work admissions hard. When we asked our public school about college admission stats for recent classes, we were brushed off and given a general answer, 'oh we have kids that go everywhere'. I certainly agree, these things can be accomplished in the public system, but as I have told him, I cannot leave him a large trust fund, but I CAN make sure he gets the best education to serve him a lifetime. It is not an easy decision for me as the cost will set me back financially for years. Everyone has unique circumstances and has to make a decision that is right in their own situation.</p>
<p>
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In our case, we have a gifted S who we believe can do more academically than he is presented with at his public school.
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</p>
<p>Then I guess you understand why we are homeschooling.</p>
<p>"It's hard to generalize because I knwo some great homeschooled kids and some not-so-great ones."</p>
<p>Then why are you generalizing? There are great and not so great kids and adults everywhere. If you believe your personal reasons for choosing private over public are reasonable, it seems logical that for some families choosing to home school over private and public is equally reasonable. Nobody is insisting that you home school, just that you don't deride the choices of others simply because your lack of first hand experience with their choice leaves you unable to understand their choice.</p>
<p>In our family, my kids have home schooled because they asked to do so. One has since graduated from college, one is a first year in college, and the last is 12 years old. In the case of the first two, at least, I'm sure they will try to spare their kids from school (before college) if possible, based on their own experiences both in school and out, and their more recent experiences with college.
The two oldest think they can better express their experience to others as being "unschooled" rather than home schooled. People otherwise tend to think they just did "school, only at home".
They were unschooled in the sense that they took no courses, had no assignments, and took no tests other than the usual college entrance exams. They were seldom "taught" by me or others in any kind of school sense. The biggest expense was overdue fines from the public library.
The major social advantage was freedom- to pursue what they wanted when they wanted, and to spend time with their friends and others who they felt enriched their lives.</p>
<p>Not really, because I think the benefit of being among others outweighs whatever nth degree of added learning might come from being isolated at home. If the choice is a public school with no AP program, no IB program and lots of people who only hope to aim as high as vocational school and private is not an option, then as a last resort, homeschooling might be best. I'm not knocking anyone's decision in their situation. However, even being well educated and having an advanced degree, I don't think I can do the job of committed teachers in their subject matter. Every decision is unique regarding public vs. private. My kids go to excellent public schools where we live. An hour away, where I grew up, no way would I let them go there. I'm no teacher and don't pretend to be. One kid we know is home-schooled by his dad, a former teacher; dad is great guy and so is the son. Some other kids we know are home schooled by a mom with no education or qualifications to teach whatsoever; a total mess all the way around, but their choice. I look to pros for that just like I look to doctors, mechanics, etc. who are best in their field. I look to private school to better develop him in many ways and open the doors of top universities to him. This is what I have chosen to do in my situation.</p>
<p>"....to spare their kids from school..." </p>
<p>Is school such misery that you have to be 'spared' from it? I thought it was a learning experience in and out of the classroom. What about learning to deal with the opposite sex? What about settling disagreements with others? Can they be spared from a job with others too? All those issues come up in college, work and life. I'm trying to understand the rationale in general, but just can't get there.</p>
<p>HopefulDad, at what job in real life do you have to get permission to relieve yourself? Are you segregated with people your exact age? Are you made to move from room to room at the sound of a bell? Are you confined with people from your own demographic- even zip code- almost exclusively?
Okay, I suppose the penitentiary.</p>
<p>Some people really like that conforming to the system deal. Others don't.</p>
<p>"...I'm trying to understand the rationale in general, but just can't get there."</p>
<p>That's okay; it's not really critical that you understand. What is important is that everyone has the same right to choose how to educate their children. The reasons we make our choices may be intelligible only to us, and that's fine, as long as nobody tries to abrogate your and my right to choose how we educate our children.</p>
<p>Viewed another way, it teaches them to be adaptable, tolerant, flexible and to deal with having to do things they don't necessarily want to do when they want to do them. That is how the world will be after school. Is structure that bad? Is isolation at home all day really the answer? The public school model seems to have worked, maybe not as well as it could, for many years for most people. I respect anyone's decision to home school, but I just haven't heard any strong convincing arguments that it results in resounding success for young adults, taking into account that learning is the academic stuff as well as the social stuff.</p>
<p>I live in a community where many send their kids to private school, and pay for lessons and tutoring beyond that. I've also lived in a town where people spent heavily on homes in order for their kids to go the "best" public schools.
In my opinion, these people are the most invested in the importance of schools and what money can buy. For them, schools are a secular religion, and they take schools' claims as being necessary and even positive on faith. Most of us grew up going to schools and can't imagine anything different.
In my mind, schools are best at instilling obedience and in inculcating the belief that other people know better than you do. I don't think it's any accident that 18 and 19 year olds are the demographic least likely to vote.
My opinions are mine and of course aren't representative of home schoolers generally.</p>
<p>HopefulDad, if you knew a widespread famine was about to develop, would you start depriving your children of food now so they'd be used to it? Or would you feed them the most nutritious food you could so they'd be healthier, stronger, and better able to endure?</p>
<p>I don't want to continue to debate the issue into the ground. We are all doing what we know has worked for us and what we think will work for them. In my case, formal classroom education has help lift everyone in my family from a lower middle class life to an upper middle class life. I'm not going to do anything for my kids except what has been successful in our situation. If that makes us conformists, then I am fine with that. We are not seeking to be creative or 'out of the box' in order to get there, just seeking a safe predicatable path to success.</p>