My wife and I started homeschooling our daughter 2 years ago. We decided this based on the lunacy of the public school's policies and the fact that the common core curriculum is a broken mess that will only waste a kids' time. It's a lot of work but that's what we signed up for when we had kids.
So far she is well advanced compared to other kids her age and I thank God every day that she is getting and education without being subjected to the crazy fantasy world that is being forced onto most kids in public school.

We home schooled our daughter. She is now 27.
We started with K-5 and we were going to take it 1 yr at a time and before we knew it she was graduating High School.
My wife did most of the work. I helped with math and science.
We enrolled her into a school program with a Christian School during her High School years and she actually walked with the school at graduation and got a diploma from them. They monitored curriculum and grades during her High school years.
She went on to University of Toledo and graduated with Honors in 4 yrs with a double major and NO school debt.

We have fair amount of home schoolers at our studio, for the most part they are well ahead of their public school peers.

I’m still on the fence. And curious as to your daughter’s social network. My son will be entering school next year, and the closer we get, the more anxious I get!
I’ve gotten used to heading out on a whim with him and not having to be concerned about him missing anything. And maybe that’s about to end, regardless of what type of school he attends. I’m not certain my son would do well with me homeschooling him, and since it’s just him, I am concerned about socialization (or lack) that comes along with me tutoring him myself. Are you in a big city, small town, etc?
Thanks for your thoughts on this.

SIL homeschooled her four kids in a little jerkwater town with very mediocre public schools indoctrination centers. They turned out great. All in their early to mid-twenties and all the kind of people that would make an uncle proud. There may be a network of homeschoolers in your area you could contact for info on socialization events. Her three sons were also Scouts and participated in team sports like soccer during the summers.

When my eldest finished second grade we began to home school. She is twenty now. My son has never attended public school. In our state there are several options for homeschooling. The option we have always chosen is one where we have our children tested at the end of the school year and submit the results to show continued progress. I can honestly say that the decision to home school is one of the greatest decisions of our lives.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
I’m still on the fence. And curious as to your daughter’s social network. My son will be entering school next year, and the closer we get, the more anxious I get!
I’ve gotten used to heading out on a whim with him and not having to be concerned about him missing anything. And maybe that’s about to end, regardless of what type of school he attends. I’m not certain my son would do well with me homeschooling him, and since it’s just him, I am concerned about socialization (or lack) that comes along with me tutoring him myself. Are you in a big city, small town, etc?
Thanks for your thoughts on this.

I have friends (2 families at least) that homeschooled their kids. Fairly big city: Bay Area, CA. Part of the set up is they're part of some homeschool group and they have regularly scheduled field trips as groups. I suppose they have other activities too.

I was home schooled for 3 years (8th -10th grades) with the primary reason for going back my last 2 years being that I wanted to play baseball and while they were legally obliged to let me on the team made it clear that I would not be "playing" if I didn't attend the school. To the education aspect the only classes I learned anything remotely new in my last 2 years at public schools where Chemistry, Trig, Physics, College Algebra and AP English.

My brothers where home schooled K-12 by my mother. There were local home school groups that they did various events with and they were also active with the church they attended but my mother also did a great job of getting them out of the house while they were learning, where public schools might have gotten 2 field trips a year my brothers got 30 or 40.

A lot of people bring up the social skills aspect of homeschooling and as someone who has been around a lot home home schooled people I don't see it as a "homeschool" issue. I'm not saying there aren't socially lacking kids who are home schooled but I will say that most of those kids would have been socially awkward had they been in school and most likely would have been bullied or picked on. There were kids I knew in public school that had all sorts of social/behavior problems that did much better being home schooled and there were ones who were absolute little shits who got forced out of school and ended up being home schooled little shits.

To me it depends on the kid as individual and what you as a parent think will be best for them. I knew a few family's where one kid would be home schooled and the other would attend public school and it always worked out well from what I saw.

And as a last note how well homeschooling works is directly tied to how much the parent(s) put into it. If you use home schooling as a way to control your kids, force your beliefs/views on them and limit their ability to think for themselves they will rebel just like any other kid.

We home schooled our youngest son. He had some learning issues and it became very apparent that the public school system would fail him because basically they didn't give a shit.

I'm happy to say that he did well, went in the Navy for four years, and is finishing up his BA in emergency management while working full time for the VA.

We just started homeschooling our three kids this semester. They are currently in the 8th, 5th and 3rd grades. They had been in private school since my youngest started school but we still weren't satisfied with the progress they were making (although the environment was definitely better than the public schools we started with).

I have been blown away by the amount of resources available for homeschooling. Everything from some free curriculums you can find online to actual distance-learning classes you take with a teacher just like if you were taking a college class online.

And the networking available is amazing in this area. We joined a couple of groups on Facebook and have been bombarded with great deals and ideas for field trips. There is literally groups going somewhere every week that we could participate in if we wanted to. My oldest is trying out for a very competitive homeschool baseball team that he played against last year when he was on his private school's team.

We just started but are really enjoying it and have already seen improvements in our kids.

Yep, home school 6 at the moment. My oldest we started when he was in 3rd grade and he is now a freshman in college.

Do it, you will not regret it.

I have no children.

But we have friends who home schooled, and the children turned out great.

I honestly don't know why anyone would send their children to public schools. Folks refer to socialization - in public schools they get to pick up all the worst habits of their classmates.

Yes, started when they were going into 2nd and 4th grade (5 years ago). Best thing we ever did for them. They are way ahead on standardized testing (which we do every year). We use a Catholic home school program (even though we are not Catholic). The curriculum is provided and we can customize it - they are not even considered 'home schooled', it's an online school. It's all at our own pace and is fantastic. Kids from the school get accepted to the military academies and Ivy League schools every year.

We homeschool, and have 5 kids still in the nest; thus "Outnumbered". We choose to for both spiritual and academic reasons. Both of our oldest kids finished in public high school, part-time and full-time, respectively.

Hannah, our oldest daughter, interned at the DA's office throughout high school, earned college credits in her senior year via AP classes and CLEP exams, and ultimately was one of 100 Herb Kohl Excellence Scholarship recipients statewide, to the tune of $10,000.

Andrew, our oldest son, was homeschooled for years, then finished HS in the public school system. He rocked every AP course available, crushed his ACTs, and is currently at a top-10 college for Aerospace Engineering.

Both of them were well-prepared to think for themselves, and behave according to their beliefs by the time they took any classes in the public school system. I believe that with extremely diligent parenting, it's possible to achieve the same without homeschooling, but much more difficult. Academically speaking, it's generally much easier to challenge each child according to their strengths and weaknesses in a homeschooling environment, where the teacher knows, and cares for the pupil like nobody else can.

In addition to their home studies, our kids regularly (weekly/monthly/seasonally) participate in; Tae Kwon Do, 4-H, community-wide youth soccer, church youth groups & Bible Quizzing, Youth Shooting Sports League, summer Park & Rec programs, piano & voice lessons, Community Theater, educational cooperative programs, library volunteering, and many other things that I'm sure I'd be scolded for forgetting!

ALL of our kids (7 total) possess and exhibit exemplary character and manners, and are a true joy to be around. They will look you in the eyes, introduce themselves with a smile, and shake your hand. At a very early age, they're able to carry on a pleasant and balanced conversation (including LISTENING!) with people of all ages and stripes, about anything that you'd care to discuss. The stereotypes about sheltered, awkward homeschoolers are about as universally true as the media-propogated stereotypes about gun-owning conservatives.

There are many challenges to homeschooling, including financial tradeoffs. My wife, a registered nurse, hasn't worked outside the home since we've been married. I'm a county highway worker; and while thankful for a good job in our fairly poor rural community, earn JUST enough to keep our heads above water. We drive OLD cars, that I repair, don't take typical vacations, and live in an old house that gets fixed up a little here and a little there. That said, we wouldn't trade it for the world. In the context of history and/or geography, we're extremely wealthy and fortunate. We live in a warm, safe house, have decent, clean clothes, and have full stomachs every night at bedtime. In terms of things that really matter, we are profoundly rich, and are thrilled to be able to homeschool. We have been immeasurably blessed with beautiful, healthy children, and actually ENJOY being with them. We're not only watching them learn and grow (academically AND spiritually), but are able to actively participate in that growth to the fullest possible extent. And they're REALLY cool people, so why wouldn't we?!?

We have been homeschooling for sixteen years. The one child left at home goes to the school for standardized testing each year and scores in the 99th percentile, so I'm not concerned about any lack of education. He also participates in karate class and various educational and social activities with other kids of different ages, and he can converse with adults on pretty much any topic, so I'm also not concerned about his socialization skills.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
I’m still on the fence. And curious as to your daughter’s social network. My son will be entering school next year, and the closer we get, the more anxious I get!
I’ve gotten used to heading out on a whim with him and not having to be concerned about him missing anything. And maybe that’s about to end, regardless of what type of school he attends. I’m not certain my son would do well with me homeschooling him, and since it’s just him, I am concerned about socialization (or lack) that comes along with me tutoring him myself. Are you in a big city, small town, etc?
Thanks for your thoughts on this.

You might want to find a homeschool group local to you for support and group events. Also, see if your state allows the option to dual enroll so your son can homeschool but also attend the public school for sports, field trips, and whatever classes he is interested in like art or music.

We have homeschooled all 4 of ours. The oldest has graduated college with a bachelor's degree from home at 21 and the next one will earn his this summer at 19.
Someone mentioned socialization. Our experience is that most homeschooled kids are much more able to interact with a wider variety of ages than gov't school kids. It makes no sense that the answer to socialization is to put them in a classroom with a bunch of kids just like them.

Yep. All 4 homeschooled through high school.

I know it’s not for everyone, but we’re glad we did and all the kids are grateful for the experience as well.

I’m thankful for all the information here, and the insights. Not intending to hijack, so I’ll start my own thread.

Something to think about is your ability to fund your retirement if someone stays home to home school the kids. My wife was a first grade teacher right out of college. After a few years she got her MBA and went into corporate Accounting. My 2 boys are now in kindergarten & first grade. We struggled with the decision to home school, but in the end we decided we did not want to work forever.

Having 2 parents work allows us to max out our 401k contributions ever year, to the tune of $19k each. We also throw a ton of money into their 529 accounts.

With that being said, I also think it's our responsibility to teach our kids. We spend a significant amount of time helping our kids outside of school. I don't rely only on the school system.