quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
So far she is well advanced compared to other kids her age

So honest question, how do you know this? Do you have access to the same tests the school does or is there some standardized test that you're able to use?

I'm truly just curious.

quote:

Originally posted by jc91087:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
So far she is well advanced compared to other kids her age

So honest question, how do you know this? Do you have access to the same tests the school does or is there some standardized test that you're able to use?

I'm truly just curious.

She does the same standardized assessment tests as the kids in public school do. From the results they can then tell what grade level they are performing at.

I just read where a Home school girl won the local spelling bee. Beat 28 other HS kids.

A good friend and his wife have home-schooled both of their boys (19 and 15). Both have done extremely well.

Mom, though, has a Masters in Education, so I'm sure that that has helped. She has said that there are plenty of resources out there for folks choosing to do this and would highly recommend it.

Their family is also very active in the local Christian community so there were/are ample opportunities for the kids to socialize, ply sports, etc....

We homeschool our 10 and 7 year olds, and will homeschool our youngest when she's old enough. My wife quit a successful career in engineering to be home and teach the kids, so it's obviously very important to us. Homeschooling is a vast field of endeavor and no two families do it the same way. That's the challenge and the benefit, you can tailor the education to your kids and family.

The biggest question we asked ourselves when starting out is one that I've seen mentioned several times in this thread - what about socialization? It turns out that it's a complete non-issue. Between our co-op, our Classical Conversations group, church, community theater, sports, art classes, etc., the kids have tons of opportunities for interaction with their peers. All of the same social issues apply as at public school - learning teamwork, making friends, dealing with bullies, etc., but they are done in an atmosphere where parents can make course corrections if bad habits start to develop. In fact, I could argue that homeschool kids are better at socialization than their public school peers, unless socialization means gossiping and forming cliques.

That's not to say that it's all roses. It's a LOT of work when done properly. My wife is much busier at home than she ever was at work. However, I truly believe the benefits have been worth it for our family. Every family is different and every child is different, though, so what works for us may not work for everyone.

We homeschooled my daughter and she had her associates degree when she graduated high school. If I had to do it over again she would start dual credit classes as a high school freshman instead of doing it when she was a junior. My daughter had straight a’s through grad school with the exception of one class. I would never send my kids to public school if I had more and my daughter plans to homeschool her children when she has them. It takes some discipline but you can give your kids a much better education with some effort on your part. There are other ways to have your children socialize than using public schools too so don’t let that stop you.