What do you think about kids going to online homeschool?
462032
Unless the child has violent behaviour problems that prevent them from occupying a classroom with other students, it is a bad idea.
1051401
There are good and bad points to both. I personally think home schooling is better for children until their decision making skills are matured. This would ensure that they would not be easily influences by other children who were not exposed to the same values that they were. Some other negative things about  going to school would be the child's safety in the schools, overcrowded schools, shortage of teachers and then the inadequate teachers just to name a few.\n\nBeing home schooled the parents have the option to teach them the topics that they choose (within the curriculum guidelines) The negative thing about home schooling would be lack of peer interaction, the chance to develop pubic speaking skills and exposure to more than one teacher.
788724
Yes, as others have explained, unschooling is child-directed learning. I think in theory it's an interesting way to do teaching and homeschooling. One problem for example is the way children don't have much of a say in what they learn in school. I was teaching in a new school to which the 2nd grade teachers were told they were to cover the theme of "weather" for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, most of the children had already extensively studied weather in 1st grade and visited a weather station, met the weatherperson, etc. and were totally bored by the topic. I was being supervised and observed, too, so I don't know who it was worse for: me or the children!!! Anyway, my point being that I think children really appreciate learning about things they really want to learn about and haven't already learned about before and with 30 kids, and with the planning constraints of schools, it is difficult. \n\nWith unschooling, you let your children help you plan your curriculum by using their interests. For example, currently my son loves Greek mythology which is a fantastic topic. We are reading both fiction and nonfiction, current mythology and fiction and the original Greek mythology of course. He also loves Greek mythology computer games (sims) of which there are some great ones. That is also educational, they recreate Greek times, and one of them for example had a 200 page instructional manual which he read which was written at about an 8th grade level which he read, very challenging, although he was only 6th grade.\n\nMy dd is currently interested in dragons, the human body, and animals so we have been reading a lot about those topics. This week she developed a sudden interest in learning about water, so we have been reading about water and doing experiments using water. \n\nFor me, the most difficult topic to unschool with is math, and I do not consider myself an unschooler in the area of math. I do use a math curriculum. I think you could unschool with math quite easily if you are creative and go down the list of topics that you would need to cover, you could make available a lot of math games and cooking lessons and probably cover most of the topics you would need to cover, but I do use math curriculum because I feel I am not overly creative, am a worrier that I might miss important topics, and feel that it is OK to allow myself to use math curriculum, although that is not unschooling of course. \n\nI also use the computer quite extensively, sites like www.headsprout.com and www.starfall.com, but since my dd asks for these sites each day, I suppose that would still count as  unschooling.
565307
I homeschooled for a long time, gave up and went to high school and am now excelling in college. I blame homeschooling for a lot of problems I've had although also feel that I was able to do better academically than otherwise. A good home life is key regardless of where the child is spending his school time. School is not the only place to receive an education although the benefits of finding independence outside of the home is equally important.
670359
Homeschooling can be a great experience.  The education is flexible and full of awesome potential.  You have the option to pursue on a deeper level the subjects that interest you, and are not held back by other students.  The luxury to study at your own pace is invaluable.\n\nThe argument that homeschoolers suffer socially has little founding in reality.  I have never had any trouble "integrating into society," nor have any of my peers.  I was taught at home all 12 years, and I was never lacking friends.  I think that your social skills depend more on your upbringing and personality than where you go to school.  I was given a broad education that taught me to never stop loving to learn, and I am thankful to my parents for that.  They made huge sacrifices to teach me at home, and I appreciate them, as well as my education.
641444
Hi MomOfSeven.  We also have seven children, some special needs, and we have home educated our children since 1988.  We have graduated five of them.  It has been a challenge.  Nothing actually goes smoothly.  The rewards sometimes come way down the road.\n\nI pulled my hair out the first year.  Would our school look like public school?  Would we have classes?  Would we make up report cards?  All of that stuff.  \n\nPlus, we had some behavior problems.  That is why we got fed up with the public school kindergarten!  (Long story.)  \n\nWe filled out the forms, bought the books, made a plan... la la la la la...  I was ready.  But, the kids weren't.  I had to parenthetically teach about everything.  Soon, I made up my own worksheets for extra practice.  I made up my own literature program.  I put a lot of effort into helping the kids journal and record their thoughts, etc.  Instead of doing workbooks when we read a story, we would pause at different points and draw pictures of what we just read.  Then, the child would tell about the picture and I would caption the picture.  They would assemble the pictures into their own book.\n\nThere is so much you can do if you are willing to be flexible and creative.  And don't worry if you are not creative.  It does come from somewhere inside when you see that a bit of this or a little that could help your child better understand.\n\nMy advice is two-fold.  In the home school community, it is likely that the parents have children who are acing every test they take.  They will talk about percentiles and give you lots of golden evidence about the value of home school.  The fact that your 10-year-old child sat through a story might be huge to you, but it dims in comparison to a four-year-old that is completing essays on The Courage of Sarah Nobel.  Also, many home school parents believe their children are well behaved and quite self-sufficient.  I was asked not to attend one parents group because my children were less than model citizens.  They would disrupt the other children.  They would need to be supervised.  They might cause the other children to behave badly.  You have to know this is coming and find people who can relate to your struggles.  I was so hurt I withdrew.  It took YEARS to find the support I needed.  Yet, I knew home schooling was working for my family.  I just had no one to share that with.\n\nThe second piece of advice is to be persistent but don't be afraid to step back and re-attack the work.  Many states are very flexible about your progress and allow you much freedom.  Some states are very difficult.  Proving progress can be very hard.  Sign up with Home School Legal Defense Association and always, always, always, go to them when you need advice.  They have access to information about groups and teachers that support home schooling special needs children.  \n\nStay in tune with your child's needs and flex the curriculum and materials to meet your needs.  Use a copier to copy pages and make the words bigger and easier to read.  Copy the workbook pages and allow the kids to cut the words and place on the blanks so they can see if what they want to do makes sense.  Then, let them paste them in the book if drawing lines is too messy and confusing.\n\nYou must have a computer with a printer and a copier.  That way, you can make your own worksheets.  Sometimes that will be very important.  Access to the internet helps.  You can print themed pictures for the kids to color and cut or to write reports about.  You can do it without, but I think it has saved us money in the long run... and has definitely helped my creativity and sanity.\n\nKeep up to date with doctor's visits.  Having a doctor in your corner is a wonderful thing.  If your doctor isn't supportive, get another doctor.  Many doctors, you will find, are very supportive of home schooling.  \n\nHome educating your children is a lot of work and a really serious commitment of time and resources.  I w
555433
I'm homeschooled and I've always loved it. My two older sisters graduated from homeschool. I had bragging rights and my public schooling friends were jealous because I went back to school a month after them and I'm graduating this June...I have tons of friends coming to my graduation and while at first I thought it would feel weird to graduate alone I realize now that it'll be all eyes on me!!
471127
the above answerer has a good point, but he misses that you can of course sign up for online courses at a college. that would get you somewhere, and yes, if your school helps students do this sort of thing, then they pay for it--a great way to get a head start. \n\nalso, check into whether or not your state has a virtual charter school or academy, or whether there is online reciprocity with other schools around your state. states are growing in this vein every day--more and more states allowing students to take classes offered online from another school under the same jurisdisction. \n\nyou can check here: http://www.owli.org and search your state to see, perhaps. they have lots of articles on the initiatives in different states in this direction.)\n\nyou could maybe work with an administrator/teacher to monitor your taking a free course offered by MIT or Carnegie Mellon--they're offering lots of classes these days. it's unconventional, but i don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility for a teacher/administrator who's got their head on straight about what education's supposed to be about. \n\nso, in general, it depends on where you're located. obviously you're not homeschooling, so you have less flexibility. but i think that finding out where your state's at in the e-learning boom is the first step. and finding out whether you can take college classes while still in high school. (this is also highly regional, and i've heard that some schools don't always share this possibility with students because it both costs them money and gets you out of their clutches for periods of time.)\n\nsorry i couldn't be more specific.\n\n==\nwell, if you can afford to take a course at a "prestigious" university (because of course i doubt your high school will pay for that), then i think you should just take your pick and find them online. i'm sure all universities now offer online courses, but which ones is something you're going to have to find out by investigating them individually. (on their websites.)\n\nunfortunately, i'm unaware of an evaluative site that really tells about the quality of individual online courses. i know someone who's planning on doing it, but no dice as of yet. someday, but that's not soon enough for you. hopefully someone else here can help you out.
1140393
I was homeschooled from 2nd to 9th grade and went to a Catholic high school in 10th grade til graduation. We tried to get me in for 9th grade but there wasn't room, so they guaranteed me a space the next year.  There were two of us who were homeschooled and entered at the same time/year and both of us did very well academically and socially.  There were no issues related to homeschooling at all. The real issues are about parents and their perspectives about education and relationships, and that affects kids no matter where they go to school.\n\nI did go to the first semester of 8th grade in a public school, and it was so irrelevant and frustrating (because home schoolers are with adults so much that they don't get into a lot of typical middle school stuff) that I asked my parents if I could come home again.  I recommend a higher-performing school or a more nurturing community school if you decide to put your kids in junior high. Everything people are saying here about the crud of middle school was my experience and I didn't need it.  \n\nHowever, the one thing I realized after I entered the corporate workforce in my late 20's, was that I hadn't learned what I call "playground politics" in school (they weren't kidding when they said that "all I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten"), and so I had to be a quick study of how petty politics of personality work (Ironic, huh? I didn't need this in high school but I did need it in the San Francisco workforce!). I'll never be an expert at playing the game but I think it's also because I'm a more straightforward and optimistic personality and had not really experienced the brunt of passive-aggressive tactics before.  \n\nAlso I think it's very important to know the social players in your environment and your kid's environment, and talk about it with them. Make them aware of what's going on around them and teach them to network and have lots of different kinds of friendships, from the loose aquaintances to the tight-knit. My parents didn't teach me that and I graduated from a high school full of the kids of Silicon Valley millionaires with no clue of what was going on around me.  Also have them do a skills/career options inventory early on so they know what they might be good at or interested in doing with college/career and can be thinking about it before they have to make choices in college.  That doesn't have much to do with homeschooling but sometimes more relaxed families don't think about it. \n\nBottom line: homeschooling spared me a lot of grief, allowed my personality to fully develop, and allowed me to read more than my peers, so I have better reading breadth and comprehension, and my mom taught me phonics and grammar so I can spell and write better than a lot of the teachers I had! I had time to enjoy competitive horseback riding and I had to give that up when I went to school. Homeschooling is great when you have friends to do it with and plenty of interaction with the community.  High school is great for getting ready to go to college and it's at the developmental stage where a child is discovering and defining their individuality. It's a good time to go.
765930
http://www.setonhome.com\n\nIts not an online homeschool school though. You enroll them in the school and they send you the books and lesson plans. You take the tests online though. And you get a diploma when you graduate and everything. Its a hard school though. But it prepares you for college.\n\nAnd then theres also: http://www.kolbe.org/ but I don't know too much about it. Some of my friends used it because you can take latin as a language when you can't do that with Seton.
743255
I think that homeschooling overly shelters a child and they lose the experience of going to a normal school and meeting people from different backgrounds, races, and cultures.  It also keeps them from understanding what life is really like, what the real world is.  If they are kept at home all day and only schooled by their parents, they aren't getting the full taste of life at school and how things are done in the real world.  They don't get to sit in class with other people and walk through the halls with your friends and eating lunch and having recess with peers.  Homeschool may give a more tailored education, but its still keeps a child isolated from the world.  The child will be with their parents almost every second of the day.  They don't get any thing else.  \n\nPeople who homeschool their child usually think that public and even private, catholic or any school is a bad influence on a child and gives them bad thoughts and ideas.  They usually sterotype the schools with everything you hear on the news about kids doing drugs and getting pregnant and stuff like that because of stuff they picked up at school.  The news refuses to report the good stuff that happens at schools.  \n\nI am a product of a public school system.  I have met people from many different races, backgrounds, cultures, and from all over my city.  I am also a high honor student and have recieved a very good education.  I don't do drugs, smoke, or drink either.  I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything.  \n\n\nRuby Red Rose\n@>-'-,--
671773
My husband and I made the choice to homeschool before we even got married. Then, when we found out our first child had autism, it just cemented our decision. Here's the reasons why we chose to homeschool.\n 1. Saw my sister successfully homeschool her kids, even caught a learning disability in her first that the school had not caught, which is typical.\n 2. All the families in our church except one homeschool, their kids are WONDERFUL, smart, funny, mature, silly, normal kids. \n 3. Too much school violence, we didn't want to have to worry about our kids making it home from school. His nephew was kidnapped on his way home from school, 15 yrs ago, they never found him.\n 4. We are Christian, there's no room for Christianity in school anymore, and we wanted ours to be the influence most of the day, not a Godless school.\n 5. We don't agree with certain things that are being taught in schools that have no place being taught in schools. Moral issues that should be taught by mom and dad, at home.\n 6. Public and private schools don't allow the student to work independently, to be behind of they don't get something, or ahead if they get it faster than the other students. That's why so many kids fail. Homeschool allows the child to be at different levels in different subjects, depending on their ability.\n 7. Too much emphasis on passing tests, working on a school schedule, instead of emphasis being on retaining what they are learning. It's only common sense that if you pick a topic, read about it, maybe watch a video on it, go on a field trip to where you're studying about, take your time learning about it, you're going to retain it better then being introduced to something on Monday, being tested on it on Friday, and never seeing it again until finals, which by then you've forgotten it. \n 8. Yes, school is a good place to socialize. Unfortunately, for most students these days, that's all they think school is for. Emphasis from the students is on things it shouldn't be on at their age, such as dating, having sex, NEGATIVE peer pressure, drugs, etc. etc. Most kids in schools these days don't care about being there to learn. We don't want that kind of socialization until our kids are mature enough to know right from wrong. I don't want my kid when he's in 1st grade asking me some explicit question about something someone from school told him about. I want to decide when he's ready to learn about life, not some kid. Our kid's socialization will come from kids at church, people they see when we go on field trips or to the store, neighbor kids that we approve of, and sports or band, if they chose that, reading groups at the library, things like that. A more positive environment.\n 9. Finally, our decision to homeschool was based on wanting our kids to grow up believing in family first, nurturing values that have died in the past few generations. I know from when I went to school, your priorities shift from family first to friends first, and that's not right. That's why, we believe, there's so much disrespect for authority, for our elders, and we want to go back to the basics and teach that. That's just not realistic, for most kids, when mom and dad only see them for 3-4 hours a day after school before they go to bed. A person is going to be influenced by those that he spends the most time with.
1118386
That is a very personal decision best made within the family.  If the child has special needs (which also includes gifted children) that the school system is not handling properly, then certainly homeschooling is an option.  If the school is teaching things the parents would rather the child not learn, or conversely, the public school is NOT teaching things the parents feel their child should know about, then homeschool is an option.  However, it requires a great deal of commitment, as well as time, energy, and effort on the part of the parents to do it well - you can't just set some workbooks in front of your child and say, "Do pages 41-45."  \n\nAs far as socialization is concerned, that is only an issue if the parent makes it one by not allowing their child to interact with others in the world around them.  The homeschool kids I know are all very sociable and able to relate to those who are both older and younger.  My own kids have many friends, both within the homeschool community and without (in public school).\n\nIn the end, it comes down to personal preference.
548811
I had homeschooling and I really don't advise it. It gets boring and then he might not finish. In my case I did not finish. I think it is better of going to  Public School or even better a Catholic School.
877583
My schools kinda different. I'm homeschooled and I love it. And yeah its cool. It gets harder every year. Only 2 and a half more years of it though... well then theres college.
464233
A Beka \nwww.abeka.com \n\n\nAre you considering homeschooling? \nWill your children believe in Jesus when they graduate from high school?\nHomeschooled: 94%\nPublic Schooled: 15%\n\n94% of homeschoolers keep the faith and 93% continue to attend church after the high school years. But a shocking 75% to 85% of Christian children sent to public school drop out of church, and do not hold a Christian worldview after high school graduation.4\n\n"I think it's time to get our kids out."\n- Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family5\n\nThe most important reason for you to homeschool is for the sake of your child’s soul.\n\nThere has never been a better time to homeschool.\nNever before have parents had access to such a wealth of educational resources and technology for home education. And, Christian homeschool support groups abound, offering parents a helping hand in homeschooling. \n\nThere is an abundance of extra-curricula activities for homeschoolers to participate in, with opportunities for wholesome friendships and real-life learning experiences.\n\nHomeschoolers avoid harmful school environments where God is mocked, where destructive peer influence is the norm, where drugs, alcohol, promiscuity and homosexuality are promoted, and where school violence is on the rise.\n\nBy grade eight, the average homeschooled student performs four grade levels above their public and private school counterparts.1\n\nA background in teaching is not necessary; in fact, "home educated students' test scores remained between the 80th and 90th percentiles, whether their mothers had a college degree or did not complete high school."2\n\n"The best way to light our world is to be distinct from the darkness, and homeschooling certainly helps to set us apart from the worldly culture in which we live. I have had more opportunities to share the gospel because I was homeschooled than I ever would have had in a public school." \n- Israel Wayne, Author\nHomeschooling from a Biblical Worldview\n\nHow to get started homeschooling...\nIt is natural to feel uncertain when you begin. Pray and trust God for the confidence you need. Get the support of other believers by contacting the homeschool organization like Abeka. Its the best around. \n\nKeep your young ones home and out of preschool which disrupts family bonding, teaches inconsistent discipline, and exposes children to harmful peer behavior.\n\nAvoid government homeschooling programs such as "charter schools" and public school independent study programs. These government programs usurp the father’s God-given headship over the family and focus the homeschool on humanist goals and curriculum.\n\nDiscover the blessings of private Christian homeschooling – your children will appreciate your caring efforts. In fact, a recent study found that 95% of the homeschool graduates surveyed were glad that they were homeschooled.3\n\n"The only realistic way to fulfill the Biblical mandate to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is to homeschool in the current culture." \n- Mike Smith, President\nHome School Legal Defense Association\n\nWhat does God say about education?\nHomeschooling is the most Biblical form of education. God addresses parents, not government employees, as the educators of their own children:\n\n"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."\n- Deuteronomy 6:6-7\n\n"All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children."\n- Isaiah 54:13\n\n"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."\n- Proverbs 22:6\n\nJesus said: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher,
1073567
I am in my 1st year of homeschooling my son, we pulled him out of public school during his 6th grade year. We are preparing to enter the 7th grade. We use the Abeka curriculum primarily but we also dabble a bit with Saxon and Alpha Omega.\n\nWhat my son really loves about homeschooling is that he gets to choose  what order he wants to learn his studies. Some days he wants to start with History, some days he starts with Math. It all depends. Plus we explore much more than the public schools do. We go on at least 1 field trip a week, whether it's to the park or to the museum, or even the library. He also gets to learn French, something he has wanted to do since the 5th grade. \n\nThere is so much less stress to the whole scenario of it. We have the basic subjects + French, Literature, and Art and he is still done within 5-6 hrs a day. I instruct him on what needs to be done, help him as he works through the first parts of it, then supervise and be there if he runs into a roadblock. I wouldn't trade it for the world, and neither would he.\n\nHe also has a larger social network then he had in school, between skating parties, swimming parties, study groups, bible study, sleep overs, etc.