homeschooling? what do yuo think of it...i might im in jr. high?
919168
I thought I wanted to when I was in high school. But I spent a week out once while I was suspended, and I realized how much I missed the social interaction, and how hanging out with your parents sucks.....
188276
It really depends a lot on you and your personality.  Some people wouldn't teach anything but junior high and some people wouldn't teach anyone older than a kindergartener.  I think you could maybe spend some time around kids of different ages and see which ones you'd like to work with.
488585
So how do you like junior high so far?
856722
hun, your happiness is key. I personally think you are showing a great amount of maturity in looking at this from the perspective of the future, weighing pros and cons.\nYes, you could get a scholarship if you are good enough, but you must also take in to consideration the schedule. Even though I am a homeschool mom, I do not live in a protective bubble like some people think we do, and I know tons of public and private school students. Those that are involved in high school sports or band or things like that are VERY busy with practices, games, clinics so on and so forth. BUT, they are committed to it. They want to be that involved and they want to do those things as long as they can, and they are hoping for scholarships so they can do that particular thing through college.\nThe highschool softball team in my city is very competitive, and it is very involved in our community, as they conduct clinics for our Little League and girls softball league teams.\nKudos to your parents for raising such a bright individual.\nYou do what you know is right for you.
366202
Um, if you're doing homeschool, then you are the one who better be good...lol, especially at the high school level. Do you mean a private school?\n\nIf you're home schooling, especially at the high school level, you must contact your state's Department of Education regarding whether they will honor the work done at home toward a high school diploma. Most of the time...not. Your child will be looking at a GED instead. Use the site below...there's a list of state DOE's there. Then find a parent homeschool network for your state or city. You can Google to find them. Enter your city name, and "homeschool parent". \n\nhttp://www.spedusource.org/\n\nGood luck!
688215
When I have kids they are definitely gettin home schooled!!!\nI know the pros & cons of both public school & homeschool.As a parent,I would eliminate as much of the cons as possible(this is not a perfect world however).Their will be obstacles & flaws in both situations.In my humble opinion,I believe there are less flaws going with homeschooling,and I would even choose it over private schooling.If more people could afford it they would go that route too!
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
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.
1010136
Oooooooooooooooooooooo ! Homeschoolers are obviously a defensive & arrogant lot. It's disturbing to see such an innocuous question generate so many vitriolic responses. Why are they so intimidated ? Across most of the world families use  'homeschooling' in one form or another, it's nothing to be ashamed of !!
209366
My mom and dad home schooled me because 1) I wasn't learning much in school 2) They saw that socializing with out-of-control kids was not helping my attitude 3) They wanted me to spend more time with them and my sister. I went to public school from kindergarten through second grade.  Throughout that whole time, I learned very little—I could read, write (barely!), and I could "socialize."  I could not spell (because the teachers wouldn't correct my spelling for fear of "damaging my self-esteem"); I could barely add; and I couldn't subtract 3 from 4.  Also, socializing with other hyper, out-of-control, rude kids had turned me into a little terror. This change really disturbed my mom (who had stayed home with me since I was a baby) because I had been such a good child until I went to school.  (Another factor contributing to my withdrawal from public school was that we would get permission forms [written by teachers!] that contained misspellings and many grammatical errors.  My parents obviously didn't want me to be taught by these people). Eventually, my parents couldn't take it any more.  After I finished second grade, they pulled me out and started home schooling me using a program through Christian Liberty Academy ( http://www.homeschools.org/ ).  It took several years of hard work (and many tantrums!) before I was able to read, write, and do math proficiently and was able to un-learn my bad habits.  \nI know that many people will disagree with what I've just wrote.  They will say that only trained teachers can give students a good education. They will say that children need to socialize.  I have found that this is not true.  My parents were able to give me a very good and rigorous education (I have maintained a 4.0 GPA and received a composite score of 30 on my ACT).  As for socializing, I get along fine with people. I work at my local YMCA as a life-guard and swim instructor. (It was at the Y that I made an interesting observation. I've taught both home school and public school children how to swim and the difference between them is like day and night. On the whole, home schoolers are more polite, responsible, well-behaved, and respectful than public school kids. Most home schoolers possess a level of maturity that I rarely find in public school children).  \nIn conclusion—yes, my life was more sheltered than other kids, but I am grateful for it because it has made me a better person. Also, it allows me to be with my family (my sister is my best friend) and take field trips and vacations with them.  I believe that family is important; but in today's society, the family unit is downgraded. Home schooling has allowed me to connect with my family in a way that I don't believe is possible otherwise.\nI highly recommend home schooling. I love it and cannot imagine learning any other way.
1077800
As a homeschool graduate myself, I know you all are going through a lot.  It's hard to keep things together, especially if you are living on one income, like my family did.  I just want to encourage you to keep up the fight- for whatever reason you are homeschooling.  I wouldn't trade my homeschooled years for anything.  As far as homeschooling and working a full-time job, please, do whatever you can as far as putting your family on a budget, cutting back on superfluous spending and so forth, before you go out and get another job.  Part of the beauty of homeschooling is being able to spend those critical years with your children- and if you're working full-time, it's very difficult to do everything that needs to be done, let alone find time for any extracurricular activity.  The last thing you want is for you family to struggle because you don't have enough time for each other (hubby included). Let your younger children started doing chores around the house.  Your older children can help out there, too.  My mom worked cleaning houses and apartment complexes while my siblings and I were growing up, and we helped her do and earned a little money of our own on the side.  All of us worked at some sort of job outside the home by the time we were 14 years of age- some people may think that was awful that we had to do that, but some of the best lessons I ever learned, I learned on the job.  It's also a great way to teach good work ethics, honesty, reliability, dedication, etc, by EXAMPLE.  It's a better teacher than any lecture.  Best wishes to you as you continue your journey. :)
655312
I agree that we are sheltered.I am 16 and have been homeschooled for 6 years.I hate not being around people so bad.I did just get a job like a month ago so I am getting out there finally.Not having friends sucked, I think it is just not fair. I do have to say that I doubt I would have such high expectations for my future,I would have probably just wanted to be a make-up artist.After I am done with homeschooling I am going to Medical school to be a Plastic Surgeon.
236982
I was homeschooled for all but three of my school years.  I have known many people who were in the same situation that it sounds like you're in, being fed up with the school district, etc. and went to homeschooling.  Being in high school, you might find it to be a bit of a hassle to drop out of the school without them giving you a lot of trouble about graduation requirements and various other little things.\n\nHomeschooling is a very good alternative, if you're willing to keep on top of things.  Depending on what state you live in, you might have a harder time switching to homeschool than in some other states.  You'll very likely have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get out of the school system.\n\nYour parents are going to have to commit to helping you in this, because if you're just going to do it by yourself, you'll find it much harder to get the school district to allow you to leave.  You need to really talk it through with your parents, and make a decision about whether this is really the right choice.  Make sure you won't regret doing this a few weeks after you start homeschooling.  \n\nA great organization to check out while you're thinking about switching to homeschooling is the Homeschool Legal Defense Association.  They can help answer most any question you might have, and have a lot of expertise on this subject.  I would check them out, and their website also has a lot of very helpful links to other homeschooling organizations.  Good luck in this possible change!
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.
1187201
I was homeschooled through high school, am now in college (I think I'm the youngest in the whole campus!) and I think I'm plenty street smart.  I mean, I can protect myself and have my share of common sense.  Being homeschooled doesn't mean sheltered from the world.\nMy elder brother, a kindergarten drop-out, was pulled from mainstream school when his seatmate on the bus had a gun pointed at his head.  Granted, we grew up in what even the residents referred to as a ghetto, but still, the fact that me and my broher are both still alive and moral says something.\nYou'd be amazed at how many people have asked my mom to a) teach them how to homeschool or b) homeschool their kids.   A friend of mine was being sexually harrassed, reported it to the principal at her school, and was told to "deal with it".  Does that strike you as healthy?\nI believe that homeschooling is more of a protective than an academic measure, seeing as every homeschooling family I've met has chosen that path for moral or protective reasons first and educational reasons second.\n\nSocialization-- the #1 question.  I'm naturally shy in person (not in writing, as you can see!), and I'm quite certain that my shyness is not a by-product of homeschooling.  Neither of my brothers are one bit shy.  In fact, my kid brother doesn't know a stranger.   Extra curricular activities for all of us involve heavily social environments.  We all know how to protect ourselves should we be attacked, we all learn things the hard way, etc.  Though I'll admit to a certain degree of naivete in the past semester of college, by no means does this mean I learned everything out of a book.  \n\nExample:\nDiscussing Native American stereotypes in Poetry/Short Stories this April, I mentioned peyote beadwork, referring to it as "peyote".  My experience with the word "peyote" has always been limited to a group of Native American dancers, all of whom made their own costumes and beadwork.  Peyote, as far as I was concerned, was a style of beadwork, as opposed to applique or loom beading.  I was embarrassed to learn, in that very class, that peyote is a hallucinogen.  The memory still makes me feel naive and wet behind the ears, but I learned a valuable lesson: Open mouth insert foot; Remove foot, insert other foot.  Oh well.\n\nNot all of my education as come from the curricula my mom has pieced together, but I confess a lot of the things I learned comes  from books.  "The Blue Girl" by Charles DeLint, "The Moorchild" by Eloise McGraw, "Dreadnought!" and "Battlestations!" by Diane Carey, (Star Trek novels are my guilty pleasure) and numerous other novels, ranging from science fiction and fantasy to mysteries and romances.  \n\nSo, to conclude, homeschooling doesn't, by definition, mean sheltered from the world.  \nI think Bruce Tinsley said it best, though be worned that the following quote can be described as rude and unkind: "Contary to popular belief, homeschooled kids are not less socialized than other kids. They just have to use smaller words and shorter sentences."\n\nI never said I was a saint.
426615
I teach middle school spec. ed. and I have seen many home-schooled kids and talked to alot of parents who home-schooled both regular and special ed.   Kindergarden is not the time to home school.  At this age they really need to be around other kiddos for socialization.  If you really want to home school your child (and I know of several kids who totally excelled when home schooled) wait until 2nd or 3rd grade and then still make arrangements with the school to let your child attend art, music, p.e. etc. so they can be with other kids and learn how to deal with the complexities of human relationships.
995149
Homeschooling is becoming more and more popular every year, as the condition of the public school system declines. Here's my reasons for homeschooling. \n1. One on one attention for EACH child, so I can focus on how they learn, what style works best for them, and where their weaknesses are. In public school, it's a one-size-fits-all mentality in regards to a teaching style. If you don't get it, you're left behind, or are spending many hours on top of the 7-8 hours of school every day. Who has time for socializing that way? Oh, yah, they do it when they're supposed to be listening in class.\n2. Public school is all about testing to see where you rate as compared to your peers. Homeschooling is all about what you are retaining, not how well you test. A lot of kids know the material, but freeze up during testing, like I did. So, test results do not really define where our kids stand anyway, so why do them? I would rather spend three weeks on one topic if necessary, to make sure they really LEARN it, then move on to the next step.\n3. Homeschooled children have MORE opportunity to learn about the world around them, because the typical day only requires about three hours of schooling a day, the rest of the day is theirs. That leaves more time for play, field trips and extra-curricular activities. Opportunities are endless, they can go visit a nursing home if desired to learn about nursing or the elderly if they don't have grandparents, and they could even volunteer to visit with them,depending on age, and this is social studies. A museum trip can be science or history, and it's hands-on, not reading from a book which is boring. Going to a skating rink is P.E., and FUN, especially when you know other kids are in school at that moment! Going to a bakery, and learning cake decorating. You'd be surprised, when it's only one or two kids, who is willing to give a demonstration. All of these are social interactions, especially if you give the kids the job of paying for the admissions. Sports, there's socialization for the skeptics.\n4. I want to know my kids for more than a few hours a day. I want to know their likes, their dislikes, I want to talk to them about the world, and our perspectives on it. I want to PLAY with my kids for as long as they will let me, and not be hindered by a time schedule. I also want to know my kids' friends. I'm not the type of parent to turn my CHILD lose into the world with a sink-or-swim mentality, that is just stupid. They need to LEARN how to interact with the world around them, not be forced to figure it out on their own.\n5. It's my JOB, that's why God gave me my children, was to raise them, not to let the govnt. and their ideas of what they should be learning raise them.  And I take this responsibility seriously. It may not be for everyone, but it is the right fit for my family.