Oooo, Michelle, what a great math idea!!! Love it!
My kids are grown and we didn’t homeschool them, but I had to laugh at this line. There may have been times when something was “assigned” last minute, but more often than not it was simply that the kid “remembered” it at the last minute. 9pm at night-“Oh mom! I have to write a paper on the industrial revolution in China and it’s DUE tomorrow!!” Argghhh…
I will add that although we didn’t homeschool we spent a huge amount of time in museums and the like and were always in “teach” mode anyway. My hats off to you who do this, both professionally and at home!
I agree with Julie!!! VERY liberating and I can set my OWN schedule. It sure is nice to not have to rush out of the house on those cold mornings!
My oldest is only 2 1/2, but this is an issue I’ve been thinking about forever. I was a public school teacher, but as a child I went to seven different schools, public and private, so I have seen more than just one side of the question. We are still undecided about what will be best for our family, and with our second child just 4 months old, we are realizing that what works for one child may not work for another!!! :??
My question is this: are there any of you out there who have grown children who were homeschooled all or part of the time and have gone on to college/the workplace/family life? What do they say as adults now functioning in society-at-large? This movement is not new, but it’s popularity has grown in recent years, so I would be interested in any feedback from people who have seen the whole experience play out.
Kirstin
I applaud all of those parents who are able and willing to homeschool. My daughter is in a public elementary school, and lucky for me she’s thriving. But I see so many different learning styles among the kids in our school district, and it’s hard to see a lot of them struggle.
In California you need a teaching credential to homeschool, and I know of a few parents at my daughter’s school who are in credential programs who on one hand would like to become teachers (one wants to work with special ed kids), but who would also like the option to homeschool their own children should the local schools not meet their needs. Getting credentialed is not cheap, and most of the homeschoolers in my area seem to be in the upper/middle-class bracket.
There is this cool charter high school in my area where more than 50% of the student body has been previously homeschooled. The school has no athletics teams and is purely academic. Sometimes classes are held outdoors under a shade tree on a nice day. The kids reportedly don’t form cliques in the way they do at a regular high school. I think in 2003 the school had one of the highest PSAT scores in the county. And most of the students are college-bound.
I read in the paper a couple of weeks ago about how the University of California is modifying its admissions process to accomodate the growing number of homeschooled students. 
Debi
I am reading and reading, and I think I dont quite understand what homescool is.
Could anyone please give me a definition?
(My kids go to a private school, because I dont think the ordinary scool is the best alternative.)
Hello there!! Homeschooling is just what it implies: schooling at home. It is very individualistic. Some people follow a curriculum, as the child would in a school. Others do what is called “unschooling”, which I believe means allowing your child’s interests lead them into learning about many different things in their own way. Personally, I make up my own curriculum, using textbooks and workbooks I pick up from used bookshops, thrift stores, etc. So, as you can see, there really is no strict “definition” of homeschooling, other than learning at home rather than in a school setting. 
Hello there!! Homeschooling is just what it implies: schooling at home. It is very individualistic. Some people follow a curriculum, as the child would in a school. Others do what is called “unschooling”, which I believe means allowing your child’s interests lead them into learning about many different things in their own way. Personally, I make up my own curriculum, using textbooks and workbooks I pick up from used bookshops, thrift stores, etc. So, as you can see, there really is no strict “definition” of homeschooling, other than learning at home rather than in a school setting. :D[/quote]
Thanks, and how exiting!
Im not quite sure if that is allowed in Norway… not going to school at all I mean! I know people do it, because you can read about it in the newspaper.
Exiting to read about so many doing this “over there”!!
I have some interesting discussions at work, not letting my children go to the ordinary school, they dont like me doing it, because they mean I spoil my children!
And an ex family (close) member told me that I dont trusted the system taking my children out of school… she made big trouble out of that.
We are pretty much “unschoolers.” We don’t have a set curriculum. The kids are thriving and able to do so much that interests them and in doing so we find ways to teach them things without them even realizing they are having a lesson.
I have several friends who have grown children that were un/homeschooled or have older teens that are un/homeschooled. Some have gone on to college. Others are continuing their home education (I guess you could say home colleged) and still others have found a career without further education. I know several computer programmers and entreprenuers. Photographers, musicians, gymnastics coach (in fact my dd’s gymnastics coach is a “homeschool graduate” and she is just so happy in her life.) “Kids” starting their own careers and businesses without ever stepping foot for one day in a “real” school.
Oh and Debi, there are several ways in which to homeschool in California. You don’t need a teacher’s certificate. That is just one avenue to homeschooling. There are cover schools or umbrella schools that parents can sign up under if they don’t have the credentials. There are changes being made in homeschooling laws all the time as states start to realize that homeschoolers are excelling even without a “teacher” in the house.
I wish I had been homeschooled, but at the time that I was in high school homeschooling was against the law where I lived. I missed all of 9th grade because of an illness and that was the best year of my life, despite being very sick and in pain. I was free to read what I wanted and learn what I wanted. I taught myself to type (on a 1930’s typewriter no less) because writing was too painful. I learned so much, yet because I didn’t have the attendance I had to repeat 9th grade. 
I was truly ready for something else, but “rules are rules” and they wouldn’t promote me.
My unschooled 17.5 year old is getting ready for college. Here in Ohio it’s quite easy to home or unschool.
My son has been running his own business since unschooling - check him out at www.ithinksw.com
Someone mentioned above about the whole ‘socializing’ aspect. I am of the mind that regular high school socializing does more harm than good. I believe that putting a bunch of teenagers together all the time is NOT healthy, and that we as a country should have more apprenticeship type programs in regular high schools so kids have more interaction with adults. But I digress.
My son is very well socialized - his friends are constantly over our house, helping us and him with things, and vice versa. Using the worry over socialization I think it just wrong! It’s a scare tactic to keep kids in regular high schools.
Now, I’m not totally against regular school - I think some kids work very well in that type of environment. Though I must admit I think that large schools do a big disserve to the child/teen.
And I am also a big fan of school teachers. When I say anything negative about schools I am NOT saying anything negative about the teachers!
As a single mom, I got a LOT of negativity about pulling DS out of high school. But I knew in my heart it was the right thing for HIM.
My husband and I plan to homeschool whenever we have kids, but I have a question for all of you. Both of us are horrible in any sort of math. We have every other subject covered. How would we handle this?
You have the Teacher’s Manual. 
Most of them help you explain the math and how to teach it.
We use RightStart and really like. Semi-scripted and semi-spiral…games and worksheets. Good for all learning types.
This number is for a math hotline (Fresno County Education Homework help line) 
1-888-567-6284 They have math books from all over, so if it is a book from school they can go to the same page the child is on. Even without the book they are great tutors. It is a show on cable and if they get enough questions on a problem they do it on the air with the child. My son had a few problems I didn’t understand and they got him thru them wonderfully. (I just called it to make sure it still works since we haven’t used it in a few years )
Um, I believe this is a myth. You do NOT have to have a teaching credential to homeschool in any of the 50 states. You are free to educate your children as you see fit. You might have to provide proof eventually of some sort of teaching plan, but the requirements are pretty loose, and it depends more on how much the local school officials want to harass you than anything else. But a credential? Nope.
I homeschooled my son last year and then part of this year. After Liza’s death, it became a little too much of a challenge, plus the new babe, so he now goes to a yeshiva day school. Loves it, too. The almost 2 hour commute stinks, but other than that, he’s happy.
Alison
Things are more stringent in NY. You don’t have to have teaching credentials, but they do require lots of recordkeeping and proof of progress. We looked into homeschooling when we moved to Rochester.
I think Arizona has the least regulation of homeschooling in the country, and the most children who are homeschooled.
A website that will tell you exactly the laws in your state is www.hslda.org
I am really lucky to be homeschooling in Illinois. Laws here state that I have to teach all the subjects that would normally be taught in Public School and that I teach in English. Pretty easy there.
Some states have requirements about record keeping, testing, approval of curriculum. But as far as I understand there isn’t a state that requires credentials. It may be one option but there is always an option for an uncredentialed parent. If I am wrong that website would be the place to check.
Amen to that, Carol! I feel the same way, but about every level of school. It became apparent to me when DS was in school that there is an unfortunately large population of parents that expect the school to raise their children. It’s not the teacher’s job to teach children good manners and good morals. OK … I feel myself stepping up onto the soap box. So I’d better stop. :oops:
And, yes, along the same lines as above, I, too, have a lot of respect for good teachers. They have to put up with so much in the classroom, and they are asked to do an impossible job. I am in awe of those teachers who have the respect and admiration of their students.
I think it is so wonderful that some many people take their children’s education so seriously. As a teacher, I really feel that the biggest problem in the public schools are parents who do not enforce any rules and do not require their children to meet any kind of academic or behavioral standards. I can’t tell you how many times I have called a parent to talk to them only to have them say they either do not care, do not have time or simply do not believe me that there is any problem!
But I digress. 
That’s one of the (many) reasons that we homeschool. Children whose parents are involved with their children. They want the schools to do everything including discipline. My ds went to school for one year and it was so hard on him. I assisted in his class a few days a week and the poor teacher spent more time disciplining than teaching. I felt so badly for her. She spends 7 years to get her master’s degree in teaching and then becomes an underpaid babysitter. 
I know this isn’t the case with all parents. It just seems more and more that parents are less and less involved overall. I was the default room mother because I was the only one who showed up and it was how I became PTA treasurer, too.