Home school vs public school?

I home-schooled my two children, who are now 20 and 16. The 20 year-old is just finishing up his first year of law school, after graduating from college last year. The 16 year-old is getting her associate's degree in a couple of weeks, and then transferring to university. If you forgive the momma brag, she has also been accepted into a premier writing workshop this summer, which only accepts 13% of applicants--all of them recommended by their instructors.

For those who worry about 'equivalency' to public school, don't worry so much. Resources are available to provide optimal challenge to home-schooled students. Both my children started taking some community college classes at age 11. Prior to that, we spent the mornings doing academic work at home, and the afternoons were devoted to 'specials' or social gatherings with other homeschoolers. The activities were varied: skiing, ice skating, gym & swim at the YMCA, drama and piano lessons, art, and field trips.

I dislike what a teacher said earlier in this thread about bullying. My kids experienced it in small doses when we got together with homeschoolers, but it wasn't 8 hours a day; 5 days a week. That can be devastating. I know because I was that rare fat kid in the '50's and '60's who was tormented by her peers. Homeschooling wasn't something my mother thought of doing at the time, but I wish she had.

Edit: I am not a certified, licensed teacher. I have never taken a single education course in my life. I believe those are necessary credentials for whose who teach a classroom of children with various needs, but I feel that much of what is taught in education programs would be overkill for homeschool parents to learn.

Personally, if I ever do have kids, and lucky enough to be able to afford to stay home to teach them at home through homeschooling, I 100% for a fact would. That's just me, though.

The traditional school set-up is not ideal for everyone. Nor is homeschooling. It's a personal choice.

I'm not a "certified, licensed school teacher" YET, so I don't get to throw around big fancy-sounding words and act like I know everything, but I honestly feel that public education is failing the children of the United States. I can remember when I was in high school (class of 2004)...I learned more from searching online for random stuff than I did my teachers. They were just as biased as anyone else, and their methods of "teaching" reflected that. They certainly did nothing to prepare us for the "real world." All we learned was how to pass a standardized test, because apparently, that standardized test determined your worth as a human being and a student. It's ridiculous. Personally, if I had children, I'd want them to learn more than how to pass a test.

I understand your frustrations. I also am a mom, and I agree that public school in the US needs a serious kick in the *kitten*. I abhor NCLB, and feel the testing is ridiculous and not an accurate reflection of a student's ability or intelligence. I also think the testing does not fairly assess student knowledge -- there is more to a student's ability to learn than answering a few test questions.

I hope you consider private school. I work in a Catholic school where we only test the students once a year. I am free to teach my subject area the remainder of the year, and I work these children extremely hard. I have students who end up more than one year ahead of what they are expected to learn.

I am offended by some of the comments on here about the state of education., While I agree that there are many terrible teachers out there, and the system is severely flawed, I disagree that ALL teachers/schools suck and I think it is wrong to lump all of us all together into one category. I am very proud of being a teacher and take my job seriously. If a parent is concerned about their child not learning enough, or being challenged enough, then they need to work WITH the schools to get their child into some enrichment activities. Not ***** about how messed up the system is, while they don't understand how difficult teaching really can be. I can play devil's advocate here and add: "Teaching would be a lot easier if parents weren't so uninvolved and actually cared about their child's education more".

My mom is thinking about homeschooling my eight year old sister. My sister is smart and nice, but she is socially awkward and has really bad anxiety (has meds for it) and this causes her to not want to go to school. My parents are considering homeschool, but I am unsure that it is a good idea. Does anybody have any opinions or experience with this? Thank you!

I was taught at home from the 4th grade on up through graduation. There are MANY resources out there that help parents keep their children on track, from curriculum through the school to places that will keep records for you. And the teachers editions for homeschooling are very detailed. I liked it cause I could go at my own pace, as I always got bored in a regular classroom (they always went too slow for me). And as for social aspects, there are always co-ops and associations that a family can join to get the experiences of field trips, prom and graduation (among other things). I personally (nor my brothers) are socially awkward or stunted nor are we ignorant or behind. I hold my bachelor's in science and my youngest brother striving for medical school (he is transferring to a 4 year university this fall).

Edit: gee I wonder how I graduated high school or college at all... My mom isn't a certified teacher and only had her high school diploma, yet I still did well. By the way, the textbooks are very detailed as well... More so than in traditional schools, because they assume the student is working on their own at some degree, in addition to the very detailed teachers additions, instead of having a teacher fill in the blanks.

You are fortunate you had a mother who put in her time and effort to ensure you had a balanced education. But there are parents out there who can't answer or assist their children in upper grade math concepts, grammar rules, etc, I have had many parents contact me and say "I can't help junior with his grammar, because I haven't had to study this since I was 12 and I don't remember it". If a parent does not understand the content, they are doing a disservice to their child, period. They don't have to be certified teachers, but they do have to be informed enough to help their child.

This is my biggest concern with home schooling. I would be very leery of any child who is "homeschooled" by what I consider to be unqualified adults.. Giving birth to a child does not make you automatically qualified to teach. Being educated does.

My mom is thinking about homeschooling my eight year old sister. My sister is smart and nice, but she is socially awkward and has really bad anxiety (has meds for it) and this causes her to not want to go to school. My parents are considering homeschool, but I am unsure that it is a good idea. Does anybody have any opinions or experience with this? Thank you!

I was taught at home from the 4th grade on up through graduation. There are MANY resources out there that help parents keep their children on track, from curriculum through the school to places that will keep records for you. And the teachers editions for homeschooling are very detailed. I liked it cause I could go at my own pace, as I always got bored in a regular classroom (they always went too slow for me). And as for social aspects, there are always co-ops and associations that a family can join to get the experiences of field trips, prom and graduation (among other things). I personally (nor my brothers) are socially awkward or stunted nor are we ignorant or behind. I hold my bachelor's in science and my youngest brother striving for medical school (he is transferring to a 4 year university this fall).

Edit: gee I wonder how I graduated high school or college at all... My mom isn't a certified teacher and only had her high school diploma, yet I still did well. By the way, the textbooks are very detailed as well... More so than in traditional schools, because they assume the student is working on their own at some degree, in addition to the very detailed teachers additions, instead of having a teacher fill in the blanks.

You are fortunate you had a mother who put in her time and effort to ensure you had a balanced education. But there are parents out there who can't answer or assist their children in upper grade math concepts, grammar rules, etc, I have had many parents contact me and say "I can't help junior with his grammar, because I haven't had to study this since I was 12 and I don't remember it". If a parent does not understand the content, they are doing a disservice to their child, period. They don't have to be certified teachers, but they do have to be informed enough to help their child.

This is my biggest concern with home schooling. I would be very leery of any child who is "homeschooled" by what I consider to be unqualified adults.. Giving birth to a child does not make you automatically qualified to teach. Being educated does.

My parents couldn't remember how to factor a polynomial. I don't think they even remembered if they ever learned it in the first place (and my dad went to college to become a chemist)... The thing is, we still figured it out with the plethora of resources that were out there.

Exactly.

I don't have time to read through everything to see if anyone mentioned this, but there are a few in the middle options. For high school, I did independent studies at a charter school that was actually in my public school district. I LOVED it. It depends on the individual, but I enjoyed school just not the social aspect of it. I was able to go see my teachers for classes once a week and go over my homework with them. It also allowed a lot more time to take college classes while in high school and focus on other things I enjoyed that I may not have had time for on a traditional public school schedule. Laws about homeschooling and alternative types of schools available depend on where you live, but offer to help your parents explore all options. I was not even aware there were other options until I reached high school, but I'm sure if I had known before I would have been a lot less anxious and stressed as a student.

Though this is a bit off topic... Though not too far off if what we are discussing.... But in this day and age where educational resources are in abundance and easily accessible, I don't believe that one must have a certification or degree in order to be qualified or to educate any more... Is it nice when one has the qualifications? Sure... But I don't believe it's absolutely required in this day and age.... Give me a textbook, a test bank and some time and I can be just as educated as anyone in just about any subject without being in a traditional teaching setting... In fact, I (and many others) do better in this type of setting.

public school. all the way. I want a team of professionals giving my children the best knowledge possible.

3. Is the parent willing to sit by their child, invest the time, and hold their children accountable for their school work? Many parents nowadays have to work, and trusting their young child to stay home and do their school work all on line is a recipe for disaster. My daughter's friend is now being homeschooled (due to bullying) and guess what? This girl only gets 5 hours of weekly school work, which is less than one full day's worth of schooling. In a WEEK.

I agree that not all homeschool is equal or does a good job of teaching students but as someone who went to public school their whole whole life & has had work experience in schools since graduating I firmly disagree that you get 5 hours of schooling in 1 day in public school.

Well then, let's do the math, okay? My school starts at 8:00 am. Kids attend their first class at 8:15 until 9:00. Then the next period is 9:00 to 9:45, with 2 minutes for changing class (mine don't, because they are still with me). 90 minutes. Then at 9:45 to 10:30, they are STILL with me for the other subject I teach. Now we're up to 135 minutes. Then they go to their specials. 45 minutes. They come back for 10 minutes, go to lunch/recess for 40 minutes, come back to my class for 10 minutes, then go to their afternoon classes for another 90 minutes, until they come back to my class for 10 minutes, pack up and leave.

45
45
45
45
45
45

270 minutes divided by 60 minutes = 4.5 hours of instruction in one day.

Almost, but not quite 5 hours. From what I have heard about the homeschool programs, they require much less than that. My daughter's friend only spends 5 hours a WEEK in actual instruction..

My mom is thinking about homeschooling my eight year old sister. My sister is smart and nice, but she is socially awkward and has really bad anxiety (has meds for it) and this causes her to not want to go to school. My parents are considering homeschool, but I am unsure that it is a good idea. Does anybody have any opinions or experience with this? Thank you!

I was taught at home from the 4th grade on up through graduation. There are MANY resources out there that help parents keep their children on track, from curriculum through the school to places that will keep records for you. And the teachers editions for homeschooling are very detailed. I liked it cause I could go at my own pace, as I always got bored in a regular classroom (they always went too slow for me). And as for social aspects, there are always co-ops and associations that a family can join to get the experiences of field trips, prom and graduation (among other things). I personally (nor my brothers) are socially awkward or stunted nor are we ignorant or behind. I hold my bachelor's in science and my youngest brother striving for medical school (he is transferring to a 4 year university this fall).

Edit: gee I wonder how I graduated high school or college at all... My mom isn't a certified teacher and only had her high school diploma, yet I still did well. By the way, the textbooks are very detailed as well... More so than in traditional schools, because they assume the student is working on their own at some degree, in addition to the very detailed teachers additions, instead of having a teacher fill in the blanks.

You are fortunate you had a mother who put in her time and effort to ensure you had a balanced education. But there are parents out there who can't answer or assist their children in upper grade math concepts, grammar rules, etc, I have had many parents contact me and say "I can't help junior with his grammar, because I haven't had to study this since I was 12 and I don't remember it". If a parent does not understand the content, they are doing a disservice to their child, period. They don't have to be certified teachers, but they do have to be informed enough to help their child.

This is my biggest concern with home schooling. I would be very leery of any child who is "homeschooled" by what I consider to be unqualified adults.. Giving birth to a child does not make you automatically qualified to teach. Being educated does.

My parents couldn't remember how to factor a polynomial. I don't think they even remembered if they ever learned it in the first place (and my dad went to college to become a chemist)... The thing is, we still figured it out with the plethora of resources that were out there.

And to think you spent all that extra time learning how to do it online, when a licensed math teacher could have explained it much better and in less time.

4. Schools provide the opportunity for children to learn HOW to get along with others, even if the children are being bullied. Instead of retreating into a "safe" world, it is better to learn how to handle the bullying and work on developing self esteem. Running away from it doesn't build self confidence, it only pushes the real issues aside.

This is my number one concern with home schooling.

I have nine children. Currently, I am home schooling seven of them. One is too young, and the other is graduated and will be a junior in college next fall. With eight children in the house, there is never a dull moment and always someone to play with. So, socialization is practically a moot point here. But we do still get together with many other families and all my children are well adapted to interacting with all age groups. Personally, I believe we have the best socialization network. My children frequently attend organized sports, outings, shared learning, and super fun contra-dances where the children actually learn dances such as "The Virginia Reel", "Applesauce", "Postie's Jig" and many more. They learn to graciously ask a partner for a dance, and to graciously accept being asked. No one is left out. We all love the dances and all ages are included, as well as the parents. We love it! My oldest child graduated a year early WITH a full semester's credit in college courses. He's well liked by his peers and has adjusted well to college and dorm life. Another of my high school age children is teaching himself chemistry. Yes, I said he is teaching himself. I administer and grade his tests and he is making straight A's. He was evaluated by my niece who just graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Chemistry degree (and a teacher's certificate) and she said that his knowledge in chemistry is far beyond the high school level. He is also teaching himself computer programming and has made several video games. My 14 year old daughter has written a book and had it published. We let our children focus on their talents, because in the end, that is what they will remember and where they will make their living. The real world consists of using your talents and mingling with people of all ages. Age segregating children to teach them is done for convenience, but is a poor example of the people they will encounter after high school. My children get along well with all age groups, they can be counted on to listen when an elderly person is speaking to them and to respond with genuine concern. They can be counted on to play with children younger than themselves without being annoyed. My children are not the least bit superficial. All they've ever known is real life. They don't worry about impressing their peers, they are confident and kind.

An eight year old child is very young and still needs her mother. If she is terrorized by going to school, I'd pull her out in a heartbeat.

Many of our founding fathers who wrote our constitution and who designed our government were home schooled.

Here are some of our Presidents who were home schooled some time in their lives:
John Adams
2nd President

John Quincy Adams
6th President

Grover Cleveland
22nd President

James Garfield
20th President

William Henry Harrison
9th President

Andrew Jackson
7th President

Thomas Jefferson
3rd President

Andrew Johnson
17th President

Abraham Lincoln
16th President

James Madison
4th President

James Monroe
5th President

James Polk
11th President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
32nd President

Theodore Roosevelt
26th President

John Tyler
10th President

George Washington
1st President

Woodrow Wilson
28th President

And even Obama was home schooled for a time by his mother.

My mom is thinking about homeschooling my eight year old sister. My sister is smart and nice, but she is socially awkward and has really bad anxiety (has meds for it) and this causes her to not want to go to school. My parents are considering homeschool, but I am unsure that it is a good idea. Does anybody have any opinions or experience with this? Thank you!

My wife is a product of Home Schooling and she turned out just fine.
We talked about home schooling our own kids but she is not ready for that.
For now, both of our kids are starting an awsome charter school (Maritime Acadamy) next year but, by high school, we expect both to be home schooled.

My mom is thinking about homeschooling my eight year old sister. My sister is smart and nice, but she is socially awkward and has really bad anxiety (has meds for it) and this causes her to not want to go to school. My parents are considering homeschool, but I am unsure that it is a good idea. Does anybody have any opinions or experience with this? Thank you!

I was taught at home from the 4th grade on up through graduation. There are MANY resources out there that help parents keep their children on track, from curriculum through the school to places that will keep records for you. And the teachers editions for homeschooling are very detailed. I liked it cause I could go at my own pace, as I always got bored in a regular classroom (they always went too slow for me). And as for social aspects, there are always co-ops and associations that a family can join to get the experiences of field trips, prom and graduation (among other things). I personally (nor my brothers) are socially awkward or stunted nor are we ignorant or behind. I hold my bachelor's in science and my youngest brother striving for medical school (he is transferring to a 4 year university this fall).

Edit: gee I wonder how I graduated high school or college at all... My mom isn't a certified teacher and only had her high school diploma, yet I still did well. By the way, the textbooks are very detailed as well... More so than in traditional schools, because they assume the student is working on their own at some degree, in addition to the very detailed teachers additions, instead of having a teacher fill in the blanks.

You are fortunate you had a mother who put in her time and effort to ensure you had a balanced education. But there are parents out there who can't answer or assist their children in upper grade math concepts, grammar rules, etc, I have had many parents contact me and say "I can't help junior with his grammar, because I haven't had to study this since I was 12 and I don't remember it". If a parent does not understand the content, they are doing a disservice to their child, period. They don't have to be certified teachers, but they do have to be informed enough to help their child.

This is my biggest concern with home schooling. I would be very leery of any child who is "homeschooled" by what I consider to be unqualified adults.. Giving birth to a child does not make you automatically qualified to teach. Being educated does.

My parents couldn't remember how to factor a polynomial. I don't think they even remembered if they ever learned it in the first place (and my dad went to college to become a chemist)... The thing is, we still figured it out with the plethora of resources that were out there.

And to think you spent all that extra time learning how to do it online, when a licensed math teacher could have explained it much better and in less time.

And because that person spent all that time working it out on their own, they likely have a much better understanding of it than they would with just an explanation. I remember stuff I had to work out on my own due to a horrible teacher, who by the way was licensed. The stuff I now need to look up is the stuff I learned without having to fight my way through it. Sure it was easier, but the long term retention was not as good. To say it is always better to learn it faster is simply wrong, and while it is not always better to learn slower because of having to wrestle through the concept there are advantages to it as well.

I guess you missed the "tongue in cheek" in that response. I love the internet, as long as the websites are legit. Lots of garbage out there. Also, I don't believe in "fast" learning, because assimilation is less likely to occur that way. Lots and lots of reinforcement and varied methods of instruction are the best ways to learn.

Like the woman a couple posts above me, I have nine children as well and am currently homeschooling five of them. Three have already graduated and one is only three years old. Of the three who have graduated (all were exclusively homeschooled), one is married with children, one is a personal trainer and owns her own photography business, and the other is in college.

Homeschooling has been such a great experience for our family. While this thread contains some of the more common attacks against it, I think if you spend a little time with kids from both groups, you will be able to see through the hype and come to some basic conclusions. Frankly the "socialization" issue is one of the perks of homeschooling. Without the traditional classroom setting, my kids have had to interact with groups of people from various age groups their entire lives. Instead of being in a setting with a roomful of kids their own age day after day (a scenario not at all reflective of real life), they have had to learn to be mentors to those younger than them, be challenged by those older than them and respectful to authority. Are there "awkward" homeschoolers? You bet. But walk through a public school campus and tell me you don't see a large number of "awkward" kids! They are everywhere. It's part of growing up. What you won't see in my homeschooling setting, however, when you walk through are my kids being bullied, made fun of for what they believe, being groped in the bathrooms, introduced to all kinds of choice phrases and swear words, exposed to "adult" content, having their faith openly criticized and attacked from both teachers and peers, or being taught State mandated curriculum in areas we find personally offensive. It is interesting to me that homeschoolers are attacked for having the audacity to "indoctrinate" our children, but somehow it's perfectly okay and acceptable for the State to do it. Whose kids are these? I guess that's the question, isn't it?

Are all public schools as described above? No. Of course not. But the ones around here most certainly are. As pointed out above, women have been homeschooling their children for hundreds of years, and have produced not only socially functional contributors to our history and society, but have done so while maintaining their family unity and faith. In the end, it depends what you want for your child and what you want them to learn and be exposed to, and at what age. They are your children. You should be able to make that call.

4. Schools provide the opportunity for children to learn HOW to get along with others, even if the children are being bullied. Instead of retreating into a "safe" world, it is better to learn how to handle the bullying and work on developing self esteem. Running away from it doesn't build self confidence, it only pushes the real issues aside.

This is my number one concern with home schooling.

Think about your biggest fear. Maybe it's spiders. If you have a terrible fear of spiders, what would be the best way to get over it? Would it be to throw you into a tub of spiders every day, repeatedly? Or allow you to stay away from spiders, limiting your exposure somewhat, but gradually acclimating you to be around them? (Psychologists say it's the latter, in case you're wondering.)

Yet we throw kids with social anxiety, or kids who are being bullied, right into the spider pit day after day after day. A shy kid is not going to become less shy because you make him go to public school. He will, however, learn that he is weird, that he's defective, that there's something wrong with him because he doesn't feel that he's like everybody else. If you allow him to learn in a homeschooling environment, giving him one-on-one or small group social interactions, he's more likely to develop self-confidence, which will lead to the social skills he needs later in life. There's nothing wrong with introverts, yet our society likes to teach them that they're defective. Homeschooling can help prevent that.

In addition, statistics consistently show that homeschooled kids average higher test scores than their peers. They can learn at their own pace, so if something comes easily to them, they can race ahead, but if they get stuck on something like, say, fractions, they can take their time and work on it until they actually LEARN it. That way they're not failing because they're learning it too slowly, and it's not negatively impacting future skills which build on that one problematic one.

Bottom line, homeschooling isn't for everyone. But neither is public school. Homeschooling can be a wonderful thing, especially in this day and age when there are SO many resources available. OP, if your parents do decide to homeschool her, don't stress. It'll be fine. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out, and she goes back to public school next year.

Actually, cognitive behavioral therapists working with patients with extreme anxiety do exactly that - they expose the patient to his/her worst fear in very small doses, so that person becomes less and less anxious, upset by it. It is called "immersion therapy" and is quite well known and often practiced. Ignoring the issue, or avoiding it, never works. Tackling it head on, in minor exposures, is very effective.

That's what I mean. SMALL doses. A group of 30 children for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, is NOT a small dose. It's quite a large one.