Homeschooling Questions

Post Reply New Topic

Hi, I'd like to hear from parents who homeschool(ed) their children, and in particular teenage children, your thoughts on the following:

1. Good, bad, ugly?
2. Any regrets?
3. Is it possible to hold down a job AND homeschool your child(ren)?
4. How many hours per day does it take for the parent?
5. Anything else?

Thanks in advance!

IMO, the answer to a lot, if not all of those questions is different for every family, and a lot of it would depend on your child and what type of homeschooling you plan to do. For example, i was home schooled as a teen and both my parents worked full time, but i was NT, and my mom bought a prepackaged curriculum that i was able to do on my own every day while she was at work. When i turned 17, which is the state law where i live, i took the GED test. The way i home school my own children is very different than that. The first thing you need to do is find out what exactly is required for you to meet your state laws. After you figure that out you need to think about your child and ask yourself a lot of questions. What is his/her learning style like, what struggles do they have, how much structure do they do well with etc.? Do you want to buy a prepackaged curriculum, come up with lesson plans yourself, unschool? There are many different types and ways of home schooling. How involved do you want your child to be in the decisions about what he/she learns and how much of it, or how long it should take? What are your views on education? What would you consider a proper education for your child to look like? Do you think your child can fit your views on education? In my experience it's always a work in progress. Every child learns differently, does better with more or less structure than another, takes more or less time to grasp certain concepts. My views on education have changed because of home schooling my kids. My kids were not able to fit my model of what school should look like and i've learned to alter my model. My children are continuously teaching me how to home school them. I'm a SAHM, so the amount of time i invest at what times of day is of no consequence in my personal situation. If your child does well with structure, and you plan to use a pre-made curriculum it shouldn't take any longer than 4 hours a day AT THE MOST, for a NT child. I don't know anything about your child's neuro-unique abilities and needs. I hope my reply doesn't make it more confusing for you, but it's been my personal experience that home schooling can be a simple thing, or a very complex thing all depending on the situation. As for the regrets part, home schooling has been one of the most difficult and rewarding things i've ever done in my life, none of my children have ever been to public school, and i don't intend for them to ever go, at least not so far. My oldest is 11.

Peace.

_________________
SAHM to 3 home schooled boys, ages 11 undiagnosed AS, almost 9 NT, and 4 NT. We also share our home with 13 companion animals including 5 cats, 2 dogs, 3 ferrets, 2 aquatic turtles, and 1 chinese water dragon

I went through homeschooling up until Grade Four.

It was great, but I can't help thinking that that continued shielding, four years past what most kids get, deprived me of social skills even further. But I can't know that.

Don't worry moony, you didn't miss anything useful.

It all varies on the child you are trying to teach. I have homeschooled my ds and he loved kindergarten, first and second grade. Third grade was terrible so we sent him to a parochial school for fourth grade and he was pushed around and teased and no one did anything about it. At the time he wouldn't say anything because he didn't know better. He started fifth grade there and two weeks in after promises that he would be watched we pulled him out to homeschool again. He was so anxious and had headaches and stomach aches. He loves homeschool but hates the work so we struggle. He was finally diagnosed so now I know some things to try to get him to do his work without a battle. Friends of ours who have NT kids battle with them as well to do their work so it sounds like a common problem--at least around here.

I give ds a week of assignments and he has to have them done by Saturday evening. He can work on any subject as long as he starts after his morning chores and works about 4 hours out of the day on it. He gets breaks when he needs them but he also knows he can't have a break all day. He tends to do language arts and science first and then puts math off until last because he doesn't like it. He for the most part has taught himself and I only need to be there for problems with math--he is 10. I don't work outside of the home because we have a farm and large garden and that is my job. I spend around 2 hours a week on lesson plans and grading and spend the time needed with ds to teach him things that he does not figure out on his own which for the most part is maybe an hour a week. I usually work on things at the table with him or do chores close by while he is working on schoolwork.

I know every situation is different and know some kids are motivated to do their work more than others so to be able to work outside the home and hope that school work gets done is difficult to predict until it happens. Each parent may spend varying amounts of time on lesson plans and the amount of one on one time with their child. I admit it has been the hardest job I have had to do at times but is the most rewarding. Every situation is different and I guess it is hard to give you concrete answers that everyone would agree on.

My parents pulled me out of public school in first grade because I was a discipline problem and the schoolwork wasn't challenging, and I was homeschooled through graduation. I think it was terrible for me both socially and academically. I didn't learn ANY social skills, and my ADHD was not diagnosed until university because of my mom's belief in "letting me learn at my own pace," even if that meant taking two years to finish my math when everything else took a week or two.

For what it's worth, I think my mom spent about an hour or two a week on school stuff after Grade 4 (before that, it was more time-intensive because she had to break down the instructions more), and other than math, I feel I was well-prepared for university-level work. However, I live to study and would borrow university-level textbooks from the library to read in my spare time, so it would be unrealistic to expect that a weekly 1-2 hour time investment would yield this result ordinarily. Most homeschool families I knew spent more like 10 hours a week working together on the curriculum.

I think homeschooling saved my life.

I home schooled my son for a couple of terms, and now have an arrangement with the school that he is taught at home by me on a Wednesday, since it breaks up the week into more manageable portions for him.

Home schooling is different with every family, and even within families can be different depending on the child. Even the same child at different stages can react differently.

Approach it individually, and don't have any preconceptions. It can work, and as I'm finding now a combination of home schooling and "normal" schooling can be an option. It just takes patience and hard work, whatever you do.

I know I couldn't have home edded my son while working though. But then I'm a single Mum. It could be different in other families.

I am not sure what area you live in, but we have found a Catholic school in this area that is called a "Hybrid School"
The kids go to school 3 days a week and home school 2 days a week. The school provides the curriculum for the 2 days off. We have not decided to send our son there yet. We are waiting to see how he is going to do at public school first. But at least we know it might be an option. Maybe they have one in your area.

Correcting my previous post. Should be I work with ds about an hour a day not week.

I don't homeschool a teenager but have had a wonderful experience homeschooling my 1st grader. I pulled him out of public school because the teachers were humiliating him as they believed he had a behaviour problem. I do not intend to homeschool him indefinitely - especially since his diagnosis, I think it's important for him to be in a school environment but ONLY if it's a really, really good one. The right one for him. I won't be making any compromises on his education OR his self-esteem.

If your teen is the kind of kid who loves to read and loves to learn, doesn't have any significant learning disabilities that affect his ability to study independently, then you may be able to homeschool and work full time. An important aspect to remember about homeschooling is that your child is getting a LOT more direct learning time, without the constant interruptions of other kids chatting, giggling, goofing off, frustrating the teacher, transition time from class to class, etc. In my experience, 1 hour of homeschool is the equivalent of at least 3 hours at regular school.

There are a TON of great homeschool resources available. Lots of web-based curriculum for your teen to work on line and you can track their progress on line as well.

If you decide to go the homeschool route, I would just strongly recommend you find regular, routine ways for your teen to remain connected in the community and with peers. Either a volunteer position in the neighbourhood, enrolling them in a music or art class at the local high school (or enrolling them in the harder courses you may not be able to teach them, for me that would be things like calculus or trig- ugh!) or a regular fitness class at the local YMCA, etc. I would recommend at least 2 or 3 regular activities per week to keep them connected and socialized.

I have some posts about homeschooling on my blog if you get a chance to take a look

Good luck!

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful replies. I haven't quite made up my mind yet, but something's got to change before next fall when my son enters 9th grade. At this rate I just don't think he'll be successful in any of the public high schools around here. Ironically, the VP and his teachers agree with me. So currently we're looking at private schools, but the cost is incredible and I don't think I can afford it. Wish I knew the right thing to do.

Coming late to this discussion....but I pulled my son out of the gifted program after 3rd grade -he is now 13 and we're still homeschooling - like someone else said I think it saved my son's life - ps started to suck the life out of him, he felt like he wished he'd never been born, etc. Now he actually has some homeschooling friends -they come to our house, he goes to their house, we take field trips to Chicago museums, he takes free classes at the library or wherever they're offered.

As far as someone who said something to the effect of continued "sheltering" might not be good I say baloney! My son is not sheltered, my son just doesn't sit in a classroom of 30 of his peers for 6 hours a day -there are other places to learn social skills, reading, writing and 'rithmetic besides a public school classroom

Also, as someone else mentioned homeschooling varies from state to state - I live in Illinois which has few requirements so my son has the freedom to learn at a pace (slow or fast depending on the subject) comfortable for him.

Good Luck