Posted on 10/15/2010 10:46:04 PM PDT by citizenredstater9271
Fans of 42% effective government schools come after homeschools for only being 99% effective.
Here's how to keep up to date with Homeschooler Michelle's concerns:
http://forum.nhliberty.org/index.php?action=profile;u=270;sa=showPosts
Here’s an example of parents pulling resources in my area - they developed a complete accredited program. It is pretty much between private school and homeschool but only around 1/5th the cost. The parents and teachers are partners; but it is still parent-led.
http://www.thekingsacademy.org/
Here is a local sports program too:
http://www.crownknights.org/
And this is one program, there are 4 more like it just in my county!
I know.
But I have known a lot of wild Catholic kids in my years.
Deciding to homeschool is daunting. We wrestled with the decision a great deal before taking the plunge and we were starting our kids from the beginning.
My greatest fear was that we wouldn’t choose the *right* curriculum and that we would miss teaching them something they’d need to know. It was a groundless fear, as I came to realize later.
As far as not knowing enough about homeschooling or feeling qualified, well, you learn as you go. I learned more teaching my own kids than I ever learned from the public school system.
It’s not too late. I know people who started their kids in junior high and high school and saw an improvement. Your kids will make tremendous progress once all the distractions and peer pressure and wasted time are removed. They will learn to like learning and will certainly enjoy the extra time to pursue what REALLY interests them instead of being made to do what the teachers demand.
My oldest daughter taught herself calculus from Saxon math with just a little help from me.
By the time they were in junior high, they were pretty much self teaching, which is a skill that has benefited them tremendously in college.
That is the most common thing I hear from kids about homeschooling.
It's the parents who don't want to do it. If it were up to kids, public schools would have to close down for lack of enrollment.
We used Saxon too, from 5th grade up. We started with Math-U-See
I’ve heard stories about a lot of the kids who go to private Christian schools as well.
I think there’s primarily two factors in that.
One is that parents send their problem kids there thinking that a Christian education and environment will straighten them out (which I have never heard of happening), and the other is that the kids have been kicked out of public schools and the parents have no other option and won’t homeschool.
We looked into Math-U-See. It looked really good, but there just wasn’t any used curriculum out there.
We bought some workbooks from Sam’s club for $6 each that taught all the basics that more expensive private school curriculum taught and started with Saxon 54 in third grade and just went at the kid’s own pace.
You sound like me - we always buy used curriculum when we can! We use ebay and some local co-ops where parents can come in and buy, sell or trade used curriculum.
Why are you people fighting?
*WE* aren’t all fighting.
However, when one person comes on thread and advocates for government control of education and homeschooling, and gets snarky with the other posters and blows them in to the mods for who knows what reason, that person is not going to get a warm reception.
Homeschoolers do not take kindly to government interference. We know where that can lead and it’s NOT a conservative position. And we will not take suggestions of answering to the nannystate, lying down.
Yes! In my state, there are many different “cooperatives” set up by parents. Everyone contributes in some way. It usually works out that each parent will teach his or her own specialty - a subject in which the parent has knowledge because it’s his or her occupation or area of interest.
For example: Choir/music taught by someone who is a musician who studied music in college. Anatomy taught by a parent who is a medical doctor. A college professor teaching a high school level course. Sewing taught by a mother who is very knowledgeable about it. And so on and on. Those are some of the real-life examples from the co-ops where we live.
However, the classes are not accredited as they would be at an “official” school. We enroll our children so that they will learn, with or without accreditation.
I could not teach from Saxon math and my daughter couldn’t teach herself with it. We found a wonderful curriculum for elementary math called Right Start. It walks me through step by step. I now have a better math education than I did when I graduated high school. Now they use Teaching Textbooks which is an online program. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that you can tailor the curriculum to meet the needs of the child.
Correction: Teaching Textbooks is CD ROM not online.
I remember when Pandy was first considering homeschooling. Now she’s the one doing an excellent job with it.
I remember when I was first considering homeschooling. My husband and I weren’t sure it was the right thing to do. We met with several other families first before deciding to try it for a year. Eleven years later, we’re still homeschooling. I still question myself, now and then. I guess I’ll know it was successful when they’re all in college and doing well. ;-)
A good idea would be to first meet with the homeschoolers at your church, just to find out what’s available in your local homeschool community - support groups, cooperatives, sports, etc. Our eldest child did not want to homeschool until he saw that there were plenty of other kids - nice kids - with whom he could meet and do things together. We’ve met many families who started homeschooling when their eldest was 11 or 12. It’s never too late to start.
I don’t know how common this is in other areas, but in ours it is extremely popular. Here, within a commutable distance, I know of at least 5 similar co-ops. The children take courses from parents who are knowledgeable in those areas. Additionally, there are at least 6 accredited hybrid schools in our area. These are schools where the children are enrolled 1-3 days (depending on the school and the ages and whether or not they take electives there), take their core courses over 1 or 2 days, and do the rest of their coursework from home. We have been homeschooling for 11 years (kids are 16 and 13), and they attend one of these hybrids. I really love our school, and feel secure in knowing that they are receiving a wonderful education. For us it the best of both worlds, though I must say I do sometimes feel wistful over my friends who homeschool completely, and wonder what that might have been like! (I did do that for my daughter’s 1st grade, but I was very insecure in thinking that I would accidentally leave out something she was supposed to know).
My daughter (the oldest) did attend Catholic HS for her freshman year (she is a junior now) and was very disappointed that it was something vastly different from what she expected. The school was very lenient about student behavior (foul language, sexting in class, alcohol abuse at football games, openly misogynistic behavior of males towards females, etc.), and she found this all to be very distracting when she was supposed to be learning. There was also a preponderance of children with way too much money and not nearly enough adult supervision. She begged to go back to her old school (where there is absolutely none of that behavior either attempted or accepted) after a few months there. There are plenty of her friends who are doing well at the Catholic school though, I guess it just depends on the individual and what each kid can tolerate or ignore (or in some cases, enjoy, lol!).
“Do not post to me”
Free Republic ^ | 8/28/07 | Admin Moderator
Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 5:47:37 PM by Admin Moderator
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1888013/posts
You’re a statist. Bet you can’t wait for your Obamacare.
I’m sorry for that last comment. I feel like I have failed you by being reserved. You’re a statist whore... much better.
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