Posted on 01/16/2024 9:33:42 AM PST by Twotone
Happy New Year. Have you resolved to remove your kids from the public school system yet?
In "Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before It’s Too Late" (2019, Regnery Press), Mary Rice Hasson and Theresa Farnan sounded a wake-up call to parents with children in public schools: “The truth is that nearly everything in America’s public schools — the culture, discipline, curriculum hiring practices, school policies, even the names of schools themselves — is determined by progressive ideologues, both inside and outside the school systems. … Public education has been incredibly successful in one area: churning out youthful progressives — growing numbers of men and women in the grips of existential confusion, perpetual victimhood, and political intolerance” (p. xii).
Since their book’s publication, the situation has only become more tenuous, more ideologically insane, and more challenging for conservative — or even centrist — parents. There are some good arguments for staying in, but thousands have heeded Hasson’s advice in the meantime. Whether or not that’s a leap you want to take, understanding your options remains important.
And if you do want to homeschool, below is a step-by-step guide to getting started.
1. Meet legal requirements
Before getting into the question of how you’ll teach your kids, familiarize yourself with the more basic logistical problem of abiding by local laws. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association provides information on homeschooling laws in each state and offers legal support for homeschooling families.
2. Pick an educational approach
Once you understand the legal landscape of your locale, it’s time to explore the best pedagogical style for your family, which can depend on various factors such as your educational philosophy, teaching style, and the specific needs of your family. Research different approaches to homeschooling. The most popular include Charlotte Mason, the eclectic approach, Waldorf, Montessori, classical, and unit studies.
3. Find your friends
While determining which educational philosophy best fits your family’s needs, it’s important to talk to parents who are actually engaged in the non-abstract act of homeschooling in order to get an even clearer sense of what to expect and to tap into pre-existing homeschool networks. We weren’t meant to do it alone, and friends have a way of keeping one another accountable and inspired.
4. Choose curriculum
It’s important to refrain from running out to buy a curriculum before you feel fully prepared. Take some time to marinate in the other steps before spending any money. All-in-one boxed sets seem promising, but they are expensive, and you may very well end up using only a part of them, or not at all. This is where friendly input will matter most.
In that spirit, here are several homeschool curricula recommended to me by experienced mothers in my church community. They combine the teaching philosophies of classical education and Charlotte Mason, conformed to the Catholic tradition. These include Seton Home Study School, Mother of Divine Grace School, and Mater Amabilis.
5. Begin
Ryan Topping writes for the Cardinal Newman Society, “Insofar as homeschooling habituates parents and siblings to make room for each other, they win opportunities to practice charity. By the subordination of their finances and their time and their sweat to the great project of educating their children, they are particularly suited to the building up of Catholic culture in our time through embracing new life and nurturing the children that come to them.” The same is true for the more specific American culture that has been systematically undermined from the inside out, beginning in our public schools. The new frontier is our own front stoop; if only we practice the courage to begin!
If you live in a city you might have two or three. Go meet them and talk to them.
1 is dead on. Join HSLDA. We joined before we began homeschooling. All are now adults and we’re still members.
Pingaroonie!...............
Excellent site with step-by-step instructions..
PUBLIC SCHOOL EXIT
https://www.publicschoolexit.com/
You probably have a local home schooling group in your area.
If you live in a city you might have two or three. Go meet them and talk to them.
Each of us have an expertise and could do a short term educational session to help them.
This is on my list.
People are letting the public schools off easy.
Send Dick & Jane to school the first day of each school year.
Meet with the teacher of each child. If unsatisfactory, request a transfer.
Teachers could send a note home with the student before mandated DEI indoctrination - Jane needs to work on her multiplication tables (at home with a parent).
If you have a high schooler or close, see my U.S. and World History curricula. The US course is tied perfectly to “A Patriot’s History of the United States,” 22 lessons, 22 chapters, and I teach the course in 22 videos. World History is 15 lessons, 15 videos.
www.wildworldofhistory.com
Number 4 needs some “gun handling/shooting and safety” with an AP in long range shooting.
For the college bound, plan to take AP exams in appropriate subjects during middle and high school to get college credit. You can begin with biology in 7th grade. BYU offers online courses, so does APhomeschoolers.This is a potential $20,000 + savings in tuition, not to mention savings in time.
My kids went to school before this junk started but I became a stay at home when they hit grade school.
Volunteered at the school daily and home schooled them after school. By the end of 3rd grade they has algebra down.
Plan to teach your kids languages in grades K-5, not in high school, since there is little time in high school and the child's brain can learn language best when young. The way to teach language is with the parent, not alone. Which serves as a reminder, homeschooling is not for double income parents.
Send Dick & Jane to school the first day of each school year.
Meet with the teacher of each child. If unsatisfactory, request a transfer.
Teachers could send a note home with the student before mandated DEI indoctrination - Jane needs to work on her multiplication tables (at home with a parent).
.............
You assume that they are going to work with you or tell the truth.
When you send your child to government schools the school is the parent.
Still members? They made us give up our membership years ago when our kids were grown and we were no longer homeschooling.
No fair! I wanted to keep my low membership number to show what a pioneer I was. :-)
Some of us did a laissez faire type of homschooling and our kids turned out just fine. All are successful adults. So, my advice is, don’t worry about what you are doing. It’s better than the government schools. If nothing else, keeping them away from peer pressure will help your kids’ emotional and social development. Homeschooling may drive you crazy at times, but that’s a different story. ;-)
However, also remember this... all parents who care are doing the best they can with what they have, so don’t belittle those who choose a different path. Everybody has to decide what works best for their family, and nothing is perfect.
“There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” ― Thomas Sowell
Trust me, plenty of homeschoolers are doing that, especially here in Idaho.
I know a couple of young men who were hunting elk with .300 Win Mags at 16 years of age.
I think there’s some sort of legacy member thing, that’s what we’re part of.
This is poor advice. For example, I can compare a company that doesn't look at its books, thinking anything they'll do is better than the government.
So yeah, you are free, but it's not advisable to chance it. I have seen children who are highly intelligent and ignored: not nice!
This ping list is for the other articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)
The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.
I agree, and that's good advice. My kids had a busy schedule outside the home. But, at home, everything was relaxed. I gave them some work to do, but they'd finish it quickly, and we took days off. The real learning happened when they picked up a book or explored a subject on their own. I kept records, and I counted everything they did as a subject. Reading a novel? Literature. Writing a story? English. Building a computer? Science.
But, I worried too much about the s-word ("socialization"), so I overscheduled them in everything.
If I could do it all again, I'd stop worrying. I'd cut back on our schedule and spend more time relaxing at home with my kids. Because it's all about enjoying life together as a family. The years pass so quickly...
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