Who Homeschools Their Kids?

AllSouthwest News Service ^ | August 20, 02 | Bob Ward

[Gal.5:1]

CA homeschooling parent here. I have taught my children for 7 years. I have 3 years college, hubby has an engineering degree. We live on 1 (small for here) income in the Bay Area. My children will be spending the next year in private school and I will continue to teach them at home also.

[Tailgunner Joe]

California warns home schoolers

[esopman]

Good for you!

Bump from two former teachers, homeschooling for 20 years.

Down with the NEA!

Blessings on Freepers Everywhere.

[Gal.5:1]

LOL! Exactly.

[TxBec]

Aarrgh!! I hate typos!

Please let me know if you WANT off this ping list
(you are on it until you tell me otherwise.)

[aristeides]

The researchers discovered that among homeschooling parents, 22.3 percent hold graduate degrees or finished a professional school. Among parents who send their kids to school, the corresponding percentage is 16.7 percent.

Average this out, and it seems to mean that something like 17 percent of parents of schoolage children hold a graduate degree or have finished a professional school. Isn't that percentage much too high?

[Khepera]

Why not just continue to homeschool them?
You can since the Superintendent is wrong (and is ignorant to boot).

[sanjacjake]

Smartest thing you can do..homeschool....my four grandkids
(8yrs. to 17yrs.) all homeschooled all their life....17
yr. old was in National Debating Contest in Tennessee...
all are excellent piano players..all could read by age 7
and all are math whiz's....Two daughters who homeschool
them- both College Grads...majors in Math....they are so
far ahead of their peers in other schools..it is actually
embarrasing to talk to other parents about education of
their youngsers.....Jake

[cowgirlcutie]

Thanks for the ping. My husband's boss was the one who got us interested in homeschooling...or rather, he got my husband interested. I was a bit skeptical at first (no faith in my own abilities), but with ALOT of prayer and contemplation, I decided to dive in and am so glad we did! When the college here found out that my daughter was homeschooled and saw her SAT's, they wanted her to sign up that day. Homeschooling has paid off in SO many ways, that I can't count them all.

[RAT Patrol]

Abeka has great language but crummy math, in my opinion. Saxon math is by far the best.

[stands2reason]

I'll tell you one thing. Introduction to foreign language classes in high school is about a waste of time. The time to learn other languages should be in the elementary years. I'd be surprised if 10% of students in high school foreign language courses end up fluent.

[agrace]

Wonderful post bump!

[agrace]

Congrats! We're excited too, as we are just starting our oldest, who is 5, also. May God richly bless your efforts. :)

[baseballfanjm]

I'm 15, the second oldest kid in my family, and homeschooled as are my siblings. There are 5 school aged kids in my family in all, one not yet school aged. I don't notice but people constantly tell my parents how attentive and polite we are. If I weren't homeschooled I'm pretty sure that either I wouldn't be a young freeper or that I'd be suspended constantly for pushing conservative views. I wrote a pro-second amendment page once. Think a Massachusetts school would accept it? Yeah right. I'd probably get expelled and have all the other schools given a warning against me. If one has a creative and expansive mind than he or she shouldn't be held back, which is what the public school system does.

[Dutchgirl]

I homeschool my 16 year old son, in Jacksonville, FL. In Duval Co. homeschool kids can take the SAT and receive a grant for two years of "dual enrollment" at the local junior college.He starts this winter. My employer allows me to take Matt to work with me T-F, while Dad coaches him in math on Mondays.

We are studying the Enlightenment with a curriculum I created including Paine, Voltaire, Adam Smith, Swift and Jefferson. Today we studied John Locke's "Essay on Education." He reads Buckley for vocabulary,and learns capitalism and has fun by running a virtual lemonade stand on-line. Additionally, we attend the Rush Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.

[JenB]

Good for you. I'm 19, 3/4 of the way to a bachelor's degree in computer science, and never set foot in a government school. My six younger sibs are homeschooled, too. I'm the smartest of us, but most of us are "above average", we're all conservative, polite, and get along with adults. And employers love homeschooled kids!

Hey, tell your parents thanks for what they're doing... we sometimes forget the sacrifices they make for us. It's the best thing you can do for your kids, isn't it?

[usmom]

Reading how proud you are that your grandchildren are hs-ed just makes me want to cry. I wish I had that kind of support from my family. I have decided to hs my 6 and 7yo this year and my parents and in-laws are disgusted and ashamed of me. Every time we see them it's a comment about when am I going to put them in school where they belong, how unfair I am to make them miss out on school, etc... I am so confident and excited about my decision, but it gets really hard to keep up a brave face around the constant doubts and criticism. God bless you for being so proud and supportive of your family and their decisions.

[JD86]

Anyone have information on financial aid for college for students who were homeschooled? I have a friend in Kentucky who was told homeschooled students "don't qualify".... surely that isn't correct! Is it? Any assistance greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[TontoKowalski]

Abeka has great language but crummy math, in my opinion. Saxon math is by far the best.

Fascinating. We found Abeka Language to be lacking and loved the math, and didn't like Saxon at all. LOL! Not debating the merits of the curriculums at all...just pointing out that those of us who educate our children at home are free to experiment with different curriculum choices and go with whatever works best for our child.

Ratman, were our children in the same public school class, one wouldn't be doing as well because the curriculum style wasn't a good match. Because, as we all know, one size fits all in public school.

[TontoKowalski]

Courage! I had a similar experience with my out-of-state mother when I casually told her over the phone that we'd be homeschooling our son. She couldn't believe it...why would we do such a thing...on and on.

When I respectfully, but firmly, told her that the decision on how to raise our son was not hers to make, she shut up. When she came to visit, and my then-three-year-old read to her, she became a BIG supporter of homeschooling.

It will get better. I promise.