Why do you/want to Home-school

[susieSA]

Reasons why I am considering homeschooling:

* Education here - even a not so decent one - is getting really expensive
(No, our tax money does not go towards any education here)
* I worry about what my child with actually get out of a class that has a 1:30 or even 1:40 ratio.
* I worry that things will not improve by the time my child is school going age
* I worry about my child's safety
* I think that I can offer my child so much more at the same cost if I were to home school him
* I think that I can give him a more international exposure to the world that what he would get at school

These are just a few resons why I want to homeschool

[Seanette]

Originally Posted by Jenamarie

And get to know the teacher. Volunteer in the classroom, or, if you work, ask him or her what school supplies s/he's in need of that you can send to school with your child (tissues, printer paper, crayons, glue sticks, etc.) My parents are both elementary teachers, and readily admit to giving more attention to those students whose parents are as involved as they can in the classroom. They know the parents are more likely to "check up" on the child's progress, and will likely complain and/or ask for a different teacher if they feel their child isn't doing well in the class, and that can effect promotions and such.

The way this is written makes it sound like kids with parents who both work (or single parents) who don't have time to be in the classroom, and whose parent(s) can't afford to be sending in supplies all the time, are going to pretty much be ignored.

[prospectmom]

If I was in your situation I would do the exact same thing.... Ther are so many free taaching tools available on the internet and just an idea if you have likeminded friends you can work together on this.
Susie I will forward to you the tools I used when I homeschooled as I find them...

[prospectmom]

Ther are plenty of ways to be involved even if you have no xtra resources, work etc. Our school had e-mail and a school website to each teacher. Parents can be involved as they choose to be. The weekly e-mail or phone call and attending the conferences really does make a difference and dosen't take much time or effort or money.

[Jenamarie]

Originally Posted by Seanette

The way this is written makes it sound like kids with parents who both work (or single parents) who don't have time to be in the classroom, and whose parent(s) can't afford to be sending in supplies all the time, are going to pretty much be ignored.

I should have added e-mailing, or some other form of formal communication with the teacher. Be sure they know who you are.

Of course kids with uninvolved parents aren't going to be ignored, but lots of teachers will go out of their way to help those kids whose parents are involved in any way.

[Spike_Spiegel]

The only way I would home school my kids would be if the public school system was run down and "ghetto"... Where I live its not.

[Lilac]

I live in a nice suburban area and the schools are adequate. I doubt they are winning any awards but they seem to be OK. I never hear anything horrible and parents seem happy. I'm not in some high crime area with overcrowded classes or some terrible conditions.

I am NOT impressed with the social stuff in the school like exposing my children to things that we feel are inappropriate or not right, Godly etc. I also don't care for the political ideology either.

I'd homeschool even if I could afford a nice Christian school or the schools were more to our moral standards.

Many of us (Christian) homeschoolers feel that homeschooling is a calling and mission from God.

People argue this topic out using thoughts, articles, who gets higher scores and which provides a better education, who is qualified to teach and who is not.

I'm not interested in any of that. I believe God has called my family to homeschool our children. I will homeschool my children no matter what anyone says. I follow God's will and don't allow all of these "other" arguments to veer me off of God's path.

I never sat down and looked at the statistics for homeschoolers vs. public schooler vs Christian schoolers and thought "hmmm...which one is better?" I did pray for God to show me how HE wants HIS children to be educated. This is the answer we received. I trust blindly in his decision.

As for worrying about how I will teach a more challeging subject? I don't. The same God who provides everything I need can surely provide some resources for algebra. There are plenty of options available to homeschooling parents and God will lead me to the correct one. I can't worry about alegbra right now.

God knows that math is not a strong point for me and He chose me to homeschool anyway.
God knows that I tend to be disorganized and He chose me to homeschool anyway.
God knows that I need to work to help support our family and He chose me to homeschool anyway.

God will provide for us. I have faith in that.

I'm not painting a happy-dappy picture with no bumps in the road. Homeschooling is challenging and affects your entire life. There are days I wonder "why am I doing this???" But I follow God obediantly and know that He knows what is best for His children.

[Loudmouth_Mormon]

Originally Posted by Seanette

The way this is written makes it sound like kids with parents who both work (or single parents) who don't have time to be in the classroom, and whose parent(s) can't afford to be sending in supplies all the time, are going to pretty much be ignored.

It seems to me like a comon-sense rule of reality: Nobody will ever want what's best for your kids as much as you will. You can't pay someone enough to love them as much as you do.

So yeah, it seems like a reasonable consequence of having children on planet earth, that the more you outsource your kid's education, and the less you are involved in that outsourcing, the higher chances that your kid will be in a less-than-desirable situation. I guess you could call it unfair, but at the end of the day, calling it unfair doesn't make it stop happening.

I'm reminded of something in the Gospel Principles manual:

Parents work together to provide for the physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being of their family. They should never expect anyone to take care of this responsibility for them. The Apostle Paul wrote, “If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith” (1 Timothy 5:8).

The quote doesn't specifically mention child education, but it's there. Educational neglect is considered a form of abuse (although not as injurious as other kinds of abuse). The state doesn't educate kids, parents do. In America, most parents' tool of choice for educating their kids, is to send them to public school. That doesn't absolve the parent(s) of their ultimate responsibility for raising the child.

LM

[Avrham]

hey thanks for the replies my wife's saying "The Home(family) should be the final arbitor on my kids education stands first everthing else comes second" she said this to the local council education group

[Vort]

Originally Posted by prospectmom

The thing that really bugs me about this and was on the other thread is people seen to think that homeschooling is superior to regular school.

Isn't this obvious? Why on earth would anyone do the work to homeschool their children unless they believed it was superior to public schooling?

Why would you take offense at such a thing? What you are basically saying is that you are offended by anyone who homeschools -- since they obviously believe their homeschooling is superior to public schooling.

Originally Posted by prospectmom

As I said in a previous thread Home schooling and public schooling have their positives and negatives. There are wonderful dedicated parents as well as many wonderful dedicated teachers who see each childs success important. To say one is superior to the other is wrong . It is a choice .

Deciding whether to go to college or spend your life playing online games is also a choice, but that doesn't mean that both are equally valid.

It is very obvious that those who choose to send their children off to public schools believe public schools to be superior. Otherwise, they wouldn't send their kids to them. Now, that superiority may lie in the fact that it gets the little monsters out of the house for the day, or that it allows both parents to work and bring in money, or any other trivial reason -- but the point is, the parents have decided in their cost-benefit analysis that public schooling gives them better value. That is to say, it's superior.

So do you get offended by those people who send their children to public schools, thus implicitly proclaiming that public schools are superior to home schooling?

Didn't think so.

Originally Posted by prospectmom

Both have their individual pro's and con's and neither is superior to the other.

As I have already pointed out, this is a meaningless thing to say. Clearly, homeschoolers believe homeschooling to be superior, as public schoolers believe public schools to be.

Why is this such a big deal for you?

Originally Posted by prospectmom

I support both but cah say I have seen parents who home school drop the ball too many times , it does take dedication and dicipline. I have also seen before i got to this school the ball being dropped on the schools side. It also takes teamwork and dedication some parents do not choose to be a part of but luckily our staff won't dropp the ball and in some cases their efforts are doubled for those individual who need it.

If you support both, as you claim, then why haven't you mentioned all the times you have seen parents "drop the ball" with public schooling? My sister, a public school teacher, tells me that the typical parent "drops the ball" completely, leaving almost all aspects of the child's education to her. Why didn't you bring this out as you did with homeschooling?

Originally Posted by prospectmom

I guess it is a case of agree to disagree I see and appreciate and support the the homeschooling side, I wish that the same could be said for them.

What might homeschoolers say that would indicate the "support" for public schools that you expect to hear from them? Do you expect them to say, "Hey, I think public schools are perfectly wonderful and exactly as good as homeschooling if not better, which is why I have modified my lifestyle, cut my income, and taken huge pains in order to homeschool my children"?