To Homeschool Or Not To Homeschool?

[AmyLeigh]

Thank you all for the really detailed and great advice, i am going to print and keep a copy for future reference

I am just curious to Amy and pre-school and daycare teacher, were you providing childcare at the same time or was your mother (preschool teacher) providing childcare? I am seriously contemplating if I want to continue with my childcare or just sell our house and downsize so we can afford to live on just my husbands income. ....

And also how did all of you deal with unsupportive family members?

Even though they do give us good advice i do feel like telling them to shetup too

I was not doing daycare when dd stared with the virtual academy. Daycare is a way I can help with the household expenses while staying home to homeschool.
As far as family is concerned.... is how I feel about it. My sister has homeschooled all 4 of her children ages 23-14. None of them stepped foot in a school. Yet, my mother still does not agree with homeschooling. She just doesn't understand it. That's okay. We agree to disagree on the subject. It's my and my dh's decision. End of discussion.

[Sprouts]

Did most of you decide to homeschool for religious reasons or any other reasons?

[Michael]

We felt we could do a better job, and we did.

[Countrygal]

Well, I started over milk.....

I did want a Christ-centered education for my children, but that honestly wasn't the main reason. The main reason was because while dealing with the school and my daughter being lactose intolerant the principal AND administrator of the schools in our area at that time (this was the early 80's) told me that while the children were in school they were wards of the state and the parents had no rights (during school hours). Besides it being just plain not true, I couldn't BELIEVE they actually used the words "wards of the state"!!! That's what really made up my mind for me.

But I just needed a catalyst. I think I had already decided. I knew it was what was best for my kids.....

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

We felt we could do a better job, and we did.

Do you mean you homeschooled? happyface I love finding so many other people who homeschooled!

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

Thank you all for the really detailed and great advice, i am going to print and keep a copy for future reference

I am just curious to Amy and pre-school and daycare teacher, were you providing childcare at the same time or was your mother (preschool teacher) providing childcare? I am seriously contemplating if I want to continue with my childcare or just sell our house and downsize so we can afford to live on just my husbands income. ....

And also how did all of you deal with unsupportive family members?

Even though they do give us good advice i do feel like telling them to shetup too

No, my mom wasn't doing childcare. But a LOT of our friend's families were big families with young children not old enough to do school yet, and they did just fine, even with the younger ones under foot the whole time. How many children are in your group? If you worked on everything straight through, you could probably even get it all done at nap time. But there's a lot that could be accomplished even during the day. What about free play periods? Are your daycare children able to play on their own without a lot of interaction from you? Could you and your daughter work on anything then? At such a young age, starting out, all you need is just a few minutes here and there during the day. By the time she got older, she'd be more able to do things on her own without needing so much time from you and you'd be able to run the daycare at the same time.
As for unsupportive family members, Several people thought we wouldn't get any schooling, and her dad (my grandpa) wasn't even all for it to begin with, but he soon saw that we were learning the same things as children in school, and came around soon. And then was the biggest cheerleader for homeschooling. This is a decision for you and your husband to make together. If he is okay with it, and you both feel it's the best thing for your family, then don't worry about other people.
But do remember my advice of how much easier it is to put your daughter into public school later if it doesn't work, than it would be to take her out later on and start homeschooling.

[Sprouts]

I have 6 kids total (2 mine) at the moment, and a great assistant so i think i could manage.

My husband and I visited the elementary school today with our daughter and although it seemed okay i got a slight phony feel and what turned us off was how little time they have for lunch (30 minutes) and gym (2 times a week, 40 min)...and recess was only 25-30 min.....

we have yet to visit the private christian school..but doubt we could afford that....

ahhh decisions decisions.....

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

I have 6 kids total (2 mine) at the moment, and a great assistant so i think i could manage.

My husband and I visited the elementary school today with our daughter and although it seemed okay i got a slight phony feel and what turned us off was how little time they have for lunch (30 minutes) and gym (2 times a week, 40 min)...and recess was only 25-30 min.....

we have yet to visit the private christian school..but doubt we could afford that....

ahhh decisions decisions.....

I feel for you, trying to decide what to do, if you aren't sure which you want. I don't know about the schools around you, but here, the public schools are awful with the things that go on. It may not be so bad in Kindergarten, but as the child gets older, it gets worse. Plus the children don't seem to be taught normal school curriculum anymore around here. Some schools even put on their website that their main focus is on testing the children for the state. That's pretty much all public school is around here, teaching them how to take tests.

Sadly, the amount of time your local school allows for lunch and for recess would actually be considered good around here. The students here only get 30 minutes total to eat AND have recess. So if the child wants longer to play, they just scarf their food down, or don't eat at all. As they progress through elementary school, their recess/lunch time shortens each year. After 5th grade there's no recess at all, and only 15 min for lunch. The students are in school from 8:15 am -3 pm (for elementary. Middle and Highschool students are there longer), and then all grade levels (except Kindergarten) have a lot of homework (I used to work at the After school program at one of the schools, so I got a lot of information from teachers and subs there. And I could see the tons of homework for myself, since we always had to have them do their homework there.

Good luck in your decision! I vote homeschool :: (But I may be a bit biased...)

[AnneCordelia]

I was unschooled and loved it!! My siblings and I were all unschooled. All five of us have post-secondary education, with three of us achieving academic scholarships to fund it.

It was a great experience for us! My sister and I attended public school through grade 4 before my parents pulled us and gave us a year to decompress from being in the system. We had opportunities that never would have been granted us in a public school setting and are grateful for the experience.

I am not currently home schooling my own children, although I do sieze life with the attitude that the public school system is a resource that I utilize while it is working for us. Should it stop working for us, then I have no qualms with changing our schooling situation.

[Countrygal]

I was unschooled and loved it!! My siblings and I were all unschooled. All five of us have post-secondary education, with three of us achieving academic scholarships to fund it.



I am not currently home schooling my own children, although I do sieze life with the attitude that the public school system is a resource that I utilize while it is working for us. Should it stop working for us, then I have no qualms with changing our schooling situation.

This is a wonderful way to approach it!

Sprouts -

remember, a homeschool should not last 8 hours at any grade, let alone K!! It will be many years before you need to give even five or six hours to your schooler - maybe when you have two

My K takes me 1 1/2 hours. I am currently schooling him with daycare. I do it during nap time. I use a curriculum for math and reading ( he's a little advanced - I wouldn't normally recommend ANY curriculum at this age. MY son didn't read til he was almost 7 ), some workbooks and work the rest into my daycare. They all love to watch the simple science experiments and read the history stories with us!