Home schooling

[BarefootDawsy]

I've noticed that a few of the parents here have chosen to homeschool their kids. Personally it's not an option I've really considered for our kids but I'd be really interested to know how those of you who are doing it are finding it, and why you chose this path...

[VolFan21]

I was homeschooled since I was 5...my parents chose to for religious purposes. Personally I liked it all up until high school, my parents were too strict with me and I never got a chance to play sports, and because they weren't informed about college choices and scholarships, I missed my chance of having my education either partially paid for or free. I think it has the potential to be great if the parents can spend the amount of time a teacher or a tutor can with their kids, and if they are willing to enlist other resources be it classes, a tutor, etc for subjects they don't feel comfortable teaching. I def think it's important that kids have plenty of social activities which I personally did not. There's also still a lot of stereotypes against homeschooled kids and that was something I had to/still have to get past sometimes. Would I choose to do it again if I had the choice? More than likely not. I disagree with parents who do it for religious purposes and believe that it will somehow help if they shelter their kids from the "bad stuff". Thing is..you can't..unless you live in the mountains and don't have tv and internet. When I hit college, I went absolutely wild with the new-found "freedom" I had and wound up making some very stupid decisions that could have cost me a lot. I know some kids who were homeschooled and go to great colleges and lead successful careers now, I know just as many who are hooked on drugs. It's all in what choices they make in life.

[getfitdri]

I was also home schooled from Kindergarten through 12th grade. I definitely plan to home school my future children. I agree with VolFan that there are some pitfalls - there are always the home school families whose children are too sheltered or where academics aren't emphasized enough. That said, for me and my siblings (I'm one of 6 children), home schooling has been amazing. It allows the students to really excel at the subjects they're gifted in and get additional help in the subjects they struggle in. And there are SO many opportunities home schooled students can take advantage of because of their flexible schedules. For example, I was able to participate in youth symphony, high school speech & debate, horseback riding, swim team, and various other activities without feeling stressed out. My brothers have been able to devote hours to training on their bicycles (they race competitively) without sacrificing their studies. My little sister is currently training horses with a professional trainer every day of the week for at least 2 hours and still has plenty of time for her other pursuits.

I think one of the greatest things about home schooling is that students don't have to waste time in class. The time they spend in "math class" is time they're actually doing what would otherwise be "homework."

There are some things I will be doing differently with my own children, but overall I think my parents did (and continue to do) home schooling "right." I think it's important to join a community of other home schoolers and trade classes or pay someone else to teach your kids. In my case, there was a home school mom who had graduate degrees in French and English and she taught high school English and French. She also coached the local home school speech and debate team. I, along with other students, would go to her house once a week and we would have classes all day. She assigned us homework that we would complete and then turn in the following week.

My parents didn't start home schooling us for religious reasons (though my family is religious). The reason they started home schooling related to time. When my older sister was supposed to be starting Kindergarten, my mom realized that she would be spending 4 hours on the bus each day. Since my mom knew she could teach my sister everything she needed to learn in that amount of time, my parents started home schooling and haven't stopped since! They have 3.5 more years to go before they'll be done!

There is a lot more I could say, so feel free to message me if you have any questions

[bananandrea]

I was homeschooled for High School. My parents thought I would benefit better from an at home education cause I was "Too social" and needed to focus more on school. Unfortunately this turned into pretty much house arrest for 4 years. It was awful. I had to teach myself everything and it was not working. I missed out on a lot of things. I didn't know anything about life, stocks, bank accounts, politics, and other things I can't think of right now. I never got to develop my vocabulary or get taught proper grammar. I can't say a lot of words correctly. Part of my problem was that my dad worked 50+ hours a week and my mom is 100% Korean and never finished high school her self, so I never LEARNED the things I needed to learn. I also never got to develop my hobbies. I love art, theatre and sports. It was just a bad situation.

That being said though, I love the idea of homeschooling if it is done right. There are so many home school groups now. A lot of public schools accept home school kids to their sports teams, dances and graduations. I think there can be a balance.

Now I feel like I ranted about nothing relevant to this thread. Hmmm. Sorry. :/

[Elastigirl]

Well, I home schooled my son. There were many reasons. One being religious. Another big one was, as getfitdri mentioned, the flexibility. Looking back my son actually had a very primal childhood. Lesson were done in the morning. The afternoons he spent outside,often barefoot, playing, running and exploring. We would take off some days and go hiking, or have impromtu picnics at the park. As he grew older home school gave him the time and flexibility to pursue his interestsHome school allowed us the freedom to devise our own schedule,giving us more time to learn, sleep, and play.

[JohnnyConfidence]

I was home schooled Starting mid way through 7th grade up through highschool. For us it was the flexibility of the program. My dad had to travel for work and with home school mom and I could pack and travel with him. I really enjoyed it and had many great opportunities. I think it all depends on how you, as a parent, approach the situation. Are you doing it to hide/protect your children or so you can give them a more one on one learning experience. My mom worked hard at getting me involved in outside activities. We were in home school groups, and also the local high school provided a lot of stuff. I had tons more time, could do my main school work in the morning and then explore other options in my afternoons. I think lining out your goals, and deciding how you want to do things is important. I'm also a big fan of schedules, but not all parents are. I think structure is a good thing, even when your home schooling. It doesn't have to be rigid, but it should be there. I saw so many peers flounder because their parents didn't enforce any kind of structure on their learning.

I don't plan on homeschooling my boys at this time. My wife and I have talked about it but we don't feel the need right now, and we also don't feel we have the right temperaments and training for it. That's another thing to take into consideration is if you feel capable of doing it. Not all parents are. Being a child of home school, public school, and private school I've tasted them all. From that I've seen that all kids learn different and some will flourish in one setup, and flounder in another. No one solution is "the best" for all kids, so be flexible and watch your kids adapt. Adjust as necessary.

[Sandy Brown]

I think its not a good idea because in home schooling we have put a line to our children and children becomes crazy and sometimes angry so we have to mix with children and help them to feel freely in a proper manner.

[smurray]

Education is a very touchy subject in our community. We have a perception in our community due to challenges in integrating our public schools that the public schools are unsafe, not up to par in teaching, and is a dumping ground for people who cannot afford better for their children. This perception has caused people who have the means to either shift to private schools, move to neighboring public school systems, or to home school in order to flee our school system. With the dramatic upset in how the population is represented in the school system, it helps people who want to proliferate the negative perception to help encourage the popularity of private schools and home schooling.

There are two big things to keep in mind when you live in a community with public schools, recruitment of industry takes the quality of public schools into account when looking for new places to develop jobs. Areas with good, affordable education are attractive. Also quality of life for your community is affected by how well the public education is.

With that in mind, I have seen many people in my community to go to home schooling because they perceived that the public school system cannot provide quality education for their children. That has hurt our community over the past 20 years and we are now trying to rebuild our public education to help recruit industry in a time of economic recession.

I think home schooling is the right path for some families and that some children will benefit from that type of learning environment. If a family chooses that as their form of education, the best thing they can do for their community is to not speak negatively of their public school system. Communities with public education need to have support from everyone, including home school and private school families, because an educated population is the most valuable resource a community can have.

I know I am out there in left field with this statement, but I think good education is important no matter how it is given.

[zenmom]

We are unschoolers who started out as curriculum based homeschoolers. When my daughter was about 3, I took an essay and research class in college. I had to write a comparison paper for that class so I chose to write on homeschool vs. public school. I knew one homeschool family at that time and we all hung out together, so it seemed like a good topic of interest. My husband and I talked about homeschooling as a choice for our family. He worked (and still works) 2nd shift so during school days my husband and daughter would not have much interaction with each other. While he was home she would be at school. While she was home he would be at work. They would not get to sit down and eat meals together or cuddle on the couch and read stories. It seemed like a good reason to homeschool just for family time but we still were heading toward the public school choice. The day I took my daughter in to register for kindergarten is the day we decided to homeschool. The lady handling the paper work never made contact with any of the kids. It was just paperwork and ink. I looked into my daughter’s big blue eyes and asked if she wanted to learn at home instead and she said yes, so we walked out and never went back. We had a lot of fun learning. The socialization issue that is always brought up was not an issue for our family. We always attend play groups, recreation center classes, dance class, music lessons, sports leagues, etc. However I have crossed paths with families that homeschooled for religious reasons and only let their kids socialize with the kids in their church or co-op and not the other kids around them, so I don’t deny that it happens.

When she got a little older we started to hit a wall. There was a lot of frustration and tears, work not getting completed, misunderstandings, etc. So one day I looked at what we were doing and how we were doing it and decided to try something different. I asked her what she wanted to learn about. That is when it really clicked for us. We became unschoolers even though I didn’t know that term at the time. Many folks, including homeschoolers, misunderstand unschooling. It is not a lack of learning, structure, or rules. It is allowing the child to learn in the way that works best for them while pursing their own interests and passions. It is facilitating the tools, classes, finding mentors, etc. to help that child learn in the areas of their interests. Unschooling is trusting the child and allowing him or her to make choices and have a say in their own education. People think that their kids will just play video games or watch cartoons all day but honestly, that is not what happens. Aside from that, I am not one of those moms that think all TV and video games are bad anyway, but that would be a whole other discussion.

Homeschooling/unschooling has helped my husband and daughter build a strong relationship because they get to spend time together. They share a love for star wars, super heroes, writing stories, gaming, bike riding, martial arts, Norse mythology and so much more.

My family tends to fall in agreement with the Principles of Unschooling by Pam Sorooshian which are...

Learning happens all the time. The brain never stops working and it is not possible to divide time up into "learning periods" versus "non-learning periods." Everything that goes on around a person, everything they hear, see, touch, smell, and taste, results in learning of some kind.

Learning does not require coercion. In fact, learning cannot really be forced against someone's will. Coercion feels bad and creates resistance.

Learning feels good. It is satisfying and intrinsically rewarding. Irrelevant rewards can have unintended side effects that do not support learning.

Learning stops when a person is confused. All learning must build on what is already known.

Learning becomes difficult when a person is convinced that learning is difficult. Unfortunately, most teaching methods assume learning is difficult and that lesson is the one that is really "taught" to the students.

Learning must be meaningful. When a person doesn't see the point, when they don't know how the information relates or is useful in "the real world," then the learning is superficial and temporary - not "real" learning.

Learning is often incidental. This means that we learn while engaged in activities that we enjoy for their own sakes and the learning happens as a sort of "side benefit."

Learning is often a social activity, not something that happens in isolation from others. We learn from other people who have the skills and knowledge we're interested in and who let us learn from them in a variety of ways.

We don't have to be tested to find out what we've learned. The learning will be demonstrated as we use new skills and talk knowledgeably about a topic,

Feelings and intellect are not in opposition and not even separate things. All learning involves the emotions, as well as the intellect.

Learning requires a sense of safety. Fear blocks learning. Shame and embarrassment, stress and anxiety—these block learning.

[BarefootDawsy]

These are all great replies and I really enjoyed yours, zenmom. I'm curious how you tackle subjects that your kids don't like but may benefit from later? Eg what if they have bad grammar and hate learning it? How do you overcome this? I ask out of interest, not to sound judgemental.

[wildross]

We homeschooled all 5 of our children, 3 of them through high school.. The youngest too did an online school for the last 2 years of high school.

Reasons

1) religious reasons

2) the schools were abysmal and run by idiots (We tried the public school at first. When he was in the first grade, we were told that our oldest would never graduate from high school. 8 years in the Navy and a 2nd class petty officer would seem to disprove that)

3) the flexibility

4) we wanted to be with our children, not send them off to have someone else teach them.

That said, "we" means mostly my wife, though I helped quite a bit as well.

[zenmom]

I tried to teach my daughter phonics because that is how both my husband and I learned to read and it worked for us. My daughter found phonics to be more confusing than helpful. Every time we learned a rule an exception would fall in the next sentence. She found it frustrating and it kind of turned her off of reading. So I would just read to her or have her read to me when she felt like giving it a whirl. If there was a word she stumbled with she would ask how to pronounce it, then repeat it while looking at it several times and move on. That method worked for her. She also was very into spelling and definitions. So as a week went by if there was a word she found that sparked her curiosity we would write it down and she would look up definitions and learn to spell it. She wanted spelling tests so I gave them to her based on her own lists.

Math was more difficult so instead of doing workbooks, which I love and she hates, we did math in the grocery store and during cooking. Cooking was mostly using fractions, stuff like we need a cup but we have a ¼ cup so how many of these make a cup. The grocery store was the best because there is weight and measure, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. It would tell her I needed tomatoes but I could only spend $2 and they were $.89 a pound. We would figure out how many pounds would equal $2 and then she would weigh and bag them for me. It might be figuring out what size is the better deal for the price or that the tomato sauce is 3 for $1.25 and I need 4 so how much will 4 cans cost. It was an example of how and where we will use math and her helping me without forcing her to sit at a table for an hour and finish 4 workbook pages.

As she has gotten older she has started expressing interest in what she is thinking about as a career for the future. (A major in computer graphics and a minor in Japanese i.e. video game artist) She is only 13 so we have explained that she may still find another interest that she will decided to pursue instead and she understands. However she has taken the initiative to find out what requirements she will need in college. Not being a big fan of math but understanding she will need to complete specific math courses in college she has decided she wants to work from a math text book so she has a good working understanding. Most unschooled teens do this, realize that if I want to be an “insert career here” then I have to have an understanding of a least one topic that is not my favorite but to succeed I am going to take the initiative and learn it. It becomes interesting because it will help them pursue their passion in whatever subject.

We also do something called strewing. Basically it is having items sitting around for kids to discover and read or play with at their leisure. I have a friend who has a strewing table and she changes the items on it each month. She has placed things such as items found on a nature walk, a small light box and bright colored translucent shapes, assorted pens, writing papers, and envelopes, a prism and flashlights… those are the neat-o ones I remember off the top of my head. I strew with similar items but I use the top of a shelf in our dining room. I put thing like mini science kits, puzzles, legos, games, magazines, etc and we all will just grab something from the shelf and play or read. I do a lot of strewing with posters. In our bathroom wall next to the toilet is a poster of how the digestive system works. I feel we might as well learn about it while it’s happening. (I also think it is really funny) I have posted the 100 multiplication chart in a hallway we pass every day, parts of the tooth poster by the bathroom sink, chemistry posters in the kitchen, maps of ancient Rome and Greece in the living room, and music staff posters over the keyboard. There is a bunch of information about strewing if you are interested in more at this link. http://sandradodd.com/strewing

I hope I answered your question adequately. I didn’t feel like it was judgmental at all. I know that this is different than most folks think about education and I have no problem sharing with folks that are curious.

[Oogiem]

I was homeschooled up until High School. At the time it was illegal to homeschool so my mother went to college and got a teaching certificate so we could do it legally. I did take correspondence courses to meet he official state requirements. We'd work on the official stuff every day for about a month, I'd do the entire years worth of stuff in that month and we'd wait to send in the assignments until it was "time" In the mean time we'd go off and do other stuff, so I got to spelunk and map caves for the USGS, work on archeological digs, collect native plants for the Denver Botanical Society, live on the Hopi reservation and more.

The only real rule was that if we studied something I had to really study it. So when I read Never Cry Wolf I had to catch mice and make his fricasseed mouse recipe. When I wanted to study Peru and the Inca culture I had to develop a knotted string code to send messages, weave something and raise, butcher, cook and eat a guinea pig. High school was a problem, I got in a lot of trouble, one reason I was leery of moving back here to live when I retired but it's been ok.

I think homeschooling is the best option for many cases but a lot of success is dependent on the parents and the kids. I also know homeschoolers now that are not doing what I think is a good job. I think that the older homeschoolers, who had to fight to be allowed to, had more incentive to make sure their kids, like me, were very successful on the standard tests and measurements to prove homeschooling was not going to cause problems in the future.

Homeschooling now is sometimes easy way out for folks but it can also be a far better education than any school system.

[babycakes1970]

Newbie here. I have been unschooling my youngest child for about five years. She is fourteen and is severely autistic. We were just so tired off havig disagreements with the public school over so many things. It finally became a matter of her personal health and well being. Something happened to make her start screaming every time we tried to put her on the school bus. We will never know what happened but my husband suspects that it might have been some type of physical abuse. Her team at school was so convinced that she was just not wanting to attend school that they told us that they were prepared to "force the issue". We left that meeting and instantly decided to homeschool her. She has never been back to school since.

[Elastigirl]

We also do something called strewing. Basically it is having items sitting around for kids to discover and read or play with at their leisure. I have a friend who has a strewing table and she changes the items on it each month. She has placed things such as items found on a nature walk, a small light box and bright colored translucent shapes, assorted pens, writing papers, and envelopes, a prism and flashlights… those are the neat-o ones I remember off the top of my head. I strew with similar items but I use the top of a shelf in our dining room. I put thing like mini science kits, puzzles, legos, games, magazines, etc and we all will just grab something from the shelf and play or read. I do a lot of strewing with posters. In our bathroom wall next to the toilet is a poster of how the digestive system works. I feel we might as well learn about it while it’s happening. (I also think it is really funny) I have posted the 100 multiplication chart in a hallway we pass every day, parts of the tooth poster by the bathroom sink, chemistry posters in the kitchen, maps of ancient Rome and Greece in the living room, and music staff posters over the keyboard. There is a bunch of information about strewing if you are interested in more at this link. http://sandradodd.com/strewing

.

I did this too. maybe not so much as you. But I left books, we had maps up, puzzles out, science stuff just laid around. . But I never knew that there was an official name for planting educational stuff around the house. My best friend used a world map as a tablecloth for a long time. I will share the website with her.

[NorthernEnclosure]

My wife and I were both homeschooled, and plan to homeschool our 3 kids. There were lots of reasons why our parents choose to homeschool us (academic, religious, flexibility, etc.). While we all made our fair share of mistakes, I'm certainly glad for the experience. The best parts were being able to work at our own pace and dig deeper into the things we were most interested in. I actually work for a homeschool publishing company now, and teach co-op classes for homeschoolers on the side. It's a big part of my life, and I wouldn't want it any way. It's certainly not for everyone, and it's a terrible way to "shelter" kids, but it can be an amazing way to foster a lifelong love of learning.

[waterlogged]

We homeschool as well.

Pulled my first born out after kindergarten and have never looked back.

He is sixteen now.

We have seven kids and it seems they are getting smarter, earlier, as we go

along. I believe it is because they hear my wife schooling the older ones.

Some of what they hear has to be sinking in at an early age.

I was worried about the social aspect in the beginning, and still am a little.

But we belong to a co-op where they get to hang out and learn with many other

homeschool families. Sports, band, boyscouts, etc. they get plenty of interaction.

None of the kids in our neighborhood are homeschooled but my kids seem to fit right in.

Being able to pick and choose curriculum for each child is very helpful in helping them

understand certain classes.

It has been alot of work, mostly for my wife, but totally worth it for us.

Not sure I would have wanted to be homeschooled though.

[Snayll]

We have many reasons why we believe it's the best choice for our family. Our oldest is only four years old so I can't say a lot about personal experience teaching older children, but here are some of our reasons:

 

First, I want to clarify, we are not doing it out of fear. We live in a small community, but are guns, knives, sex, and drugs still a concern? Sure, but there is much more to it than that.

 

Time together- We get to see the milestones and share in the joys and trials of life together.

 

Scheduling/ flexibility- We plan on doing year round schooling with some shorter breaks throughout the year.  This way, the days will be shorter and there will be less time spent on review. Also, we can decide how our day goes. We can do a special activity and work our lessons around it. They also won't be spending half an hour riding a bus each direction to and from school with an additional two hours of homework when they do get home.

 

Enjoyable learning- When in a smaller group, learning doesn't have to be only lectures, reading, and worksheets. We can make it more interactive. Each child will have their own strengths, weaknesses, and areas of interest. We can work our time so that extra can be spent on areas of struggle and we can progress faster or deeper in areas of interest or skill.

 

Family morals/ values- We are Christians, so we believe a strong biblical foundation is important to teach children. Even aside from that, we can teach them early on about manners, character, and home skills as well as academics.

 

Social concerns? I don't really have them. We plan on having the kids be involved in 4-H, AWANA, Boy Scouts, Heritage Girls, ballet, gymnastics, music, art, a team sport, library story times, and maybe other activities if they want. Also, if we are blessed with more children and as they get older, they will have opportunities to do things with with their older and younger siblings as well as other mixed age families.

 

There are many different ways to homeschool and even more curriculum choices. We've chosen to start with the Classical method. The Well-trained Mind was our biggest resource for that decision. There is an abundance of resources on the internet and in libraries that can help you decide if homeschooling is a good fit for your family. It's also important to know the laws of where you are. The HSLDA website has a summary of each states requirements. Feel free to inbox me if you like if you have other questions.

[erin212f]

I have been homeschooled my entire life, and it has been extremely beneficial!

If your kid doesn't do well in a certain subject, there are lots of different options.  You can participate in a co-op, where classes are (usually) inexpensive and very engaging.  You can try to make learning a game.  But honestly, the best thing you can do is just push through it.  For example, I used to HATE math with a passion, but loved reading.  My mom knew I didn't like it, but made me do it anyways.  Now, math is one of my favorite subjects.

 

But you have to make sure you teach them the foundations VERY well, otherwise they'll struggle when subjects build up.  I used a math curriculum called Math-u-see, which focused on understanding the "why" behind a concept.  Instead of a textbook it's videos and worksheets.

[Faervel17]

I home school my kidlets so far. Granted my kids at this point at 5 yrs and under the oldest being in Kindergarten. It wasn't a part of our original plan. In fact my oldest did 2 years of preschool and my youngest did half a year. Then we learned my husbands job is only until the end of his apprenticeship and there are no other companies around here that he could work for so we will have to move. My oldest is a very sensitive child who would not do well just getting comfortable somewhere and then having to move so we chose to home school until the time we have to move. We thought that would be this summer we are very fortunate that it will be next summer instead so we will be homeschooling grade 1 as well. However, we are liking it so much we are going to keep it going and hope to move to a place with more home schooling families. 

[stevembk]

This is where I work (im not an educator) in case you'd like to look into options for homeschooling

 

http://www.calvertschool.org/

[buffyfraz]

I was home schooled through high school but for different reasons then most.

My dad is a high school teacher but while he was doing his student teaching was placed in a middle school. He saw that it was very rough in all of the middle schools that he taught and wanted us to be able to avoid that if possible. So he and my mom home schooled my brother and I through middle school before letting us decide if we wanted to continue home schooling or go to "public" school. I played sports almost year around and was encouraged to peruse whatever caught our interest even if it wasn't exactly mainstream. What my mom did to help us do better with subjects we didn't prefer when we were younger was unit studies. This allowed her to mix things that I enjoyed (history) with things I hated (writing papers) which made them more palatable for me and not as laborious for her to teach since I wasn't fighting her as much. As for social interaction in elementary school we did a lot of co-ops where moms(or dads) would teach classroom style lessons in areas they excelled.

My freshman year my parents asked me if I would prefer to go to school or continue homeschooling. It was a hard choice because if you are serious about sports as I was there is very little available in my state that is not part of a school team but due to the shape of the schools in my area( we live close to a state line and my dad teaches in the other state) I decided that I could have a better edu. at home than at the local school.

I hope this helps answer the question

P.s. My husband and I plan on homeschooling our children at least through elementary school and seeing where it goes from there.

[Kevin Mack]

4th-9th grade for me. I think that was a good time for it. I got early social development in public school, better education while at home, then for high school echos a college prep school where I could still get a good education with social interaction. I feel that it gave me the best of both worlds (better education but not so sheltered as to become a weird home schooled kid).

That said, I'd like to send my son to private school.

[Archer]

We started homeschool when we our oldest coun't move up a grade (or more.)  The public school response was "they level out by 3rd grade" but I took it as "by 3rd grade, the smart kids get lost in the shuffle and are no longer challenged."  It may sound harsh, but our standardized tests and focus on the underacheivers means the intelligent kids are left bored out of their minds. 

 

Fast forward 4 years, and my oldest had to take her first standardized test as a homeschooled kid.  My only prep for her was a 10 question scantron so she'd know what the test format was like.  I did this a month before the test too.  When test day came, I just dropped her off with the certified test people and told her to do her best.  She finished in half the alloted time, scored 99th percentile (perfect score) in English and 95th percentile in math. 

 

Now here's the interesting part: we spend maybe 3-4 hours a week on traditional classroom type learning, and the rest is outdoors play, art, and music.  You would think the kids who spend 30-40 hours at school would have a huge advantage right?  Nope...

 

I'm raising problem solvers, not test takers, and the results obviously show which method works best.  To me public school is really just public daycare, and the amount of time they spend sitting in a desk does more harm than good.  Not only do my kids score better, they are physically stronger too.  They get several hours of time outdoors per day, and then play team sports in the evenings.  Here's what my girl (here at age 8) does to earn herself some video game time:  http://youtu.be/ro0fw5H4Jqs  (this is round #7 of 8!)

[FattyMcJ]

My wife and I, but mostly my wife, unschool/homeschool our 6 year old boy.  He went to public school for Kindergarten and it was very emotionally taxing for him.  He is hyper-active and needs extra help to complete assignments in a timely manner (or at all), but the teacher would not follow through with any of the agreed upon methods we discussed with her.  Even when he completed his work at school he didn't really "learn" much of it.  He would come home from school exhausted and overwhelmed which made completing any homework nearly impossible for him.

 

When it came time to register for 1st grade we decided to give him a year of education at home and see how it went.  We are almost through the first grade with him now and he is doing great!  He reads and comprehends far above the level of a first or second grader.  If there is something that he really doesn't want to do we don't force the issue.  We will ease him into small assignments that involve the activity that he has a hard time with and give him lots of breaks. 

 

We don't really have any religious, political, or moral reasons for taking our son out of public school.  We just wanted to do what was best for him.  Right now whats best for him is to stay out of school but things could change and he may end up back at school in a few years.

 

For now his social activities include playing with kids at the YMCA, swimming lessons, cub scouts, and horseback riding lessons.