Homeschool! (and other "vintage" values)

[ecorrigan]

It's awesome to see such a thread on this forum. The more I look, the more I find that tickles my fancy here at TFL. My mother home schooled my sister and I and I must say, I enjoyed every single bit of it!! Now I have the joy of being a father to four children. I have three boys, 10, 8 and 6 and my wife is planning on doing the same thing. Our 10-year-old is hers from previous, while the 8 and 6-year-olds are mine from previous. Lastly, we have a 15-month old daughter who has been both a blessing and a demonic little challenge!! While I share custody of my two with my ex-wife and can't home school them as of yet, my wife is going to be starting it part-time through the summer and full-time next school year with our 10-year-old. He currently attends a private school and to say that we are less-than-satisfied with the level of education he's currently getting would be an understatement!
I look forward to reading and discussing more with everyone here about this subject! Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

[MisterCairo]

Home schooling isn't allowed here. Maybe for a short while (a month or so) during an acute crisis, but a parent is not allowed to school their child on a permanent basis. Children are obliged to attend a state approved school and the parents have no say in that.

Canada is dealing with families from Germany who are seeking refugee status here because they face prosecution for home schooling their children (in Germany like Sweden apparently it's illegal to homeschool). I understand in the USA there are families from Europe making similar claims.

I wasn't schooled at home, but we do know one family home schooling their three older boys (baby at home too, and number five on the way!). They do have a plan though to send the boys one by one to public school, likely at or about fourth or fifth grade, mainly as a stress reliever!

 

[Miss Sabrina Fairchild]

For anyone who was homeschooled or not - what do you think was the one thing most lacking in your education? I am always looking for new ideas

For me it was writing instruction. I showed up to my first English class in high school and was asked to write an essay (so they could put us in the appropriate classes). I had never been told what the essay structure was so I just wrote a long piece of work and handed it in. I was told I failed miserably and was sent to remedial reading....which is strange as I had been reading since I was 4 and could spell ok for my age. I spent a term in remedial reading watching kids who genuinely couldn't read while I sat in the corner not doing much. After that time was up I went back to "regular" class only to continue failing essay tests and assignments as still no one had taught me the structure. It wasn't until a few years later when I found a book on how to write an essay and was able to sort of scrape through after that.

 

[beth]

I live in a family of 10. My mom homeschooled us all, and I love and appreciate the time she devoted towards our education. I feel as though I learned a lot, and have a love for learning that many students don't have. I am taking classes at a junior college, and it hasn't been a difficult adjustment. In fact, it helps because I already now how to study on my own.

To answer your question, project girl, English was always our struggle as well. I am an avid reader, but writing was always a battle. I was scared to take English and write essays for my classes, because I haven't had a lot of experience and am not fond of academic writing, but it also has been easier than I thought, just time-consuming.

 

[Miss Sabrina Fairchild]

I wonder if thats because English is harder to "mark" - I mean it is easy to tell if you got a sum wrong in maths as there is a definitive answer. I know it was something I was most worried about teaching (until I found IEW - http://www.excellenceinwriting.com) and was planning on having a friend who is a high school English teach looker over essays and reports to make sure they were structured and written correctly ect. but from what I have heard the staff at IEW can do that for you as well. I wonder if some home ed parents shy away from it as they aren't sure how to teach it correctly (though in my experiences the schools I know of didn't teach academic writing too effectively either).

 

[sheeplady]

I was not home schooled, but some things I always felt lacked in my public school education were:

-Public speaking. Sure, we had to do a few reports, but almost nothing about proper speaking skills (pose, speed, visuals) and about how to build a speech. Luckily, I was in 4-H, where I learned these skills, but most of my peers didn't.

-Financial education. How to build a budget. How to buy and pick stocks. How mortgages work (syndication and different types). How to save money. We covered a bit of this in school (especially credit cards), and my parents covered a lot of the saving and budgeting stuff. But I had to learn about mortgages and syndication when I was an adult and looking for a mortgage. That is far too late.

-Diversity of careers available. In my school, there was very little exposure to careers or fields outside of the basics. I would have liked to be more exposed to different careers before I went to college.

 

[Miss Sabrina Fairchild]

all really good things to learn. Thanks for those ideas

 

[beth]

My mother never felt inadequate teaching anything, even writing, but that is my experience. I can definitely see how the grading would make in difficult though. I have talked to other parents who home school, and I know they have had difficulty keeping the English consistent, and I can see some of both of the reasons you stated possibly playing a role.

 

[Miss Sabrina Fairchild]

That is just wonderful to hear

 

[Wally_Hood]

I wonder if thats because English is harder to "mark" - I mean it is easy to tell if you got a sum wrong in maths as there is a definitive answer. I know it was something I was most worried about teaching (until I found IEW - http://www.excellenceinwriting.com) and was planning on having a friend who is a high school English teach looker over essays and reports to make sure they were structured and written correctly ect. but from what I have heard the staff at IEW can do that for you as well. I wonder if some home ed parents shy away from it as they aren't sure how to teach it correctly (though in my experiences the schools I know of didn't teach academic writing too effectively either).

We use Excellence In Writing, as well; as a matter of fact, about an hour before logging on to FL, I was going over an essay with my youngest, using the Sentence Opener, VSS, and so on. The goal, as I see it, with the Sentence Opener approach, is to ensure sentence variety which in turn promotes reader interest.

 

[Miss Sabrina Fairchild]

Glad to hear someone else recomends IEW - we just spent a small fortune on it and are waiting for it to arrive. I have heard nothing but great reviews and am actually looking forward to learning it all myself as well

 

[Wally_Hood]

Glad to hear someone else recomends IEW - we just spent a small fortune on it and are waiting for it to arrive. I have heard nothing but great reviews and am actually looking forward to learning it all myself as well

Oooops, let me correct myself. We use IEW through the umbrella school, we didn't purchase the program ourselves. I was not accurate in the previous post.

 

[Miss Sabrina Fairchild]

thats ok - thanks for letting me know.

 

[Marcus]

Our kids have been in Homeschooling for the last 4 years (8 and 12 y/o). The first year it was full blown 5 days a week at home, but we transitioned them to a hybrid program of 2 days at home and 3 days in the classroom. It's worked out great for them. They enjoy going and my wife enjoys the time she has with them at home. It worked out well for them. My wife was a high school teacher for 18 years so that helps in getting the work done.

 

[1961MJS]

Our kids have been in Homeschooling for the last 4 years (8 and 12 y/o). The first year it was full blown 5 days a week at home, but we transitioned them to a hybrid program of 2 days at home and 3 days in the classroom. It's worked out great for them. They enjoy going and my wife enjoys the time she has with them at home. It worked out well for them. My wife was a high school teacher for 18 years so that helps in getting the work done.

Hi, just curious, who's classroom? Surely the local public schools don't allow you to only show up 3 days a week, my GAWD, that would cut their Federal funding and we KNOW that won't happen. :eeek:

Later

 

[John in Covina]

Friends of mine have homeschooled their daughter and son. They plan to have the daughter who is the older go to public school for a few years in junoir high and see how she does and handles it. I believe they gave her the choice and she'd like to participate in some of the school activities as well as get a handle on the aspects of socialization. They thought it might help when she goes to college.

 

[Miss Sabrina Fairchild]

Hi, just curious, who's classroom? Surely the local public schools don't allow you to only show up 3 days a week, my GAWD, that would cut their Federal funding and we KNOW that won't happen. :eeek:

Later

Is that uncommon in the states? Here in Australia the Education department (at least in Victoria where I am) encourages it for those thinking about homeschool. I know of quite a few people who homeschool a few days and public school a few days.

 

[Touchofevil]

It isn't a possibility in public education in my district and it has nothing to do with the schools getting their money. Continuity and state mandated pacing are but two of the reasons it is not allowed.

 

[Jim Brown]

is homeschooling a vintage value? I thought most places had at least one room school rooms back in the day?

 

[Wally_Hood]

Our kids have been in Homeschooling for the last 4 years (8 and 12 y/o). The first year it was full blown 5 days a week at home, but we transitioned them to a hybrid program of 2 days at home and 3 days in the classroom. It's worked out great for them. They enjoy going and my wife enjoys the time she has with them at home. It worked out well for them. My wife was a high school teacher for 18 years so that helps in getting the work done.

The split between work in the home and then some with classes parallels what we are doing, and it seems to be a great balance. Science and Language Arts on Tuesdays, and a cooking class on Fridays. Mom and I work the rest of the time at home, which can from time to time include Saturdays and evenings, as needed.