DD is writing an English Comp paper on the advantages of homeschooling. Those of you that do (or have done) it, what do you see as the major advantages?

Others can answer also of course, if you have something to add!

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I know may of us wrote a lot about the advantages. Here are some previous threads: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=homeschool

Here's a good thread: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showth...ght=homeschool

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Thanks, I will have her look at them!

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Close-knit family.
Large blocks of uninterrupted time.
Ability to learn about the things that interest you in depth.
Ability to spend many hours outdoors.
Ability to learn in the way best suited to you.
Being engaged in real-world experiences (rather than hearing about them in school).
Having relationships with people of all ages, rather than just in your class.

I could go on and on and on!

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Pros:
Christ centered
Able to go at the child's pace
Able to be around children and adults of all ages
Lots of outdoor time
The ability to combine academics with practical life skills.
Complete control over curriculum

And that's just a quick list

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Being able to teach on your schedule, not the 8-3 or 7-3 that PS mandates. There was many a time my youngest dd would read or do writing til 2am then sleep till noon on days we planned on doing Astronomy @ night lol.
Teaching subjects in a way that works for you and your child instead of Text book curriculum all the time (this includes real world learning & museum trips).
Being able to move ahead in subjects when a child is ready instead of waiting til the school calendar says you can.
Getting involved with a mixture of adults & kids, instead of just same age all the time.
Being able to travel or move when you want without disruption of learning

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Being able to teach to each of my children's strength. For example, one learns best orally, another must be moving at all times, and the third is much more traditional.
We also can work around dad's crazy work schedule. If he is home for three days in the middle of the week - that is their weekend. Academics can always be made up later on a weekend once dad is gone again.
Allowing each child to excel in their strong subjects and slow down to truly grasp the ones they struggle one. For example, my 12 year old is two years "ahead" in science, one year "ahead" in math, but behind in language. He has no academic peers to compare to so it doesn't bother him at all. The only reason he knows what grade he is actually in is because of Sunday School
On the flip side, I worry constantly if I'm doing the right thing for my children's future or if someone else could do it better. Then I remember what a very wise mentor told me when I was still a classroom teacher: "Good parents worry. Bad parents don't care."

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There are so many positive advantages, but I like the fact of being able to work at your own pace.....each child learns differently.....some catch on really fast and are ready to move along....some need that extra reinforcement...I learned this from personal experience...one of my daughters just breezed right along..could have skipped a couple grades. The other needed to take things on a little slower pace. Now, I homeschool my son and am thankful everyday we are able to learn together. That's another advantage I find I am always learning something new, too!

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I am going to be the odd one out here, and say from a homeschooled child's POV, I hated being homeschooled. I was in public school from Kindergarten through 3rd grade, and homeschooled 4th-12th.

I was bullied terribly in public school, but I wanted to be there VS. Being homeschooled. I was lonely, and learning was not fun for me. I hated knowing that I would be working on schoolwork for hours on end, knowing that I was going to be working alone, or with a parent. My siblings and I are all 5 years apart, myself being the oldest.

I also struggled in some areas, and because my parents were not proficient in that area, they were not much help. They also did not offer me tutor, so the struggle grew and grew until I could not manage the subject at all. I failed Chemistry twice, and Algebra once because they were so difficult for me.

I am not saying that there are not positive homeschooling experiences, but mine was definitely not positive, and I found myself counting the years until I was finished. I also faced the stigma that comes with homeschooling, and I struggled to show everyone that I was not going to be "odd" or "weird" like so many believed homeschooled children are.

I would never choose that lifestyle again, and I will not be choosing that lifestyle for my children.

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I can see how it isn't for some people. But for her paper, she choose the benefits of being home schooled. She could have gone the other way. I think that she may have chosen this because she hates her school. Well hates how the kids act at school. They are loud, rude to the teachers, disruptive, etc. She doesn't do well in that kind of environment she likes things calm! Next year for her senior year after taking a couple of classes at the college, she has decided to take all her her classes at the college next year. She couldn't do that this year, because some of her classes she had to have didn't qualify for dual credits. But next year any classes she takes at the college will work for her HS diploma also, she has the ones that wouldn't out of the way! She likes the environment at the college much better. I am guessing it has a lot to do with when a person pays that much to go there (or goes to all the trouble for scholarships and such, that usually those people are really there to learn.

I don't think DD has ever really wanted to home school, she just wants a nice, calm environment with "more mature kids" (her words).

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Oh, I agree! College was definitely a great experience, and the settings is so much calmer. She will really love it!

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I didn't read all the posts so this may have been said.

I hired my 12 year old home schooled neighbor to help me a few hours a week in my childcare. She stayed off and on until she was in college.

She told me that she was struggling in traditional school. As she was falling behind, her parents tried a private school and that didn't help much either. She was just miserable and also her self esteem was suffering. Her parents did it to catch her up academically and it worked. In fact, she eventually not only caught up but surpassed the grade she would have been in. When she became high school age she wanted to go to traditional high school so did. She did great and went on to college. She became a teacher and then went on to specialize in being a speech therapist. I am so proud of her! We became very close.

It also gave her real life job experience. In fact, she credits working with me as her reason for becoming a teacher. She was always telling me she was going to be an accountant but changed her mind.

She had 12 or so hours a week to come to my house because she worked at her schoolwork at her own pace and could do it anytime. It left her time to do other things. Most of all though it caught her up and greatly improved her self esteem. She told me how bad she felt when she wasn't able to keep up.

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This does not speak to homeschooling at all. This speaks to parental choices that did not meet your needs. Please note, I am not saying your parents are bad or your experiences aren't valid. I am just saying, you COULD choose homeschooling for your children and do it differently in a way that meets their needs and their experience would be quite different.

Many public school kids have terrible experiences. This doesn't and shouldn't automatically lead to the next generation home schooling. Those decisions should be made by each parent/child combination as to what meets the needs of the children/family the best.

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Pros -

- Scheduling. It's easier to fit lessons in around appointments, work, and the child's best learning times. We take a break when needed vs on set 15 minute schedules like in school.

- Education. I feel that I am allowing my child to excel past what they would in school. I am able to cater to their learning styles.

- Sleep! Between the strenuous homework and getting up early to catch the bus, my child was severely lacking on much needed rest.


Cons -

- Religion. While this is considered a pro to many, I found it a hassle when looking through various homeschooling programs. As an atheist, it made it more difficult to find a curriculum that I approved of.

- Time. A lot of time and energy is spent ensuring your little one is getting all of the education they will need, especially when they get closer to college age. It's essentially a full time job.

- Money. While not true in all families, such as those running a daycare, a lot of homeschooling parents are dependent on one income.



That's all I can think of for right now! I'll be sure to add later.

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See, I had no problem with curriculum because I created my own - patch worked together & changed as needed; no religion had to be involved because the beauty of Homeschooling is you don't have to use pre-packaged stuff... I found tons of stuff online & actually found textbooks that the schools had abandoned eons ago that actually taught the basics of different Maths unlike todays books. I was able to use basic 101 College classes online for high schooling to go with other stuff I found too, it just took hours of research weekly, but it worked for us.

I used road trips to teach american history along with the arts & science - I would allow DD to map out routes and we hunted down historic areas to research; taught her mapping skills too. Along the way we would stop in art and science museums (one card provided free access to 250 science museums around the country, another allowed us access to the Art Museums).

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Which thankfully I know now, however I've met a lot of homeschooling moms who didn't know they could do that. Nor did I for the first year. (Though that might be all my fault! )

How do you go about getting specific lab work done? Some colleges require it depending on the major, and that's a concern of mine.

(Sorry OP, I know this is off topic)

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Well for chemistry, we had the option of DD taking one class at the High school (the one that kept making her ill which is why we went back to Homeschooling in the first place) and when that failed 6 weeks in, I did some Kitchen experiments with her - including making soap in a Blender; Lye is dangerous and you must measure precise etc etc. We used Singapore Science for High school also... they do Biology, Chemistry & Physics all at the same time over a couple of years then they do O levels. You need to be up to speed on Math basics thru Algebra 2 at minimum to pull it off.

I was already making soap in bulk on weekends as a side business, so that was easy for Kitchen Chemistry stuff. She decided to get a 4 year liberal Art degree, minoring in medical - she took Biology instead of Chemistry, so our basic stuff worked... Not sure if one needed to have a real heavy Lab class what I would have done except hunt down a group of other homeschooling moms that needed to do the same & higher a teacher?

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Many curricula come with a lab component.
http://www.scienceshepherd.com/biology/
being one, but there are several. As to getting them done with daycare and other small children, we would often stay up later than the little ones. We allowed the high school kids to sleep later, but be up doing experiments at 11pm or midnight.

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I found this as well... http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/...ur-home-total-
package/http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/...total-package/

A lot of the LAB based stuff wasn't around when I homeschooled - most of what was available was Christian based labs which I tried to avoid. I still hunt stuff down for my older DD who supplements @ home for the grandkids seeing as the schools are lacking in certain things

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