Found this article after posting my own rambling jumble of thoughts on home schooling. Wonderful and beautiful and true. Doesn't answer all the questions but answers the big one -- shouldn't I do what's best for my own?
Pros and Cons to Homeschooling:Why We Do It
6 comments:
love your previous post and love this article!! Oh Mardels, when will you open here? I keep going back and forth. Do kids homeschooled through high school usually go to college? All of my friends in HS that were homeschooled only went as far as associates degrees at community colleges. Nothing wrong with that, but I'd love my kids to have a shot at BU or TAMU or whatever they want.
I always think, man, with more and more littles at home, I think I should NOT homeschool, and then I'd get a little break. But then I think, they are only here with us a short time, and I will have my break when they have moved away.
Oh the decisions! Maybe we should start together?!?! And I definitely need to get ahold of that Ruth lady, she has 2 homeschooled, and 2 little ones, and I want to know EXACTLY how she does it!
http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/contents.html
A link from this post, to another post, to this website :)
I have very strong opinions on this topic...being an early childhood educator myself. But, what I have seen work best is when parents pay a visit to the school with their child and let them see the school and classrooms. Then the parents do a "mock" home schooling day at home. They then let the kid decide...and each year they let the child reevaluate and their choice and allow them to change if the child wants to. Often times these families end up with one in school and one at home. Surprisingly kids are really great at evaluating what they think would be best for them...even at a young age.
And by staying on the TEKS you are at least guaranteed that if/when they join school they are on target. That doesn't mean you can't go beyond, but that at least those goals are being met.
There are positives and negatives to both, and if you ever have questions about elementary level you can always get in touch with me. :) But, ultimately a kid needs to be where they think they will be happy...I don't think they should be where the parent thinks they will be happy. (That's just my two cents though.)
Love this article as well as your thoughts on the topic in the previous post. I'm farther from decision-time, but I've already been struggling with these questions.
My first choice for schooling for TH and our other children is a really high-quality Christian school where our whole family can be involved. Obviously I'm biased--I've spent 4 years at a classical Christian school that I'm enamored with and would love to see my children attend. I think that it avoids some of the "dangers" of a public school education while providing a good sense of structure and quality learning, even for busy boys.
In the event that Live Oak was not an option for us, though, I don't know what we'll do... my experience teaching formerly home schooled children (I've had at least a few every year) has convinced me that it's really hard to home school well (without passing my own limitations--math, science--on to my children), and yet a school environment that's only mediocre seems like a colossal waste of precious childhood time.
Keep posting as you work through these questions!
I think we just need to find some good teachers and open our own school (with people who want only their children's "tuition" in return because we already pay a private school's worth of tuition in taxes) that will be boy-friendly as well as girl. I love the ideas, but have the same issues you do with it.
What an inspired and inspiring woman. I didn't know such people existed in blog-land. Thanks, Valerie, for introducing me to this! --Alexis
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