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I would love to homeschool my children if the option were available to me. My husband is a second year teacher, and although he will admit there are faults with the system, he feels they are better off in school. I find myself often frustrated with the school, but I know I don't have much of a secular support system available to me here. Plus, I know you can technically homeschool for free, but for the eclectic style I'd like, I wouldn't be able to afford the materials or the fees for the extras I'd need at this point.
I still keep abreast of the magazines, websites, and homeschooling books which interest me. I fit some of these things in on weekends or summers or the occasional holiday. I also do a bit of afterschooling so they kids get what I feel they are missing in school. They seem to be lacking heavily in the sciences, arts, and social sciences. I feel as though they spend the entire day doing reading/english and a very dumbed down math, though I'm lucky that this school still uses Saxon math. One child is very bored and ends up doodling on his pages because he finishes ahead. One child is opposite; he doodles because he is behind and gives up.
However, I really hate that some homeschooling groups are quite condescending regarding public school. Some are so full of anger and have this highly distorted view of public school as some sort of dungeon of ineptitude where every single child is a brainwashed drone and moron. Plus, people still can choose to have their children participate in scouts or 4-H or music lessons or the YMCA or nature walks or museum visits or any number of other programs a homeschooler participates in if the parent/guardian encourages it. It's not like these activities are exclusive to homeschoolers, though there are some supporters who seem to make it out that way.
I live in a state with a very free homeschooling policy. It's nice to know that in case I ever do find myself in a position to homeschool. I do love the idea of it and wish my husband or family would support it. But I don't think my kids will turn into dummy drones if I have to keep them in school.
If one cannot secure a position as an educator within the public or charter school systems, then what makes that individual qualified to teach mathematics, english, history, chemistry, etc. at all? If that person can or is a licensed educator, by all means they have the right to do as they wish, and boast about it for that matter.
There are homeschool programs out there that use accredited schools and qualified teachers. A program that is filed in my brain in case I need to HS one of my children is of that sort and is very rigorous. You need to mail in assignments to be graded and keep up with the schedule.
We get that at co-op. ... or the "you'll go to Hell if you don't love Jesus" speeches (all of which were part of their third grade year in public school),
You know what is so funny about that is I would have to work to find a homeschool group around here where my kids would not hear that (well, something similar) from the other kids. I know someone (different state) who decided to go it alone instead of joining a group/coop/association because of that.
I would homeschool if the public schools available to me were unsafe for my kids and I for whatever reason didn't prefer to or couldn't relocate. That's about it.
I'd prefer that my kids attended school with peers, though.
Parents want to keep their children safe given today's high level of violence in all schools
Parents want to keep their children safe given today's high level of violence in all schools. Parents want to give their children the chance to succeed without having to worry whether they will come home from school alive.
Parents want to keep their children safe given today's high level of violence in all schools. Parents want to give their children the chance to succeed without having to worry whether they will come home from school alive.
Vangoodman, this is really an overstatement. Of course some schools have a high level of violence, but many do not -- and of those which do, the violence tends to fall largely along fairly predictable lines (e.g., gang membership). Violence varies within a community. The school at which I teach, for example, is extremely safe -- I can't think of the last time there was a fight. FWIW, I teach in a depressed socioeconomic area with kids drawn from all over our city.
It's still perfectly within a parent's rights to decide not to send his or her children to an unsafe school setting. A parent who doesn't put his or her children's safety first if there is an acknowledged, known threat is not a good parent.
Parents want to keep their children safe given today's high level of violence in all schools. Parents want to give their children the chance to succeed without having to worry whether they will come home from school alive.
School violence is rare. I suppose kids would be safer if they stayed home all day, though, as the most dangerous part of the school day is getting to and from school, whether by bus, car, walking, or biking. Of course any parent who participates in out-of-the-house programs will be facing the dangers of being on the roads, too, so that argument is pretty limited.
I also agree with a previous poster that just because your kids aren't home schooled doesn't mean that they can't also participate in many of the same activities that homeschoolers do. It might not be during the school hours, but most involved parents try to create an informal learning-friendly environment, bring their children to volunteer, as well as take advantage of the many opportunities offered (often for free) at local museums, libraries, and other such institutions. And, for that matter, many schools also incorporate those very sorts of things into their own curriculums.
School violence is rare. I suppose kids would be safer if they stayed home all day, though, as the most dangerous part of the school day is getting to and from school, whether by bus, car, walking, or biking. Of course any parent who participates in out-of-the-house programs will be facing the dangers of being on the roads, too, so that argument is pretty limited.
This depends on area. I went to one of the safer districts in my area, and we had plenty of violence. At my first high school, we had a teacher attacked. A kid hit her over the head with a trophy. There were fights everyday with multiple uniformed and non-uniformed police officers at the campus all the time. There were officers at all of the entrances and exits. Seeing as school around here aren't in one big building, that was a lot. Most of the schools in the district only had one uniformed and a few non-uniformed. We had multiple bomb threats everyday. One day we had a lockdown that lasted half of the day. Another day 3/4 of the students went home before school started because there was a hitlist along with the time that day that it would all start. This was all in one year.
My second school, which is in the same district, wasn't nearly as bad, though. However, the previous year there was a shooting at the choir concert. There were still fights, but they weren't as often. Of course, that first school I went to was known to be the worst in the district because of its location. It had a lot of students from the neighboring city (which is the worst in the county), and is in the poorest part of the city. The second school is known to be the second best in the city. So, pick somewhere in the middle, and that is how most of the schools would have been. Remember, too, that this is one of the safer districts in the area. The city to the north is much worse, and the city to the south is the worst in the county.
I would love to homeschool my children if the option were available to me. My husband is a second year teacher, and although he will admit there are faults with the system, he feels they are better off in school. I find myself often frustrated with the school, but I know I don't have much of a secular support system available to me here. Plus, I know you can technically homeschool for free, but for the eclectic style I'd like, I wouldn't be able to afford the materials or the fees for the extras I'd need at this point.
I still keep abreast of the magazines, websites, and homeschooling books which interest me. I fit some of these things in on weekends or summers or the occasional holiday. I also do a bit of afterschooling so they kids get what I feel they are missing in school. They seem to be lacking heavily in the sciences, arts, and social sciences. I feel as though they spend the entire day doing reading/english and a very dumbed down math, though I'm lucky that this school still uses Saxon math. One child is very bored and ends up doodling on his pages because he finishes ahead. One child is opposite; he doodles because he is behind and gives up.
However, I really hate that some homeschooling groups are quite condescending regarding public school. Some are so full of anger and have this highly distorted view of public school as some sort of dungeon of ineptitude where every single child is a brainwashed drone and moron. Plus, people still can choose to have their children participate in scouts or 4-H or music lessons or the YMCA or nature walks or museum visits or any number of other programs a homeschooler participates in if the parent/guardian encourages it. It's not like these activities are exclusive to homeschoolers, though there are some supporters who seem to make it out that way.
I live in a state with a very free homeschooling policy. It's nice to know that in case I ever do find myself in a position to homeschool. I do love the idea of it and wish my husband or family would support it. But I don't think my kids will turn into dummy drones if I have to keep them in school.
At the risk of sounding like one of those homeschoolers that tend to point out the flaws of public school, you just said in your post that you have 2 children that are not reaching their potential in a school situation. One is bored and not being challenged and the other isn't understanding the concepts and is "giving up". How can you consider that to be a positive school experience? How in the world is that superior to homeschooling?
Sure, a public schooled child can do all of those extra curricular activities that homeschoolers claim to do, but they are awfully hard to fit into a schedule after the child has sat int he classroom for 35 + hours a week. You'd rather "afterschool" them than take responsiblity for the education that you think is failing them? When dothey have time for anything other than school, and then more "school" with you? Howis that a better solution?
THIS post is why people get all riled up about homeschooling being a better option. Many parents are just like you and are claiming that the schools are fabulous in one breath and then complaining about how poorly your child is doing in another.
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Parents want to keep their children safe given today's high level of violence in all schools
