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Thank you for responding so thoughtfully and thoroughly. I really appreciate it. To answer your questions:
1) She does not have a part-time job right now, which I'm happy about.
2) She sometimes does stay up too late texting (she's not a gamer or web surfer), but, overall, I'd say that she's conscious about turning out the light and turning off her phone at a decent hour. I think, though, that worries about school and social issues keep her awake. I've been working with her on trying to combat the anxiety she feels.
3) She's usually pretty good about getting her homework done by 8 or 9:00.
4) No, I don't serve my family dinner at 9pm (LOL. Are you kidding me? ) We usually eat dinner by 6 or 6:30 pm.
5) We don't allow her to stay out past 10:30 pm on weekends, and she readily complies with this. Though my daughter loves to socialize, she's a homebody at heart, I think.
6) She's only in a couple of clubs at school which meet infrequently, so extra-curriculars aren't an issue.
7) As I told kitkatbar, she drives to school, but she's got to be out of the house by 7am at the absolute latest. She's getting up by 6:00 am at the latest.
Her school begins the day at 7:25, which I think is ridiculously early. I don't believe in babying teenagers, but it's a biological fact that teens need a lot of sleep. Coupled with the fact that their sleep/wake cycles change drastically during puberty (their bodies seem to naturally prefer a later go to sleep time/later wake time) and this means that these early starts produce many chronically sleep deprived teens.
I know that some school districts across the country have recognized this fact, and have changed the school start times accordingly with good results, apparently. I really think that if schools changed their start times, we would have teens with far fewer emotional problems (less anxiety and depression), increased attentiveness in school, and better academic outcomes. I grew up in another country with later school start times, and my family cannot believe how early my kids start their school days.
Last edited by newdixiegirl; 01-05-2014 at 12:30 PM..
My daughter, who is halfway through her junior year, now says she wants to homeschool. She hasn't ever been that happy at her high school, but I'm not sure if sending her to another school would be a more positive experience for her (a previous 2-month stint at a private school in her sophomore year confirmed this).
The problems seem to be primarily social in nature, but she also feels stressed over grades (though she does well). And truthfully, I think the school day starts ridiculously early in the morning, so she's chronically sleep-deprived. That reason alone makes me consider homeschooling.
Have any parents out there chosen to pull their child/children out of school during the high school years to pursue a homeschooling program? If so, why? How did you get started, and what have been the outcomes? Is it at all possible to do this if both her father and I work full-time? Do you regret your decision, or is there anything you would have done differently?
Thanks so much for any ideas and/or opinions anyone cares to offer.
Let her do it, so much of High School is a big waste of time. Look into online schools. They can complete their school work in about 1/4 of the time and encourage her to get a job and get "socialized that way." My neighbor's kid did online school. She was in community college when the rest of her class was in their Senior Year and since she could work anytime, she had a job she loved at a local radio station.
Think outside the box. Traditional school is outdated.
This and the fact that she was at a whole different school sophomore year = red flag.
What is really going on, OP?
Do you have other children?
Wmsn4Life,
She was in a different school for the first couple of months of her sophomore year, but decided to return to her current school. I think a big part of the problem is that we moved here from another state the summer before her freshman year (to the same county that you live in, funnily enough), and it has been a bigger transition for her than either she or her father and I thought it would be. Her two siblings have adjusted better than she has, it seems.
A big part of me says exactly what you're saying. I know kids who home schooled for part of their high school years, and they seemed to enjoy it. In fact, some of the friends my daughter has made here have always been home schooled or have left traditional high school to be home schooled, and they say they love it.
As with everything, there are pros and cons to both, I guess. Thank you for your input!
A big part of me says exactly what you're saying. I know kids who home schooled for part of their high school years, and they seemed to enjoy it. In fact, some of the friends my daughter has made here have always been home schooled or have left traditional high school to be home schooled, and they say they love it.
If your daughter has an active group of friends outside school, then I would be less concerned about the socialization aspect of it and more inclined to give it a try. You didn't say what exactly her social problems are at high school (and that's fine), but if it's typical mean-kid stuff, I think a good part of that goes away in college. Suddenly you have a group that is more concerned about grades, everyone is new, no one has that group of friends they've stuck with since grade school, and because of campuses being larger and classes mixed, it seems easier to meet more people and harder for "cliques" to form. So if she's experiencing problems with the high school crowd, but has a niche of friends with some homeschoolers, I'd be inclined to let her try it for a semester, provided she's the type who could handle teaching herself stuff on her own and not just spend the day texting.
I don't know what state you're in, but there are some states that have a program where HS students (Jr/Sr) attend their local community colleges to complete credits for both HS and college. Of course at this point, she'd have to wait it out this year, but it's something she can do in her senior year. I've done it and loved it-- I was able to schedule my classes later in the day (and set it up where I went to school a couple days a week).
This is Washington's state (my home state) program: Running Start
Thankfully, her social issues are nothing terribly serious (no bullying or threatening). I think it's simply that she feels she doesn't quite fit in at her high school, though she loves our new city and says she wants to stay here forever. It's tough for her because she LOVED middle school and had a great group of friends there.
Inkpoe,
Thanks for the good suggestion!
Yes, we do have a similar program here, I've looked into it for her (in fact, I worked for an academic year at the community college she'd take classes at), and she plans to pursue that next year.
I wouldn't agree with it if this is a temporary social problem, and sometimes it's better not to run and hide, nor for the fact that school starts early. Often work starts early too so you have to learn to adjust.
You could have her check out some on-line homeschools however, see what is out there and if you think it would be the right thing for her. If she's a motivated student, she might get through more material if she were doing it on-line and on her own time.
As a kid that was battling depression and wanted to be homeschooled during high school, I say let her do it. Things only got worse for me.
If this is what she wants, then let her finish out the year being homeschooled. I don't think it's a big deal. As long as she's getting outside of the home and socializing with others, I don't see the harm. When I weigh the pros and cons, I think it's a good idea. After all, she's been in school for 10 years, at this point, she knows what's best for her education.
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) We usually eat dinner by 6 or 6:30 pm.
