Hot for Teacher!

[cow pollinater]

Man Oh Man, It is back to school time and I met teacher the other day My kids don't know just how good they got it! She's smart, funny, sassy, and has more than enough sex-appeal to go around. Learning will be fun this year.
Thank God we're a homeschool family or my marriage would be in big trouble!

Now that I have your attention, raise your hand if you homeschool. What challenges have you had along the way? What would you do differently? What really worked that you didn't expect to?

[BEES4U]

What no Back to School or Open House.
Whew!
Ernie

[Hambone]

Now that I have your attention

You had me.....

[dragonfly]

CP, you're crazy in a great sort of way.

I didn't homeschool (that was basically unheard-of when I was child-rearing), but I have several friends who either did or currently do. The only complaints I've heard were in arranging (time-wise) cooperative-type agreements with other homeschooling parents. For example, if your forte is math, but you are really crummy in history, you may want to arrange for one of your homeschooling friends to teach your kids history, while you return the favor by teaching their kids math.
Also, some parents have a very difficult time structuring for school time vs home time and getting their children to switch gears from teacher to mom and dad.
Most of the successful homeschoolers I have known networked heavily with other people in their area who also homeschooled.

[Josh Carmack]

Seriously seriously considering it, especially since I have pretty much been labeled a terrorist in several different ways by the same people that run our schools. Figure I might as well start educating my four little terrorist on my own.

[justin]

i am supposed to turn my sweet little 5 year old bee keeping ninja over to public education system next monday. i am dreading it. he already knows how to read and add and count to 100 can't i just wait a few years? i had a terrible public education and was pretty awkward socially, and found children to be the nastiest people on earth to each other so i am not excited for him. my wife taught at the local public school until she got pregnant with the 2nd one (2 year old girl) and is still involved (school gardens and after school program) so homeschooling wasn't really an option, especially if the wife needs to go back to teaching. the good news is it's a small school. class sizes are between 6 and 12 kids and they get lots of individual attention. he is all fired up to go of coarse. sorry if the thread was supposed to be about people who are homeschooling, i am just a nervous dad. justin
oh, did i mention that we only did the immunizations that we were ok with and now my wife has to go sign a religous waiver so he can attend.

[Hambone]

oh, did i mention that we only did the immunizations that we were ok with and now my wife has to go sign a religous waiver so he can attend.

Really? (religous waiver part) Didn't know they had that. I was just wondering if you don't want your kids to have those shots, but still want them in school how that would work. I have 2 young daughters. Soon to be 4 and soon to be 7 mnts.

I took my 6 month old to the doc last week. She had to get 3 shots. All immunization shots and I was talking to my wife and we were like geez...they got this and that shots. They gave her the same ones at the 3 months stage. But I told the wife I am going to look up all these shots and see what they are and why they really need them. I got the list from the doc on what the next years worth of shot will be. So I have some research to do. I think some states require some that others don't. If you don't mind me asking. Which shots did you refuse and why? PM me if you want.



Sorry CP. Not trying to hijack your thread.

[Tom G. Laury]

Well both of our girls attended public schools but their education certainly didn't end there. We spent enough time together reading, eating, talking exploring and recreating that any poor outside influence didn't have much of a chance.

[cow pollinater]

CP, you're crazy in a great sort of way.

Wow, thanks dragonfly! Lots of people call me crazy but it isn't to often that they say it's a good thing!

Tom, I think you hit the nail on the head. Good parenting is half the battle no matter where they attend school.

For us homeschooling is a health issue. My son has severe allergies to many wind pollinated plants with the worst being bermuda grass... Ten minutes in bermuda grass and the kid starts acting like he's on crack. He's really a sweet kid but when his allergies act up he's a handfull even for me. For him to go to public school he'd have to suffer until allergy shots kick in and stay indoors while everyone else gets to go outside.

[cow pollinater]

What no Back to School or Open House.
Whew!
Ernie

No back to school... No open house... But man are the parent/teacher conferences ever fun!

[WannaBee]

I am a homeschool grad, but I do help school my siblings of 1 1/2 -4-10-13. Yes I still live at home with my family and will continue until I am married We love being homeschooled and consider a lot of things school projects, like honey bees and milk cows (with the milk cow comes cheese making, butter and ice cream class) When I am not helping out with the kids I run on the ambulance, boy talk about a eye opener for a homeschooled kid.

Derek, I think that it is a good idea to look in to immunization. I was completely immunized but I was the only one, the only immunizations that we get are tetanus shots. A good book to get if you are interested in researching is A Shot In The Dark, By Harris L. Coulter and Barbara Loe Fisher. It was a real eye opener for our family. I found out how much immunizations where a part of our culture when I looked into a Advanced class for my EMS at a local college and I could not enrole becouse I was not immunized.

Ps cow pollinater, my dad thinks that our teacher is pretty hot as well.

Chantal

[walking bird]

Does it count as home schooling if I stayed home a lot rather than go to school?

Actually, now that I think of it... I guess in my case it should more accurately be called, "beach schooling."

[HVH]

Dragonfly is right on the money as usual. My kids are 15 and 16 (homeschooled) and have been enrolled at our local college for two years now. The networking with other homeschoolers is really important. Our kids mainly have other homeschool kids as friends which is really great because those kids are very respectful, really motivated and really smart. The friends they keep are just as important (probably more important) as the education they receive. I remember when my wife and I decided to homeschool, the most common criticism was over a fear that our kids would not be socialized - this is 180 degrees from reality.

[indypartridge]

When my girls were much younger, one year we did a homeschool curriculum based on the "Little House" books. In "Little House in the Big Woods" there's a chapter "Pa and the Bee Tree", so that meant unit study on honeybees. As part of that, I took a day off work and we went to visit a beekeeper. Just another field trip, right? Well, my girls finished the unit study, but I never did.

[giant pumpkin peep]

I will be a frshman in high school. My dad wanted to home school me. thankfully the boss(mom) decided to put me in a private 7 day aventis school.
we wern't religous people. it was just across the street from her work. In 2nd grade I went to public school. It was great! The only bad year I had was when I was lazy and we got a wicked mean sub because my techer had her baby. Then middle school was a blast. A school year felt more like a month. My 8th grade year, I had a very bad class behaiver wise. Sometimes half the class would be suspended or not there. Some people could never shut up. It helped me learn how to focus when it is hard to. No I can focus almost anywhere. Next year I am going to a very good charter school. Turning down the best public school in city and maybe the state to go there. 3 days a week you are in school. Classas are alternitive. You have to have math and language. After that there are ton of coll class choices and there test scores are very good. the other 2 days of the week you are out in the communitie doing something. each year has a different set of interships you can do. Then your senoir year go only have a half year of school and then do 2 eight week interships. I am looking very forward to this school.

[Barry]

Ditto what HVH said. We homeschooled our 5 kids. The oldest till she was 13 and the other kids for various lengths of time. All our kids are very well adapted socially and 4 out of 5 placed in the top percent of their classes when in public school. I'm a big supporter of homeschooling.

[HVH]

I will be a frshman in high school. My dad wanted to home school me. thankfully the boss(mom) decided to put me in a private 7 day aventis school.
we wern't religous people. it was just across the street from her work. In 2nd grade I went to public school. It was great! The only bad year I had was when I was lazy and we got a wicked mean sub because my techer had her baby. Then middle school was a blast. A school year felt more like a month. My 8th grade year, I had a very bad class behaiver wise. Sometimes half the class would be suspended or not there. Some people could never shut up. It helped me learn how to focus when it is hard to. No I can focus almost anywhere. Next year I am going to a very good charter school. Turning down the best public school in city and maybe the state to go there. 3 days a week you are in school. Classas are alternitive. You have to have math and language. After that there are ton of coll class choices and there test scores are very good. the other 2 days of the week you are out in the communitie doing something. each year has a different set of interships you can do. Then your senoir year go only have a half year of school and then do 2 eight week interships. I am looking very forward to this school.

This is tung in chick rite? My uncle dad put me in the Evelyn Woodhead sped redden corse and I cann now red buks reely fast. Jus the utter nite I red the "Hite Report" what a screem.

[DRUR]

I took a wife in 1977, had first of my nine children in 1978 (last born in 1996), and all have been homeschooled, 3 still at home, One graduated college Magna Cum laude, all on president's or dean's list. All 3.8 grade point or higher, two currently at 4.0. Lot of work and dedication, but seems like it is worth it.

[HVH]

I took a wife in 1977, had first of my nine children in 1978 (last born in 1996), and all have been homeschooled, 3 still at home, One graduated college Magna Cum laude, all on president's or dean's list. All 3.8 grade point or higher, two currently at 4.0. Lot of work and dedication, but seems like it is worth it.

I look back on my screwed up childhood and think the only really lucky/smart decision I have ever made is homeschooling my kids. My family (brothers) were completely dysfunctional, I am the only kid to graduate from high school let alone college. We had drug issues, alcohol, and homosexuality to deal with in my immediate family and have found that I was able to correct course with my own kids by staying married (they call those vows) and letting my very smart wife be a great mom and teacher. I will go to my death bed regretting a lot of terrible decisions, but I will also have the satisfaction of leaving two brilliant kids behind that are ten time more mature than I was at their age and knowing that my major contribution to mankind will live beyond my years. I will never be able to put into words the benefits I see in removing kids from state control and raising them at home. I don't think parents realize just how destructive the public education establishment has become. This was always part of the plan but most parents won't take the time to read about the history of public education and its destructive goals.

[NasalSponge]

We home schooled our children, the two oldest until high school and the two younger a shorter length of time. Socialization...the process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it. Children are not socialized by their peers!

Do lots of research on the curriculum's before dropping the coin, if you are in a HSer group (if not get in one) ask them to show you what they are using and how they like it. Not all children learn the same way, stay open to this. We used lots of hands on stuff. We did not use an "all in one" curriculum but picked and choose from lots of different curriculum's.