Homeschooling Dilemma

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WG
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Homeschooling Dilemma

Postby WG » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:56 pm

My wife and I are torn as to whether we should homeschool my 7 year old son. He is the brightest child in his class and maybe even the 2nd grade.

A little background. He is not challenged with his class work or test. His midterm report he had 99% math which is not challenging to him since at home he works multiplication problems of 3 and 4 digits. Where his classroom math is at most 1 and 2 digit addition and subtraction...99% reading which he has tested above grade level for this subject...99% spelling ... 99% writing, his hand writing is a little poor but his ability to give cognative answers to what he reads is above his grade level I believe. He has been a very well mannered young man and a very social child, everyone seems to be his friend.

All of last year which was his first year in public school he had the same type grades and never got in to trouble. His teachers loved him. This year however is a different story.

He has been in trouble more than he has not. The coursework the teacher is assigning out of class and in class is not challenging him. He has been in trouble a lot this year for not paying attention and he is falling prey to pressure from other kids doing things they shouldnt.

We have spoke to his teacher and she has recommnended him to test for the gifted program. His teacher seems to think that some of the trouble he is getting in to is due to the fact he is bored when she talks about subjects he already knows and this is the reason he does not pay attention in class. However we see no advantage to the gifted program compared to his regular class. The gifted students only meet once a week.

So our dilemma is, do we leave him in public school and allow him to not be challenged academically and allow him to fall victim to social pressures of misbehaving, which will send the wrong signals to him in later years or do we choose to homeschool him to challenge his academic growth.

On a side note, we have considered private schools but there are none around this area. Maybe we are going overboard with this, but this is our only child and my wife and I are both very well educated and want our son to receive the best education possible.

If we could could we get your opinions and responses to some of these questions and our post please.

Do any of you see a positive sign of academic growth in your kids that were once in public school and now being homeschooled?

How hard is it to manage your work schedules and schooling?

How do you deal with the social aspects of socializing your child while being homeschooled?

Have any of you found it difficult to place your children back in to public school if you deem it appropreiate?

Big Question: Do your kids feel as if they are missing anything by not being in a public school with other kids their age?

Thank you :) in advance for the responses. We can use all the feedback we can get.

Ramona
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Re: Homeschooling Dilemma

Postby Ramona » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:38 pm


Lenethren
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Postby Lenethren » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:31 pm

I feel I can relate a bit to your situation. My youngest child is 7. She is extremely bright. She catches onto things quick and gets bored easily if not challenged. I did have her in public school. Her kindergarten teacher told the principal that she should be put up a grade as she was too bright to be where she was. However, even with both of them behind us we got nowhere as we needed the school boards approval.

Homeschooling lets me challenge her. She does the work required but then goes on to do whatever she enjoys. For example this month I gave her the 2nd grade math books that the school board recomended. She's just finishing the last chapter of it. The work was suppose to last her a school year...it barely lasted a month. But now we are free to go on to the 3rd grade books. In public school we didn't have the option of moving ahead.


Do any of you see a positive sign of academic growth in your kids that were once in public school and now being homeschooled? Yes, in my 10 yr old son as well as my 7 yr old daughter. My son doesn't grasp things easily and the one on one time we've had has made a world of difference in his ability to do even basic math problems.

How hard is it to manage your work schedules and schooling? I'm not emnployed but I do a great deal of volunteer work and my kids have lots of activities(I have a teenager as well). So we can't always stick to a regular schedule. Instead of saying we'll do this many hours of schoolwork a week I say this is the amount of schoolwork we'll complete in a week. Then we simply fit it in wherever possible.

How do you deal with the social aspects of socializing your child while being homeschooled? Another one of my issues with public school was that I was leaving my kids with teachers, some of whom I wouldn't hire to babysit and kids, most of whom I wouldn't have in my house. My kids are with me all the time so I feel they get a great deal of social time with adults from all walks of life(not just friends but people you see at the stores, the library, etc). As for kids I joined a homeschooling program that puts on a field trip once a month. This allows us to meet and make friends with other homeschooled families. On top of that my kids have activities throughout the year. Depending on the seasons they do dance lessons, music lessons, swim lessons, scuba diving, soccer, baseball, fencing, lacrosse, etc

Have any of you found it difficult to place your children back in to public school if you deem it appropreiate? I can't help with this one.

Big Question: Do your kids feel as if they are missing anything by not being in a public school with other kids their age? The only things my kids say they miss is hanging out with friends during recess and lunch 5 days a week.


As for the gifted program thats available to us as well even though she is homeschooled. Last year I said no to it thinking whats the point of a once a week class? After learning more about it though I have decided to go ahead and let her try the classes. So she starts that later this month. I'm not sure how it is in Florida but perhaps homeschooled students can go to the gifted program there as well.

Hope this has helped even a little bit.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.-Goethe

Terrie Bittner
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Postby Terrie Bittner » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:07 pm

I started my gifted children in public school. The transition worked out pretty well. It took about a year to overcome the effects of thinking their had to be a tangible reward for learning. I wanted them to learn for joy as they once had. I had a hard time figuring out where they really ought to be, so I had to stay flexible as I upgraded their learning levels.

They took classes off and on at the public schools, and one went back ocassionally. There was never any trouble, since they were always ahead--other than some boredom!

As for socialization, my kids seldom hung out with their school friends anyway because of distance. Their friends were in our neighborhood or at our church. You can find friends anywhere!
Terrie Lynn Bittner
http://www.terriebittner.com
Treasured Time for Homeschoolers

WG
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Postby WG » Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:19 pm


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Postby Miyu » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:59 pm


Janine72
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My answers to a few of them

Postby Janine72 » Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:05 pm

Work Schedules: I found homeschooling too difficult until I was able to stay home with my kids
Socialization: My kids have lots of friends at church--we go often and my oldest participates in the youth group.
Academic Improvement: My kids have been to public school, then Christian school, and now they are homeschooled. My oldest daughter did well in all three situations, but my son has improved since being homeschooled.
Left Out?: No, they are voluntarily continuing to homeschool because they like it so much! Who'd have guessed!
Public School: Not sure I understand the question, but if I had to put them in public school, they would be at grade level or above and would adapt as they always have to changes

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gifted programs

Postby Janine72 » Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:06 pm

My daughter was in a gifted program once, but there was so much homework it was like I was homeschooling her in the afternoons! (I was working a full time job at the time)

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Postby Calla_Dragon » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:35 pm

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

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Charter Schools?

Postby hummingbird » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:30 pm

Are there any charter schools in the area? These are supposed to be more rigorous than public schools. My mom is a teacher at one and it is much more rigorous than the surrounding public schools. Some of the homeschool families in our church are putting their kids in the charter school, b/c it has such a good reputation. Sometimes the public school system does fail us and is not adequate. However, a big issue for you in pulling you son out would be that he has no siblings. He may get lonely during the day without any kids his age or near his age around.
Here are some answers to your questions:

Have any of you found it difficult to place your children back in to public school if you deem it appropreiate?

I went back in eighth grade after being homeschooled my entire life before this. It was difficult. I liked math, so that is about all I did during my sixth and seventh grade years. I was a teenager and a rebel and did not always listen to my mom at this point. I would definitely recommend putting your child back in school before the troublesome teenage years set in.

Big Question: Do your kids feel as if they are missing anything by not being in a public school with other kids their age?

I do feel now that I missed out on parts of life being homeschooled for so long. It was difficult at first fitting in with kids, b/c they would talk about stuff in their life that didn't exist in mine. It was hard learning how to stand up for yourself. I also was behind on fashion and as ridiculous as that may sound, it is an important part of a teenage girl's life. I also did not know how to get work done quickly or write fast. At home, I could take as long as I wanted to do anything. It was literally culture shock for me. There is so much to learn by being around different people, you don't even realize until you are with them.
:D :D

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Home school vs public

Postby wesso14 » Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:50 pm

:) I have been in the situation where the school that my child was attending could not keep the attention of the stuff they were trying to teach she relized that she keep learning the same thjing over and over she was board.
hithere

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Postby Against Homeschooling » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:31 pm


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Postby Mark » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:38 am


StellarStory
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Postby StellarStory » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:30 pm

My girl was put in gifted programs that, to me, were a joke and more suited for "special" students.

My boy was made to feel that he was a poor student mostly because he was a boy. The SOP was to suggest all boys be held back in K-5 and medicated.

Socialization is not really an issue to us. The kids can still play sports, take music and so on, BUT it's not just with their own age group. They get a much wider experience of socialization with ALL ages. At our house kids know you don't treat someone without respect for any reason, particularly if they are a different age or grade than you.

What is an issue is NOT doing too much. Each time I try to cut our schedule down it seems like three things come up to replace it. It's so important to guard your family, couple and individual time, so you can have down time as well.

I think most of us are doing too much in todays world. I think it's nice to build in time to slow down. It's difficult to do though.

If you guys own your own business it's possible you could bring your child to work with his work.

Stellar


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