Homeschool World Forum

I have a daughter that will be going into 5th grade next fall. She has NEVER been homeschooled up to this point. I was at a couple points, yet I also went to public school as a child. My homeschool experience wasn't the greatest, which has been one of the biggest reasons why I have not gone down this road yet with her.

I have debated throughout her childhood about homeschooling. However, her father and I (we are now divorced but I am remarried to a man who FIRMLY supports the opportunity) were in an area where I didn't feel there were enough resources outside of the home to provide her the social skills and opportunities that she needs. In our new area though, that is no longer a concern.

The point of this post is that, as I sit here and gather more information, I know that I will end up having to fight out my decision against my ex-husband. I want to be prepared with provable information on how this is a warranted decision. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

I feel strongly that I am being led to this decision. The school system in our town is great, however, my daughter is struggling in areas where she has NEVER struggled before and I can't really get any guidance as to where this is going wrong. I also believe that the education system is focusing more on teaching children to pass tests so they can get more funding instead of making sure they understand what they are learning.

Any advice?

There are loads of statistics available on how homeschoolers perform far better in grade school and high school academics. And all evidence points to the same being true of college and the real world, where homeschoolers tend to take leadership positions and be far ahead of their peers in their areas of expertise. As long as you have socialization covered with extracurriculars, I don't really see what possible objections your ex could have, especially for grade school, which sets the foundation for everything else.
http://www.nheri.org/NHERI-Research.html

I recommend checking out the HSLDA website.

There are loads of statistics out there if you google them. The websites already mentioned here are good for data.

Although there are many homeschooled children who have been successful, there are also many who have been unsuccessful. The same is true of traditionally schooled children. So any argument based on individual cases (e.g. "My friend was homeschooled and she is really smart") doesn't really carry much weight in the big picture. I recommend finding out the main reasons people are against homeschooling and finding some hard data to prove otherwise. In my experience, the main reasons are 1. poor social skills, 2. worse citizens, 3. worse quality of education, 4. worse job prospects, and 5. badly behaved/spoiled. All 5 of these actually don't hold up when you find statistics, and if you can find out in advance what else your ex-husband will throw out there, it would be good to arm yourself with data for those things as well.

Also: remember the power of the printed word. Telling him that homeschooled children end up making on average $x more than the traditionally schooled won't carry as much weight as telling him and handing him a printed official document saying the same thing. It also makes it harder for him to argue back immediately without reading the text in his hand, and hopefully by then his argument will be crushed by actual facts.

And a few sites with some statistics:
http://www.home-school.com/Articles/the-facts-are-in-homeschoolers-excel.html
and
http://www.conservapedia.com/Homeschooling

These both mention hard data supporting socialising, jobs, college opportunities, and academic abilities, which cover I think 1-4 above.

Do let us know what you end up doing!

Home Education is an excellent first choice alternative to Forced Schooling. the journey is worth the ride. Can't persuade anyone about the worth and value of truly listening to and understanding their own child, but I'd encourage you to have a go. Watching our child develop enriches our whole family, wouldn't exchange it for anything money could buy!

You have my prayers and support. This must be a hard situation.

Munchie and 1to1 have some good perspectives and I really like the idea of having the printed material ready to hand.

We're homeschooling for the benefit of the children morally. The other considerations come after this. I spent so much time sorting through text books that I finally started drafting my own resources. I love using the online resources - it sure beats going to the library for "extras" - especially when our little ones were tiny.

I, too, look forward to hearing how it goes.