Homeschool World Forum

[nerdycool]

Hi everyone! This site is great and I've spent a good portion of the night just reading and learning but there's still so much to learn!

A little about me... I'm 25, college educated, engaged to be married next Oct., and no, I don't have kids yet. So why am I here? Yes, this will get kind of long because I like to ramble.

About 6 months ago, my fiance and I were talking about our ps experiences, the current situation in our ps's, and how it's affected us. We both went to ps from K-12. My experiences were decent to awesome. I will always remember my hs years as very memorable. I am smart, but not "gifted", so ps worked well for me. It was a large school district, so the variety of classes were great, and if I was "gifted" I would have had the opportunity for taking the many AP classes offered. My elementary and middle school years were alright, though I did experience a little teasing because I am very shy. Nothing that traumatized me though.

However my fiance had a pretty bad time. He's very gifted and at the time where he was, there weren't special classes for the more advanced students. So he'd finish his work and just sit around doing nothing. In hs, he took all the advanced classes he could (they didn't offer much in AP classes though...maybe 3-4 subjects) and again, sat around bored while others worked. The school board wouldn't let him graduate early because his grades weren't high enough. He wasn't challenged enough so in essence, he didn't care enough to get great grades. Through his experiences, he hated school because he felt he didn't get the attention he needed to learn more.

I've always known that I wanted to stay home with my kids, although the thought of homeschooling didn't enter until recently. A recent discussion about education has opened my eyes to the harsh reality which is starting to take place in our public schools, much of which started with No Child Left Behind. More standardized tests? Hello... they are ok if done only 3 times from K-12, but now it's more like every other year? Life is not about standardized tests! And because of ST's, important classes are being dropped, like art, music, and even social studies just so they can cram more math and reading down the kids' throats. The education is not very well-rounded anymore and it will be to the detriment of our society when these kids grow up. I know I can do a better job at teaching than if I sent my future kids to ps. FH wholeheartedly agrees.

Another factor in my decision stems from all the school shootings recently. I remember a time when going to school was considered safe. Apparently that's not so now. Kids don't learn well when they feel unsafe, and perhaps home will be best for learning.

I do realize that I have many years to go before I actually start homeschooling, but it's never too early to start planning IMHO. I plan on homeschooling from K-6 and then take it from there. If my kids feel like they are missing out and want to go to ps, by all means, they can go. But they'll go with a strong educational foundation.