thinking about home schooling but very nervous

[ymaddox]

Hi everyone I am new to this and am very interested in the possibility of home schooling but dont know if it is right for me or my children. Today actually was the straw that broke the camels back for me...we go to school to pick up my daughters homework she has strept throat, assured it would be ready by three and go to pick it up and it's not ready not even started to be ready and everyone puts the blame on everyone else and then the counselor apparently hatefully gives my daughter worksheets kind of flipping them to her, my husband went and she went because she is two days in on antibiotics and not contagious and needed to get things from her locker she was sure her dad would miss, the doctor said she could not go back to school till thursday. Anyway my husband explained this was not the first time this had happened and he would not be leaving without her homework which immediately made him the most popular visitor of the school for the day i'm sure lol. This happens all the time and my kids are so behind in school in my honest opinion and my daughter complains all the time when she asks questions at school she is ignored or told to go sit down. This school system has been a horror from elementary school on but it multiplies by 5 in middle school on. My oldest daughter ended up dropping out because she was going to have to go two years longer and got her ged and is now in college. Her and my son have learning disabilities. My son is adhd and the college daughter has a conceptual learning diability. We have three my son is 17 and a sophmore he was held back in elementary school and failed a grade and i do fear that when he turns 18 in a few months school may become less appealing to him just for the fact he has struggled all this time, he has the ability to do it because if i threaten taking his car it is quite obvious what areas he struggles in because the rest are a's,b's, and c's and his geometry is a f. I think he puts little effort into the other courses so that tells me he can do it. He also complains he is not being taught and funny thing is I have a friend that her son graduated very high in his graduating class and he also basically said he taught his self and that the teachers did not teach. So my thinking is if they are teaching themselves and just busied at school if i gave 2 hours a day homeschooling look at how much more education they are getting. Our second is 12 and she is in 7th grade, the one i was telling about the strept throat. Of course the oldest who is 19 almost 20 is not even a issue at this point but the routine may very well be greatly beneficial to her in college. I know it sounds as if i have already convinced myself so here comes why i am apprehensive. I am not so nervous about teaching the 7th grader but it makes me a bit nervous thinking of trying to teach geometry and classes of that magnitude to the 17 year old. Also I am a nurse and work 12 hour shifts and at least 2 days overtime every two weeks. I wonder if I have the proper amount of time they need to teach them and therefore you wonder how fair it would be to them. My husband has suffered a back injury and is unable to work and seeking diability, which is a very fun process if anyone has ever gone through it...time consuming in itself. He is no help as far as the children's education are concerned because he only went through the ninth grade, worked with his back all his life. Although, he could assuredly get them on path why i am at work. And to boot my mom who is 55 had a stroke this last summer was in the hospital for 6 months and just had surgery the other day to be able to walk again so looks like she may be in rehab. for a few months and my dad depends on me for help. So i have alot on my plate to start with...but i am thinking how can they be getting any worse a education than they are already getting but then i think do i have the time to allot that would be fair to them. I want to do what is in my childrens best interest but i am also so fed up with the school system i could scream...it is to the point i dont even fight for my children anymore when it comes to the school. I used to email each teacher and check on them, attend all the conferences etc... but it seems so in vain because nothing changes. They just dont seem to care. I am at a loss as to what to do and still be fair to my children. What do you guys think?

[ymaddox]

also what are your thoughts on home schooling so late in the game? One being in 7th and the other in 10th? thanks for any advice and help in advance.

[Linda]

It is to your advantage that you have a 7th and 8th grader. They do not need one on one time. At that age you can point them in a direction and they can do the rest.

As for geometry...try"TeachingTextbooks" found at http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/
This program comes with an instructional CD which explains each lesson and every solution. Your 17 year old will be able to work on this independently at his own pace.

[Miss_Kristy]

Well, if you are looking for encouragement you're in the right place. Of course we're all a bit biased.

IMO homeschooling would be great for your situation. Your kids are old enough not to need you to sit with them the entire day and pour over every little detail. If they apply themselves they would probally learn ALOT more than they would in PS.

The bottom line here is that the school system is not going to change. You have to take action. YOU will be the one responsible for your children's education weather they are homeschooled or not. And it seems that in your case PS is just not working.

I hope that things get better in your family situation. Let us know what you decide.

[ymaddox]

thanks for all that posted comments. I appreciate the encouragement, I was more concerned with feasibility. I wondered if this was feasible with everything else going on in my life hence why the post was so long I wanted to be completely honest so that those of you who have done this would know where my life stands and if this was something that would work, i knew you would know better than anyone else having done it and some of you for years from what i have read on this board. There is still alot of research to do before we make a comittment to this as this is a very big decision in my honest opinion. But I have to admit we are becoming very excited about the possibilities. I feel like hs offers you the unique ability to teach your children and relate it to life which makes it so much more fun than the way presented in a classroom setting ( My kids say all the time why do i have to learn this it has nothing to do with life), and the big plus is where ps does not encourage christianity you can do that in a hs setting...in my opinion this is where the schools started veering way off track, but just my opinion. I am sure i will have a hundred more questions so thank you so much for taking your time to help me!

[Jazzy]

Chalkdust is another video program you can use to teach math.

I agree with the others, your kids can work mainly independently at this point and it sounds like homeschooling would be great for your family.

I have a family member who had to go through the whole disability process. You're right that it's no fun!

[SandyMilton]

Although my situation isn't as hectic as yours, I also have a full time job in banking, my husband does not work. I recently withdrew my 12 year old from PS in order to homeschool him (using the "private school" option for attendance purposes for Florida requirements). I also have a 13 year old that does not want to be homeschooled for the moment, which is fine. His grades are good and he's content (although I truly do not care for this school's handling of special needs children - he is bipolar and adhd).

Anyway, back to the 12 year old. He's a highly intelligent child. Can read ahead of grade level, can do math calculations in his head (so much so that a teacher accused him of cheating on his work because she couldn't "see" the work, just the answers.... to which "mamma bear" got on her about... my son showed the teacher how he can do it in his head, and we got an apology out of that teacher).

Peer pressure is what is getting to him. He's a "good kid" and gets teased a lot... I guess it's not the "in" thing to actually behave and have good manners. Needless to say, his self-esteem took a nose dive and his grades have gone to the failing level.

He'd actually begged me to homeschool him last year, but I was under the impression that we needed to spend a ton of money (which was out of the question). After his most recent incident at school, to which he flat out refused to go back (he was sent to the guidance office for "body odor" to which the lady told me that she couldn't smell a thing, don't know why they'd send him down, and she just felt I should know....). That was the straw. I just stopped everything I was doing, gave him a couple days home while I poured over everything I could find... and found that YES we can homeschool him, can choose to spend what we want, and can even let his interest spark the learning path for him.

That was our solution. I went into school the next day and formally withdrew him and "transferred" him to a "private" school that we registered within the next few days. He's now 100% homeschooled, and we're taking it slow - I'm finding many free resources online, and also have the ability to sign him up for Florida Virtual School as well to supplement some of his education. Where there is a will, there is a way. We are lucky in the aspect our children are at the age where we don't need to sit with them 100% of the time.

[ymaddox]

[Theodore]

[ymaddox]

[Theodore]

[tsmama24]