My misadventures in Homeschooling.....

[Cheri]

Argh!


What possessed me to think I could do this? I am enrolling Corey in The Heritage Homeschool Academy out of Tulsa OK. I figured he would stand a better chance if I went with someone who could give him the curriculum than if I went out and got it my self. We are just getting started. I plan on making a journal. Please pray for my sanity?

[grumpydawn]

You'll be in my prayers.:)

[angeles]

Curriculum based, is homeschooling better than public schooling? I'm just curious.

-angeles

[jan]

WWS...you should be able to find the curriculum at the TX State Dept. of Ed website......I am not sure what they are called down there...here they are called PASS skills. They should provide you with what material students are responsible for each year in every subject. <br>What grade is he in???<br>angeles....homeschooling has its advantages and is quite popular with religious fundementals here. Here they even have homeschooling association so the kids can have someone to social with and do sports with. It takes a really focused and organized person to homeschool and do it right. I can work with any child with learning disabilities and moderate behavior problems all day but when it comes to my own kids it is another story.

[Cheri]

Jan: I am not doing this for religious reasons. I am doing it because I have no idea how to get him happy. He doesnt like school I am tired of getting phone calls all the time. I chose the school I did because it will give him all the records we will need should he decide he wants to go back to public school and if he doesnt it will give him a regular high school diploma instead of having to get a GED like most others have to do. It is a private school that actually have students attending classes on campus.

[jan]

Sounds good...<br>Just some words of caution....<br>This varies from state-to-state....but some have two types of "regular diplomas"..one that is the standard and then one they give to those who have completed graduation requirements outside the public school system or had a modified graduation track.<br>Also....you might want to check on TX's requirements to drive....here they have to be enrolled in school and have passed the state reading test for their grade level (or making progress towards it if they have a documented disability)...IF TX requires this, make sure you check on how to get the test before it is time for driver's ed....I have had several boys that couldn't get this and at 15 when ya are all set to take driver's ed and get that learner's permit and can't b/c ya don't have the test , it is like the end of the world LOL<br>Also if he plans to go to college, make sure their curriculum meets the college entry requirements. My mother spent about 40K sending my neice to this exclusive school that was very advanced (Dell's kid was there) but falled to require the computer course that UT requires so she is having to go to community college this semester.

[Cheri]

Thanks for the advice. I have about two years to worry about drivers ed. I may wait until he is 18.:D

[jan]

LOL...wait til 18!!!!.I won't tell him ya posted that ;)

[Cheri]

Well my oldest is having to wait. We just cant afford insurance for all of us. He will be able to work and get his own insurance.

[soMnUS]

My mom homeschooled me in grade 2 and my brother was in Gr.8 and after that she said never again. We slacked off as long as we could everyday before she got mad, we dawdled, we took as many bathroom breaks as we could and basically avoided work. I finished the entire school year 3 months early and kept working into the next grade but I probably gave her grey hair, lots of grief and made her mad frequently. Basically, lay down the rules right away, stick to them and make it "school time" for a set time of the day not just, "get your work done sometime today and I'll be happy" time. That was probably my mothers mistake although I'm sure I was NO help to her.

[Cheri]

Well I have one incentive. He likes to play on the computer. We will have no computer until work is done.

[BlueMoonSiren]

I myself homeschooled my son for a year and a half. I yanked him out of public school half way through third grade (we live in Buffalo, which was recently ranked as one of THE WORST public school disticts in the country, though at the time he was in a Gifted and Talented Magnet program) because he was slowly becoming delinquant. He had not turned in his home work for TEN WEEKS, and NO ONE GOT A HOLD OF ME. However this quote

We slacked off as long as we could everyday before she got mad, we dawdled, we took as many bathroom breaks as we could and basically avoided work. I finished the entire school year 3 months early and kept working into the next grade but I probably gave her grey hair, lots of grief and made her mad frequently.


adequately describes the major part of my experience with him and homeschooling. We were at eachother CONSTANTLY, and on top of that, I really did not feel he was getting what he needed from me as prime educator

Last year I was finally able to put him in a Waldorf school (these schools are internationally located, started in Europe by Rudolf Steiner about 100 years ago). This is a real accomplishment for many reasons as it is really always where I wanted him, but obstacles delayed that reality. The Waldorf philosophy is similar to that of Montessori schooling, though more holistic and cognitive. He's in 7th grade now, and will finish 8th grade where he is, then the quest begins all over again as there is not a Waldorf high school in our region. We are even considering moving to an area that does have one. We really have noticed a difference in our son and his self motivation since he has been there.

[CocaineLipgloss]

i live right down the street from a waldorf highschool, it is in saratoga springs, ny. my mom teaches at a private school, that is kind of a "spin off" of a waldorf school, they have a lof of the same philosophies. she does say that a lot of the kids come to her school from the waldorfs and they can barely string a sentence together.

[BlueMoonSiren]

What an odd experience your mother has had with Waldorf students. It is my understanding that across the board Waldorf educated students score signifigantly higher on things like SAT's...the 5th and 6th graders at my son's school are quite well spoken, more so the many highschoolers I know, and they do seem to assimilate their education in a very organic way.



I'm perplexed by your mom's perception :t .

[CocaineLipgloss]

well, this is what she told me. now, i'm only going by what she said, i personally do not know, and she could be wrong. she told me that the children coming from the waldorf school i mentioned before, were not formally taught english and language arts subjects. apparently they were supposed to learn it through their other classes. so her main complaint was that the kids did not know very much grammar and were very behind in english classes. i have no idea if this goes for all waldorf schools though, or if this one is different.

[TheSkeptic]

Don't you think that if Waldorf schools were these great educational institutions that you claim they are, that they'd catch on a lot more statewide (perhaps replacing the current school system), let alone internationally? If they were suited to some students (those who reject authority and/or have attention disorders, me thinks), then why not incooperate a stream into every public school, it wouldn't be that hard to do...certainly no harder than introducing a Magnet program, which is pretty much US-wide. The trouble is that these "alternative" schools are no more tried and tested than wear a copper bracelet on your arm or casting a spell on your arthritis. Its homeopathic schooling, IMO. I've never heard of one of these so-called "holistic" schools in England...apart from the one Harry Potter goes to, of course.

Matt :O

ps: as for homeschooling, I'd like some statistics on the success of homeschooled individuals vs. their school-going counterparts. I would suspect that the % of "graduation" was far less. The whole reason we have teachers these days is because they do a better job with education than we can. Most parents these days can't help their child past 6th grade mathematics.

[TheSkeptic]

Well, it appears that homeschooled students are more successful, but as the results say, the statistics are biased because usually the parents of homeschool children are more pro-education. I thought it was interesting that 98% of the sample were married though. And it appeared that it was mostly the mothers who taught and that a large percentage of parents had teaching degrees.

http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed435709.html

Ive been reading some stuff about Waldorf schools too though. No statistics have ever been done on them, apart from one survey in Germany in 1983, which was supressed. Some of the occult practices that have been talked about are just scary! And they're anti left hand too! (runs away!!)

Matt :O