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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by happyflower on June 14, 2005, at 22:47:35
I have for 3 years due to our local schools. Does anyone else?
Posted by alexandra_k on June 14, 2005, at 22:47:35
In reply to Does anyone homeschool their kids ?, posted by happyflower on June 13, 2005, at 19:14:26
I don't have any kids...
But I know 2 people quite well who homeschool theirs...
Posted by gromit on June 22, 2005, at 7:29:14
In reply to Re: Does anyone homeschool their kids ?, posted by alexandra_k on June 13, 2005, at 23:47:17
> I don't have any kids...
> But I know 2 people quite well who homeschool theirs...I know 2 families who did (do) too, one of those kids is my nephew. The problem is he started regular school and while he was ahead of the game academically, socially he was completely unskilled. It took my nephew probably 2 years before he really adjusted. The other kid is still being homeschooled and is afraid of EVERYTHING, he acts like a kid much younger than he is.
Rick
Posted by alexandra_k on June 23, 2005, at 6:09:15
In reply to Re: Does anyone homeschool their kids ?, posted by gromit on June 22, 2005, at 7:29:14
Yeah, I think social skill development can vary depending...
One family I boarded with had two boys. 8 and 5 I think (so the younger one had just started). It was in a city (their mother didn't have faith in the idea of some teacher who didn't care about her kids teaching them). She was a bit of a hippy with some fairly 'alternative' ideas.
But: she really cared about her kids, there is no denying that.
She went out of her way to make sure that they spent a lot of time with other kids who are also being home schooled. She would even look after someone else's kids one day a week to teach them art and natural science stuff around the garden and the other mother would take hers one day a week to teach them reading and math.
They seemed fairly normally socially adjusted.
The only thing that I worried about... Was their attention span. Their mother had an idea of 'free learning' where she didn't want to sit them down and *make* them do anything - instead she just did her best to answer their questions comprehensibly and help them find the answers to questions she didn't know out of books and off the internet.
But IMO you only learn concentration and control of attention by practicing. And unfortunately, sometimes that means sitting down and just working at something. And it ain't so bad. To realise that it ain't so bad and it gets better with time and after a while one can even lose oneself in it...
The other lady I know treats her kids as little people. Really. They are 9 and 7. I bet she didn't even baby talk them when they were little. She is a lecturer at uni and brings them along sometimes. They sit there quietly, listening (sort of) and colouring in in their colouring books or reading books quietly.
Last time...
They were in the room when I went in for a pre-markers markers meeting. We were worrying a bit about the best answer to one of the questions and her 9 year old piped up. I was amazed. She talks to them about all kinds of stuff - but in language they can understand.
So...
I don't know.
I think it can be better or worse or comperable depending on lots of factors...You don't have a choice because you don't live by a school? Is that right? Some people do that in NZ too.
Posted by justyourlaugh on June 23, 2005, at 22:08:14
In reply to Re: Does anyone homeschool their kids ?, posted by alexandra_k on June 23, 2005, at 6:09:15
but the school board threated to fine me if i didnt let them out of the house!..
i had good intentions..but i kept them all to myself!
j
Posted by gromit on June 27, 2005, at 4:46:27
In reply to Re: Does anyone homeschool their kids ?, posted by alexandra_k on June 23, 2005, at 6:09:15
Oh, both of these families are extrememly conservative, free thinking they're not. I think they want to protect their kids from the ungodly masses or something like that. I suppose that's fine but kids need to be around other kids IMO.
I live near several schools but in general you don't get to pick where your kids go, in fact it's a selling point if the schools in the area are good. This is California, I have no idea how it is in other states. I'm hoping that by the time my son is school age we'll be in a better position and can afford private school.
Rick
Posted by alexandra_k on July 2, 2005, at 19:29:15
In reply to Re: Does anyone homeschool their kids ? » alexandra_k, posted by gromit on June 27, 2005, at 4:46:27
Yeah, kids need to be around other kids. Thats something that can be a bit harder with homeschooling. That being said, if there is more than one kid then at least they have each other...
Yeah, we have zones over here too. Generally speaking you are supposed to go to your 'local' school. The schools do have some kind of provision to accept a certain number of nonlocals though... And... Well... I'm not toooooooo sure but I think you can fairly much choose where you want to go at High School level.
It was stricter when my brother was a teenager. We moved into a certain area mostly because he would be within the zone for a certain school.
I think that you are allowed to choose to go to a single sex school. That may involve you going outside your zone. And there are a couple catholic schools (also single sex) and they don't go by zoning either.
I went to a few... Got 'asked to leave' one school... Then another school... Managed to complete 7th form (last year where you get entry to uni) at another school again...
I didn't have toooooooo many problems enrolling in those other schools.
I guess it is a little different where the socio-economic classes of different zones are very different. Where the quality of the school is very different.
There isn't so very much variation over here.
Except for the very expensive private schools. Personally... I'm not so very sure they are worth the money over here. Our public schooling isn't so bad and you get the opportunity to meet a more representative cross-section of society.
Posted by AuntieMel on July 5, 2005, at 13:41:26
In reply to Re: Does anyone homeschool their kids ? » alexandra_k, posted by gromit on June 27, 2005, at 4:46:27
It's the same here. We moved three miles due north a few years ago - from one school district, completely through another one to the one we wanted. All in 3 miles.
But it's a lot less expensive to do that here on the south coast.
Posted by messadivoce on July 23, 2005, at 1:53:49
In reply to Re: other states » gromit, posted by AuntieMel on July 5, 2005, at 13:41:26
I was 5 when we moved to WA, and my mom took a look at the public school systems, saw that kids couldn't read by the 3rd grade (this was when they were using "whole language") and decided to do kindergarten and maybe first grade at home, just to make sure I would learn to read well. Plus, she says she was having too much fun with me and wasn't ready to hand me over to a school when I was 5.
The laws in WA are very lenient, and basically they left us alone. When people would ask us how long we were going to homeschool my parents always said they would take things a year at a time. And they did. We ended up homeschooling till my sophomore year of high school when we moved to CA.
Actually, I was allowed to take music classes in the local junior high in the 7th and 8th grades, and in 9th grade I took lab science, Spanish and choir at the public school--half and half.
I had tons of friends and social activities from school, church and the neighborhood. We went to concerts, plays, lectures, did science experiments, learned greek and latin roots, and studied current events and art history in addition to the basics of math, reading, writing, history, geography, science and literature. I got the most well-rounded education of anyone I know.
I started public school my sophomore year of high school. It was an adjustment--I hated it for the first 2 weeks. But then I found friends and started loving it. I took honors and AP classes, got over a 4.0, did decently on the SAT, and had no trouble in college. In fact I graduated cum laude.
My mom basically dedicated 12 years of her life to teaching my brother and I (who was homeschooled through 8th grade). My parents have always placed our education at the top of their priority list. I think it makes me realize how valuable knowledge is.
As for social skills, I was a normal kid with tons of friends, and so is my brother. I think your social skills have 98% to do with your family life. I knew someone in college who was in public school her whole life, was even the saludatorian of her class, and yet has NO social skills. She's deaf to nuances, subtlies, and BIG BROAD hints. In fact I've met more weird kids in public school than among my home school friends.
Just my 2 cents--I figure I have the experience to speak about this.
Posted by happyflower on July 23, 2005, at 21:02:53
In reply to I was, posted by messadivoce on July 23, 2005, at 1:53:49
I am happy to hear your positive experiences with being homeschooled. My child are also learning so much more than the basics. It is hard sometimes, but it worth it. I am seeing a lot more positives of homeschooling lately of students have gone onto college. Thank you for your story! It made my day! :)
Posted by starbaby on August 27, 2005, at 11:01:34
In reply to I was, posted by messadivoce on July 23, 2005, at 1:53:49
Messa,
So glad to see this post on here. I'm a newbie to the board, but not to homeschooling. I've homeschooled my 15 year old daughter most of her life (with the exception of 16 months that we tried Kindergarten and part of 1st grade), and it has always worked for us. She consistantly scores high on the testing we do every year, and has no problem socializing with people of any age, child or adult. She has recently decided to give public high school a try, mainly because of me being divorced now, I am working close to full time, and cannot get her to all of the activities that we used to take part of. She seems to be doing quite well, acing her chemistry and drama so far and doing "B" work in English and Algebra II. She's all ready made a lot of new friends, as well.
We "unschooled", a la John Holt style, and it has provided her with a wealth of information about the world that I don't think she would have gotten in public or private school. She researched what she found interesting at the time, and I tied in other activities to expand on what she was learning. Of course this always led to questions about similar subjects, and the learning just "took off" from there.
I am (still) president of our homeschool support group, and we currently have 224 families in it, with ages ranging from 2 years old to high school ages. We have lots of activities planned and it's great that the children have a chance to interact with those of all ages, not just their "grade" group of peers. I also moderate two homeschool e-groups.
If anyone has any questions about homeschooling in general or state requirements, I'd be happy to try to answer them, or point them in the right direction.
*starbaby*
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