I saw the effect of homeschooling first hand with my cousin's kids (two different families). Then when we moved to this town, and first week we saw in the paper how the school district was asking for people to send in toilet paper and paper towels with their kids because the school district was running low, among other things we heard negative about the district here. There were some other deciding factors for us, some personal. But also all of my kids had medical problems, my son had leukimia and was advised not to be around public places much right at a time he would be starting preschool. I think as others answer your question you will hear some simular things: negative stuff about surrounding school district and for wanting to raise their kids in a more Christian atmosphere, some because their kids are just plain ahead of their grade level and they want them to go at their own pace and not be held back by the limits of public school. But in the end you have to make your own choice what works for you and your kids. homeschooling isn't for everyone, but I think the rewards are there.
I felt, even before I had kids that the public school system was failing many Children. Then when I was pregnant with Sami that God called me to HS. Every time I have ever had any doubts about it that week has filled my senses will horrible stories and examples of stuff happening in the school system that remind me why I do it.
What made us decide to homeschool was when the public school was letting my son just slip further and further behind and when i requested that he be held back the school wouldn't do it because of the trauma it might cause. He needed it a bit. he was real good at playing dumb and getting special treatment in resource(special ed) class. he was told that if his schoolwork involved reading, math or writing he didn't have to do it since he was (supposedly) working on it in resource. So we took him out after his last Iep meeting where i was told that it didn't matter where he was at right now but when he got to 5th grade then i needed to worry about it. ugh!!!!!!!!! when he started resource he was only 1/2 yr behind and going 30 minutes a week for extra help. by spring break of 2cd grade he was 1 1/2 yrs behind and going 5 hours a week. Obviously something wasn't working right so after much research we pulled him out at spring break. that was 2 yrs ago and he's pretty much caught up to his grade level in most things. Some he's only 1/2 yr behind so not bad. We are going to homeschool all 3 of our kiddo's but will let them take a class or 2 at public school if they wish. (middle school and high school level only)
My oldest went to a small Christian school that had multi-grade classrooms. K was in it's own room though and he loved it! He was reading chapter books while still 5, and just loved reading! His K teacher was very encouraging and let him go at his pace, and just gave him stuff to read that was at his level and his interests. She was exceptional! His first grade teacher was in a mold. By that I mean, she taught a certain way, and couldn't figure out what to do if a child was advanced. She gave good attention the the ones that were middle of the road or behind though. Another boy and my son were quite advanced in reading, and went through the first grade books very quickly. Then she gave them homework that was clear from the beginning of first grade that had to do with finding all the a's, etc. They were so far past that, that I have no clue why she did that! My ds keeps things inside, so I didn't know what was happening until about March/April. By that time he HATED reading, and school, cuz he was so frustrated with being given "baby stuff". I wish I would've realized what was happening earlier! I went and talked with the teacher, and asked her why he couldn't just do the 2nd grade reading. "Well, then what would he do next year?!" I was VERY surprised! After that, with a lot of research, we decided to homeschool to help get him back to reading well again. But that was 9 years ago now, and we've never stopped! We've done 8 years of homeschooling and will soon start our 9th! I'm very glad we homsechool, I love it! My kids are so special to me, and I feel we have a much closer and deeper relationship because we've been together all these years!
I have to admit there are days when i wonder why i am even doing this. My oldest frustrates me to no end at times. He still has the attitude of when he gets a certain age he'll just know the material. He is ADHD and that causes issues at times. I've spent the last 2 years trying to retrain his way of thinking. Public school had him so screwed up. When I pulled him out i found out that he had been in trouble at least 2 -4 times every day for not staying on task and disrupting the class. I was so mad i could spit. He's learned that his behavior was ok and in reality it wasn't. Now He's actually started seeing a therapist who is very pro-homeschooling. Scott (the therapist ) is excellent with kids and my son seems to respond very well to him. Getting my son to do anything that seems like schoolwork is almost impossible. But we keep plugging away at it. He gets lots of breaks throughout the day. Some times we make it a race against the clock thing. That really works with math. Then there are days when i look back at his treatment on the bus: the ridicule, teasing, punishment: assigned seat so bus driver could keep him under control, and the attitude he had while at school and i think to myself I am doing the right thing. I know it is but there are days when the frustration gets me to tears. Those days we go to the park or a hike or something...
for us, the situation was a little different. We had moved a 3 times in 2 years (husbands military) my oldest daughter went from an A student to a D student during her 7th grade year. It seemed like all the values we were trying to teach, she was throwing out the window. School seemed to care more about what the kids were wearing than what they were learning. I was spending more time in the school dealing with problems than she was spending in class! A friend of our homeschools and suggested I remove her from the problems and uncaring teachers and teach her myself until we got to a better school system. My daughter was miserable and we decided to try it. Within 3 weeks she was feeling better and acting normal again. She was learning again! My other two children were still in elementary school and doing great. Than my son started 7th grade. He too, had been a A student, he had always loved school, Now he was crying every morning and becoming depressed. We went and talked to his teachers, they did NOT EVEN know who HE was! They said they had 200 students between their 7 classes and could not be expected to know every student by name. The kicker came when he was sexually harrassed on the school bus by a 11th grade boy! Yes, the middle school and high school shared the same bus. My husband withdrew him the next day. I had to reteach multiplication and cursive to him during the first month. How he did not know these things is beyond me. I did homework with him everynight. He always printed and when I asked him why he wasn't writing cursive he said his teachers wanted him to print. Now, our 6th grader is finishing up the year in public school and will be homeschooled next year as well. I am in the process of placement testing her with ALpha Omega SOS and I am amazed at what she doesnt know! She is a hard worker and is on the honor roll but didn't pass the placement test on basic biology! I guess the answer to your question is in the beginning we homeschooled because of problems at the schools, now it is because we believe the public schools are not teaching the basics. Sorry this is so long. lol
I felt lead to homeschool my daughter. As the years have went on. I have found out she has ADHD and other problems. I had her tested by a doctor not to long ago and found out most of her problems. I also found out she would carry and IEP if she went to ps. I decided that ps wouldn't do the job for her that needed to be done.
My husband and I researched for about a year before it was time for our dd to go to school (when she was 3). He attended public school and did not want his daughter going what he went through (misery and overcrowding), on the other hand went to a private Catholic school and was miserable there (the students didnt even behave like they ever heard the word "Christian"). So, I quit my job (hairstylist) and looked into different curriculums, picked one and turned a corner of my kitchen into our little learning area! It has gone wonderfully and I wouldn't have it any other way! I LOVE to homeschool! More and more people ask about it and there is a gaining support for homeschoolers. Another thing---my dd would have been finishing pre-k if she attended a traditional school (they way her bday falls she would have been nearly 6 starting kindergarden), but has finished the kindergarden hs curriclum and has been in the first grade for 4 months now (she is now 5 1/2). I dont push her very hard--this was her natural learning speed---I like that my daughter's natural learning speed determines her grade level and not her birthdate!
My two best friends from college (still my best friends) were both education majors and had decided to homeschool when their firstborns were still very small. I, on the other hand, thought it was something I would never do. I wasn't against it, just didn't think it would be for me. But God used them to plant that seed in my mind. (One has always homeschooled, and one is a ps teacher due to financial strains.) My oldest ds went to ps for K with me still thinking that way. We moved in the middle of his K year to a horrible school district. After 4 days there, I pulled him out to homeschool. After 2 days, I put him back in feeling like I made an emtional decision rather than a rational one. He finished the year there (where he learned NOTHING during the 2nd half of the year). We decided to change his school for 1st grade. It was a good school, and his teacher was great. That summer, my hubby was being required to relocate, so my ds would be changing schools again (4th school and in 2nd grade). My dd would be starting K. We knew that she was having some struggles with learning, but were having trouble finding out the reason. She had been tested though the school system, who said she was behind, but not enough to be labeled. Her IQ was normal. We knew that she would really have a hard time in school and decided to homeschool both of our children. Once we were settled here, I had the school system here test my dd. Within 15 minutes the school psychologist labeled her as ADD (She is the furthest thing from it!), as having a nervous tic that needed medical attention (don't know where that one came from, she has no such thing), and said that I underestimate her abilities. I left without signing the IEP. We had furhter testing done on our own and found out that my dd has a visual perception disorder. So, her IQ is normal, as it has nothing to do with IQ, but how her brain processes the information her eyes see. I am so glad we did not put her in a school where she would have been labeled as lazy or defiant beacuse she couldn't do what other kids do. It breaks my heart to think of what she would have gone through in a ps. At home, I get to nuture the servant's heart that God has given her, and we focus on the things she is good at. Of course reading and writing must be done, but I know her limits and stop when the frustration starts. Homeschooling is one of the best decisions we have made. I see them grow every day and know that we made the right choice.
We started thinking about it when our firstborn was just a baby...for several reasons. The first was probably our own experiences with both public and private school education. My expensive private school education wasn't worth the paper the diploma was printed on, and my husband, who is extremely intelligent waded through years of boredom waiting for school to finish so he could learn something. As our son grew a little we saw that he was a very busy little person, just like his dad, but we knew that this would be quickly labeled as being "hyper-active". A confirmation from our pediatrition that there was nothing at all wrong with the child, and that yes, we would deal with these labels in the school system added to our thoughts. The final thing came to me the summer that the oldest was 5, just before he would have started kindergarten. I realized that I was in no way ready to turn this baby over to strangers to fill his head with thier ideas and thoughts. I felt that this was my job. So we started already having made the decision that we would homeschool throughout thier education, and that baby of mine just completed his first year of highschool this year, here at home, just as we planned. As the years have gone by I've added many more reasons to my list as to why I believe so strongly in homeschooling, but these were the initual motivating factors.
