zozee

I wrote a response here last night but it vanished. Not sure why, but I'll recap:

-We homeschooled 17 years. I loved choosing curriculum that was challenging and fit both our educational philosophy and my teaching style.
- We were able to engage in many years of homeschool co-ops, in which mothers (and a few fathers with flexible schedules) could teach what they excelled in.
-The socialization argument was laughable. Our kids (and all their peers) were involved in so many activities that we had to say "no" to some in order to get our schoolwork done.

- I was able to spend more time on areas where each child was either struggling or had intense interest. "The way they're wired" was fun to explore.

-We made a lot more progress between Sept and May than their peers did from Aug-June because we didn't have to stop for snow days, federal holidays, religious holidays that weren't ones we observed.

-Homeschool is a natural environment mixed with adults and kids of all ages. Kids learned to interact with all those age groups, as opposed to being in a class with 30 kids their same age and roughly the same maturity.
-We didn't have to always wait for the slowest kid in class. Many times the gifted kids suffer in a public or private school because the struggling students take so much of the teacher's attention. I know because I went to public school and I volunteered in one. I also taught in a private school and realized I was always "teaching to the middle" and felt conflicted that neither the slowest nor the fastest kds were getting my best as a teacher. I gave my best, but did that mean it was their best in a classroom.

-I was able to teach our kids to write, to think critically, to integrate daily chores such as cooking and laundry with algebra and geography. I was able to help them deal with conflict by dealing with root issues, and to make consequences fit the infractions.

- We gave them the choice to attend high school when they wanted. One chose senior year, one chose jr/sr years, one finished at home. The three who graduated went on to graduate college, move out, get married, and no one moved back home, nor has been remotely tempted. LOL.

-Our youngest is 17. He homeschooled for two years, but clearly as "an only child" needed more friends around to suit his personality. The first school he went to was boring (he had learned almost all of it at home before entering ) but he loved the classroom. The next school (where he has been from 4th grade to the present) is outstanding--challenging intellectually, safe and friendly with a family feel to it, and a place where he's encouraged to be a strong servant-leader.