We homeschool our kids and it’s….

If you don't have children of your own can you still homeschool?
lol

I think public school teachers have a lot of leeway in interpreting the curriculum, well in primary school they do, but maybe not in certain countries or districts. Its just public school teachers cannot do what a parent can do outside of school hours. And if a child goes home to an abusive and warring family, the school can only do their best to keep that child safe at school.

I've often wondered about boarding school, but I hear some of them can be abusive, and children are better off when they can separate home from school to an extent, they aren't imprisoned there with no time out of it.

I remember one child during covid, very bright and while kept at home during lockdown her parents, being teachers, had a strict regimen for her but she just couldn't cope and switched off. She did much better going to school.
Others who tried being teachers with no experience and no support, plus still having to earn a living doing their own work from home, could not fit teaching in as well.

I remember my dad trying to teach me driving skills. He was an awful teacher and growled at me so I had to get lessons from someone else who was a lot more patient. Some parents make bad teachers because they expect too much of their children to learn everything all at once and to be perfect from the get go. That is not going to happen. Actually some TEACHERS are bad teachers too because of this.
 
I've tried homeschooling myself but not doing a very good job of it.

However if I ask my parents to teach me they will quickly lose their patience. Which is why I don't try in certain areas but there isn't really any reward for learning at home.

Has anybody read Educated by Tara Westover. Tara was kept at home with the rest of her siblings and 'homeschooled' but actually, she wasn't really, she was put to work in her dad's scrapyard business. While sustaining various work injuries.
She did however, attend outside dance/theatre classes.
Then somehow she passed an exam to get into Brigham Young university, (they were mormons, all mormons can easily get into that university) for a scholarship, and was selected to go to Harvard, and then Cambridge, which was a huge culture shock for her.

Then she wrote a memoir, which became a best seller about her experiences and somewhat strange beliefs her parents had about everything.
 
I'm wondering how many homeschool parents have devices and how MANY children they are homeschooling, is it just one or is it like up to 6 children at a time.

Does each child have a device? Is it both parents taking turns or is it older children teaching younger, or just one parent doing everything.
Are parents following a curriculum or just making it up as they go along.

Or maybe they are hiring a tutor?
I once went to ballet classes held at a dance teacher's home. She had a studio at the back of her house. I suppose you could, if you wanted, turn your home into a school so others could attend, which is what a lot of preschools are. But often you wouldn't live in the same home, maybe you'd have another home where you lived and slept. Or another floor. In any case you'd need a spare room at least.
 
Lanolin said:
I'm wondering how many homeschool parents have devices and how MANY children they are homeschooling, is it just one or is it like up to 6 children at a time.

Does each child have a device? Is it both parents taking turns or is it older children teaching younger, or just one parent doing everything.
Are parents following a curriculum or just making it up as they go along.

Or maybe they are hiring a tutor?
I once went to ballet classes held at a dance teacher's home. She had a studio at the back of her house. I suppose you could, if you wanted, turn your home into a school so others could attend, which is what a lot of preschools are. But often you wouldn't live in the same home, maybe you'd have another home where you lived and slept. Or another floor. In any case you'd need a spare room at least.
Click to expand...
We teach our two kids. There was a pretty extensive discussion of curriculum throughout this thread so I won’t address that.

I’m not sure why you think devices are necessary. Mine don’t have any. They have books and worksheets and every other normal thing found in school.

My wife is the primary teacher and spends her day with them while I go to work. They do have homeschool groups where the kids can get together to learn, play, go on field trips, etc.
 
Skipper said:
We teach our two kids. There was a pretty extensive discussion of curriculum throughout this thread so I won’t address that.

I’m not sure why you think devices are necessary. Mine don’t have any. They have books and worksheets and every other normal thing found in school.

My wife is the primary teacher and spends her day with them while I go to work. They do have homeschool groups where the kids can get together to learn, play, go on field trips, etc.
Click to expand...
I didn't say I thought devices were necessary, just asked if they had them or used them.

Here some schools (mainly wealthier ones) have them. To learn computers and digital literacy. You are typing on a computer I gather. Don't you think children need or want to learn how they actually work?
 
hmm so your wife is the primary teacher but you aren't. Do you actually do any teaching? Does she ever get a day off? Or do you teach at nights?
 
I'd love to talk to any HUSBANDS that teach at home. I am not sure why it always falls on the wives. If you live on a farm, you'd just be working at home anyway, but if you go off somewhere else to work, do your children not learn the job from you?
 
If you set up appropriate fire-walls, and ad-blockers, you-tube can be a great learning tool, you can even make vids yourself.

Podcasting is also great. Lots of ted-talks for free online and on topics that go in more depth. Not everything has to be done on worksheets, though written work is important, children learn orally and kinesthetically as well.

What is most fun is doing kitchen science experiments. However, as a teacher, you need to be able to allow for mistakes. A lot of parents don't have the patience. Or they are too controlling. Children like to tinker and figure things out for themselves sometimes.

Workplace visits. I remember as a child being curious about what my dad actually did when he went to work. So any workplace visit was a treat. I think that even if you work in a hospital it would be educational for a child to go and see it, and appreciate that as an adult, when you work, you make a difference.
 
here in nz, the National Library has services to schools where schools can order bulk loans of books for the term on whatever topic they are teaching. They also have provision for homeschooling parents.

The only cost would be in sending all the books back. But it can save you, especially if all the books are out at the public library that you require, and you can't find suitable texts at bookshops. Of course, if you have a budget and loved books anyway you'd just buy books, but for many families its the library that they would go to for free books.

I don't know why then some homeschool parents would then look down on US, the public librarians, when we provided the books for free. For everyone. It didn't make sense. They acted all snooty if we didn't have what they wanted right away. Or they would say 'we already read them all' lol.
 
Hello, Skipper, Lanolin and Joan Thursday;

I'd like to bring this topic back to the original title, We homeschool our kids and it's....

I'm the last one who knows anything about homeschooling but will share from my own schooling. I attended public and private elementary, middle and junior high school growing up. During high school of 3500 students it was public school.

My GPA was B+ (3.0) and C- (2.5). My Dad was fulltime in the Air Force and my late Mom was a stay home parent. Homeschool existed in the 1960s and 1970s but my parents wanted their children to develop people skills with classmates and receive mentoring from other adult teachers while growing up.

My personal problem with learning was my attention span. By the grace of God I got past my general education and graduated. It helped me because college was tough but it prepared me to interact with adult classmates of different ages and teachers with more rigid guidelines for learning.

In the 1980s through today my wife and I have gotten to know many parents who opted to homeschool their children. The upside is the parents were able to give their children more personal attention while teaching them general education.

The downside is what I don't understand. Do most parents have the teaching experience to help their children learn the challenges of proper language, math beyond addition and subtraction, world history, biology and science and any other subjects that go into homeschooling?

The other downside is what I also don't understand. Are most parents opting to homeschool their children because the parents have lost confidence in our public and private schools?

The other downside is what I also don't understand. Are most parents who opt to homeschool their children sheltering them, as this may hinder their people skills - interacting with other children and adult teachers while growing up?

Please share your thoughts and answers.

God bless everyone and your families.
 
bobinfaith said:
Hello, Skipper, Lanolin and Joan Thursday;

I'd like to bring this topic back to the original title, We homeschool our kids and it's....

I'm the last one who knows anything about homeschooling but will share from my own schooling. I attended public and private elementary, middle and junior high school growing up. During high school of 3500 students it was public school.

My GPA was B+ (3.0) and C- (2.5). My Dad was fulltime in the Air Force and my late Mom was a stay home parent. Homeschool existed in the 1960s and 1970s but my parents wanted their children to develop people skills with classmates and receive mentoring from other adult teachers while growing up.

My personal problem with learning was my attention span. By the grace of God I got past my general education and graduated. It helped me because college was tough but it prepared me to interact with adult classmates of different ages and teachers with more rigid guidelines for learning.

In the 1980s through today my wife and I have gotten to know many parents who opted to homeschool their children. The upside is the parents were able to give their children more personal attention while teaching them general education.

The downside is what I don't understand. Do most parents have the teaching experience to help their children learn the challenges of proper language, math beyond addition and subtraction, world history, biology and science and any other subjects that go into homeschooling?

The other downside is what I also don't understand. Are most parents opting to homeschool their children because the parents have lost confidence in our public and private schools?

The other downside is what I also don't understand. Are most parents who opt to homeschool their children sheltering them, as this may hinder their people skills - interacting with other children and adult teachers while growing up?

Please share your thoughts and answers.

God bless everyone and your families.
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

I can’t speak for most parents but I can give you our perspective on your questions.

At this stage of our homeschool journey, most of the subject matter isn’t terribly difficult and you certainly do not need to be an expert to teach it. The curriculums essentially tell you verbatim what to say and how to teach it. They understand that the parents aren’t subject matter experts and they endeavor to hold your hand through the teaching process. This is also the case with elementary school teachers as they are also not experts on particular subject matter and rely on the teachers guides for a lot of their lecture. When people get their teaching credentials, they can get them in single subject or multi subject. Multi subject is what elementary school teachers do. They just need to have a bachelors degree in any subject at all then take the credentialing courses. (This is all based on California law, I’m not sure about other jurisdictions.) We homeschool through a private school and have access to their teachers and administrators should we need additional help with something.

Single subject teachers can still have a bachelors degree in any subject but have to be able to pass the subject matter exam for the particular subject they are interested in teaching. They also offer courses to help prospective teachers in a subject matter get up to speed. So it may be a misconception to think the teachers are experts in the subjects they are teaching. The experts really come into play at the college level. My dad was a teacher for a number of years. He taught special education and English. He certainly wasn’t an expert in English or writing but that’s what he taught. I have an aunt who is a retired high school math teacher. She has zero background in math.

Obviously, the teachers become better at the subject matter the longer they teach it and are exposed to it but teacher credentialing is more about learning teaching methods and how to deal with classroom behavior issues, parent issues, etc. than it’s about actually knowing the subjects. So homeschool teachers are absolutely capable of teaching just as well as “normal teachers” with the the assistance of the material provided to them.

Some of this may change as the kids age and approach more difficult subjects. At that point, we intend to give our kids the choice to go to school if they desire (barring viruses or other anomalous events that would disrupt this possibility). If they choose to remain homeschooled, we will again continue to use the curriculum materials and will enlist tutors to aide where assistance is needed.

As for as why we homeschool, the schools in our area are garbage. They have very low ratings. We had our daughter attend public school for kindergarten and she came down with lice, pinkeye, and a variety of other illnesses from parents who would send their kids to school when they shouldn’t. She wasn’t learning anything because she was already able to read at a third grade level. So they were teaching her the alphabet and counting and basically wasting her time. Luckily, her teacher recognized the level she was at and she ultimately ended up skipping a grade. But by that time, we had already decided to homeschool since we were so disappointed in the public school and unable to afford private school tuition.

Fast forward a year or two and covid hit. While other parents had the difficult time figuring out what to do with their children, children weren’t in school at all, concerns about kids getting sick were abundant, etc., we were able to continue as normal. The kids never once had to miss a single day of school because of covid and my wife and I didn’t have to change our routine at all. Psychologically, the impact of covid on our kids has been minimal since they never had to drastically change their lives like so many other kids have.

As far as sheltering them, this is another stereotype and misconception people have. We live on a cul-de-sac with a lot of children on it. My kids regularly play outside with other kids, have their friends over, go to their friends’ houses, go to birthday parties, take extracurricular classes and activities, and interact perfectly well with their peers. They go on field trips with other homeschooled kids, participate in talent shows put on through the school, get student IDs, get class photos taken, get to go to dances (once old enough), go to the home football games of the school we homeschool through, etc. They get all the normal experiences and interactions they would get in school except they get to sit at their desks at home to do their work rather than sit at a desk at school to do their work.

I think the stigma the teachers associations try to put on homeschooled children is appalling. The fewer students in public schools, the less money offered to them and the fewer teachers are needed. The associations and unions want to remain strong so they fight against homeschooling by suggesting all sorts of bizarre theories that don’t hold water. They started by saying they wouldn’t learn as much but research shows homeschooled kids outperform their schooled peers. So now they’re trying to push this “awkward socialization” angle that also isn’t true but is more difficult to study and quantify so it’s more difficult to disprove.

This has led non homeschooled people to have this vision in their minds of sheltered children who have no idea how the “real world” works, unable to play or speak with their peers, functioning somewhere on the autism spectrum, sitting at home in the barn on the farm doing addition and subtraction by candlelight, while their parents sew their own clothes, shun electricity and modern technology, dress like the Amish, don’t let their children experience life, and don’t teach their children difficult truths and facts about life. They make it out to be we are a bunch of backwards thinking societal rejects who are dooming our children to a life of ignorance and social isolation.

It’s sad that this is the perspective people have and it’s completely wrong. Oh, and let’s not forget that my children are able to learn God’s truth everyday and get to pray in school. Something public schools no longer allow.
 
A lot of parents are forced to homeschool their children at the moment because of covid, not because 'their public schools are garbage'.

The thing is, public schools need extra funding as well to function in a healthy manner. That is why they have boards of trustees and PTAs, and they will apply for any extra they can get, so they can operate and offer a broad curriculum. This is why so many schools fundraise, they have galas and drives etc.

Some school buildings are falling apart and they do require maintenence. A lot of older schools need their buildings renovated.

Not sure why the situation in some areas are so dire, but it may also depends on the district. Obviously the richer areas have more simply because their parents can give more in donations. Here, each school is autonomous but all public/state schools come under the Ministry of Education. Lower decile schools (decile is like a measure of income of familes, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) get more extra funding because their needs are greater.

But you have to advocate for your school. If nobody advocates, if you just treat schools (and teachers) as 'garbage' then nothing will improve.

Here Bibles in schools are run by volunteers, it's the second biggest charity in the country. It happens every week. Some schools have christian character and might have prayers every day. I remember prayers in primary school. My high school had christian fellowship run by students.
 
Yesterday I was delivering home learning packs to children in my school. They all got activity sheets, I think about 20 pages stapled together, to work on. They have zoom or seesaw meetings.

We used to ask parents to pick them up but changed it to us staff delivering packs so that nobody misses out. They also get MOE (ministry of education) learning packs delivered which include stationery and books. I do think some children do miss out on learning if they are not regularly motivated to it or their parents are too busy to help them.

But that applies even if they attend school. However, at school, what they may not learn at home is valuable. Many schools do recognise children learning at different stages and have enrichment programs for gifted and talented students. Some schools have better reputations than others, but a lot of it comes down to leadership eg the Principal/Head master/Headmistress as they set the direction for the school.

If people fail to advocate for teachers and they are paid a pittance and treated as garbage by the govt then nobody would bother attending school. Everyone would just be privately educated or not even have any education whatsoever (as used to be the case, for poor people)
 
Skipper said:
Hi Bob,

I can’t speak for most parents but I can give you our perspective on your questions.

At this stage of our homeschool journey, most of the subject matter isn’t terribly difficult and you certainly do not need to be an expert to teach it. The curriculums essentially tell you verbatim what to say and how to teach it. They understand that the parents aren’t subject matter experts and they endeavor to hold your hand through the teaching process. This is also the case with elementary school teachers as they are also not experts on particular subject matter and rely on the teachers guides for a lot of their lecture. When people get their teaching credentials, they can get them in single subject or multi subject. Multi subject is what elementary school teachers do. They just need to have a bachelors degree in any subject at all then take the credentialing courses. (This is all based on California law, I’m not sure about other jurisdictions.) We homeschool through a private school and have access to their teachers and administrators should we need additional help with something.

Single subject teachers can still have a bachelors degree in any subject but have to be able to pass the subject matter exam for the particular subject they are interested in teaching. They also offer courses to help prospective teachers in a subject matter get up to speed. So it may be a misconception to think the teachers are experts in the subjects they are teaching. The experts really come into play at the college level. My dad was a teacher for a number of years. He taught special education and English. He certainly wasn’t an expert in English or writing but that’s what he taught. I have an aunt who is a retired high school math teacher. She has zero background in math.

Obviously, the teachers become better at the subject matter the longer they teach it and are exposed to it but teacher credentialing is more about learning teaching methods and how to deal with classroom behavior issues, parent issues, etc. than it’s about actually knowing the subjects. So homeschool teachers are absolutely capable of teaching just as well as “normal teachers” with the the assistance of the material provided to them.

Some of this may change as the kids age and approach more difficult subjects. At that point, we intend to give our kids the choice to go to school if they desire (barring viruses or other anomalous events that would disrupt this possibility). If they choose to remain homeschooled, we will again continue to use the curriculum materials and will enlist tutors to aide where assistance is needed.

As for as why we homeschool, the schools in our area are garbage. They have very low ratings. We had our daughter attend public school for kindergarten and she came down with lice, pinkeye, and a variety of other illnesses from parents who would send their kids to school when they shouldn’t. She wasn’t learning anything because she was already able to read at a third grade level. So they were teaching her the alphabet and counting and basically wasting her time. Luckily, her teacher recognized the level she was at and she ultimately ended up skipping a grade. But by that time, we had already decided to homeschool since we were so disappointed in the public school and unable to afford private school tuition.

Fast forward a year or two and covid hit. While other parents had the difficult time figuring out what to do with their children, children weren’t in school at all, concerns about kids getting sick were abundant, etc., we were able to continue as normal. The kids never once had to miss a single day of school because of covid and my wife and I didn’t have to change our routine at all. Psychologically, the impact of covid on our kids has been minimal since they never had to drastically change their lives like so many other kids have.

As far as sheltering them, this is another stereotype and misconception people have. We live on a cul-de-sac with a lot of children on it. My kids regularly play outside with other kids, have their friends over, go to their friends’ houses, go to birthday parties, take extracurricular classes and activities, and interact perfectly well with their peers. They go on field trips with other homeschooled kids, participate in talent shows put on through the school, get student IDs, get class photos taken, get to go to dances (once old enough), go to the home football games of the school we homeschool through, etc. They get all the normal experiences and interactions they would get in school except they get to sit at their desks at home to do their work rather than sit at a desk at school to do their work.

I think the stigma the teachers associations try to put on homeschooled children is appalling. The fewer students in public schools, the less money offered to them and the fewer teachers are needed. The associations and unions want to remain strong so they fight against homeschooling by suggesting all sorts of bizarre theories that don’t hold water. They started by saying they wouldn’t learn as much but research shows homeschooled kids outperform their schooled peers. So now they’re trying to push this “awkward socialization” angle that also isn’t true but is more difficult to study and quantify so it’s more difficult to disprove.

This has led non homeschooled people to have this vision in their minds of sheltered children who have no idea how the “real world” works, unable to play or speak with their peers, functioning somewhere on the autism spectrum, sitting at home in the barn on the farm doing addition and subtraction by candlelight, while their parents sew their own clothes, shun electricity and modern technology, dress like the Amish, don’t let their children experience life, and don’t teach their children difficult truths and facts about life. They make it out to be we are a bunch of backwards thinking societal rejects who are dooming our children to a life of ignorance and social isolation.

It’s sad that this is the perspective people have and it’s completely wrong. Oh, and let’s not forget that my children are able to learn God’s truth everyday and get to pray in school. Something public schools no longer allow.
Click to expand...

Hello Skipper;

Thank you for your reply to my inquiries. I now have a better understanding from the homeschooling your wife give your children.

It seems to me that homeschooling is also personable and a case by case with each family. This is good.

Homeschooled children can receive Bible lessons without restrictions, and they can still develop their people skills.

If your child is ill and cannot attend homeschool, does your wife record their attendance, as well as attendance in order for the student to receive a diploma when they complete elementary, middle and high school?

Is homeschool limited to just parents, or can a non parent do homeschool as well?

God bless you, Skipper, and thank you.
 
If you can homeschool that's great - though for some it's a harder option because working parents may not have the time or patience. Also teaching outside your area of expertise means you and your children are actually learning together rather than having an expert teach them. So it might not be as beneficial.
It's possible, but for some children they really do need different teachers not just their parents. My parents wouldn't have been able to teach subjects past high school as they never went.
 
regarding Bible
I recall christian friends in high school having a strong faith. They just prayed before they went to school and when they got home, and stayed true to their faith while at school..its not as if they stopped being christian the minute they went to school! I also recall a girl who opposed evolutionist ideas in biology, and advocated for creationism as her world view.

The christian students also got together in lunchtimes to fellowship and pray and also reach out to their to non-christian peers. They would put on events and fundraisers etc. They'd do the 40 hour famine and encourage everyone.
 
bobinfaith said:
Hello Skipper;

Thank you for your reply to my inquiries. I now have a better understanding from the homeschooling your wife give your children.

It seems to me that homeschooling is also personable and a case by case with each family. This is good.

Homeschooled children can receive Bible lessons without restrictions, and they can still develop their people skills.

If your child is ill and cannot attend homeschool, does your wife record their attendance, as well as attendance in order for the student to receive a diploma when they complete elementary, middle and high school?

Is homeschool limited to just parents, or can a non parent do homeschool as well?

God bless you, Skipper, and thank you.
Click to expand...
Parents can hire private teachers or tutors so it doesn’t need to be the parents teaching. We’ll use tutors if/when the time comes. I can’t imagine private teachers are very affordable.

We take attendance and are allocated a certain number of days each year to have off. That’s why vacations are flexible and if a child is sick, we can give them the day off.

This is another misunderstanding. It’s not the Wild West of education. There’s still oversight, attendance requirements, and standardized testing to ensure learning.
 
The thing is if your wife is the primary teacher and teaching is she being paid or is this an unpaid job she is doing.

I wouldn't say teachers are greedy. It's not easy being a teacher at times, but if your class is just one or two children of course its going to be a lot easier than a class of 30. But here is this misconception that children are all learning at desks at school! Some have labs and workshops and access to lots of facilities at schools that you wont necessarily have at home.

Many universities do distance learning, that is how I learned for some of my papers.
 
Lanolin said:
A lot of parents are forced to homeschool their children at the moment because of covid, not because 'their public schools are garbage'. The thing is, public schools need extra funding as well to function in a healthy manner. That is why they have boards of trustees and PTAs, and they will apply for any extra they can get, so they can operate and offer a broad curriculum. This is why so many schools fundraise, they have galas and drives etc. Some school buildings are falling apart and they do require maintenence. A lot of older schools need their buildings renovated. Not sure why the situation in some areas are so dire, but it may also depends on the district. Obviously the richer areas have more simply because their parents can give more in donations. Here, each school is autonomous but all public/state schools come under the Ministry of Education. Lower decile schools (decile is like a measure of income of familes, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) get more extra funding because their needs are greater. But you have to advocate for your school. If nobody advocates, if you just treat schools (and teachers) as 'garbage' then nothing will improve. Here Bibles in schools are run by volunteers, it's the second biggest charity in the country. It happens every week. Some schools have christian character and might have prayers every day. I remember prayers in primary school. My high school had christian fellowship run by students.
Click to expand...

Hello Lanolin;

This COVID craziness has impacted one of the most precious gifts that is given to children, an education.

Parents have been entrusted with the choice of schooling for their children be it homeschool, public or private school. It's what works best for the family.

In my earlier post my parents elected to have their 7 children attend public and private school. When issues came up that hindered the school operation, maintenance and quality of teachers, they attended the PTA meetings. At that time many fathers were deployed in VietNam, protests and riots in the colleges were rampant and the divorce rate increased. These and other issues during that era affected the public schools.

During 1st and 2nd grades we prayed the Lord's Prayer. Today there are too many restrictions. The name God has been taken out of our schools and country.

When I was in 8th grade, my Dad and I joined other fathers and sons volunteered and built small wooden lockers in the classrooms which saved the middle school a ton of money. Only later my Dad found out that I was suspended for a day for making out with my girlfriend on the school bus during lunch. YIKES!

As I reflect on my youth, I wasn't the best student because of my lack of attention and mischievousness, but am grateful to my parents for their strict values of a general education.

I do feel the alternative of homeschool has increased in these times and more power to the parents who choose this form of education for their children.
 
haha lice.
Well, this is what happens when a lot of children get together...they aren't the most hygienic these little people!

And cold/flu season..well everyone gets it. At home I guess there is less chance of getting it but it doesn't mean you are immune unless you just never go out.

I think a lot of parents enrol their child in school because they want them to learn the language. Especially if they don't speak it themselves. Eg ENGLISH. I suppose if it's your native tongue and you are the expert you can forgo going to school to learn it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top