I've been leaning more and more towards homeschooling B.
No, she hasn't been bullied.
No, it isn't because she's got a peanut allergy.
Yes, she has lots of friends.
Yes, she's keeping up academically.
I don't know - there's just something that makes me want to home school. I really feel like she's a good candidate (and that I could do it to, and well). But taking that leap is big!
So I'm curious - how many of you home school your kids? Why?
And how's it working out?
I've got a poll set up to the right. Will you take a second and let me know where you stand on the issue? If you have anything else to say, leave me a comment!
1 comment:
Hi -- I stumbled across your blog via a blogsearch that showed up in my stats (how nerdy is that!).
I just wanted to say that I'm a homeschooling mother with four children, in our seventh year of homeschooling. Our oldest daughter went to school for four years; we pulled her out for a variety of reasons, but largely because we kept saying, "When is it going to be better than just okay? When are the teachers going to stop thanking us for all we teach her at home, that she then brings to the classroom? I mean, is that her job?" etc.
We began by saying that it was a trial kind of thing . . . and despite some bumps in the first year, we've never looked back. Our kids are now 15, 12, 7 and almost-6; they all have diverse friends and active social lives; they've done things like drama and Scouts and violin; they're nice, likable kids (not that I'm biased or anything, but it does feel good to be able to say that about teenagers and pre-teen kids).
I won't overwhelm you with all our homeschooling experiences here, but I will say that despite the occasional anxiety and bad day, our decision to homeschool has been one we've never regretted. Just today I was at a science museum with my three youngers -- my teenager takes classes on a college campus three days a week -- and my 12-year-old son was chatting away with one of the employees about stuff he'd read about marine life, and how he's got Madagascar hissing cockroaches (maybe homeschooling makes mothers brain-dead) and so on, and oh, yeah, he's homeschooled and enjoys it . . . I guess I could pay him to go around saying things like that to make us look good, but it was kind of gratifying to overhear him saying it when he didn't know that I was listening.
Good luck to you as you contemplate the possibility. I certainly wouldn't say that it's the best decision for every family. Though I'd be the first to trumpet the benefits of homeschooling, learning is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. You just have to look at a given child and whether or not the child is thriving -- not just surviving, but thriving -- where she is. And if the answer is no, then you consider what will help her to thrive and learn, and if you need to, you think outside the box.
Again, good luck.
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