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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When I had no kids of my own, I looked down on homeschoolers. Nine years later my child is in the 4th grade. The child spent [u]K-3 grades in public schools[/u], but now in the 4th grade we started to homeschool. Why? My husband and I realized that public schools are not meeting our expectations. The [u]child attended four different public schools [/u](three in FCPS, one in a different state, all were highly ranked), as we moved several times. Only two had good teachers, the curriculum was terrible everywhere (it does include the AAP, although the AAP is certainly better than the non-AAP version). My husband and I taught at several top-ranked universities (STEM fields) in the U.S. for over a decade, and could not understand why our seemingly bright students had such poor knowledge of background subject matter, as well as an inability to think. Anything that went beyond solving elementary recipe-driven problems was impossible for them to do, but now we understand the causes behind this phenomenon better. We cannot allow our child to receive worse education than the one we ourselves got 30 years ago in a third-world country. We decided to stop waiting for schools to educate our child, so now we homeschool.

When we were growing up, we were lucky to have some amazing teachers at the schools we attended, who were not only experts in their fields but could also inspire kids to learn. I would like my child to have a chance to meet such teachers, if possible. [b]This means that we will re-enroll our child in public schools periodically in the hopes of lucking out on a great teacher, [/b][u]but, if not, we can and will give a much better education at home. Nor are we averse to hiring great private instructors or joining group lessons, when the teachers and subject matter are worth it, which makes it closer to a private school experience, but at a fraction of the cost and with hand-picked teachers.

A lot was said about socialization. Well... our child is doing sports (4 hours per day), plus a number of other enrichment activities (not to mention, playdates), which involve interaction with other kids, so the topic is moot for us.

It is ironic that, only 3-4 years ago, we were like many of you in your attitudes toward homeschooling. In reality homeschooling is amazing if (and it's a big 'if') the parents are educated and care about their children's education. But it could also be a complete disaster. However, staying enrolled at public schools can be a disaster too. Either way it's the parents' responsibility to give their child the best secondary education possible. As for socialization issues, forget it... teenagers are socializing through their smartphones these days, regardless of the schooling method.  [/quote]

You had a single AAP teacher if you pulled your child out by fourth grade, so you really don't know what the AAP curriculum is based on a single year.  You do sound like one who will put a lot of thought and effort into homeschooling and you had me on your side (for your child) until the bolded part.  That's just cray cray.  You don't jump in and out (and in and out)...think of your poor child!

I also wonder why your child was in FOUR different public schools in FOUR years (k through 3).[/quote]

That is correct about a single AAP teacher. The experience could get better with a different teacher in a different grade.
Regarding jumping in and out, if necessary, I don't really see the downside right now. So far, while at public schools, the child had to start the year with a new teacher and a new set of classmates each year (kids were mixed and class assignments were semi-randomized, so there was no stable group of close friends even at the school where the child spent several years in a row). It's ok, as the child has close friends outside the school. The question now is about what to do in those subjects where the child is accelerating much faster than the current curriculum at schools. I would appreciate your thoughts on this and don't mind the criticism. I'd like to understand why you feel that returning to public schools is a bad idea. Our current plan is to homeschool 5th grade, then potentially re-enroll for 6th and 7th grades. If the experience in middle school is positive, then stay. If not, homeschool for 8th grade. Enroll in public school in the 9th grade (1st year of highschool) and, again, either stay for the rest of the highschool years, or do homeschooling, depending on whether the experience is positive or negative overall. If homeschooling during highschool, it would simply mean taking a significant number of college courses.

The moves had to do with changes in job locations of the parents, as well as availability of corporate housing upon relocation, so were unrelated to schools.[/quote]

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