Why are you so against traditionally schooling your children?

Good on you. The proof is in your kids. We homeschooled ours for two years and it was wonderful. The best part is they keep their curiosity and love of learning. Also you can keep the conversation going throughout the day - to the lady that said what do you talk about dinner. (With our kids in school the conversation went: ‘How was school?’ Kid replies: fine.). I find it hilarious that you were asked for your credentials. The so called experts in MCPS STILL have our kids on a totally failed curriculum 2.0 for NINE YEARS. Even if you picked Tier 1 curriculum and followed the teachers manual your kids would be better off than Jerry Weist’s corrupt deal. Good on you! Keep it up!

Do you ever worry they’re too sheltered?

Homeschooling sounds great to me especially because my own experience in public schools wasn’t that good (lots of terrible teachers, too many disruptions from other students, too many transitions, a lot of classroom mgmt issues and not enough time to focus on subjects that interested me, hardly any individual attention, overcrowded classes, too much focus on testing, etc etc) but public school is also how I learned a lot about others who had different life experiences, came from different backgrounds, and how to be strong, resilient, work on my own stuff through the distractions, etc...I wonder how homeschooled kids fare in the “real world” as they get older.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know there is a homeschooling forum?

Yes I do, it is mostly dead.

When I want to discuss things with other homeschooling parents-- I visit the Well Trained Mom forum.

I posted this here because I regularly see myths propagated on this forum and wanted to see if I could answer some questions head-on. Most people do not visit the homeschooling forum unless they are already homeschooling.

OP-- HAHA just saw my own typo-- its the Well Trained MIND forum

Anonymous wrote:How often do your kids get together with friends outside of their co-op learning? How often do they go alone to another house for a playdate or have a friend over?

A lot. They have multiple friends in the neighborhood, who are not in our co-op, and they see each other regularly to meet up outside and ride bikes/scooters/etc, and they also go regularly to the homes of friends from co-op.

Anonymous wrote:What are your teaching qualifications?

College degree, experience substitute teaching, experience teaching Sunday school, extensive reading on psychology, child development, and learning styles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your favorite writing curriculum for a reluctant writer?

Forgot to say 2nd grader.

Have to say English Lessons Through Literature again.

It starts out very slow, focusing mostly on copywork, dictation, and basic grammar in levels 1 and 2, while keeping kids engaged with classic fables, poems, and literature (so they hear beautiful language). By level 3, they start doing progressively more independent writing, learning how to play with sentences, words, etc.

For reluctant writers, it is light on the actual writing at L2 and also is very scalable.

As a disclaimer, my kids are not reluctant writers (they fill notebooks with stories they create themselves), but it seems to me that this curriculum would also work well for those who hate having to sit and write.

Anonymous wrote:How many hours per day do they spend on academics?
Are art and music included in your homeschool curriculum or do they have exposure to those subjects through the co-op?
Have they ever expressed interest in going to traditional school?
Have you gotten criticism from family and/or friends for your choice to homeschool?

I am interested in possibly homeschooling my son who will be in kindergarten next year.

Thanks.

The number of hours per day depends on their ages and has scaled up as they age. For K, we did 1-2 hours a few times a week. My oldest is now in later elementary school and we spend about 3-4 hours on school lessons most mornings.

Music is separate in our home (private music lessons as well as participating in community groups).

Art is largely incorporated into our curriculum but we also have done several art classes through the co-op.

My children have not expressed an interest in going to a conventional school, but I would be open to discussing the issue with them and learning their reasons if they ever did. They know lots of kids who go to conventional schools, too, so its not a mystery to them. They enjoy all the free time they have in the afternoon, so it doesn't seem very appealing to them, I do not think.

I have not gotten outright criticism, but I did face a lot of skepticism, particularly through the first few years. Now, as people see my kids are perfectly 'normal' (I have had people say, "wow your kids are so normal", literally) and also that they see they thrive academically (especially in my family, I do not go speaking about my children's academic achievements to most people) people are much more supportive.

What are your teaching qualifications?

How often do your kids get together with friends outside of their co-op learning? How often do they go alone to another house for a playdate or have a friend over?

Anonymous wrote:Your favorite writing curriculum for a reluctant writer?

Forgot to say 2nd grader.

Your favorite writing curriculum for a reluctant writer?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you home school? Concern over education quality at your local school options or do you worry about their interactions with other children?

Do you worry they’re missing out on mainstream life experiences?

OP here-- already covered the why question.

For the bolded-- not really. They get a lot of them through their co-op-- lots of unstructured time with sizeable groups of kids with different personalities. Are they missing some? Probably, but considering the prevalence of screens in modern education (but no my children are no computer illiterate) as well as bullying in schools, I do not consider this to be a net-negative.

Curious what size and also how much time and effort you had to put in to find consistent groups.

Not much effort, really. I found a co-op with over 50 kids in it that meets about 2 towns over from us. That group gets together twice a week. If I didn't have this group, there were other groups that offered homeschool classes and various homeschool meet-ups that I would have connected with. Most areas have more options than people realize.

The team sports and other community activities they do through the town, and thus I found them the usual way.

It's not a "myth". You are choosing to isolate your child. I have no respect for you.

Join the big-wild-world out there. Participate. Choose to believe that you matter and that you being involved will make it better. IMHO, instead, you are teaching your children the worst of all values.

Anonymous wrote:How many children do you have and what is the age range?

2 elementary school-aged.