Home-school vs. public school~priddymomma

Hey guys!  I’m a little late posting this due to the weather.  Yesterday, it was marvelous!  My family spent as much time as possible outside; running around with the dog, roasting marshmallows on the fire, and playing badminton.  I didn’t get to do much writing during that time, as you can imagine.  Today, the weather further complicated things by being horrible.  Thunderstorms are passing through the area, and my satellite internet is finicky when it comes to storms.  Excuses excuses.  (Also, I forgot until today.  Shh!)

The topic this week is home school vs. public school.  I know, I know!  We’ve done this before.  (If you’d like to read what I had to say however long ago, look here http://thecaseofthemissingcheerios.blogspot.com/2013/03/fanatics-and-superhumanspriddymomma.html  and ignore the typo that I only just caught -_-)  It’s a hot topic though, and I promise not to bore you with the same things (mostly).

Homeschooling isn’t for everyone, but anyone can do it.  Different states (or

countries for you international readers) have different rules and regulations for the homeschooling parent.  Fortunately for us, we live in Indiana.  Indiana is probably the most lenient state in regards to requirements for home-schools.  We are required to keep attendance records and to attend at least 180 days each year.  It is also compulsory for kids to attend from the ages of seven to eighteen.  That’s it.  The superintendent can theoretically request to see attendance records, but I don’t see that actually happening often.  We aren’t required to do any type of testing, nor are we required to learn any specific subjects or file any forms. 

Here are my reasons for homeschooling my kids:

• No one knows my kids like I do.  I understand them and their learning styles better than anyone else, because I have been around them more than anyone else.
• They don't fall behind if they are sick.  In fact, they can't fall behind ever as everything is adjusted to their learning pace.
• My son has ADHD as well as having mild autism.  He is really advanced in some subjects (like reading and math), but struggles with other things (social skills, listening).  I don’t believe he would have reached his full potential in public school.
• My kids can wear whatever (even pajamas).
• I love homeschooling my kids.  They learn, I learn, we bond.
• We aren’t in love with our school system.  The local district isn’t the best, and we don’t think any public school is terrific.
• Curriculum- We always have the final say in what our kids learn.  We can change it, we can cut it, or we can add to it.
• Bullying-We are a four-person household.  Any bullying is always noticed and never tolerated.
• Threats- There have been awful things in the news in the past ten years concerning schools.  Our kids don’t have to ride the bus or walk the hallways in fear.
• Diet-Our kids ate good foods when we started homeschooling, but now they are on a more selective diet (gluten free).  I would consider homeschooling also if your child has something like a life-threatening peanut allergy.
• We can travel and continue to learn without being tied to a school schedule.  Any time of the year can be vacation time.

There are more reasons, but these are the biggies.  If you do send your kids to public (or private or charter) school, that’s great as long as you are pleased with the education they are receiving.  Your ultimate decision should take your family’s individual needs into consideration.  

As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment or make topic requests below.  :)

Fanatics and Superhumans~priddymomma

First, a confession:

I have been procrastinating.  I had plenty of time the rest of the week to get this typed up, but I waited until the day I should be posting it to get to work.  Now I’m up at six in the morning, WITHOUT COFFEE, trying to get this done before my house turns into a very merry unbirthday party.  Now, you probably have two questions:  1.) Why have I been procrastinating?  and 2.) Why on Earth would I be without coffee?  What is wrong with me? (Okay fanatics.  That’s three questions.  Get off me). 

Sweet, delicious tease.  Curses!

In answer to your second question, I’m attempting to give up coffee.  I love coffee, but I’m quite addicted to it.  I’m to the point where I don’t even enjoy it anymore.  I’ll drink warm urine-tasting coffee and complain the entire time about how it tastes, but I will still finish it.  Alas!  In answer to your illegal third question, they still haven’t found the answers, but they are out there somewhere.

I’ve been procrastinating, because I have too much to say.  My opinions are strong ones, and they are not necissarily representative of anyone but myself.  I hope you find this post helpful.  Here we go.

Home-school vs. Public School

Being a teacher is one of our primary jobs as parents, regardless of whether we chose home-school or public school.  We start teaching our kids the moment we bring them into the world.  We teach them how and what to eat.  We teach them how to love.  We move on with language and potty training and what not, but the point is that from the first day, they look to us to know how the world works.  A lot of parents hear that we home-school and they immediately respond with, “oh, I could never do that!”  Their reasons are usually that they are afraid they’d leave something out or not be smart enough.  What they fail to realize is that they have been teaching their kids from day one!  Moving on to academics is just an easy canter from there. 

Eh.  Not my color.

I went to public school, got an edumacation, and turned into a well-adjusted adult (QUIT LAUGHING!).  I made amazing friends, had wonderful experiences, and really liked many of my teachers.  If I could go back, I would definitely do it again.  Public school can be a wonderful option.  There are great schools out there and great teachers!  The friends your kid makes are vital to his or her growth.  Being away from mom and dad is an important step in gaining independence.  All of that is fantastic.

We chose to home-school. 

Safety was a factor in our decision to home-school.  As a parent, I worry constantly about my child’s safety.  I don’t need to put it down in words all the things to worry about.  I feel like I need to worry a lot less when my kids are home with me, where I can see them and/or hear them at all times.  I know what they’re eating, wearing, doing, and whom they are associating with because I have pre-approved of these aspects.

Another factor was curriculum.  In a home-school setting, you can follow your child’s lead.  If he or she is excelling at a fast pace, move on quickly.  If he or she is struggling, you can afford to take the time.  We as a society push our kids so hard, and we rarely give them a choice in the matter.  Kids are naturally curious and want to learn.  I believe that if the information is there or is presented in the right way, kids will jump at the chance to learn all they can about a subject.  Right now, Cheerio Champ is really interested in presidents.  He’s memorized all of them (I only taught him the first eight!).  In fact, he’s asking for more information to keep learning.  Not only is he learning an astonishing amount (all 44 presidents at age four!), but I’m learning as well.  I learn/relearn my facts before presenting them to him, and then we watch movies, read books, or explore websites together and learn more.  He’s learning and so am I.  I’m teaching him valuable research skills and providing him with a lifelong love of learning.  And there is ample opportunity to become closer through our experience.  The fact that we love homeschooling has been the primary reason we continue to do it. 

Another of our biggest reasons for homeschooling is time.  If my son went to public school, when would I see him?  He’d have to get up earlier than he does now in order to catch a bus to go to school.  He wouldn’t get home until around the time my husband usually gets home from work, leaving us with one hour before I had to start dinner, followed by eating dinner, shower, and bed.  During dinner prep, he would likely be completing homework/running around like a crazy person.  The weekends would be our primary time together, which wouldn’t leave him with much time with his father at all, as hubby works on Saturdays.  Yes, I would have more time to myself during the day, but at what cost?  Sure, it would be easier to just take care of my youngest during school hours, but it would be less enjoyable too.  Some of the most rewarding parts of my day would be missing.  We have much more family time this way.  (We usually don’t do homeschooling on my husband’s days off.  We home-school four days a week nearly all year, for two to three hours a day. )

How can you choose between homeschooling and public schooling?  Here are some factors to consider:

• How good are the schools in your area?  If they aren’t up to your standards, are you willing to drive week days to another school?
• Do you have the time to home-school?  Are you a stay-at-home parent, or do you work a 40 + hour week?
• Do you want to teach your child from home?  If not, don’t!  There are other options.  Don’t want to home-school or public school?  Try charter or private!
• How deep are your anxieties about the things your child will be exposed to at public school?  Will this affect your sleep and daily life? 
• Where are you at financially?  Home-school does not equal free school!  There are a lot of things you can do for free, but somewhere you will have to drop some money.  Public school offers tuition assistance programs to those that need them. 
• Do your kids have severe food allergies?  I personally would never allow my kids out of my sight if they had a food allergy, so I’m including this here as a precaution.  Your kids can take their lunch to school, but what’s to stop them from trading lunches or sharing food at a classroom party?
• What do your kiddos want?  Are they already in school and love it?  Do they have a lot of friends or want to make friends? 
• How important is religion in your home?  Do you have the time to teach all that you want to teach about religion while your child attends public school?

I have another bullet, but I’ll make a paragraph to elaborate instead.  How do you feel about being constantly judged and possibly ridiculed?  People feel very strongly about the education they are providing for their children.  If you don’t measure up to their standards, they will not hesitate to tell you.  Oftentimes, people seem to take it as a personal insult if you home-school while they send their kids to public school.  Also, there is still a social stigma associated with homeschooling.  First, people believe that if you home-school, you are either snobs that don’t want your kids associating with the general population, crazy cult religious people, red-necks that don’t believe in education, Quakers, or you have too many kids to count.  People are constantly asking us to justify our choice to home-school.  Why should we have to?

 I should point out there is another side as well.  There are parents out there that hear you home-school and treat you like you are some kind of superhuman.  They hear you home-school and immediately feel the need to justify why they do not, usually elaborating on personal flaws they believe they have.  They start treating you like you have an amazing intellect (maybe you do, maybe you don’t) and try to impress you with some things they are doing “right”.  It’s really quite strange, but true.

Sometimes the other homeschooling parents are the worst.  They tend to go on and on about what junior can do and what methods they are using and “OMG!  I just started prepping him for the SAT!  I should have started MONTHS ago!  He’ll be four in a week!”  Possibly these parents just want to receive a pat on the back for their efforts, but I tend to not care in the slightest what junior is doing.  Good for him, provided he’s having fun.  It isn’t going to change what I do with my kids at all.

It comes down to what you are most comfortable with and what is the best fit for your child.  And remember:  you don’t have to exclusively do either!  You can teach your kids supplementary education to that they receive in school.  You can send your kid to public school one year and home-school the next.  You allow your child to take extracurricular activities or a chemistry class at your local high school and do the rest of his education at home.  The options are endless and the choice is yours.  Don’t let anyone tell you what is best for your child.  You know him or her better than anyone else. 

{Note:  If you wish to home-school, find out what the laws are for your state from the Department of Education.}

Home-school vs. Public School ~Tori

This week we are going to broach the subject of schooling. Now this can tend to be a very controversial topic between moms, so just remember to keep it nice. Our opinions may not be yours, nor each others. But we are all here to lend our personal wisdom on this view.

Now I started homeschooling Lucas when we was 3. It may seem a little young to some people, but we worked on numbers 0-10, the alphabet, shapes, colors, etc. We just started with the small stuff. He did have some pronunciation troubles and as I tried working with him on it he didn't seem to want to respond. As we patiently trudged on he became more and more frustrated. We noticed he started acting out more especially when we couldn't understand all of what he was saying. We would ask him to repeat, sound out, etc., but he would get too frustrated to try. He mainly pointed at stuff for the longest time. Then I was told about a preschool class that met once a week and was a speech class. I checked into it, met with the speech therapist, checked out the classroom, etc. We loved the therapist, Lucas responded so well to the classroom environment because where he wasn't around many kids his age before, he loved having others around him that he could identify with closer. Then he started correcting himself on his own, growing in class (and at home), and he just all in all loved it. Where he refused to talk to anyone new before sometimes he will just say the most random crazy things now. He is so much more friendly and outgoing.
After much discussion between me and hubby, we decided to go ahead and keep him in public preschool, he really wanted to stay and make more friends. This is the second year he has been in public school and this year he gets to start kindergarten. He is more than excited to be starting a new adventure. I am biting my fingernails struggling to let go. :)

Now don't get me wrong public school was not my intention. I'm constantly worrying about it because I'm not right there. What if he falls at recess and scrapes his leg? What if his coat isn't zipped and it's windy out? But these are things he is going to have to do without me sooner or later. While I would rather them be later I can't ignore the happiness on his face when he is on his way to school. Hearing all the details about his day as he enjoys his after school snack. The running up to me and getting a big hug and kiss because he missed me, and we talk to each other about our day. So my main problem with public school is that it's just hard to let go. I want to hold on. He's growing up, and I'm not ready. I don't want the distance. But I also went to public school and I met some of the best friends that I have to this day. I had to just suck it up and realize that while each child is different, for him, this is what made him happy. He has made friends, his socialization is so much better, and while he is still a bit shy and reserved he does interact so much better.

Now I do worry about him away from me in public school especially in today's dangerous day and age. But to be honest I made it through public school, and you just have to do your research on the school. Shootings are the main worry on my mind what with everything happening, bullying is a huge concern, but I know that I can't shield him from life. Those are risks you take in a grocery store, or at a park. Bullying happens at every stage of life so it's something that can't be escaped no matter what. But I can talk to him about these things and teach him how to handle it, and not let it get the best of him.

I prefer to home school him, I'm a stay at home mom so I certainly have the time. But then he doesn't get to interact with other kids his age as much as he would like. He doesn't get to do group projects with his peers, he doesn't make the connections with the same kids on a daily basis. Later on if he wants me to home school him I will be all up for it and ready to go. But for right now I do believe that public school has been the best thing for him. He has gotten so many opportunities. That doesn't mean that we don't go on the occasional field trip as a family, that doesn't mean I don't teach him things at home, we do both so he gets the best of both worlds. He loves it. I plan on attending every single field trip, being a part of all his school functions, and still spending the same amount of time with him I can.

Every child is different, and public or home school choices are for your family to decide. It really comes down to the child. Children all learn differently, they respond differently to various settings, but either way schooling is very important.

Whether you are choosing public or home school just be active in your child's schooling above all else. Talk about the day whether you were there or not because it's very important to know they can talk to you. This creates such a lasting effect that will carry on years down the road. If you don't ask about the small stuff and listen intently then they aren't going to talk to you about the big stuff. And always remember no matter what you choose, you are your child's first teacher.