Homeschoolers?

[Redwall Musician]

I've been homeschooled my whole life!

[HeadInAnotherGalaxy]

My only problem with public school is that over half of the kids (or at least at my school) are complete idiots.

[Captain Tammo]

I was home schooled until 2nd grade. My dad was in the army and we were stationed in Texas for 2 years and instead of putting us in and then back out of school, my mom decided to homeschool us. But now my dads out of the army and we moved to NY and I've been in school since 2nd grade.

My only problem with public school is that over half of the kids (or at least at my school) are complete idiots.

Lucky!!! For me it's EVERYONE in my school is a jerk! And also my town!

[Lutra]

I opened this topic because I thought it was on homeschooling as a topic, but that's not what I found.    Interesting all these homeschooled students.  I never was homeschooled; went to the public school all my life.  Never had an issue with the social piece, though I will say in some cases, yes, public school students are more socially aware and adept than those who do not experience it in the homeschool setting.  Not all cases, but I would say half of them.  Typically a student is homeschooled when they cannot for whatever reason, handle the public school environment.

For all the homeschoolers here (this is a teacher asking), I'd like to know how is your day structured? How are you assessed on what you know or what you have learned?

[Gonff]

Typically a student is homeschooled when they cannot for whatever reason, handle the public school environment.

I for one, was not homeschooled because of this but because my dad worked at a factory and he worked hours so that if my older sister went to the public school she would not be able to see him much so my mom started homeschooling her. After that all my other siblings and I were homeschooled even though my dad's job went out of business. I know many other homeschoolers who are homeschooled not because they couldn't handle the public school but because of other situations like this.

For all the homeschoolers here (this is a teacher asking), I'd like to know how is your day structured? How are you assessed on what you know or what you have learned?

As for how my day is structured, I do not have a certain order for subjects. I do them all throughout the day in whatever order I want. I have a grid that lists all my subjects and I check off all the ones I did that day. After every school-year we go to an evaluators house and she looks over this grid and a sample of our work for each subject. She signs a paper that says we learned what we were supposed to and we turn this in, along with samples of our work, to the local school. They look over it and if they approve we pass the year. About every-other year we take a test at the end of the year that ranks us in how well we are doing in each subject. In my sixth grade test I ranked ahead in almost every subject (some subjects I was ahead by 3 yrs.) and I did not rank behind in any. This is how we are evaluated on what we learned. If you have any other questions I will answer them as best I can.

[The Lady Shael]

Typically a student is homeschooled when they cannot for whatever reason, handle the public school environment.

Agreeing with Gonff, with all due respect, this is not true in my experience at all. My parents homeschooled me because they wanted to have a bigger hand in my education and raise me away from the potential "corruption" of the public school system. Not that people in the public school system are corrupt, but my family is very conservative, as are most homeschooling families. They just want to raise their kids in a "safe" environment where they know everything that is going on, and that their kids aren't exposed to bad habits.

Some are probably homeschooled for this reason, but I would not say that is the main reason.

For all the homeschoolers here (this is a teacher asking), I'd like to know how is your day structured? How are you assessed on what you know or what you have learned?

My mom was usually at home with me all day, so she would usually make a schedule with the day's assignments for me to do. It usually consisted of math, science, history, and english. I had a book for each, and the books had a pretty thorough and easy-to-follow curriculum, so I could do a chapter a day, and take a test at the end for my mom or dad to grade. My mom recorded my grades in a planner. Every so often, my dad would plan a cool science experiment for us to do.

We were part of a kind of homeschooling association in the area (maybe about 150 of us), so we had a principal who was kind of there for parents to ask questions and to submit grades to for official homeschooling stuff (I never actually learned how this worked). At the end of the year, we all took a standardized test in all subjects, but I don't know how this factored in to our assessment.

[Lutra]

^ Thank you both for comments on the subject.

It seems to me you both have very good parent role model who find education valuable, and wish to see their child succeed in the best way possible. Kudos to them for taking on the job...because it is a job in itself to keep on top of learning!  I understand the social concerns of students in public schools or those who lack to role model at home to teach how to behave in society.  Its there, and yes, that is another reason students are homeschooled.  I wasn't implying all are homeschooled for the reason listed above.

[Matthias720]

Typically a student is homeschooled when they cannot for whatever reason, handle the public school environment.

I must respectfully disagree with you on this point. Every, I repeat every, homeschooler I have ever run into was/is homeschooled because of either disagreement with public school curriculum, dissatisfaction with the quality of teaching, not being able to learn at the pace they want to go at, or because they had other siblings that were/are homeschooled.

[Lutra]

Perhaps 'typically' was a bad choice of words on my part.  I never said there weren't many reasons students are homeschooled--different situations and all that.  I'm not trying to be a know-it-all on something I've never had been a part of.  In the times I've come across I've seen students removed from schools because the environment was not ideal for learning, and the parents felt they could do a better job than the school, hence why I said what I did.

....

Another question for the homeschooled: when it comes to reading, who chooses what is read?  You or your tutor/parent?  Combination?

[HeadInAnotherGalaxy]

I'd say that an advantage that homeschoolers like Gonff have is that if they've done everything they need to do for a subject (work/studying/etc...) they dinnae need to wait for the rest of the class (like those of us that attend public schools) to finish and then have to wait for the bell to ring (or whatever your school has to announce the next class) to go to the next class. They just finish and then go on to the next subject.

[The Lady Shael]

^ Agreed. Most of the time, I finished all my schoolwork right after lunch, and the rest of the day I was free to do whatever I wanted.

Another question for the homeschooled: when it comes to reading, who chooses what is read?  You or your tutor/parent?  Combination?

A combination of both. Sometimes my parents would assign me books to read, but I loved reading back then, so I chose a lot of the books I read. Our homeschooling group had a recommended list of books to read depending on your grade level (if you read a certain amount you got a trophy at the end of the year), so most of the books I read were from that list. That's actually how I started reading the Redwall series. :3

[Gonff]

I'd say that an advantage that homeschoolers like Gonff have is that if they've done everything they need to do for a subject (work/studying/etc...) they dinnae need to wait for the rest of the class (like those of us that attend public schools) to finish and then have to wait for the bell to ring (or whatever your school has to announce the next class) to go to the next class. They just finish and then go on to the next subject.

This past school year my older sister went to the public school for the last two periods every day. She said, most the time she was there they weren't even working. They could have finished in half the time they took. I know that even if my sister and I were in the same grade she would take longer at some things and I would take longer at others. Since I am the only person in my class I can go at my own pace. And like Lady Shael said I can finish school long before anyone in the public school would.

Another question for the homeschooled: when it comes to reading, who chooses what is read?  You or your tutor/parent?  Combination?

I don't really have a list of what I have to read, but I do read a good variety of books. I keep a list of what books I have read for each subject. (History, science, art, etc.) At the end of the the school year the person who evaluates me on how well I did that year looks over the lists and makes sure I have read enough. Since I love to read I have never really had any problems with not reading enough.

[Tiria Wildlough]

My mum homeschools me. It's because she wants to teach me things school doesn't offer.

[Leatho Shellhound]

I was homeschooled all my life and it's great you learn allot more and now I am going into 8th grade.

[Martha Braebuck]

I'm a homeschooler and glad...I don't think I could handle public school