Homeschooling--ideal or second best?

[LuxPerpetua]

From reading another thread below, I began wondering something. Do you feel that for your family homeschooling is the IDEAL educational option, or do you view homeschooling as your second choice--kind of like, if there were no obstacles in the way you would send your child to xyz school, but as it is, homeschooling is the next best thing.

I'm just wondering how other homeschooling moms feel in this regard.

[Momma Aimee]

hard to say.

Depends on how you look at it.

In an IDEAL WORLD we'd be able to send them to a great school. So in THAT regard maybe it is the "2nd choice, but best option"

however the world is, the world and thus not perfect. and thus homeschooling is IDEAL for our family as it allows us to met several goals for our children, allows us to avoid a lot of problems in the schools and to guide them into the world more than dropping them off at kindergarden at 5 would.

It is hard to tell.

You can frame the argument either way.

We choose to homeschool -- at least the first few years -- for several reasons. Acedimic, emotional, SN, Faith, and the list goes on ..

It is IDEAL for us as of now as the world stands ... however, i can see how you could frame it as 2nd choice chosen as there is no better choice...

Yes I can see a situation where we would send them to school -- so I am not a die-hard home-school-no-matter-what ...but i have to say that the chances of us being in that situation (where sending them to school before 4th or 5th or 6th was a realistic option) are slim slim slim.

not sure i really added anythign to this

Aimee

[craft_media_hero]

For us, it is our number one top choice no matter what.

I have a vested interest in my child (I love her!) and her long-term development. I think that gives me an "edge" that no other teacher will ever have with her.

I am aware of and able to work with her asynchronicities (sp?), whereas most adults hear her verbal development and immediately start having expectations for her that are above her above her maturity level.

There is a Waldorf K co-op here, and we could've done it this year, but I still feel like homeschool is best.

She has a custom-tailored, individual program with one-on-one instruction anytime she desires it. What could top that?

We are way too "eclectic" to be content with any one school. We have an excellent private "classical" school, but then she wouldn't be getting the emphasis in the arts that we have here at home. We have the Waldorf co-op, but she woudn't be reading this year! If we had public Montessori (as great as that would be), I would think that it was a little too much on the intellectual stimulation, not enough wonder/fantasy, and too rigid with the materials.

There's no pleasing me otherwise; we must homeschool. So all these other great options are my second choice. Homeschool is tops in my book!

**I wanted to add that (I'm kind of a radical), I think that the whole idea of "schools" for kids younger than, say puberty/adolescence, is pretty unnatural. I really firmly believe that the best thing for our world is for families to be together! That means dad, too. What is ideal, in my mind, is for the family unit to stay together and not be broken up when the child is "school aged". If we used schools, no matter how great the program was, it would be partially for the "free daycare" aspect, and I think that's where a lot of our society's problems come from. Our family's ideal would be if both parents could SAH and unschool/homeschool our kids. I'm all about cottage industries/self-employment/working in your joy and families being together. So "family values" are a big reason for us to HS, outside of the academics**

[chrissy]

nak

I think I asked this very (or a similar) question here a few months ago.

I have finally realized that for me and my family, homeschooling is our first choice. For a long time, I thought that it was a second best, that if we could find the right school we wouldn't homeschool. But then we found a really great charter school, and have now chosen to pull my son out of it.

No matter what, full time school is just too much for my kids (of whom the oldest is only 8) and me. I want to be with them, they want to be with me, and we are all able to make that work, so homeschooling is the best thing for us.

[Ruthla]

I see homeschooling as "the norm"- children belong with their parents!

However, life being what it is, sometimes schools are the best for an individual child at a particular point in time. There are all kinds of reasons why this can be the case- the child's learning style isn't a good match with the parents' personalities, a child has special needs that are best met in a school setting, the parents need a break from (some or all of) their children for mental health reasons, parents need the "free child care" to make ends meet, etc.

I don't judge people for choosing school- it IS "the norm" in today's society, and a great many people don't even consider HSing as an option. Plus, there are some who do consider homeschooling but decide on schools for a variety of reasons. I have a friend who HSed one of her children for part of a school year. In her mind, school is 'the norm' and homeschooling is a "backup plan" if no schools are a good fit for a particular child.

[sahmmie]

Definitely IDEAL!

[elizawill]

for our family it is the ideal. we work very hard to make it a priority & revolve most decisions around it honestly.

[accidental_hs'er]

1st Choice Here

Homeschooling is the ideal form of education, imo. I didn't always think that way. It wasn't until ds was having issues in preschool (a very short stint) that we knew school would not be a good fit. So I discovered homeschooling and while we signed on for specific reasons, we continue with and have learned to love this form of education. We are relaxed. Our time is our own. I have a say over what he learns (too many things missing in the curriculum in my Province) and we go at his own pace. After a brief experiment with dd in kindy, we have come to feel even more grateful that this is our life. The sense of freedom was overwhelming - in a good way - when dd came back home to learn.

We aren't just people who homeschool their kids. At some point we became homeschoolers - it is part of our identity now. More like a lifestyle label not just an education choice.

[meetoo]

I had no major issues with my DD's suburban public school. I pulled her out because I felt homeschool would be better for her and our entire family. That may change at some point in the future.....who knows....

[Village Mama]

For us it is ideal. Between special needs, odd food restrictions, asthma through the winter months.... and generally a super quirky family, home is the best environment. It isn't perfect but is pretty darn good!

[annettemarie]

I feel that it's ideal for us. I would never presume to say it's ideal for everyone though.

[momtokea]

For us it's ideal. We have good schools nearby but choose to homeschool anyway.

[rere]

Ideal.

[SagMom]

It's our first choice--by far!

[Daffodil]

Given the kinds of schools that are out there in the real world, homeschooling seems like the ideal choice for us. If the perfect school actually existed, I think it would be as good as homeschooling, but probably not better. Well, maybe it would be better in some ways - it would give me more time to do my own stuff, and it would provide my kids with resources that weren't available at home. (Because it would have things like a riding stable, an ice rink, and all the latest computer technology, as well as very small class sizes - and of course I wouldn't have to pay anything to send my kids there. You see why I'm not wasting any time trying to find a school like this in real life.)

[Lillian J]

I was actually kind of surprised at the question - I can't say enough about how wonderful it's been for my own family and many friends. In no way was it ever a next best sort of thing. As I said in the other thread, school can be great for lots of people, but there are some of us who would never look back after experiencing the freedom of homeschoolin! Lillian

[Callimom]

Ideal for our family.

[RiverSky]

IDEAL - as in "best thing ever!"

I think it's the best option available, though I know that some families would be hard pressed to make it work and some children are better off away from abusive families during the day. I am glad that there are public schools available for those who aren't fortunate enough to have a parent(s) who know about homeschooling and who are able to facilitate this fantastic lifestyle.

[RoundAbout]

Speaking from my own experience - for 5th and 6th grade I attended a fulltime, highly innovative, experimental program for gifted students in our district. In my mind, it combined a lot of the best elements of homeschooling and a class environment. We were exposed to cool stuff, worked at our own pace, given HUGE latitude on projects and allowed to take them as far as our interest allowed, chose our own books to read, etc. But at the same time got the experience of working in a group, being inspired by other kids' interests, participating in small and large group discussions, and learning about self-governance and peer evaluation (almost everything was run by the students themselves - newspaper, theater productions, class management, etc). Lots of freedom with a little bit of direction. I LOVED it! Being thrown back into regular junior high after that program was a jarring experience that took years to recover from.

I'd be thrilled to send my kid to such a program. However, it was truly a unique one-of-a-kind program (I looked into Montessori because friends raved and its not even a little bit close). I believe the success of the program had more to do with the dedication and philosophy of the 2 teachers who implemented it more than any particular ideology.

But what are the chances of finding a magical program like this? For free? And for all 12 years of schooling? Especially when we move every 3 years (sometimes overseas) and have little control where the military sends us.

Bottom line: In my imagination I can dream up something better than homeschooling, but in the real world where such programs are rare or non-existant, homeschooling is ideal.

[greenthumb3]

Homeschool, or family-centered learning as I think of it for our family b/c we certainly aren't confined to "home", is the ideal way to approach living life, as well as learning in general. I see the lifestyle of work and learning supporting the family's needs as the ideal, rather than trying to fit in family time around other things. It is ideal, and the families who are able to and choose to live this lifestyle are very fortunate to do so.

In a perfect world, I think schools would be set up as a resource to be used as the individual/family needed, not the other way around--it seems that in public school and many other kinds of schools, parents/teachers/students are trying to either "fit" into the school system or trying to make what a school offers meet a need it wasn't designed to meet. That, to me, is not ideal, but many ppl make it work for them.