Anyone switching to Home School now over xmas break?

[Shelsi]

I'm sure I'm not the only one. We are largely dissatisfied with ds's school so we decided to go ahead and HS him. He went to his last day of school on Friday.

I feel a little sad because I really believe that "regular" school is the best fit for ds but just not that particular school, kwim? It's the best school in the city, we purposely spent way more money on a house just to live in the best district, but it's still just NOT a good school. We had tons of issues but the 2 biggies were they use corporal punishment - I actually had to explain to my ds what a spanking was since he'd never heard of it - and they watched a TON of TV. And it wasn't educational TV, it was all Disney movies. He has seen just about every Disney movie ever created now whereas previously he'd only seen Cinderella and Finding Nemo. Then for a field trip they went to the movie theater to see the Princess and the Frog and bought them COKE! For 5 yr olds!? They're obviously insane.

Anyways, enough about me. Anyone else embarking on this journey? I'm both excited and terrified.

[meetoo]

on the corporal punishment. What is it 1945? UGH.

Good luck homeschooling! We just started in sept. We have basically been fumbling around for the past 4 months. I think we may now be getting into our groove.

[ambersrose]

I have dis-enrolled my daughter from the local public school as of Friday too. We registered with the state as homeschoolers and I couldnt be happier. My daughter is not public school material. She is a thinker and a question asker. She also has sensory issues which the teacher did not understand. My daughters teacher did send home all the workbooks they would be doing for the rest of the year for us to supplement her home education with which was very nice

[DaughterOfKali]

I thought spanking in schools was against the law.

[kittie313]

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

I thought spanking in schools was against the law.

It depends on the state. I know that in my state, the district we used to live in before we moved here last year quit using corporal punishment in 2001 because a kid got paddled for smoking in the bathroom and his parents got mad and called a lawyer to take care of it. The kid was the captain of the football team and had been caught numerous times for smoking, had been suspended from sports and school before, and still insisted on smoking in the bathroom. He never smoked in the bathroom again, but was also the last kid to be paddled at that district.

For the OP, I just wanted to congradulate you for taking this step, its a scary one to take and it takes a LOT of guts to pull a kid out I think, especially when you live zoned in the best school in your district (I did it just this past June with the same situation, we live in the best elem. school in town and nobody got it, we still get some flack for it but know it was the right choice for us) Can't wait to get to "know" you here on the forum, there's a lot of great information and support here.

[Shelsi]

I didn't know corporal punishment was legal either until we moved here (we're in NM; I need to update my profile...). I guess it's legal in something like 13 states still. Now, granted, they do ask permission from the parents first so it's not like ds ever actually got spanked or even did anything to deserve one BUT they were constantly using it as a threat.

I'm still pretty conflicted about this decision. I really do think he does best in a school setting. There's no where else to send him though - no private schools or anything. I'm really REALLY worried about the social aspect. Ds NEEDS people, lots of people, every day. He's been like that since birth. When he was a baby, if he was fussy, we just went out to the mall or out to eat. As long as we were out in public he was happy as a clam. There's only one HSing group here that is very religious based. Ds and I were not very comfortable when we visited it once. I put out feelers for a secular group and got zero interest.

As far as academics I'm excited though. I'm a science and math freak and ds loves math. I don't think he's really done science in kindy yet but he's about to. I've got lots of experiments and things in mind. Oh and we're going to do Sing, Spell, Read & Write for LA.

[Geerbabe]

You didn't mention when you would actually start, but I suggest you don't get too enthusiastic and try to Home School while other kids are still on Christmas break. Your son probably needs that decompression time and would end up resenting the home schooling right off the start.

[Shelsi]

Originally Posted by Geerbabe

You didn't mention when you would actually start, but I suggest you don't get too enthusiastic and try to Home School while other kids are still on Christmas break. Your son probably needs that decompression time and would end up resenting the home schooling right off the start.

Well we don't have any of our curriculum yet so nope, not HSing yet. That being said, ds is excited about starting and has asked me every day if we can start yet. The only thing he liked about school was the social aspect.

[splotchy1]

Similar situation here. DS was in first grade in a private school here (the public are horrible). He LOVED school but was totally underchallenged. I couldn't believe it, but they were watching movies every day too. In Kindergarten, it didn't bother me too much that they watched one every day at resttime, since Kindergarten was 8-3- long day. But, in 1st grade? Come on! He was very happy there, but I decided to pull him out at the Xmas break.
Anyway...DS is very social, but is on board for homeschooling. We will be starting after the new year as well. I was tihnking he would need some deschooling time, but he is already asking me when we can get started.

[InstinctiveMom]

I'm envious
We're considering homeschooling, but not quite there yet. My oldest has an aide that I don't want to take him away from right now and my youngest is doing remarkably well (both grades and socially), but I HATE school, lol. My boys both love it though, so we're in a holding pattern for now.

Good luck!