anyone move from s'ing to hs'ing?

[Rose-Roget]

Just curious whether people here have changed from schooling to homeschooling their dc's? I'd never even contemplated it before recently - never thought I could be that organized and disciplined. I'm certainly not organized or creative enough to be unschooler-minded.

Ds is in 1st grade at a public Montessori. We can't afford private anymore. I'm very unhappy. He, however, likes it - even though his friends are still peripheral "friendships" and it completely overloads his senses regularly (SPD). I'm unhappy with the education. Too many assessments and worksheets, too much emphasis on completing work quickly, not enough looking at the whole child and hands-on time to focus.

So I've started to toy with the idea of hs'ing, but I don't want to make another bad decision (thought this school was a good decision - although, I will say, it's better than our neighborhood school). Has anyone made the switch, or did most people here start out hs'ing from the start? What were your reasons? Experiences? How did your kids react?

[SagMom]

We made the switch when ds1 was in 3rd grade. He wasn't happy at school and there were many things that we didn't like. He was one of those kids who was "ahead" in some areas and "behind" in others and the school just couldn't accommodate him in a way that we were happy with. We also had issues with their discipline policies, with separation--pretty much the whole of school.

We decided to try hsing, figuring that we couldn't make things any worse than they already were, and we could always return to a school if hsing didn't work out. Ds was thrilled to be out of school and we've never looked back. Dd was in Kindergarten at the time and she finished the year out and then came home too. Our youngest has never been to school.

We love that the kids can learn at their own pace, follow their interests and that they have so many opportunities outside of school, within the community. We've also enjoyed the togetherness that it's brought our family, and the peripheral bonuses like being able to go to museums and on trips during the less-crowded, "off" times.

If you need to pull your child out of this school anyway, and he's open to trying hsing, why not try it?

[mattemma04]

We have done online public,ps,hs,ps,hs,private Montessori.

The kids adjusted and were willing to try out new things. I never forced them to go to any of the schools except with the private Montessori.They have a choice to return or not,but when I sign the contract(and pay) they will have to stay the year unless there is a serious issue like terrible staff or bullying.

Each year I talk to them about schooling options and that we can choose from most.Hs is a hard sell due to dh.And ps in OUR district is out for me due to what happened with ds and bullying(and the lack of response).

If your ds wants to stay at the school consider giving it a go for the year,or atleast until winter break.I pulled my kids out of ps at winter break 2 years in a row.Dd hated ps 1st grade,but when ds started K she wanted to try grade 2.Both left by winter break. I think it is OK to change schooling options to fit your childs current needs.I don't believe in the *tough it out* view.

[Rose-Roget]

Thanks for those insights. Ds is happy enough where he is at the moment, and I'm feeling like we will probably make it through the year. The thing with this school is that it wasn't easy to get him in there. If we pull out, then we most likely wouldn't get a 2nd chance there. Doesn't sound all bad, since I'm not happy, but I would be much less happy if we had to end up at our neighborhood school in the end.

I do like the sound of the hs benefits. Enriching activities, adjusting to your child's levels/needs, more time as family. I could enrich with piano and French, even!

[zjande]

My oldest went to PS until midway through 4th grade. She was happy there, but I had been researching HSing for a whole year & decided it was time. We moved to a new house during spring break of that year, so, I just never enrolled her in the school by that house. I've never regretted my decision for a minute! Honestly.

My personal reasons for choosing to HS back in the day were mainly social. I was seeing the kids nearing puberty, becoming very catty & cliquish, saying terribly rude & obscene things. And it was accepted by everyone it seemed, that peers are more important than family... I just hated knowing that my DD was enveloped by that kind of an atmosphere all day long at school. So, home she came.

She is 19 now, graduated home school at 16, & is going to college.

[MyFullHouse]

In my experience, it is harder to go from school to homeschool than it is to homeschool from the beginning. However, having had a child go from K-4th in regular school has also given me/us a little more appreciation for the "gifts" of homeschooling.

Most of my kids remember getting up in the dark to drive to the bus stop. Two of the youngers remember being tied to the return bus's schedule. Ds remembers being bored with some of the curriculum and struggling with other parts. And he's really grateful for being able to eat and use the bathroom at his will!

I do highly recommend planning for a transition period though. We took ds out over the summer, so he had plenty of time to decompress. We also used a cyber charter for the first year, to wean him off "Real Teacher" approval and get him used to my new role as Instructormom. We might have been fine without that, but I'm happy with how it went.

I'd also make sure to have a good number of outside activities (even free/cheap ones) with other kids planned in the beginning. My aspie son has only ever had "peripheral" friendships, but they were still VERY important to him, and he worried greatly about that. We've been able to cut down since, but it was definitely helpful in the beginning.

Bottom line, it's been COMPLETELY worth it, even though it started out a bit stickier than it ever did with my kids who have never been to regular school.

ETA: I'm about to have my 5th child, I'm ADD, ds is AS, one of my dds is ADD, dyslexic, and dysgraphic, and I live in a very small house. Organization is foreign to me, but my kids are still excelling with a fairly intense neo-classical education. Dh was very worried about this decision because of all of that, but the results so far have turned him into our biggest champion. It can be done!

[kinzee]

We are homeschooling for the very first year. My ODD did k-5 in public school and ODS did k-3.
So far they are adjusting very well.

[LemonPie]

We're in our first year too, with a K'er and a 2nd grader. My oldest went to K and 1 at PS. We used the summer to decompress and it's going fabulously well. See my "LOVE" thread

[mom2ponygirl]

Our dd went to a Montessori school through K. We homeschooled the next 5 years, and then last year she went to school half-time. We're back homeschooling full-time (year 7) and loving it!

Going to school after homeschooling was easy. She figured out the routines and had no difficulties with other kids or academics. She just likes homeschooling better so we're staying home 'till college.