Do you public school? - Page 3

[beenmum]

WTB

Here is a quick link about it. But it is really what you make it.

If you want to schedule a science lesson at 11:00, go for a walk and look at birds. It just means that you arent cracking open a text book every single day and working through a structured curriculum.

We use a curriculum b/c unschooling doesnt suit us either.

http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/earl_stevens.html 

http://www.lifelearning.ca/ 

Hopefully someone will come in and give you some insight on it.

We use A beka. And they have on-line, parent directed on line and text book learning.

http://www.abeka.com/ 

[BubbleMa]

Originally Posted by NellieKatz 

Sometimes people (like me) homeschool because there are no schools that match our educational approach that are either nearby or affordable. For a while we sent our son to a small, startup democratic free school and we were really hoping to grow the school from two days a week to more, but unfortunately it was too small, we lost some members, and it had to close. Now the closest school of that kind is 45 minutes away, not in our community, and way too expensive for us anyway. So we homeschool and take part in a local educational place that offers various classes for homeschoolers, so we are able to pick and choose which classes we want to send him to (science, math, acting, history, animation etc) and/or what we can afford to. And of course he has Unitarian sunday school. What I wouldn't GIVE to send him back to school so he had somewhere that was meaningful to him where he could go and learn with other kids. (at the democratic free school it was the kids who decided what they would work on, guided by the adult staff members) But the thing with public school is it is so all-or-nothing, and not only that, the whole approach of a public school (and most regular schools) is that the curriculum is something OTHERS decide on, and the timeframe is something OTHERS decide on, it is unrelated to the student's interests (I could go on & on) and the amount of outdoor time is something OTHERS decide on, and then the kids have to go along. So we homeschool. Or whatever you want to call it when you have an eclectic mix of classes and unschooling.  :-)

But (and I am not responding to anyone in particular here, just an idea I saw tossed around somewhere in the thread) there's no reliable connection between homeschooling and a desire to keep kids protected from each other and from other ideologies, walks of life, etc.. It's the forced nature of the learning and exposure that we object to. We happen to think that it will kill our son's love of learning, which is the same strong love of learning that he and everyone else is born with. Also, it's important to remember that kids who are homeschooled don't always do their learning literally "at home." Many (like us) believe that kids should be fully in the world, immersed in real life and people of all ages. For us, home is where we have down-time, where we curl up with a book or with each other, where we recharge, or where we study nature for hours in the backyard if we feel like it. The idea of putting him into some system or schedule is just alien to us. He may decide at some point to join a school when he's older, but for now during his formative years I want to keep his love of learning and his place at the helm of that ship intact. (Funny note...as I was typing this he said out of the clear blue sky "Mama.....can you quiz me on Place Value?" And of course I dropped everything. When the kid wants to do math, I come running!)  :-)

The opposite was true for us.  I homeschooled DD for about a year, when we were living in an area with terrible public schools and no affordable, quality private schools nearby.  Every day was a struggle for us.  There were lots of tears.  We both hated it.  Now that she's in "real" school again, she loves it.  She's excited to go to school every day, and she loves her teacher dearly...sometimes I think more than she loves me.  ;)  Anyway, my point is that every child is different.  Some do very well in the organized, structured, scheduled environment of public school (like my DD) and some don't.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by BubbleMa 
 She's excited to go to school every day, and she loves her teacher dearly...sometimes I think more than she loves me.  ;)  Anyway, my point is that every child is different.  Some do very well in the organized, structured, scheduled environment of public school (like my DD) and some don't.

Another former homeschooler here, but for more years. My kids were 10 and 12 when they started school. They love learning in a group, and they both like more structure than  we could manage at home. They love having teachers. And we all enjoy each more with breaks!

I kinda think that what one does when kids are little (like 5) is more about the parents opinions of what education *should* be like, but that as kids get older, if a family is in touch with their kids, it morphs more and more into what actually works best for that particular child with the options where they live. 

My oldest starts highschool in the fall, and at this point, no AP mom is still talking about what they, the parent, think. Parents still stuck in their views are really ignoring their kids. Ultimately, being dogmatic about any educational philosophy goes against APing.

But this ease of realizing what actually works for your specific child and then making it happen isn't truly available when your child is first starting their school years.  At first, you just make guesses based on what sounds good to you.

[sewchris2642]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

Another former homeschooler here, but for more years. My kids were 10 and 12 when they started school. They love learning in a group, and they both like more structure than  we could manage at home. They love having teachers. And we all enjoy each more with breaks!

I kinda think that what one does when kids are little (like 5) is more about the parents opinions of what education *should* be like, but that as kids get older, if a family is in touch with their kids, it morphs more and more into what actually works best for that particular child with the options where they live. 

My oldest starts highschool in the fall, and at this point, no AP mom is still talking about what they, the parent, think. Parents still stuck in their views are really ignoring their kids. Ultimately, being dogmatic about any educational philosophy goes against APing.

But this ease of realizing what actually works for your specific child and then making it happen isn't truly available when your child is first starting their school years.  At first, you just make guesses based on what sounds good to you.

Popping back in with a big   We started out with home school because we were dissatisfied with our elementary school experiences.  Took it one year at a time.  When Joy was 13, she wanted to go to high school so we started her out with 8th grade to give her a feel for school and to cover any gaps in her education.  Erica then decided she wanted to go to school.  She and Angela were enrolled in a public Montessori elementary school--6th and 2nd grade.  Joy then went through all 4 grades in high school.  Erica switched to a home school/classroom schedule through the public school district for 7th through 9th grade; did 10th and 11th grades in high school; and did independent study for 12 th grade and finished the entire year in one semester.  Angela did the Montessori school through 6th grade; did 7th grade in middle school; 8th and 9th in the home school/classroom schedule; repeated 9th grade in high school and finished out her primary education in high school.  Dylan started out in public elementary school; 6th grade at charter school (home school/classroom schedule); this year, he started out 7th grade with the home school/classroom schedule but the 3 days in the classroom was too much (up to 6th grade is only 2 days in a classroom) and is finishing out the year on the 5-day home school schedule and will probably continue the 5-day home school next year for 8th grade.  We will make the decision of where he will go for high school next year together.

[FarmerBeth]

I think it's so important to go with what works and not get stuck in "camps".  We started at an independent school that was formerly Enki, then Waldorf homeschooled.  The other people we met were almost all AP parents.  I had worked as a doula, breast fed my children to toddlerhood (and then some with one of them), had personally grown up on an organic farm.  We initially switched to public school to be more a part of the community, and because the oldest had special needs that I felt like I needed special input with.  I was so pleasantly surprised at the range of people we met, both those like us and unlike.  Sometimes my kids encounter opinions that are totally different than our family's (a somewhat humorous one in our locale is that squirrels are pests to be killed on the spot, with many boys showing off tail trophies) and it's great because they are learning that basically good people might do or believe things you very much disagree with.  And we've learned that making connections and reaching out to community is an extension of the connection and caring we give to our families, and both connections require tolerance and flexibility.  On the flipside, another person may find more community homeschooling, or the child's needs might be better met that way (our small, rural public school fits for us, but I don't think a larger urban one would).    The important thing is to make decisions on their individual merit, not on which perceived category they belong to.

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by FarmerBeth 

 I was so pleasantly surprised at the range of people we met, both those like us and unlike. Sometimes my kids encounter opinions that are totally different than our family's (a somewhat humorous one in our locale is that squirrels are pests to be killed on the spot, with many boys showing off tail trophies) and it's great because they are learning that basically good people might do or believe things you very much disagree with. And we've learned that making connections and reaching out to community is an extension of the connection and caring we give to our families, and both connections require tolerance and flexibility.  

I think this is an important aspect of schooling outside the home, not just for different ideas, but also for different teaching methods and approaches to learning.

OP, you asked about encouraging "outside the box' thinking, and there is a general impression that homeschoolers have the advantage over those lock-step public schoolers for teaching methods, creative thinking and approaches to learning. Yet, I've known university professors who have identified the opposite trend in the homeschoolers that they teach at the college level. They find that homeschoolers become rigid in their approach to studying. Because they haven't confronted different teaching and classroom styles, homeschoolers are comfortable with one way of studying and have some difficulty adjusting when they start college and find themselves faced with a half-dozen different teachers who may approach things very differently.

Often, formally schooled students have already gone through this experience and worked through how to adjust to different teachers. They are more tolerant of the problem, less likely to panic when it happens and more flexible in solving the problem. The formally schooled students are less likely to ask the college professor to change how the professor teaches, the type of assignments given or even the course curriculum and more likely to try different studying and work strategies to cope.      

Obviously, there are ways for homeschoolers to avoid this problem, but it bears consideration if you do decide to homeschool.

[transylvania_mom]

I consider myself pretty AP (we CLW, co-sleep, GD, SAHP), but chose public schooling. Having had overall positive experiences in school, both as a teacher and as a student, the best choice for us is public schooling. I think homeschooling is a great option, and I would consider it if circumstances were different. But ds loves going to his school, he has many friends there, he loves his teacher, he's currently learning his third language there, so I don't see why I would deprive him of that, just to adhere to a supposed AP standard.