Would you HS if you lived in an amazing district?

[GirlBoyGirl]

I always have wanted to HS my kids, especially since we lived in a crappy district. But now we have permanently moved a few states away and are living in an amazing district! The more I hear about it, especially some of the high school programs, the more impressed I am. So now I am torn. Do I HS or do I send them to PS? Most of what I am excited about are the High School programs, which they may or may not even be interested in, or even get in to, so that is why I am still leaning towards HS. I just don't want to take any chances away from them. What would you do?
Edited by GirlBoyGirl - 7/23/12 at 6:35am

[mary3mama]

Yep.

We have lived in several different districts in our homeschooling years. One was mediocre, all the others were considered to be excellent.

Our choice to homeschool was not and has never been a reaction to the specific school systems...just the better choice for our children & our family.

[moominmamma]

Yes, we would too. I love our local public school, and yet we have still homeschooled. Even the best school districts require daily attendance, segment the world into grade levels and subject areas, take students out of the flow of family and community life, operate based on a mass education model with many children vying for rank and approval by of a limited number of adults who are in positions of authority, separate learning from living, group children by age, and so on. That's just the nature of schooling. We prefer our education, at least in the pre-adolescent years, to have a different nature entirely. 

Miranda

[SweetSilver]

Yes.

What they said.

Even the best schools are still schools.  

[rachelsmama]

Depending on where you are, and which programs your kids are interested in, you might be able to do a mix of homeschool and public school.
 

[Sharlla]

we actually live a block away from a school and we live in one of the better school districts in town.  good school or not that doesnt change why why chose to homeschool. 

[onlyzombiecat]

We would still homeschool. We didn't really decide to homeschool because the local schools were bad. We just felt homeschooling better suited our dd.

A school that would make me change my mind about homeschooling would have to be very different from a traditional school at this point.

You could homeschool for the younger years and then let your children attend the high school if they want when they get to that age. Many people do that.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

You don't have to make a decision for the next 13 years. You could homeschool now and as your kids get older reevaluate.  They may be super interested in one of the high school programs you think is cool and there is no reason you couldn't apply then.  They might not be.  

[AAK]

Maybe.  

You see, we DO live in a great district and my kids did go to the public school for a short while.  It wasn't a good fit for my kids.  However, if the school would have been a good fit, I don't think I would have pulled them out.  And, FWIW, I always planned on homeschooling.  Our situation at the time of dd1 entering kinder persuaded me to give ps a try.  DD1 is now entering 7th.  We are trying to plan for high school.  Unfortunately, our high school doesn't have the types of programs (except for an excellent drama program) that dd is interested in.  However, she has always been interested in the social life of a high school student (games, pep rallies, etc.) so I thought she would want high school.  Well, we finally tapped into some great social aspects within the community at large for her, so that isn't a draw.  Yet, she needs more than I can offer in terms of academics (ie a science lab).  So we are researching options for her.  She might just go to high school.  She might not.  Time will tell.  

Make a decision for what your needs are at this moment.  Just because you start the educational journey on one path doesn't mean that you can't change direction.

Amy

[Cassidy68]

We didn't intend to homeschool at all and ended up pulling out of first grade after a few weeks because it wasn't a good fit. At the time, I was frustrated at the lack of good options within the public school system where we live, and I confess that I drooled over websites of schools available in other areas... However, after two years of homeschooling I can't imagine sending my son to any elementary school. It's hard to see how any school program could offer flexibility, freedom, non-coercive enthusiasm driven learning, multi-age relationships etc etc that homeschooling can provide-- and his personality and learning style just make homeschooling a much easier alternative. Having said that, my son may well choose to attend school later on and if so, we'll look at all the options... 

[num4ncounting]

We would still HS even in a great school district.  The school itself is not the reason we choose to HS, its our beliefs, we feel that the kids being at home is just where they thrive...the ability to make your own schedule, learning together, and our family is tighter and stronger for it.    and the kids love not having to wake up early...lol
 

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by tbone_kneegrabber 

You don't have to make a decision for the next 13 years. You could homeschool now and as your kids get older reevaluate.  They may be super interested in one of the high school programs you think is cool and there is no reason you couldn't apply then.  They might not be.  

This. It's okay to HS now and send them to PS later or vice versa. You have options. In our case I would still probably HS but we have a unique situation. DS is high functioning ASD and is academically advanced but socially awkward. We can meet his needs better at home. DD is celiac and until she's old enough to advocate for herself (and avoid sharing a surface with someone eating a sandwich), we can protect her better at home.

[pek64]

I didn't like what I saw and heard about our grade school, and that was one of the factors in deciding to homeschool. I think we might have done it anyway, because of our specific situation. Also, if you're thinking of sending them to school for high school, you should try to get them in sync with the other kids. We ended up not sending to high school because of being so out of sync (and just used to homeschooling).

[Savoir Faire]

All districts still fall under no child left behind.

So....yes. We have lived in places with "amazing" districts and we have continued to HS.
 

[kmeyrick]

If I lived in a great district, would I homeschool? Well, that really depends on what I want to get out of homeschooling. If there is a philosophy I am very attached to, like unschooling, Waldorf, or religious education, I might. Public education will not provide any of that. Ever. If I am looking for solid academics and a kid who is ready to go to a good university upon graduation, I would send them to school.

My aunt was a model homeschooler to her first two, but sent them to school when she was able to send them to a good one. Her girls were just ready to be around their peers more. She was worried at first but was quite relieved with her decision. First of all, she had to admit, there was socialization at school that even very skilled, cooperative homeschooling didn't cover. It was good for her kids to be around people who were NOT like minded. She also found that as they got older, she began to understand why secondary teachers had degrees in the topics they were teaching. My aunt is very, very intelligent but as it turns out, sometimes you do need an expert to teach your children honors/AP classes. Finally, it was a huge financial relief. Not only did the school provide everything for free, but she was able to get a job that paid 50K a year. Had she continued to homeschool, she was virtually paying that much a year in tuition in lost income potential.

There were some things that made her sad. Homeschooling had been fun, and it was nice to be able to take off anywhere, any time of year. But, she had to admit that's not how the workforce usually looks in the real world. She wasn't altogether pleased with some of the other kids in the school, but it wasn't horrible or dangerous. She decided that she wanted to produce adults that could function in less than ideal circumstances and be flexible with coworkers. She had no regrets about the academic curriculum- they were both stellar students.
 

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by kmeyrick 

She decided that she wanted to produce adults that could function in less than ideal circumstances and be flexible with coworkers. 

It sounds like your aunt had many reasons to send her kids to high school, but I really take issue with the implication that homeschooling does not produce this kind of young adult. My homeschoolers have had tons of this sort of experience: waiting in line at the passport office and watching an irate man blow up at a clerical worker, dealing with little-girl spats at theatre camp, putting in hours of prep time for an orchestra or string quartet experience and having peers show up unprepared, trying to figure out ways to play with the autistic daughter of a family friend, working through conflicts at family meetings, putting in hours of volunteer time at the community garden and seeing it vandalized a few weeks later, waiting while the aikido sensei tries yet again to redirect the inappropriate behaviour of a recalcitrant 11-year-old, attending day after day of swim lessons in 55-degree water and air temperatures to match, and on, and on.

[kmeyrick]

I would like to add two things that my aunt and her homeschooling colleagues found. They were pioneers and set the bar for homeschooling in America, so it's probably good advice: Most found it easier to put kids in school and switch to homeschooling rather than homeschool first and switch to school. Although HSing first and switching is not impossible. Just trickier. Also, if you plan to send your kids to a public high school, it might be wise to HS in a way that will make adapting easier. Don't do something radically different than what your kid's model peers will have done. You don't want your kid to be so overwhelmed from acclimatizing that other things fall by the wayside. Try to HS in a way that basic public school curricula won't look totally alien. You don't have to HS as if you were a public school teacher, but the work should look somewhat familiar when they go to high school.

[kmeyrick]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

It sounds like your aunt had many reasons to send her kids to high school, but I really take issue with the implication that homeschooling does not produce this kind of young adult. My homeschoolers have had tons of this sort of experience: waiting in line at the passport office and watching an irate man blow up at a clerical worker, dealing with little-girl spats at theatre camp, putting in hours of prep time for an orchestra or string quartet experience and having peers show up unprepared, trying to figure out ways to play with the autistic daughter of a family friend, working through conflicts at family meetings, putting in hours of volunteer time at the community garden and seeing it vandalized a few weeks later, waiting while the aikido sensei tries yet again to redirect the inappropriate behaviour of a recalcitrant 11-year-old, attending day after day of swim lessons in 55-degree water and air temperatures to match, and on, and on.

Well, I could take issue with posters here, including you, saying parents who choose public school are putting their kids in a coercive environment. What a way to make parents of lesser means feel lousy. To add to that, homeschooling can be very high demand and coercive, but that's another thread.

When my cousins went to school, it wasn't about watching an irritated man in line at the passport office, or how to be nice to autistic children.

(Golf clap, btw). They had left their house, you know. It was about having access to kids brought up very differently. Not wrongly, as you seem to imply about kids from the outside world. Why did you rattle off a list of jerks? These other kids weren't jerks. Different life styles, viewpoints, languages, cultures. Not just other home schoolers.

[SweetSilver]

kmeyrick, do you homeschool?

[kmeyrick]

Originally Posted by SweetSilver 

kmeyrick, do you homeschool?

My son is an infant, but in the right circumstances, yes, I would. If I stay in my current location I probably will, but if we move to another location which looks likely right now, I will reconsider. Half of my family is homeschooled so I am no stranger to it. What we get out of it is knockout academics in otherwise low performing areas. We homeschool religiously, which means cultural isolation which I do indeed view as a problem. My aunt wanted to correct that but it did make her nervous to put her kids into a world where people believed so very, very differently. But even secular homeschooling has some hurdles that get tougher to jump over as the kids get older. I think you get the most out of homeschooling when you view it realistically and not romantically. A poor understanding of what school actually is and does is damaging in the long run, too.