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Any negative sides of HS? - Page 3

post #41 of 54
6/28/08 at 10:40pm
I just noticed that my homeschool conference will be having a sessions called, "Building Grown Up Time into Everyday."
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post #42 of 54
6/29/08 at 2:35am
I am 27 and was HS my whole life, and loved it. Dh was also HS his whole life.

The only downsides I see are the "sheltering" issue and if the HS parents aren't too intelligent.

Growing up it seemed alot of HS parents had difficulties knowing when to allow their DC to begin making some of their own decisions....compared to children who went to school and were without their parents most of the day. I think sheltering is perfectly fine for helpless babies, toddlers and young children...but older children and teenagers need to be allowed to grow into their own person. That doesn't mean throwing your beliefs and rules out the window, but you simply can't keep a tight reign until their 18, because gosh darn when they turn 18 they'll do whatever they want. How much better to be there for them and be viewed by them as being on their side?

My parents did a good job of giving us freedoms as we showed responsibility, though my Dad was harder on my brothers than he was on me because he remembered what a bad teenager he was haha.

And the other point is you don't have to have a degree to HS, but some HSers I knew didn't have intelligent parents and they basically taught themselves. Which isn't all bad- they turned out intelligent, but a parent should study themselves as they HS. My Mom basically reviewed highschool math as she taught it to me.

So thats that. All in all I loved HSing and the positive far outweighed the negative.
post #43 of 54
6/29/08 at 9:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicolelynn View Post
And the other point is you don't have to have a degree to HS, but some HSers I knew didn't have intelligent parents and they basically taught themselves. Which isn't all bad- they turned out intelligent, but a parent should study themselves as they HS. My Mom basically reviewed highschool math as she taught it to me.
To my way of thinking, an intelligent parent is one who helps her children learn the things the children want to learn. Period. Of course, that's going to often mean increasing our knowledge about, and skill in, the stuff our kids are interested in.

My oldest is getting more and more interested in sewing, so I've been providing her with needles, thread, and fabric, and helping her as much as I can when she asks for help. I'm not skilled at sewing beyond basic mending, but I'm gradually growing in this area. She's also learning a lot from one of my friends who's a skilled seamstress, as this friend has been giving dd free sewing lessons, and dd is loving it.

I think it'd be impossible, though, to become highly-skilled in each and every thing my children become interested in. And I just have 2 children, and I'm saying that! So I see my intelligence as being better applied in identifying my kids' interests as they emerge, and looking for a variety of resources to help them go where they want to go.

I don't know if any of my children's interests will include higher math. I know the basic stuff -- addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division -- comes up naturally as part of our daily lives, since we cook, sew, garden, budget money, and so on.

If one of my children wants to go beyond the math-knowledge we encounter in our everyday projects and endeavors, I'll certainly look into different avenues for her to do this. And I may get interested (though I never was before) and work through it with her -- or I may look for a mentor that we can pay or barter with, if she's needing more guidance than dh or I can provide.
post #44 of 54
6/29/08 at 10:19pm
CONS
i am with my children all.of.the.time
every.single.day is a family day
i have to research, choose, and buy their curriculum
it's important to understand and respect their learning style
i am their teacher
i am involved in their social life heavily


PROS
i am with my children all.of.the.time
every.single.day is a family day
i have to research, choose, and buy their curriculum
it's important to understand and respect their learning style
i am their teacher
i am involved in their social life heavily


anyway....depending on the day depends on which way i categorize it - lol. we honestly love homeschooling so much! i can't imagine any other way for my famliy
post #45 of 54
7/1/08 at 1:47am
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone for your advice! I definately still want to homeschool, but I feel more prepared now! Now I just have to get my partner on board...I'm still working on him to believe in the rest of my beliefs (non-vaxing, non-circing, gentle discipline, organic living, etc)!
post #46 of 54
7/1/08 at 3:15am
I haven't read the replies, so I apologize if I am repeating what has already been said.

I think the downsides will be different for every family. For us, they are:

1. Time and energy involved in setting up various groups and classes to meet the social needs and educational interests of my children.
2. The amount of money that these classes cost. You can of course homeschool very successfully without paying for expensive classes, but my son just loves them.
3. Dealing with friends/relatives/strangers who question you all the time about homeschooling.
4. No built in daycare. I would like to be working at home about 10 hours a week but have yet to be able to find any time during the day that both my almost 4yo and 7yo are being taken care of elsewhere. So I have to do some of the work on the evenings and weekends, which is less than ideal for us as a family.
5. Periodic panic attacks.
6. Feeling different - this is an issue for me, not my kids (at least not yet). I miss stupid things like back to school shopping and weekly newsletters and class pictures. This is something I enjoyed as a child, and lwas looking forward to when my kids started school. It might sound silly to some people, but I have had to really grieve this loss. You can try to replicate some of these things, but they just aren't the same when you are homeschooling.
post #47 of 54
7/1/08 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by oceanbaby View Post

I miss stupid things like back to school shopping and weekly newsletters and class pictures. This is something I enjoyed as a child, and lwas looking forward to when my kids started school. It might sound silly to some people, but I have had to really grieve this loss. You can try to replicate some of these things, but they just aren't the same when you are homeschooling.
no - that doesn't sound silly

as a child i also really loved field trips, field day outside, recess time, school pictures, back to school shopping, etc. those are good memories for me. actually, school was an overall great experience for me & unlike some others, i really enjoyed school, sports, cheerleading, etc.

i agree that even when we try and replicate those things, they can never be the same (i mean... my child does not have recess with 25 other kids ever, and she does not even know what a lunchroom is). my hope though is that i am creating a wealth of other memories for my kiddos that will be forever special in their minds. although i cannot replicate certain school experiences, i hope that i can create amazing memories that will be even more special in the end.
post #48 of 54
7/1/08 at 11:48am
Quote:
Feeling different - this is an issue for me, not my kids (at least not yet). I miss stupid things like back to school shopping and weekly newsletters and class pictures. This is something I enjoyed as a child, and lwas looking forward to when my kids started school. It might sound silly to some people, but I have had to really grieve this loss. You can try to replicate some of these things, but they just aren't the same when you are homeschooling.
Me,too! I always loved school, I was sooooo excited at the beginning of the year to find out who my teacher was, and to go scouting out my different classes when I got to jr and sr high school, getting a new locker, finding out what friends were in what classes, etc. My kids will probably never have that and won't miss it since they won't know it, but it makes me kind of sad!
post #49 of 54
7/1/08 at 5:46pm

i love scholastic book club

i was really looking forward to scholastic book club before we decided to homeschool. as i child, no matter how poor we were, my parents would always let us order some books (they were really cheap). anyway, i did a web search and you can join scholastic book club as a homeschooler ! here is the link/answer.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7115219AAKuVwD
post #50 of 54
7/1/08 at 5:50pm
I end up feeling alone, stranded, and wonder a lot if my children are getting a real education. It's hard to get validation. And being around your kids constantly (24/7) can be hard.
post #51 of 54
7/1/08 at 6:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ajv View Post
i was really looking forward to scholastic book club before we decided to homeschool. as i child, no matter how poor we were, my parents would always let us order some books (they were really cheap). anyway, i did a web search and you can join scholastic book club as a homeschooler ! here is the link/answer.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7115219AAKuVwD
As a Home-Educator you can go to their warehouse sales.
post #52 of 54
7/1/08 at 6:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ajv View Post
i was really looking forward to scholastic book club before we decided to homeschool. as i child, no matter how poor we were, my parents would always let us order some books (they were really cheap). anyway, i did a web search and you can join scholastic book club as a homeschooler ! here is the link/answer.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7115219AAKuVwD
Oh awesome - that is something I would miss!

Another drawback is my 5yo watching her friends get on this amazing huge yellow bus, that she can't go on. I never really thought about the mystique of school and the trappings and icons around it, because by the time I was homeschooled, I had already been through 9 years of public school and I was DONE with it.

But I think that a lot of hs children, even if they love hs, still can feel like they're "missing out" on something, on an experience that almost everyone else has.
post #53 of 54
7/1/08 at 8:26pm
That's really funny about the school bus. My 3 oldest really wanted to ride the bus, until the oldest one rode one to a 4H contest and the 3rd had to ride one all the way to another state. They complained so loudly about the bus that after that no one else has even mentioned the bus.

But my oldest told me that she did wish that she could have a locker--but she waited until she was out of high school. I'd have gotten her one, and then put it all the way across the yard from where she did school so she could have had the "real" experience of high school lockers (LOL!).
post #54 of 54
7/1/08 at 9:21pm
We do ride the city busses -- but they're not yellow.
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