[BurgundyElephant]

Probably been asked a thousand times.

DH wants the kids to go to school. We can't afford a private school. Public school here seems ok... but I see all the negatives and very little positives. Although, to be perfectly truthful, it would be nice to have my active 5-yr-old gone for a few hours each day. But I worry that they will crush her spirit, if that makes sense. She did ok in preschool, but they pretty much just let her do arts and crafts ever day. Also I'm concerned about the safety issues of all those kids and one teacher... open campus where strangers can come in... bigger kids on the playground... bullying... the poor quality of the school lunch program... gratuitous busywork... fundraiser after fundraiser.

I would love to get a curriculum and homeschool, hooking up with a local homeschool program to meet up with other kids. We already have regularly scheduled extra activities like drama and dance.

DH has college degree, I don't.

He thinks they'll be weird if not in public school. Advice? Thoughts?

 

[AnnR33]

Hey, where are you? I'm in Everett...
But back to the subject...my DH thought the same as yours and didn't want me to hs at all. He didn't know anyone else that homeschooled their kids that was like us and thought he'd be a social misfit I guess. He was an overachiever and couldn't see our kids succeeding without the standard school experience. I agreed to kindergarten since it was half days and thought DH would see firsthand what I already knew.
After a very mediocre kindergarten yr where DH saw that they expected at least 30 min of homework and that our "average" son was going to be put in remedial reading in 1st grade that we thought was totally unnecessary he decided that trying to hs for 1st grade might be OK. He also didn't like hearing the bullying stories from the playground or some of the langauge he heard from kids my son was playing with.
Key for me= I joined a local hs group and started talking to everyone I could about hsing in my area.
We started meeting a lot more people similar to us that hsed which really helped DH see that it wasn't so "out there." I think this was a turning point for him! He even learned one of his closest co-workers hsed and this was really great for him I think since their kids and ours are the same age.
He also liked not having to be ruled by a school calendar and he liked all the kids that we were doing hs stuff with. They were good kids with manners and values similar to ours and not socially isolated. Duh!
Anyway, the fact that he could see our son learning was the main thing I guess. And DH actually suggested we hs for 2nd grade without me pushing it at all!

And let me tell ya, this was a huge turn around for him-from "never will consider it" to "aren't we going to do it again next year"?
I could never get my DH to read all the great supporting works out there, he had to see it for himself and just experience it. If you're DH will read there are tons of great resources out there I'm sure others can share.
Good luck!
Ann

 

[phathui5]

- You don't need a college degree to homeschool. Don't let yourself feel like because he has the degree and you don't that you need to get him involved academically. Honestly, it may not be something that he wants to do. That doesn't mean that you can't homeschool them.

- They may end up weird if you homeschool

However, I went to public school and people thought I was a weirdo. The method of schooling isn't going to determine that.