Why we homeschool our kids

Yes, public elementary education in the U.S. is terrible; especially in Arkansas and Mississippi.

Why? Desegregation? I can't say, but I know it is inadequate. Recent efforts to change things is not successful in Arkansas...

My wife homeschools our kids in a secular manner. We are not fundamentalist Christians -- no religious agenda in our educative goals.

My 9 & 10 year old kids are learning Latin from an Ivy league graduate, among other curricula. I would say a tutor of that quality is worth as much as I make as a programmer. Our kids are very bright and it is all working very well for us.

So I will complain about the education opportunities for my kids, and we take responsibility for it as parents to improve on the failed public elementary and secondary (years 5-14) school system.

A double income would be nice, but not the best thing for us.

We homeschool because it is the best thing for our kids.

John, I'm glad to see someone is willing to make these kinds of sacrifices for their children.  People who whine about public education should follow your example.

I'm not married yet (no kids either), but I plan to do the same thing.  It won't be easy, but it will be worthwhile.

Here is how School/Religion works in the UK; and keep in mind that we are a lot less religious in this country anyway (30% atheist, 50% Christian, 10% Other)... So anyway... 

There are three basic 'types' of schools: 

Public 
Private 
Grant Maintained/Public Funded 

The first two are funded out of taxes but the parents also pay some or a lot towards the eduction... Public is inclusive of everyone who can afford it... Private is only inclusive of certain people/families/etc ... 

Both Public and Private schools are able to set their curriculum but their students need to pass national tests (GCSE, SAT, A-Level et el)... Thus someone could open a Christian Public/Private school and teach everything from a Christian POV; the same is true with other religious of course. But a national science test does not allow for - "God did it" - as acceptable answers and thus these schools must also teach from a Atheist POV for some subjects.

Grant Maintained schools are 'free' and funded completely by taxation. Religion is not tort in classes except for which it is the subject of the class (e.g. Religious Studies). Students can opt out of things on religious grounds and there is little or nothing the school can do about it.

Religious Studies is a very common subject, it covers the 101 facts about major religions, from what they believe to how they pray and all that... It doesn't encourage students to pick one or any and myself as an atheist didn't feel at all out of place taking it... In fact I learnt a lot about some religions.

Science in the UK is evolution, and other mainstream science... Evolution is tested on but always as a theory; just happens to be a theory you know very well... If you believe the theory to be true or not is beside the point.

It isn't like I had to believe in any major religion to pass a religious studies exam.

Some minority groups have complained that the above system is unfair as public/private schools get less tax funding than do grant maintained schools; they want to open a religious school that costs nothing at the point of delivery...

I'm not sure where I stand on that one; on one hand it sounds reasonable but on the other who is going to pay for that?

dahat wrote:

Why not try a private school? Sure it might cost more and the parents are not as heavily involved, it sure takes a lot less of the parents, and has professionals do some of that work for you, and still leaving you major input.

What subjects do you teach them?

I do wonder if they'll receive a full education at home, even if your wife was a qualified teacher she can't hope to cover Science, Maths, English and I.T. in as much detail as a specialist teacher in those areas would have done.

Can you she advanced trig? .. Can you? ...

Manip wrote:

Here is how School/Religion works in the UK; and keep in mind that we are a lot less religious in this country anyway (30% atheist, 50% Christian, 10% Other)... So anyway... 

There are three basic 'types' of schools: 

Public 
Private 
Grant Maintained/Public Funded 

The first two are funded out of taxes but the parents also pay some or a lot towards the eduction... Public is inclusive of everyone who can afford it... Private is only inclusive of certain people/families/etc ... 

Both Public and Private schools are able to set their curriculum but their students need to pass national tests (GCSE, SAT, A-Level et el)... Thus someone could open a Christian Public/Private school and teach everything from a Christian POV; the same is true with other religious of course. But a national science test does not allow for - "God did it" - as acceptable answers and thus these schools must also teach from a Atheist POV for some subjects.

Grant Maintained schools are 'free' and funded completely by taxation. Religion is not tort in classes except for which it is the subject of the class (e.g. Religious Studies). Students can opt out of things on religious grounds and there is little or nothing the school can do about it.

Religious Studies is a very common subject, it covers the 101 facts about major religions, from what they believe to how they pray and all that... It doesn't encourage students to pick one or any and myself as an atheist didn't feel at all out of place taking it... In fact I learnt a lot about some religions.

Science in the UK is evolution, and other mainstream science... Evolution is tested on but always as a theory; just happens to be a theory you know very well... If you believe the theory to be true or not is beside the point.

It isn't like I had to believe in any major religion to pass a religious studies exam.

Some minority groups have complained that the above system is unfair as public/private schools get less tax funding than do grant maintained schools; they want to open a religious school that costs nothing at the point of delivery...

I'm not sure where I stand on that one; on one hand it sounds reasonable but on the other who is going to pay for that?

Manip wrote:

Grant Maintained schools are 'free' and funded completely by taxation. Religion is not tort in classes except for which it is the subject of the class (e.g. Religious Studies). Students can opt out of things on religious grounds and there is little or nothing the school can do about it.

Religious Studies is a very common subject, it covers the 101 facts about major religions, from what they believe to how they pray and all that... It doesn't encourage students to pick one or any and myself as an atheist didn't feel at all out of place taking it... In fact I learnt a lot about some religions.

Religious Studies is a very common subject, it covers the 101 facts about major religions, from what they believe to how they pray and all that... It doesn't encourage students to pick one or any and myself as an atheist didn't feel at all out of place taking it... In fact I learnt a lot about some religions.

Manip wrote:

Science in the UK is evolution, and other mainstream science... Evolution is tested on but always as a theory; just happens to be a theory you know very well... If you believe the theory to be true or not is beside the point.

It isn't like I had to believe in any major religion to pass a religious studies exam.

I'm married to a homeschooling expert. She's a teacher *and* a homeschooling expert.

It's one thing to be disgusted with the public school system. But be sure you're doing the right thing and not being reactionary. Specifically, some kids do great at homeschooling. Others don't. But kids can easily miss out on a lot of social interaction. Trips to the local YMCA for phys ed, or a church youth group, while well intentioned, aren't enough in of their own.

Be sure to team up with other homeschooling families, and develop a social support system for both your kids and yourselves..

Best of luck to you.

Manip just about summed it up for the UK allthough I would perhaps use the word "Secular" where he uses "Athiest".
 
I actually dont like the word Athiest as it defines a whole group of people by what they DONT believe in, and is therefore negative from the start. I prefer "Humanist".

Anyway - as a UK Tax payer it really annoys me that I am actually paying some for funding to some schools who can actually set entry requirements based on religion. I do not object to those schools existing - I object to me paying for them.

John - sounds like you are doing the best for your kids. Who can ask more of you? I intend to sned mine to "normal" school when he (or they, if any more come along) is of the right age. However, i am a firm believer that education never stops. I will do my best to encourage learning whereever and whenever the oportunity arises.

Manip wrote:

What subjects do you teach them?

I do wonder if they'll receive a full education at home, even if your wife was a qualified teacher she can't hope to cover Science, Maths, English and I.T. in as much detail as a specialist teacher in those areas would have done.

Can you she advanced trig? .. Can you? ...

MisterDonut wrote:

I'm married to a homeschooling expert. She's a teacher *and* a homeschooling expert.

It's one thing to be disgusted with the public school system. But be sure you're doing the right thing and not being reactionary. Specifically, some kids do great at homeschooling. Others don't. But kids can easily miss out on a lot of social interaction. Trips to the local YMCA for phys ed, or a church youth group, while well intentioned, aren't enough in of their own.

Be sure to team up with other homeschooling families, and develop a social support system for both your kids and yourselves..

Best of luck to you.

It's good you're aware of the risk of social isolation as well. It's also important to teach them how to deal with different social problems as well. But, you're a parent, so I'm sure you've got plans for that.

That being said, it's interesting that, predominately, the people who homeschool are usually sit in the far right and the far left of the political spectrums. I worry about both of them.. But more and more people towards the middle are homeschooling, basically because the schools tend to teach a bare minimum, and have no way (or little) to teach kids that excel in something. Your kid's interested in computers? Wow.. Try learning Logo on this Apple II. It's a computer.. When the other students are finished with their stuff.

Gag.


The main problem with the US's educational system is that it is a hold-over from the frontier days: a town would pool its resources to hire a teacher, the town would build the school, and families would often take turns having the teacher over for dinner.. (Ever read Little House On The Prairie books?)

This doesn't translate well to the public system we have now: Those communities that have $$$ will well fund their school districts, making sure that kids excell where they can, and those are the kids that are likely to go to college. The poor school districts can't fund that, so the kids are ill-equipped to get a high paying job, thus perpetuating the poverty in that area.

It will be interesting to see what happens to public school funding as the baby-boomer population retires: they're amongst the most wealthy people, they are active politically, and have no reasons (well, maybe a few) to provide "lavish" funding to school districts.

Manip, here is our current curriculum; both kids in "5th grade", direct from Mom:

 the usual suspects..Latin, Math, History, Science, Spelling, Grammar, Poetry, Writing, Handwriting, Literature, Music, Art....I think that's it.....


Homeschooling allows us to pursue things like our son's acting in the Repetory Theater's "Beauty and the Beast" production here in Little Rock. He is now a paid actor! (He is 'Chip').

The kids have their own bank accounts with Visa checkcards. They are well aware of $31 fees for overdraughting their accounts... no mistakes so far... They have to balance their own ledgers, and get permission to use their funds...


I sometimes think about how easy money problems would be if we both worked, but as Larsenal said it is worth it.

Manip wrote:

What subjects do you teach them? ... Can you she advanced trig? .. Can you? ...

MisterDonut wrote:

The main problem with the US's educational system is that it is a hold-over from the frontier days: a town would pool its resources to hire a teacher, the town would build the school, and families would often take turns having the teacher over for dinner.. (Ever read Little House On The Prairie books?)

This doesn't translate well to the public system we have now: Those communities that have $$$ will well fund their school districts, making sure that kids excell where they can, and those are the kids that are likely to go to college. The poor school districts can't fund that, so the kids are ill-equipped to get a high paying job, thus perpetuating the poverty in that area.

It will be interesting to see what happens to public school funding as the baby-boomer population retires: they're amongst the most wealthy people, they are active politically, and have no reasons (well, maybe a few) to provide "lavish" funding to school districts.

Living off two incomes can be dangerous. Not in of themselves, but when people have mortgages, credit card debt, home equity loans, etc. and need both incomes to pay it down, they are in *very* high risk of bankruptcy. One accident, and you're done for. Many people buy into these homes just to be "in the right school district". Better to live off one income (where worse goes to worst, the spouse can get a job), or have two incomes but bank one of them then to end up with a foreclosure.

Go check out the book, The Two Income Trap, for a neat non-political, non-religious view on this.

I was homeschooled thru elementary school.  My mother has a degree in elementary ed, the school district we were in was absolutely terrible and merited the home schooling.
We had tutors come in and help us out in any areas where my mom couldn't cut it.  My two brothers and I scored higher on standarized tests then our peer group, we read at higher levels, math at higher levels, etc.

I went to 6th grade (middle school) as my first public grade and hated it.  Classes were so dumbed down and slow that I quickly became bored and would sleep thru class.  I could pass the class and tests without trying and it became habit forming. 

I wish i could have been home schooled through out my entire career.