Why we should home school Part II

I think a lot of people are nervous to home school their kids. Even though I have years of teaching experience, I'm nervous about it too. It's different doing things on your own and having to pay for everything you use, but I'm convinced the positives outweigh the negatives.

• Classroom size ~ The ratio of parent to child is much smaller than the ratio of teacher to student. 
• Control over what is taught, when and how. ~ Sex ed can be taught in way that the parent finds appropriate instead of how a school feels it needs to presented to hundreds of students. ~ Teaching creation instead of evolution.
• Field trips~ occur more often and lessons can be tailored to the trip and the child
• Life Skills ~ Kiddos can be taught from everyday experiences. Most schools are inhibited as to what they teach in the way of cooking due to fire codes. At home, kids can learn many different lessons through cooking and working in a kitchen.
• Hands-on learning ~ Homes tend to have more room and with less studentshands-on learning is more accessible.  
• Flexible schedule ~ If you have doctors' appointments (which we often do) or someone isn't feeling well or didn't sleep much, the schedule for the day can be changed to accommodate. Also, if you find that your kiddos does better with writing after lunch rather than after breakfast, you can change the schedule without concern of it the change affecting the classroom.
• Co-ops ~ Many areas have home school co-ops that parents and kiddos participate in allowing the kiddos to learn new things they may not have learned in school or at home. It also allows parents to talk and share ideas.
• Extracurricular activities ~ As a teacher, I would have students come to school exhausted and nearly falling asleep in class because they didn't get to bed until after midnight due to playing baseball. When a home school family wants to participate in extracurricular activities, 1. the activity can count as minutes toward school  2. the kiddos can get as much as sleep as needed before having school the next day
• Choices of curriculum ~ as home educators we can see how our kiddos each learn best and provide that to them. If one learns best on the computer we can chose an online curriculum or have at least part of the lessons online, if one curriculum doesn't work, we try out something different in the future. Schools don't have this luxury since they have to buy a curriculum for the entire district costing thousands of dollars. Even when the majority of students show that they are not progressing well using the curriculum, teachers must continue to use it because of the money spent.
• Sick days can still be learning days ~ Recently a friend of mine shared on Facebook how  excited she was to see Bill Nye is now on Netflix so her son was still able to learn science even when he was sick.

These are not the only reasons I have for choosing home education for my kids, my they make a compelling argument. 

why we should home school.

Being public school teacher before becoming a stay-at-home mom, many people are asking me, "Are you considering homeschooling?" in a rather surprised tone. (The answer I've given has received ridicule from some.) MB has always gone to public school, and little sister (PG) talks about when she will go to school like Bubby. It's not an easy decision for me whether I home school my kids or send them to public school. (Private school is out of our price range, so it's not an option for us.)

I have friends that have chosen public education, private education, and friends that have chosen home education. Some of my friends have found it necessary to send one or more of their children to public/school and home school their other children. It is obviously not an easy decision for any parent to make, and ultimately as parents we have to do what we believe is best for each child.

Part of my thought process has been through reminiscing. I have grown up with kids who were home schooled, as well as attended public and private school. I have seen the pitfalls and the success stories. Some of the homeschooling families were part of the home school community. This means they participated in activities and classes with other homeschooling families, the parents would talk with each other and share ideas, and the parents found ways to give their kids experiences and advanced classes as appropriate for each child. On the other hand, I also knew who parents kept their children home most of the time and did not participate in home school activities with other families. Some parents did not want to express a need for help or that their children needed to learn how to make friends and behave appropriately in public. (Not that they behaved badly, but that they didn't know how to interact with others due to lack of experience.)

Continuing down memory lane, I have seen the same kinds of pitfalls and success stories come out of the public school system too. Many, many kids fall between the cracks. It's extremely difficult to give every student what he/she needs when classrooms have 20+ students and one teacher trying to get through their required curriculum so that the students will do well on end of the year exams. Bullying, bad language, talk of sexual acts, smoking, drinking, and drug use are common in public school. Some students have been bullied to the point of needing psychiatric care. Unfortunately, with a ratio or approximately 25/1 students to teachers, it's difficult to really be in control the students and classes at all times.

Basically, schooling is difficult wherever or however you choose to do it. MB is excited to try something new and get to home school like some of his friends as church. PG isn't sure she wants to give up going to Bubby's school when she's the right age. BG is only 2 and doesn't have an opinion yet. For now, my hubby and I need to talk more, do more research and pray more about what's right for our family