People are intimidated by homeschooling. It can actually be pretty interesting and isn't as difficult as you'd think.
Firstly, EVERY state in the nation has a curriculum for grades 1-12 online. You can enroll your child through your state if you wish and the coursework is available that way. What you will find is that, if you follow the state curriculum, your child can breeze through an entire school day in about 2-hours. (Yes, there is that much fluff and garbage built in to regular school days). They have plenty of time to get homework done. However, you aren't really teaching anything more than the basics.
Get creative. You don't have to follow the prescribed curriculum to a tee. In fact, you can go way beyond the regular lessons if you wish.
Choose 2-days per week for field trips. Organize trips for your kids to local businesses, so they can see how various things (bakeries, salons, accounting offices, etc...) work. Take trips to a zoo or local nature park. Talk to rangers and workers to get extra information about plants and animals.
Use the internet to it's full potential. One extremely useful tool is Google Earth.
Once per month, select a different country (for example, explore South America). Have the kids take a tour of the Amazon River by Google Earth. Spend a month on Brazil, then a month on Argentina and another on Peru or Venezuela. Explore all of the cities and local areas by Google Earth and following the links, looking at the photos.
It's not hard to be creative and give your kids a great education. When they are ready, have them take the State Exam and quiz OUT of high school early. There is nothing wrong with enrolling your kids in Junior College at the age of 16 or 17 if they are ready.
One thing that will surprise you is how many alternatives are available once you begin looking.
We are so glad we broke through and did it and for us we were forced to by the overstepping of personal rights, COVID, and badly performing public schools in Houston. When we finally did it we found that our kids didn’t know basic things they should know. Luckily at the same time my work went fully remote and we did it (last March). The kids are excelling now and love it. We have also visited 25 states since Covid started and not missing any school or work!!! It’s been the best thing that ever happened to us as a family too!
That's good to hear.
My oldest daughter graduated high school at age 17 and went straight into Junior College. My youngest daughter graduated at 16 and went to Junior College. Both were more than ready.
The average high school graduate these days couldn't point the direction North on a simple map. It's pathetic.
Don't be afraid to take control of your own child's education. It's not as hard as you'd think... and it can be enjoyable for everyone.
I homeschooled for middle and high school while working full time. We did it so they could continue with their sport (gymnastics) and not be up until 2 am working on stupid projects and reading 1 book/semester. It was the best thing we did.
My younger thanks me frequently for keeping her out of the toxic middle school drama she would have encountered. They both read lots of classics and I helped my younger address a reading problem (some form of dislexia) that the school had missed (despite me telling them something was off with her reading and comprehension) because she was gifted and ahead of her peers - which helped hide it too well.
As an engineer I learned, created syllabi for, and taught AP Human Geography and AP World History so that the older could get AP credit. That was not easy for either of us with math/science brains, but she got a 5 in the World History exam which (was) extremely rare in the US as I was later told by another AP teacher who knew the APWH exam graders. All of her gifted peers still in public school got 1s and 2s so we were very proud of that result! The College Bosrd eventually dumbed down the course as so many were failing the exams.
For me, it was a hard 5.5 years. I didn’t have a life between working, creating course content (I got really good at finding lecture material/test content online), grading, tutoring, and of course all the chauffeuring to practice. But it was so worth it in the end when they graduated as successful humans who can speak and write well and are also awesome engineers. They are sooo far ahead of their peers!
But there is so much good material out there that you can find and do it cheaply without buying a lot of curricula. Or join homeschool coops and groups so you can buy used curricula. I used to buy old versions of textbooks being sold cheaply. I liked getting them tested with standardized tests as I could see their weaknesses and knew what to focus on in the next year. That can be a challenge finding someone allowed to administer them though...
So yes, homeschool and your kids will thank you for it!
I recently read a teacher who was fed up with the school curriculum quit her job.
Now she is teaching in communities, hired by parents who want their children home schooled. WIN-WIN SITUATION!
People are intimidated by homeschooling. It can actually be pretty interesting and isn't as difficult as you'd think.
Firstly, EVERY state in the nation has a curriculum for grades 1-12 online. You can enroll your child through your state if you wish and the coursework is available that way. What you will find is that, if you follow the state curriculum, your child can breeze through an entire school day in about 2-hours. (Yes, there is that much fluff and garbage built in to regular school days). They have plenty of time to get homework done. However, you aren't really teaching anything more than the basics.
Get creative. You don't have to follow the prescribed curriculum to a tee. In fact, you can go way beyond the regular lessons if you wish. Choose 2-days per week for field trips. Organize trips for your kids to local businesses, so they can see how various things (bakeries, salons, accounting offices, etc...) work. Take trips to a zoo or local nature park. Talk to rangers and workers to get extra information about plants and animals.
Use the internet to it's full potential. One extremely useful tool is Google Earth.
Once per month, select a different country (for example, explore South America). Have the kids take a tour of the Amazon River by Google Earth. Spend a month on Brazil, then a month on Argentina and another on Peru or Venezuela. Explore all of the cities and local areas by Google Earth and following the links, looking at the photos.
It's not hard to be creative and give your kids a great education. When they are ready, have them take the State Exam and quiz OUT of high school early. There is nothing wrong with enrolling your kids in Junior College at the age of 16 or 17 if they are ready.
One thing that will surprise you is how many alternatives are available once you begin looking.
We are so glad we broke through and did it and for us we were forced to by the overstepping of personal rights, COVID, and badly performing public schools in Houston. When we finally did it we found that our kids didn’t know basic things they should know. Luckily at the same time my work went fully remote and we did it (last March). The kids are excelling now and love it. We have also visited 25 states since Covid started and not missing any school or work!!! It’s been the best thing that ever happened to us as a family too!
That's good to hear.
My oldest daughter graduated high school at age 17 and went straight into Junior College. My youngest daughter graduated at 16 and went to Junior College. Both were more than ready.
The average high school graduate these days couldn't point the direction North on a simple map. It's pathetic.
Don't be afraid to take control of your own child's education. It's not as hard as you'd think... and it can be enjoyable for everyone.
I homeschooled for middle and high school while working full time. We did it so they could continue with their sport (gymnastics) and not be up until 2 am working on stupid projects and reading 1 book/semester. It was the best thing we did.
My younger thanks me frequently for keeping her out of the toxic middle school drama she would have encountered. They both read lots of classics and I helped my younger address a reading problem (some form of dislexia) that the school had missed (despite me telling them something was off with her reading and comprehension) because she was gifted and ahead of her peers - which helped hide it too well.
As an engineer I learned, created syllabi for, and taught AP Human Geography and AP World History so that the older could get AP credit. That was not easy for either of us with math/science brains, but she got a 5 in the World History exam which (was) extremely rare in the US as I was later told by another AP teacher who knew the APWH exam graders. All of her gifted peers still in public school got 1s and 2s so we were very proud of that result! The College Bosrd eventually dumbed down the course as so many were failing the exams.
For me, it was a hard 5.5 years. I didn’t have a life between working, creating course content (I got really good at finding lecture material/test content online), grading, tutoring, and of course all the chauffeuring to practice. But it was so worth it in the end when they graduated as successful humans who can speak and write well and are also awesome engineers. They are sooo far ahead of their peers!
But there is so much good material out there that you can find and do it cheaply without buying a lot of curricula. Or join homeschool coops and groups so you can buy used curricula. I used to buy old versions of textbooks being sold cheaply. I liked getting them tested with standardized tests as I could see their weaknesses and knew what to focus on in the next year. That can be a challenge finding someone allowed to administer them though...
So yes, homeschool and your kids will thank you for it!
I recently read a teacher who was fed up with the school curriculum quit her job. Now she is teaching in communities, hired by parents who want their children home schooled. WIN-WIN SITUATION!