We have been feeling like home school may be right for us. Has anyone else thought about it?
Here are a few things we have considered:
1)We don't think public school provides the best education for every child.
2)We like the idea of learning outside of the traditional "classroom" setting, and challenging the standard teaching/learning styles.
3)We question whether we could better use the 6hr block of time that public school requires every day. More time could be spent on developing personal talents.
4)We feel like public school could potentially be detrimental to our children's emotional and spiritual well being.
I loved elementary school as a child. I think there is great benefit to be had in learning from other adults who aren't your parents.
The most common concern is, "What about socializing your child?"
While public school may provide meaningful social experiences, our question is, at what cost? Kids are taught by their peers for good and bad. (Has anyone ever had a good junior high experience?) Public school really isn't the only place that a child can socialize.
Another point of view we have encountered: "You can't protect your kids; they will face bad influences sooner or later and they need to learn how to deal with them." The more we have thought about this idea the more we disagree with it. We say you can protect your kids. There is always enough bad to deal with. Let the bad influences happen as "later" as possible. Are they morally mature enough to face the challenges that arise at school? (I wasn't.) Teach them the good first, help them build a strong foundation while they are young. Help them gain a testimony before it is challenged. No way can you fully shelter your kids, but you can try! :)
Neither of us had a glowing experience in public school. We don't know if home schooling would really be any better. There are pros and cons to each alternitive. But we do have a choice, and we want to honestly consider what would be best for our kids. I'm exploring my options.
Hello!
- Abby
- Writing helps me manage my genetic inability to speak in full sentences or think of the word I want to use until it is too late.
5 comments:
We also struggle with the whole public school thing, and considered charter and private school. Remember, you can be very involved in public school, helping in the classroom and seeing what is being taught. It is hard to just hand them over to teacher you don't know and hope for the best! I loved public school this year for Carter and feel like he learned more than I could have taught him at home, but we'll see how I feel as he gets older!
I have seriously considered home schooling, or even private schooling. There are pros and cons to consider, but I, like you, feel that the benefits of home education where morals and standards are set high will provide my little ones with the best education.
I'm going to try the preschool homeschooling first to see how it works out.
I think if you can do it, go for it! For me it would be really hard to be disciplined enough to teach benson what he needs to know while wrestling with the little ones. We actually have a program in ABQ where your kids only go to class from 8-12 Mon-Thurs and then you commit to 15 hours a week of additional instruction (piano, dance, sports, homework, primary, etc.. whatever you can think of really). I'm pretty excited about this because I think it is the perfect solution for us. This is an important but hard decision so good luck to you!
I agree with Carrie...if you can do it - that's awesome. I never could because of her same reason. I know here in St. George - they have a really nice, private LDS school & I've heard nothing but good things about it. Maybe you could even consider something like that - I'm sure they have one up north.
that's interesting ab. whatever you decide will probably be best. school was hard (not really academically, of course) at times, but it wasn't too hard to handle. i mean, i'm not that strong and i was ok. i think kids can do it.
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