Home School or Public School

I would be curious to know why they are asking. What do they think homeschooling is? Because if they think it's just "hanging out" and not as much work as public school, then it's not a valid question. If they are more advanced than their peers and need something beyond the public school gifted class, that's different. If the schools are violent or whatever, that's valid. Find out why they are asking and then see if it makes sense for your family :)

Know that in asking this question you are going to get some folks that are definitely for homeschool and some definitely against and they are going to be really passionate in their opinions. I, for one, think it may not be for everyone, but it is definitely great for some people. So, I will try to stick to the question and give you what I perceive to be the pros and cons.

Pros-
It can be a more secure environment in which to learn.
It can be self paced so that each child can take as little or as much time as they need.
It allows for more opportunities to learn in creative ways with experiments and field trips and hands on.
It allows for different types of learners to learn in the way that works best for them.
It takes less time in the day because you aren't dealing with a full class, but just one kid or two. So 3 - 4 hours instead of 7.
It allows your child to learn in a way that supports your ideals and belief system, whatever that may be.

Cons
It can be really expensive, especially if you go with an accredited program. If your child might want to go to college one day, they can without the accredited program but it is easier with one. Ditto with joining the military.
It requires a lot of dedication from the home school parent.
It requires good organizational skills. If these don't come easily for you, that can be a problem.
It can effect social skills if you don't find creative ways for your children to socialize.
It can be difficult when they get older and subjects are introduced that you don't know much about. It helps to have a homeschooling group to belong to.

Those are what I can think of right now. I will add more as I think of them.

Hope this helps.

Hi Viola,
First of all, you need to find out the reasons why they want to be home schooled. Next, you need to find out what homeschooling is really about and read truthful and informative resources.
Homeschooling is work for you and your kids IF you want to do it right. It means that if the kids want to be home educated because they think they are going to have more time to play or sleep: not true. It is more flexible and diverse in time, schedules, subjects, place (home, library, field trips, activities, etc), but it is work and dedication.
Homeschooling is a BIG change, is a change of your lifestyle and your kids'; it is a family thing. Homeschooling is not for everyone, and you have to be honest with yourself about it. Pro's and con's? Every family is different, so what works for one will not work for another one.
I have home schooled for 5 years already, and I love it, my kids love it. My kids study hard but still they have many activities to have fun,learn, and socialize. We study all year round, but I make sure we have days off and vacations. I also make sure they are tested and have plenty of challenges and structure (they will attend college or have a job in the future).
I am a former teacher, and most moms in my HS group are not teachers and they do a wonderful job, why? Because these moms know their kids better than anyone, they learned their kids' learning style, and they dedicate the time their kids need to master what they do not master and enrich what they do know.That is why they (myself) are successful. You may find good and bad students in homeschooling families, and good and bad students in Public Schools, so there is no point of comparison there.
Read the following:
www.nheri.org
www.hlsda.or
If you decide to home school (after searching and knowing what you are getting into) read: "The First year of Homeschooling Your Child", by Linda Dobson.
The best for you and your kids!

You'll get some good answers I'm sure so I won't go into it much. I just want to say that when I started homeschooling I did it first with one child because it was needed (won't go into the story which led me to this decision) Two of my other children started asking to be homeschool and I denied them over and over for two years thinking they just wanted it bc the other one did it, plus I just wasn't sure I could handle more than one espcially because he needed a lot of extra tutoring. When I finally started homeschooling the other two I realized I should have heard them from the beginning and did it much sooner. They really wanted to learn and be free to pursue their interests. They said they weren't learning in school bc the teachers spent more time yelling at the class than teaching. The youngest I homeschooled from the start. They are all very happy and successful people. Not that going to public school makes you unhappy or unsccessful. You have to weigh this out. Why is he asking for this? What is his situation now? Have looked in curriculums? What kind of teaching methods would you use? There are lots of questions to answer. The pros out weigh the cons for obvious reasons, but it's a lot of dedication and work. It really is a lifestyle and it's not for everyone.

The best to you and yours

I am a homeschool parent. I used to be a public school teacher, and refuse to put my kids in public school.

The pros of homeschooling:
1.My kids are above grade level, the curriculum we use is already above public school grade level, and my kids are even a grade a head of that. Which means that if your children are bored in school they can grow leaps and bounds being homeschooled.
2. My kids get up and start school at 9am I have 2 in Kindergarten doing 1st grade curriculum, and 1 in 3rd grade doing 4th grade curriculum. If they get down and get busy they are done with school by lunch.
3. There are way more activities available to homeschooled children because you can go during the day instead of in the evening.
4. You know exactly what your children are learning, and can alter their curricula if you don't want them to learn a specific thing or if you want them to learn more about it.
5. Your kids are better prepared for college because they have to motivate themselves to get their schoolwork done.
6. There are no interruptions like recess, assemblies, music, p.e., computers, etc. so the kids can get their work done and then have the rest of the day to do whatever they want.

Cons:
1. If your children have been in front of a teacher, they are used to being directed and so are harder to adjust to keeping on task.
2. You do not get a break.

Hope this helps :-)

Why are your children asking to be homeschooled? That is the first thing you need to figure out. Do they think homeschooling is sleeping in daily, no structure and they would like that vs a structured classroom time with social activities? They have heard something about HS which has intrigued them, especially the 1st grader.

Once you determine WHY they want homeschooled, you'll probably be in a better position to determine what best fits your needs. There are a lot of misconceptions out there regarding homeschooling.

Public School is the route we chose for our daughter (now 18 and a senior). We purposefully chose this neighborhood and city based on the higher standards of the public schools. I am a pro public school for many reasons... 1. diversity within the school so that my daughter learns to work and socialize with people of all races, groups, etc. 2. I don't want my daughter sheltered from what she will experience in everyday life when she is out of school 3. I prefer her to be well rounded and have the ability to negotiate in a working environment as well as social environment. 4. Even with our choice of public school, we are heavily involved with the school system, continuing to teach our daughter. We are not the type of parents to just rely on the school to teach and raise our child.

I have been a subsititute teacher in her elementary school over 10 yrs and I see children come enroll from private schools and home schooled who need extra help with adjustmenting to the public school..... primarily socially vs academically.

You just have to figure out what is best for your family. Right now, your children see HS as the grass being greener on the other side.

Are you educated?
I know people with a HS degree who have homeschooled. But only to a point.
I have a lot of respect for good educators. And for the teaching profession, overall.
I think it's naive to homeschool for social or religious reasons,
I know kids who have blossomed upon entering public school at the high school level.
I think public school offers a more well rounded education.
Do your kids think it might be easier, or less hours?
That's why mine has inquired about it! Lol
I'm all for developing a love of learning and I'm very in time with and involved with the schoolwork. But I have no interest in homeschooling anyone! (Plus, I work...so not sure how that would work out.)
Just my two cents.

We've done both, and I've ended up with both of my children being schooled at home. For us, homeschooling has turned out to be the right choice. But that doesn't make it the right choice for your family or your kids. You have already been given some excellent information in some of the posts below. I'd like to add a few things to think about.

First, think about YOU. Are you the kind of mom who enjoys the constant company of your children, or are you a better mother if you have time without them every day? Are you able to take on homeschooling as your full-time job, or is it necessary for you to bring in income? Is your spouse available to pitch in and help, or is the adult end of this arrangement going to be all about you? If it does end up being all about you, are you okay with that?

Now, think about your children. Why do they wish to come home for school? What are their expectations? What kind of learners are they? Are they self-motivated? If they aren't, are you willing to address that with them, potentially over and over? Is there something at school that is driving them to want to come home? If there is a problem at school, is it the kind of thing that would be best worked on and resolved at school, or is it the kind of thing that can't (or won't) be fixed?

Now think about schooling itself. What do you believe the purpose of schooling to be? Are the public schools that your children currently attend working toward that purpose? What are the most important things for your children to learn? Are they learning these things at school? What is your opinion of their public school environment? What are your goals, and your kids' goals? Are there gaps in their education at school that could be better addressed at home? Is their current schooling situation helping them grow as human beings, or inhibiting their growth? Are they learning how to do well on tests, or are they learning how to think?

If you'd like to talk about the "nuts and bolts" and just what you might be getting yourself into, please feel free to send me a private message.

Best of luck with your decision.

I won't tell you what is best. I can only tell you why I'd hose what I chose. My oldest child is very sensory avoiding. I didn't even know what this meant until I lived it. But the poor baby was so excited to go to school. But I made him wait. I was young and I didn't have a name for it, but I knew that a class full of kids would flip him out. Anyway at age 6 we started him in kindergarten. He was academically yards before his peers but socially not. We hung in there. We had him tested for the gifted program and he almost didn't make it. Basically he would eu been the dumbest in the gifted class. So we went traditional. He constantly complained of lights, and sounds, and people, and he was miserable. ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE. he hated going to school, he hated hours of homework after school, he hated his classmates he hated clubs, he hated his teachers and he hated me. Basically I had the worlds most miserable 9 year old kid. In the background of all of this I had a 1st grader bored to death. I know she was bored to death because she was bringing home pictures she had drawn (lots of them) and reading a novel every three days or so (age appropriate not genius style) but really she had that much free reading time?! Yet still was supposed to come home and do homework?! Pointless droning homework. I pulled my kids from school. I was an active volunteer. I was there two days a week for 4 hours a day I each class. I saw teachers that were bias, hateful, and brutal, also helpful, frustrated, and fed up, the kids that needed the most help had the least involved parents, the overachievers had parents doing the work for. Them. I was at a conference, when my son's teacher mentioned that he might benefit from homeschool. Public school was making my kids miserable, and fundamentally changing who they were. I had to do something. Every interaction I was having became miserable. I was fighting them to go to school, or fighting them to do homework. Finally I threw I the towel. I started homeschooling.

I spend about 2 hours more a day than I used to spend shuffling them around and making meals and we re SO much happier. It was a long road to get my oldest to the point that he would read or write anything. But he is finally accepting learning as part of everyday. My middle baby? The one who was chronically bored? She happens to be a math whiz. She says she just "sees numbers." to me it means that her and brother who is three years older get to do the same math and that she loves to build and design things. My youngest, is no genius. But he just turned 5 and he can read most level one books and likes to read but refuses to d any formal school except "lLife of Fred" math and it is okay. Learning needs to be meaningful in order for kids to remember it. We do math minutes in the morning vocab and grammar mid-day and read historical fiction at night. Homeschool just happens.

If I were you I'd google the local homeschool support groups in your area, and then attend some of their meetings before the end of the year. That way you can soak up the vibe, and the many different ways/whys, of homeschooling, including socialization opportunities.

There are many, many pros to homeschooling imho - but you have to want to homeschool.

The biggest "con" in my mind is just being responsible for your child's education. But that is a great blessing too.

My favorite pro to homeschooling is being able to personalize what my kids need and do to their unique gifts/deficits.

As part of world history (for one of my sons) we went to Europe last fall. Talk about hands-on learning . . .

Again, I would get with some people locally. Homeschooling moms generally love to share their wisdom. But it is highly personalized, and what works for some may not work for others.

I wish you luck! And I would definitely talk to my kids about why they're interested in homeschooling - letting them know that ultimately the decision is up to you.

If you have the time and energy to do it and do it well, go for it!! A lot (if not all) of the cons of homeschooling are created by the parents. If you are willing to put your all into teaching your children what they need to succeed, and can reassure that they get adequate socialization outside of your home, then you have solved all the "cons"...in my opinion.

I absolutely love homeschooling. We have chosen to go through an online school in the K12 system, largely because their curriculum is absolutely one of the best and when you go through a virtual academy, you receive the curriculum (and often, a computer) for free. That includes everything from textbooks to workbooks, lab equipment, art supplies...you name it.

Christine gave a lot of good examples below of why some children may want to be homeschooled, and they are very valid reasons. I can't imagine putting my 2nd grader into public school, where she'd be forced to eat her lunch in 20 minutes (instead of the hour it takes her) and sit around for hours doing nothing because she's ahead of her grade level, etc. I was incredibly bored in school for that very reason, but don't DARE try to bring a book to read, etc, or the teacher yells at you.

If you'd like any more info or have specific questions, I'd love to share.

I think the best way to find out is to do it! If I were you, I'd start during the summer with some easy things. That way you can all decide if it's for you or not. If it is, then you can just continue on. If not, you can enroll your child in school in the fall. It may not be all he thought it would be, or it may be better than you all thought.

That's what we did in the summer between first grade and second, and we just continued on because it worked for us all!

Good luck!

If my child ask me this, I would first find out why they wanted to be home schooled.

Then I would be honest with myself.
Would I be able to do this?
Would this fit our lifestyle?
Is this what I think is best for my child?

What exactly will be expected from me to be able to accomplished?
Could we afford this?

Personally, I would have been terrible at this, because I am not clever enough at teaching to be able to explain things in different ways.

I also lose my patience to easily. I become frustrated easily. I also need a break from people in general every day.

Our daughter is incredibly bright and I do not think I could have challenged her enough. She was always in the accelerated, advanced, honors and AP classes. Way above my head in math at 5th grade.

Our daughter needs the exposure of lots of people everyday for a good length of time, or she becomes too clingy to me and she will go into herself.

She also responds well to lots of activity and lots of different ideas and is inspired by other people..

I also in no way could have provided the diverse experiences she had while in school every day, week after week year after year. and with her diverse teachers and friends.

I have a cousin that has home schooled their children now for 18 years. They moved to a piece of land.

They built a barn, that they lived in for almost 3 years as they designed their home and worked the land.. All through this process they adopted more children and used all of this work as part of their education.

They work with other home school families.. are very active in their churches.

They make their food from scratch.. It is amazing. It is a LOT of family time.. Again, I would not do well like this..

These children are quite brilliant. They score high on tests, they are well behaved, they all get along.. This works for them..

And so this is a big commitment on your part. Be honest about what it is you need as well as being able to give your children everything they need for a complete education.

This is a time to follow your mommy heart and brain.

Best advice I can give... If you're curious about it and especially if your children want to do it.... TRY IT! You will learn A LOT!!!! I just started homeschooling this year because I kept getting the feeling that I should, and my son was struggling to stay on task at school. I will never regret making that decision! This year has taught me so much, and we have had many valuable experiences. If you are ready to make it a priority and to dedicate some time to it, then why not! Really it mostly depends on how much you want to do what's best for your children. There are pros and cons to both homeschool and public school, but my experience has taught me that there are way more pros than cons in homeschool, and way more cons than pros in public school. The main cons to homeschool is less you time, and possibly some power struggles/arguments (although if your kids are the ones asking, they will probably do great!), the postive things about homeschool are too many for me to list right now! The main positive things are the your child will become more independent and will learn to motivate themselves to do school rather than just being told they have to. Another thing is that your relationship with your children will grow, and they will most likely be much happier! :) Good luck with your decision!

p.s. It also might be a good idea to start with a simple curriculum, so you can test the waters. We are using k-12 this year through our school district, and it's very straight forward and easy to do.

I think everyone below has given you some good answers and good advice. In addition to the things they have mentioned, you need to think about how much you would enjoy it and how qualified you are to teach them well. I don't mean this as an insult, but "pros" and "cons" should not have an apostrophe. Apostrophes are used to show position, not pluralization. As their teacher, you would need to know things like that and be able to properly teach them.

I would ask your older child to describe what he imagines a homeschooling day to be like. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and a lot of it is from other kids. "So-and-so is homeschooled so he doesn't have to go to school or do anything all day except read", and things like that. If your child describes a day that actually has some structure to it, and involves homework, and lessons, and grades, then maybe it's worth pursuing.

I have homeschooled my kids at times, and I found out that besides curriculum decisions, you also have to make decisions about schedules, planning your day, and paying attention to your kids' learning styles. My son did want to read in bed all day at first, and I found that I needed to instruct him to get up, get dressed, show up on time at his desk, and that he needed a certain structure to his day.

But I wanted to let you know of another option that I currently take advantage of. Colorado has really good free public online schools. My daughter attends Insight School. There are more than 15 free public online school systems in this state. You need to be a tax-paying resident. We have had excellent support from Insight.

Of course, this is not without it's pros and cons, too. You need to commit to being involved, and serving as a "learning coach", just as you would attend parent-teacher conferences at a regular school. You need to encourage your kids and keep up on their grades and learn to navigate the online system. But you don't have to plan any lessons or buy a curriculum. Feel free to pm me about any questions you have. I encourage you to look into this great option!