Comments on: Homeschool Hubbub: Why We Chose to Homeschool

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:39:33 +0000

Great post. I love your reasons for home schooling. All in all you’ve got to listen to the Lord. We are a ways out from school but we are fairly certain that public school is our best option. A book that really swayed me was “Going Public” by Kelli and David Pritchard. All in all I believe the most important thing regarding kids is raising them in a Proverbs 22:6 way.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:07:13 +0000

When I was in highschool, I thought homeschooling was weird; didn’t seem right or normal.

Now it’s everywhere! Even my own sister, who is a teacher at a public school, taught her first child at home for a year before she needed to go back to work. I am in a dilemma- I want to homeschool, I think. But, my oldest daughter is categorized as special needs and goes to a specialized school with all kinds of therapies etc. I have two more children after that, and I’m expecting our 4th in the middle of August. So, I will have two school aged children (6 and 5) a preschooler (3) and a newborn. I’ve only done a little homeschool with our second child and my patience needs some work to say the least. How on earth would I homeschool? I want to take an easier path and allow the older two to go off to school, but I’m already mad at the school system for all the problems I’ve had with my special daughter. I am praying a lot about it, but just curious about those out there that homeschool with a bunch of little people :)

By: "Lydia Cate"

"Lydia Cate" — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 05:02:44 +0000

Raising Godly sons, Hmmmm. Well I’d like to pre-arrange 4 marriages please:) Okay maybe only 3 since my oldest is 13. Just kidding, mostly.

I have 4 girls and one boy. We home school also and have been since #1 began kindergarten. I tell people, “The Lord had to take me by the scruff of the neck to get me to home school.” I once told a dear friend that I could never home school. And then when my oldest was about to begin K5 we had just moved and there was a long waiting list for the christian school we had hoped to get her into. It was at that point that we jumped into HSing with all fours! I just wasn’t ready to send my 5 year old off for 7+ hours a day. We’ve never looked back.

My passion for HSing has grown and my reasons for doing it have changed and been fine tuned. It is challenging and just down right hard some days. There are constant spiritual attacks. There are days I think I can’t, and still I wouldn’t have it any other way! What a blessing this road has been. I look forward to seeing how God will bless these oh so humble efforts with my children.

I look forward to reading your other answers! I feel like we oculd sit over a cup of Hot chocolate and coffee and talk for hours!

By: Lois

Lois — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:19:10 +0000

Great topic! It’s that time of year a lot of people are asking me about home schooling. For us it was a no brainer. The panic for me was finding out we were parents. Schooling them was an extension of feeding them, clothing them (easy) and why would we delegate them to someone else for the important stuff?

FACES is an acronym that explains our conviction to home educate.
Family. We want to be their primary influence in their lives.
Academics. Not all children are created equal. They can take time learning something tough, and can whiz through the easy stuff. We can customize their education.
Christian values.
Emotional security. In our home there is no ridicule, teasing or bullying. They will not be made to feel stupid.
Socialization. Whereas this is the big question, for us it is one of the main reasons TO homeschool. We can avoid negative socialization from age-segregated mentality, and can instill a ministry mindset to their curriculum.

By: Courtney

Courtney — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:06:27 +0000

I teach part time at a private school that is what’s called a University Model school. In this school, the kids go to school 2-3 days a week (depending on the grade). The days that they are home are “homeschool days.” We plan to either homeschool or send the kids to this school (hubby would prefer the school). Right now the school is 3-12th grade, but next year we’re starting a K-2 program. The kids will go to school T, W, and Th from 8:30-12:30. I’ll be the 1st, 1st grade teacher :). This program, because of the necessity of regularity of teaching how to read, will make it so that the parents are doing even more at home than they do in the older grades. The school is completely focused on Christ. We use Abeka and Bob Jones University Press curriculum.
I love it. I feel like it’s the best of both worlds.

By: Donna

Donna — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:51:25 +0000

My story is similar in that “time” was a factor.

I had read commands in the Bible about “train up a child” and teaching diligently, and when you rise up, walk by the way, etc……….and I couldn’t figure out when I was going to have “time” to do all that if they were gone 8 or 9 hours a day! …and now, I still have trouble fitting it all in! ;-)
But I am oh so grateful for the opportunity! …the baby of the bunch read me a story the other day- and I praise God that it was ME that he read it to! What an honor! God is good and precious!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:10:25 +0000

I’m surprised you didn’t also mention Lisa Whelchel’s book “So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling”! I read this when I was pregnant with my DS (he is only 2 1/2 now). My husband was a on a big kick about how the public schools were teaching bad values, blah, blah. I find it hard to generalize that, and tend to think that public schools can be great and it just varies from school to school.

Anyway, I was dead set against even considering it. Dead set. But, then I read Lisa’s book and saw how many different options there are. Wow! I also found some parents at our church who homeschool and ask them questions from time to time.

At this point, it’s not really an option b/c I am working outside the home. If it ever becomes obvious that we should homeschool, we would make it work.

PS – LW also has a great book called “Taking care of the me in mommy”. No, I don’t work for her, I just like her books:)

By: chaostimes4

chaostimes4 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:11:48 +0000

I just came upon your site today and thought I would throw in my 2 cents. I have 4 children and never wanted to homeschool them. My oldest went to public school and he begged me from first grade to homeschool him, but I always said no. The school he was in and the teachers were wonderful. Well, we moved and he still went to public school–this time in not such a good school. Halfway through 4th grade I brought him home. I have now homeschooled him through 5th grade. It has been wonderful for him. I also have 2 daughters in public school. They have the best teachers ever and I couldn’t hope for more for them. Next year we are moving again–to a place with a great school system and they will all be in public school. I plan to take every year on a child by child and school by school basis. I can see benefits to each and will do whatever I feel is right for each child each year.

By: stina

stina — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:03:13 +0000

I have spent some time thinking about this on occassion. I feel like perhaps it would be a good thing for our family but my husband is not on board with this train of thought. He readily admits the flaws with the public schools but feels like we can make up for it at home…so I guess we will just see and I’ll keep praying about it for us to agree one way or the other.

I have an incredibley good friend whose mother home-schooled all of their children(four) until they were in high school. Her mother is the head of a homeschool co-op and my friend now teaches choir and music in this co-op and is also a SAHM. They even have a homeschool prom. It is amazing. They are all very bright, smart, and social people. All but one has a college degree (the youngest has severe autism) and they are some of the kindest people I’ve ever known. I would most definitely want to do this if I lived closer to her.

By: Mrs. S

Mrs. S — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:39:38 +0000

This is our first year homeschooling. We use a charter. It has been challenging but so much fun at the same time!! We decided to home school mainly because we wanted to be the primary influence in our children’s lives. Not to mention, the schools in our district are not very good. We feel we can give them a better education at home.