My oldest is 18 and will be graduating from public high school in Texas this coming May. She homeschooled 2nd, 4th, and 8th grade; tiny private school 3rd grade. Basically she was in and out of public school.
My other children have all been home educated the last 5 years.
I enjoyed your report. It tracks with my experience. There are good and bad parts to school, always. There are also good and bad parts to staying at home to learn. Each family (and sometimes for each child) has to make the choices that suit them best.
My older son started at a local independent school in September (year 10). The school has a reputation for being nurturing rather than an academic powerhouse; we liked the small size and that he can walk/cycle to school. He’s done very well, in the top set for all his subjects. His English teacher said it’s like having a first year university student in the classroom. There was a learning curve with regard to managing the uniform, timetable, homework, and revising for tests, but it was easier than we expected. Homeschooling has certainly not held him back academically. He does feel a little frustrated and cynical at times about how the GCSE curriculum is structured and the inefficiency of school learning in general. He’s made friends pretty easily, although he seems to have been really lucky with this particular year group, so it might not have been the case at a different school. As a boy who doesn’t play video games and doesn’t have a smartphone, he is considered something of an exotic species (!), but not in a bad way so far…
I am still homeschooling him on the weekends and holidays (with his 12 yo brother): Plutarch, Shakespeare, classic literature, artist and composer studies, and inspiring science books — all to hopefully counteract the mindlessness of the GCSE curriculum.
This is interesting, thank you. One of our home ed friends recently went to look at a possible future sixth form for her son, who was in year 10. He loved the place and asked if he could start right away. So having arranged it with the school and figuring out travel, he did. Half a term later and he opted to go back to home educating. While he enjoyed school well enough it just wasn't worth the travel. Academically he wasn't being stretched, having already taken a few GCSEs before he started, but mostly he missed the warm, personal, friendly atmosphere of learning at home.
My older two have both gone into the mainstream system at sixth form, via a standalone college about an hour's travel away from us. They've had very different responses but in their own ways both enjoyed it and felt it was the right time (one would have gone a year or so earlier if it had been possible, but to college, not to school!). There are pros and cons to each, of course.
This is an interesting summary and comparison thank you - out of interest my kids are schooled in the UK, the hour a day on times tables is just a year 4 thing because there is a government mandated times tables test in year 4. And presumably the teachers/school is judged on the results. It’s done in a certain way so they like to use a program called TT Rockstars which mimics the test. The level of pressure on families to incorporate TT Rockstars into home life is ridiculous during year 4 - but it doesn’t feature before then and disappears immediately after the test, as does any learning about times tables whether the child got to grips with them in year 4 or not. It’s bonkers.
The discrepancy between reading (much better at home) and writing (much better at school) for this one child is interesting to read about. And it sounds as if just the ability to test out a new environment that *he* chose--given that he wanted to give state school a try--is working for him.
We had always planned to homeschool our son only until junior high or high school. So in the 8th grade we sent him off to a highly respected charter school here in Southern California. They talked about their unique teachers, great test scores and the percentage of kids that got into good colleges, etc.
Our son, who loved learning and reading, went off to this school that unfortunately like any typical public, monopoly school had him filling out worksheets and taking tests. We watched his love of learning disappear and we pulled him out after one semester and finished his education at home.
He got straight A's in that school. But who cares? At this point I'd say homeschooling is a necessity, it is a revolutionary act and one desperately needed for all our children.
My oldest is 18 and will be graduating from public high school in Texas this coming May. She homeschooled 2nd, 4th, and 8th grade; tiny private school 3rd grade. Basically she was in and out of public school.
My other children have all been home educated the last 5 years.
I enjoyed your report. It tracks with my experience. There are good and bad parts to school, always. There are also good and bad parts to staying at home to learn. Each family (and sometimes for each child) has to make the choices that suit them best.
My older son started at a local independent school in September (year 10). The school has a reputation for being nurturing rather than an academic powerhouse; we liked the small size and that he can walk/cycle to school. He’s done very well, in the top set for all his subjects. His English teacher said it’s like having a first year university student in the classroom. There was a learning curve with regard to managing the uniform, timetable, homework, and revising for tests, but it was easier than we expected. Homeschooling has certainly not held him back academically. He does feel a little frustrated and cynical at times about how the GCSE curriculum is structured and the inefficiency of school learning in general. He’s made friends pretty easily, although he seems to have been really lucky with this particular year group, so it might not have been the case at a different school. As a boy who doesn’t play video games and doesn’t have a smartphone, he is considered something of an exotic species (!), but not in a bad way so far…
I am still homeschooling him on the weekends and holidays (with his 12 yo brother): Plutarch, Shakespeare, classic literature, artist and composer studies, and inspiring science books — all to hopefully counteract the mindlessness of the GCSE curriculum.
This is interesting, thank you. One of our home ed friends recently went to look at a possible future sixth form for her son, who was in year 10. He loved the place and asked if he could start right away. So having arranged it with the school and figuring out travel, he did. Half a term later and he opted to go back to home educating. While he enjoyed school well enough it just wasn't worth the travel. Academically he wasn't being stretched, having already taken a few GCSEs before he started, but mostly he missed the warm, personal, friendly atmosphere of learning at home.
My older two have both gone into the mainstream system at sixth form, via a standalone college about an hour's travel away from us. They've had very different responses but in their own ways both enjoyed it and felt it was the right time (one would have gone a year or so earlier if it had been possible, but to college, not to school!). There are pros and cons to each, of course.
This is an interesting summary and comparison thank you - out of interest my kids are schooled in the UK, the hour a day on times tables is just a year 4 thing because there is a government mandated times tables test in year 4. And presumably the teachers/school is judged on the results. It’s done in a certain way so they like to use a program called TT Rockstars which mimics the test. The level of pressure on families to incorporate TT Rockstars into home life is ridiculous during year 4 - but it doesn’t feature before then and disappears immediately after the test, as does any learning about times tables whether the child got to grips with them in year 4 or not. It’s bonkers.
The discrepancy between reading (much better at home) and writing (much better at school) for this one child is interesting to read about. And it sounds as if just the ability to test out a new environment that *he* chose--given that he wanted to give state school a try--is working for him.
We had always planned to homeschool our son only until junior high or high school. So in the 8th grade we sent him off to a highly respected charter school here in Southern California. They talked about their unique teachers, great test scores and the percentage of kids that got into good colleges, etc.
Our son, who loved learning and reading, went off to this school that unfortunately like any typical public, monopoly school had him filling out worksheets and taking tests. We watched his love of learning disappear and we pulled him out after one semester and finished his education at home.
He got straight A's in that school. But who cares? At this point I'd say homeschooling is a necessity, it is a revolutionary act and one desperately needed for all our children.