HOMESCHOOLING
Until moving to the USA, and deciding to have children, I'd never paid any attention to the term homeschooling in Australia, mainly because it wasn't something that interested me, and there was no reason at that stage for it to do so, and secondly, I only ever associated it with kids who lived in remote areas and didn't have a school to go to.
That all changed once I had my daughter. My husband mentioned it to me a couple of times to think about it, and thus the seed was planted. Considering my medical history at the time, it was the only direction I could logically see us going with no obstacles in getting Emily to and from school, especially with me not being able to drive at the time, never knowing when I was going to end up in hospital for yet another stay, and the shift my husband worked.
Homeschooling in the USA is a big deal. Statistics show that over 1.1 million children were being homeschooled in the year 2003, and it is growing.
The main reasons parents prefer to homeschool these days are
Until moving to the USA, and deciding to have children, I'd never paid any attention to the term homeschooling in Australia, mainly because it wasn't something that interested me, and there was no reason at that stage for it to do so, and secondly, I only ever associated it with kids who lived in remote areas and didn't have a school to go to.
That all changed once I had my daughter. My husband mentioned it to me a couple of times to think about it, and thus the seed was planted. Considering my medical history at the time, it was the only direction I could logically see us going with no obstacles in getting Emily to and from school, especially with me not being able to drive at the time, never knowing when I was going to end up in hospital for yet another stay, and the shift my husband worked.
Homeschooling in the USA is a big deal. Statistics show that over 1.1 million children were being homeschooled in the year 2003, and it is growing.
The main reasons parents prefer to homeschool these days are
1. safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure
2. Religious beliefs
3. dissatisfaction with academic instruction
3. dissatisfaction with academic instruction
I definitely was concerned with drugs, negative peer pressure and my daughter's safety, and definitely don't agree with the schooling approach these days. Seeing children come home after a full day at school, to sit down and spend the next 2-3 hours on homework, only having a break for dinner and a bath, simply because the teachers are put under pressure to have the children at a certain level by years end. Everyone blames the teachers for this, but I don't agree. They blame the class size, saying not enough time spent with each child's individual learning speed and capabilities (yet when I was in school, my classes were of the same quantity, and a few times, even had 2 different grades being taught by the same teacher, yet still had minimum homework and most of us passed exceptionally well).
The school board puts the pressure on teachers to have the children learn more than what I believe is necessary at times, with the threat of suspension or transferring to another school, when I can surely see that a big part of the problem is parents who don't seem to care what their children do, and whether they learn or not. This is not the majority yet, but it looks like it is heading that way. Thus with more and more children not trying their best, it causes consequences, and that is a heavier workload spread over the entire school student body.
The first year of homeschooling was a wake up call to me. The first couple of months were stressful to both myself and especially my daughter. She was new at schooling, I was new at teaching schoolwork. I expected too much of her from the very beginning and realized that I was acting like the school system I kept her out of. So we took a couple of weeks off (the beauty of homeschooling - no set schedule), and had fun, then
took a different approach. We soon fell into a routine that worked for us, and Emily learned so much in that first year. So much in fact, that she had completed 2 months of grade 1 level work in her final couple of months of kindergarten. And the length of her lessons? 1 hour on average a day. Longer if we wanted to, broken up into segments if she didn't wish to do it all in one time.
As an effort by the School Board of Education, to keep homeschooling parents under control, students have to be tested every so often by national exams. Each state varies as to how often testing needs to be done, and where it can be done. In our home state of Virginia, Emily must be tested from 1st grade, or 6 years of age, whichever comes first, and then yearly after that. I am to give her results of Language Arts (comprehension, punctuation, spelling) and Mathematics to the School Board by the 1st August each year. This way they can see if she is learning what she should be, and that I am teaching her what she needs to be taught.
If the results are unsatisfactory, and I believe this is below the 23rd percentile, then I am placed on probation for 12 months. If after 12 months she improves, I will be removed from probation and can continue on as usual, if, however, there is no improvement by the following year, I am to enroll her in school. If I refuse, I can be taken to caught and charged with abuse, which will carry a jail sentence.
There had been questions as to the social interaction of homeschooled children. Yes I believe they need the interaction of other kids, and I provide this in reasonably safe environments whilst I can. Church activities, Awana, Girl Scouts, Sporting groups (basketball and soccer), friends for her to play with on weekends.
Another question that was addressed was how a homeschooled child coped with the transition from homeschooling to college, and how a college accepted them compared with those who went to public or private schools. According to several sources I have read over the years, colleges are calling for homeschooled students, as it has been proven that many homeschooled children (due to the 1 on 1 nature of learning), complete their schooling in a shorter period of time and can oftentimes be more advanced with their learnings.
A scenario that will forever stick in my mind is when I went back to Australia for a holiday some years ago. I met an old friend at a mall, and her children and my daughter were playing on some equipment for kids. There was one child who constantly hit some of the children, including Emily and my friend's children, yet that mother looked away each time her child lashed out. I went up to him, told him off, yet it didn't mean a thing to him or his mother..she just ignored that fact. My daughter came over to me in tears when he had pulled her hair and put his fist down on her head. My friend's reasoning?...Catherine, you can't keep your daughter wrapped in cotton wool, this will prepare her for school.
Why, if I can prevent this bullying from happening to my daughter, should she have to put up with this treatment? I never knew it was in the rules of public school. I know it
happens, it happened to me once when I was in high school. If I could prevent my daughter from this harassment, I would surely do my best.
Sure it doesn't suit everyone, but it does suit a lot of families and it suits us perfectly. In 3 years time, I will honestly be able to say I am smarter than a 5th grader hehehehe….
The school board puts the pressure on teachers to have the children learn more than what I believe is necessary at times, with the threat of suspension or transferring to another school, when I can surely see that a big part of the problem is parents who don't seem to care what their children do, and whether they learn or not. This is not the majority yet, but it looks like it is heading that way. Thus with more and more children not trying their best, it causes consequences, and that is a heavier workload spread over the entire school student body.
The first year of homeschooling was a wake up call to me. The first couple of months were stressful to both myself and especially my daughter. She was new at schooling, I was new at teaching schoolwork. I expected too much of her from the very beginning and realized that I was acting like the school system I kept her out of. So we took a couple of weeks off (the beauty of homeschooling - no set schedule), and had fun, then
took a different approach. We soon fell into a routine that worked for us, and Emily learned so much in that first year. So much in fact, that she had completed 2 months of grade 1 level work in her final couple of months of kindergarten. And the length of her lessons? 1 hour on average a day. Longer if we wanted to, broken up into segments if she didn't wish to do it all in one time.
As an effort by the School Board of Education, to keep homeschooling parents under control, students have to be tested every so often by national exams. Each state varies as to how often testing needs to be done, and where it can be done. In our home state of Virginia, Emily must be tested from 1st grade, or 6 years of age, whichever comes first, and then yearly after that. I am to give her results of Language Arts (comprehension, punctuation, spelling) and Mathematics to the School Board by the 1st August each year. This way they can see if she is learning what she should be, and that I am teaching her what she needs to be taught.
If the results are unsatisfactory, and I believe this is below the 23rd percentile, then I am placed on probation for 12 months. If after 12 months she improves, I will be removed from probation and can continue on as usual, if, however, there is no improvement by the following year, I am to enroll her in school. If I refuse, I can be taken to caught and charged with abuse, which will carry a jail sentence.
There had been questions as to the social interaction of homeschooled children. Yes I believe they need the interaction of other kids, and I provide this in reasonably safe environments whilst I can. Church activities, Awana, Girl Scouts, Sporting groups (basketball and soccer), friends for her to play with on weekends.
Another question that was addressed was how a homeschooled child coped with the transition from homeschooling to college, and how a college accepted them compared with those who went to public or private schools. According to several sources I have read over the years, colleges are calling for homeschooled students, as it has been proven that many homeschooled children (due to the 1 on 1 nature of learning), complete their schooling in a shorter period of time and can oftentimes be more advanced with their learnings.
A scenario that will forever stick in my mind is when I went back to Australia for a holiday some years ago. I met an old friend at a mall, and her children and my daughter were playing on some equipment for kids. There was one child who constantly hit some of the children, including Emily and my friend's children, yet that mother looked away each time her child lashed out. I went up to him, told him off, yet it didn't mean a thing to him or his mother..she just ignored that fact. My daughter came over to me in tears when he had pulled her hair and put his fist down on her head. My friend's reasoning?...Catherine, you can't keep your daughter wrapped in cotton wool, this will prepare her for school.
Why, if I can prevent this bullying from happening to my daughter, should she have to put up with this treatment? I never knew it was in the rules of public school. I know it
happens, it happened to me once when I was in high school. If I could prevent my daughter from this harassment, I would surely do my best.
Sure it doesn't suit everyone, but it does suit a lot of families and it suits us perfectly. In 3 years time, I will honestly be able to say I am smarter than a 5th grader hehehehe….
