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Posted by singlemom
August 20, 2008 |
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There are many different reasons why public school may no longer be working for your family. Some of these reasons may have to do with the school, and some may have to do with your family. Do any of these situations sound familiar to you?
- You work nights or shift work and don’t get to spend much time with the family?
- You feel as though sending your child(ren) to school each day is the wrong thing to do.
- Your child is learning offensive behaviours at school.
- Your child has been put into a special program at school that you feel he/she does not need.
- There is too much violence at the school and on the school bus, and nothing is really being done about it.
- Your child is bored at school, likely because they are ahead of their peers.
- Any number of other issues…
If so, then you may be entertaining the idea of education your child(ren) at home. I went through this process about nine years ago.
Here are some ways in which home education can help with each of the issues above:
- If you work evenings, it may be beneficial to homeschool because you can have a more flexible schedule. You and your children can sleep a little later in the morning, and spend time on school work, running errands and doing household tasks together during the day. This provides you with a lot more quality time together, and builds stronger bonds.
- I never wanted to send my daughters to school in the first place, but did because it was “the right thing to do.” I felt guilty, especially when the school was messing up my older daughters education. It was a great relief to pull them out of school.
- I don’t like offensive behaviours. In my experience they get worse over time. Not that children aren’t going to do things that we don’t like. This is the socialization aspect. Do we really want the socialization of our children to take place at school if it means that they are going to be out of control behaviourally. Many students do fine in school, not taking on these behavioural aspects. Some students need better guidance. This is a choice that only a parent can make. Public school works for some students, but not for others.
- I feel really bad about allowing a public school to put my daughter into a special reading group. It was a big mistake on my part. She came out of it with the lowest self-esteem of any child that I knew and, as it turned out, she never needed the program in the first place. At home, she was able to flourish socially. What a joy it was to watch her do that. Even if she had never learned anything, I would have been happy with these results. If had known her then, and knew her now, you would understand what I am talking about.
- The same daughter was also plagued with a boy who continually hit her. The bus driver “never saw anything.” The school would simply put the boy against the wall at recess, and tell her that if she defended herself she would be suspended. She didn’t want this, so she wouldn’t defend herself. I do not want my children attending a school that teaches girls to allow boys to beat up on them. What message is that sending them.
- It is a sad thing when you send an exceptionally bright child into a school system that does not challenge them. They get bored so quickly, and lose interest in their studies. Then, they are not doing their best work.
- There are other reasons why a parent may choose to homeschool their child.
There are many things to consider, if you have the time, before deciding to homeschool your child(ren). I will be covering many of these considerations in future post to this category.
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