46 REASONS NOT TO HOMESCHOOL
MEHSC Moberator
Adapted from
http://p196.ezboard.com/fafterschoolersfrm28.showMessageRange?topicID...
1. Spouse does not want to for fear of being seen as "weird" by others,
disapproval of his parents, etc.
2. Child wants to go to school. Very social. Very High needs in the
socialization department.
3. The school offers a very good specials program that would be hard (read:
EXPENSIVE) to duplicate at home.
4. Child seems to prefer learning from any body BUT me.
5. While child likes the idea of learning from me, she doesn't like the
actuality of it.
6. More work for me.
7. We live in a great school district that is willing to work with us.
8. I like the idea of homeschooling but probably not the implementation.
9. Child and I seem to benefit from some time apart.
10. It can be a good thing to see that there is more than one way (parents'
way) of doing things.
11. All of the curriculum choices seem so overwhelming and I'm not sure I'm
disciplined enough to not get distracted by the details.
12. Financial and time constraints.
13 Child gets more time with peers
14.Child can be challenged by seeing the work of other kids
15. I'm not as disciplined to do everything every day and some subjects
(math and spelling, for example) really benefit from the regular schedule of
school
16. Sometimes having the parent as the teacher adds stress to the
parent-child relationship
17. Child can benefit from the enthusiasm of other teachers (i.e., the art
teacher is more knowledgable and excited about art than I am)
18. Great specials (music, art, French, skiing) that would be expensive and
time consuming (lot of driving around) to duplicate at home
19. School lunch is the healthiest meal of the day
20. Parent has more time during the day to work and accomplish other goals
21. Exposure to other ideas and ways of thinking
22. Child would be very isolated becasue every other child here attends
school
23. Public school is excellent with highly dedicated teachers and diverse
student population
24. Child has been moved up an entire grade level already due to differences
in educational
systems and is excited about learning and challenged
25. Selfishness - I like to have my free time to pursue my activities - and
we are both too high strung to spend every day all day together.
26.The four to five hours spent every Sunday preparing lessons for the next
week... it's enough to make me nuts
27.The hours spent grading papers and digging through curriculum
28.The five hours spent each day teaching... leaving little time to keep up
with the house
29.Not being able to call a sub in to teach when you need a personal day or
feel ill
30. As Christians, we don't feel like we are to remove our presence from the
Public school. We don't feel our child will be doomed spiritually. We
believe that actively living out our faith daily with our child will
prevail. We discuss things that we believe are right/wrong and don't shelter
our kids from differing opinions. We know that many Christians disagree
strongly with us, but we remain steadfast.
31. We believe that it would be very hard (though not impossible) for us to
homeschool exclusively without giving our child a feeling of superiority.
32. We have an attitude of trying to improve something rather than remove
ourselves from it. We are actively involved with our child's school. Yes,
there are frustrations with this, but our child see us trying to make a
difference rather than the "pull them out" mode.
33.. Homeschooling would instantly alienate us from family, friends, fellow
church members....something we don't think would benefit anyone involved.
34. Our son is gifted and ,yes, I'll go so far as to lovingly say he's
"weird". If we homeschooled, I would be the one to blame for this. However,
he doesn't (at least at this point) have any social problems at school).
35. Program at school for gifetd chiuldren is working so well for our
child. He thrives with it....something I can't duplicate at home.
36. Homeschooling can become very child-centered. If our child didn't like a
certain curriculum or cried about doing math, mom or dad now feel we should
spend X dollars and X time trying to find the "perfect" curriculum. With
Public School, our child just has to persevere and make it work. And we'll
supplement where necessary.
37. *I* Like* Time* Alone*!!! With 2 in school, and 2 at home this rarely
happens, but it *is* getting easier! I feel there is much to be said about
the well-being of a family when mom has had time to wash the clothes/dishes,
straighten the house and is ready to do an art/history lesson with the dc
when they arrive from school.
38. I teach at church. Many (not all) homeschool moms simply can't take this
on, too. But for me, I know *I* would be wrong for this. I feel led to use
my desire to teach for the good of the children at church. If I homeschooled
, I probably would let this slide.
39. I'm afraid homeschooling would totally consume me. Every thought, spare
time, etc. I'd spend hours on the boards.
40. We've already been through the rough part of starting kindergarten. He's
settling in now. If we take him out, it would be confusing to him, and
harder, I think, to get him back in again later on.
41. I think we would want to get him back in later on. Harder for him, and
harder to deal with the school than if we hadn't sent him to part of
kindergarten - the school personnel might not work as hard to get him the
right fit of programs later on if they think we might just yank him out
again.
42.. Money. The art, music, and gym classes at school might not be as good
as out of school, but they certainly are the right price.
43. Social. All his friends go to school; he likes doing what his friends
do. He'd feel left out, even if he was busy and happy with new homeschooling
friends.
44 I teach him better, more patiently, for 10-15 minutes before school and
5-15 minutes after school because I've been away from him in the middle.
45 Kindergarten has barely started. I like the talented and gifted
coordinator for his school and have confidence that she will be happy to
get involved with his case if she needs to do so, and will have good ideas.
AND MOST TELLING OF ALL ............
46
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In my experience, many homeschoolers fib a lot about what their lives are
like, what their kids are like, and what their kids do. They have good
reasons - worry they could get in trouble if their kids aren't doing well,
the desire everyone has to look good in front of other people, compounded by
the desire to justify their unorthodox choice. Every article or book I've
read about a homeschooling family I knew has left out important facts,
frequently facts that made me think the kid would be better off going to
school. I'm not saying that there aren't kids who should be homeschooling,
or families for which homeschooling is the right choice, I'm just saying
that in eleven years of watching homeschooling families we know, in two
states and while working for a homeschooling organization for part of that
time, I have NEVER found one (of the ones I thought I knew well enough to
make that determination).
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Adapted from
http://p196.ezboard.com/fafterschoolersfrm28.showMessageRange?topicID...
--
Wonder where all the brain-dead Trew Kristyun Homeskoolas who can't debate
are? They've run away to hide at http://www.meh-sc.org !
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
God expects you to use your God-given brain and engage in educational
debate - not run away! ;-)