Are you a former homeschooler?

[msjones]

If you're after-schooling, are you a former home-schooler?

I'm strongly considering putting my boys in our local public school next year. After 5 years of home-schooling, I'm feeling tired, resentful, and ready for a change.

If you are a former home-schooler, how is the after-schooling going? Can you do it along with the homework from the school? How much after-schooling do you do? (i.e. just math, or math and science, or?)

Are you pleased with your decision to enroll your students? If so, why? What are the biggest challenges?

Can you tell I'm conflicted? Not an easy decision... It reminds me of how I felt when I decided to home-school. And that wasn't fun...

[Sara R]

Yes, I am. I put my kids in school for health reasons when I got diagnosed, but I was already thinking that my older child needed a change of situation.

In my state, we have the right to homeschool part time. And the schools are mostly good socially, and there are a lot of good charter school options with better curriculum than is available in the regular public schools. Those things make a difference. Without them, my kids might still be at home.

Here is our current situation:

6th grade dd with dyslexic symptoms and attention problems: attends full-time at a charter school that uses Spalding phonograms and Saxon math. Last year she was super behind, so I homeschooled her for 1 1/2 hours each morning to catch her up. This was successful, but she is still behind in math and spelling. So we before school these subjects, since she wanted to attend full days this year.

She doesn't seem to learn Saxon well, so we go slowly through another math curriculum 10 minutes a morning so she won't be introduced to a math concept for the first time through Saxon.

Spelling required more tweaking, with the help of the teacher (since they assign spelling words as a class, and most of the words are way too hard for her). He assigns her the 10 easiest words, and then I assign her 20 simple (4th grade level) words. I test her at home and send the score to the teacher. Luckily the school and teacher are willing to work with me here.

4th grade son: accelerated and quick to learn. He is in a public school dual language (Spanish) program that uses reform math. He wants to compete in the spelling bee. I want him to learn grammar.

He wants to homeschool part days, so we just started again this week. He is here in the morning. I work him hard, but he says he wants to be worked hard: math (Kumon and Singapore), handwriting, spelling bee drill, Vocab from Classical Roots, FLL 4, review of Spanish words learned at school (which he doesn't learn to mastery there). He eats lunch at home and then walks to school.

1st grade dd: bright, not confident with phonics yet, learning "balanced literacy" (i.e. word guessing) at public school, school teaches reform math. She just needs about an hour a day with me. Luckily the public school has two start times ("tracks"). I keep her home for an hour in the morning and homeschool then, working on Phonics Pathways, R&S Math, WWE 1, Shurley grammar jingles, and her school spelling words. Then she walks to school with the neighbor kids at the later school start time.

Working after school is hard, especially if the academic work you expect of them is hard (as phonics is perceived hard to a beginning reader). They are tired and want to play.

Prioritizing is tough. I figure if the school teaches the subject acceptably (i.e. Shurley grammar with oldest dd), I let them teach it. I just want to fill in what the school isn't teaching, or what my child needs more review of to learn. We try to do what you can before school. 10 minutes of focused work every day adds up, even for older students. If you can carve out 20 minutes before school and use it to focus on skills that your student needs, that might be all your student needs.

And focus on skills. Content can be taught by guiding their free reading choices, or through audiobooks in the car.

[PiCO]

Originally Posted by msjones

If you are a former home-schooler, how is the after-schooling going? Can you do it along with the homework from the school? How much after-schooling do you do? (i.e. just math, or math and science, or?)

Are you pleased with your decision to enroll your students? If so, why? What are the biggest challenges?

I am a former homeschooler. Oldest dd is a sophomore in high school, in a pre-IB program. She has tons of homework and does sports, so I just make sure she is understanding her math and science and she's keeping up in English, History, and French. Her workload is really too much to do any supplementing.

Younger dd is in 5th grade at a Core Knowledge charter school. It's a good school, and she has a great teacher. They use Shurley English and have good programs for science and history. Dd is in Algebra 1 this year, but unfortunately has a sub-standard teacher, so I am supplementing with Singapore 6 and will continue with NEM or AoPS when I'm done with that.

I also limit the TV/video games so we have time for lots of good discussions.

[Cadam]

I am actually still a homeschooler, but my dd isn't. The short of it is that her needs are much better served in a formal school setting. I wish there was a classical school to send her to, but there isn't one in this area.

Like the choice to homeschool, nothing is necessarily forever. If terrible things started happening at school she would be back home but for now school is the better place for her, and me.

[msjones]

Originally Posted by Sara R

Yes, I am. I put my kids in school for health reasons when I got diagnosed, but I was already thinking that my older child needed a change of situation.

In my state, we have the right to homeschool part time. And the schools are mostly good socially, and there are a lot of good charter school options with better curriculum than is available in the regular public schools. Those things make a difference. Without them, my kids might still be at home.

Here is our current situation:

6th grade dd with dyslexic symptoms and attention problems: attends full-time at a charter school that uses Spalding phonograms and Saxon math. Last year she was super behind, so I homeschooled her for 1 1/2 hours each morning to catch her up. This was successful, but she is still behind in math and spelling. So we before school these subjects, since she wanted to attend full days this year.

She doesn't seem to learn Saxon well, so we go slowly through another math curriculum 10 minutes a morning so she won't be introduced to a math concept for the first time through Saxon.

Spelling required more tweaking, with the help of the teacher (since they assign spelling words as a class, and most of the words are way too hard for her). He assigns her the 10 easiest words, and then I assign her 20 simple (4th grade level) words. I test her at home and send the score to the teacher. Luckily the school and teacher are willing to work with me here.

4th grade son: accelerated and quick to learn. He is in a public school dual language (Spanish) program that uses reform math. He wants to compete in the spelling bee. I want him to learn grammar.

He wants to homeschool part days, so we just started again this week. He is here in the morning. I work him hard, but he says he wants to be worked hard: math (Kumon and Singapore), handwriting, spelling bee drill, Vocab from Classical Roots, FLL 4, review of Spanish words learned at school (which he doesn't learn to mastery there). He eats lunch at home and then walks to school.

1st grade dd: bright, not confident with phonics yet, learning "balanced literacy" (i.e. word guessing) at public school, school teaches reform math. She just needs about an hour a day with me. Luckily the public school has two start times ("tracks"). I keep her home for an hour in the morning and homeschool then, working on Phonics Pathways, R&S Math, WWE 1, Shurley grammar jingles, and her school spelling words. Then she walks to school with the neighbor kids at the later school start time.

Working after school is hard, especially if the academic work you expect of them is hard (as phonics is perceived hard to a beginning reader). They are tired and want to play.

Prioritizing is tough. I figure if the school teaches the subject acceptably (i.e. Shurley grammar with oldest dd), I let them teach it. I just want to fill in what the school isn't teaching, or what my child needs more review of to learn. We try to do what you can before school. 10 minutes of focused work every day adds up, even for older students. If you can carve out 20 minutes before school and use it to focus on skills that your student needs, that might be all your student needs.

And focus on skills. Content can be taught by guiding their free reading choices, or through audiobooks in the car.

Wow. Great info here! You're doing a lot. I'd love it if I could squish that much in in the mornings. The school is only a block away and doesn't begin until 9:15, so I think I could at least do a math lesson for each boy, and possibly spelling for my younger (who really needs it). I hadn't even thought about doing it in the mornings, but that does make sense.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. It is very helpful to see what someone else is doing. I do hear many of the neighbors complain about the homework load, so I know that would impact what I could plan.

[Cadam]

Originally Posted by msjones

Wow. Great info here! You're doing a lot. I'd love it if I could squish that much in in the mornings. The school is only a block away and doesn't begin until 9:15, so I think I could at least do a math lesson for each boy, and possibly spelling for my younger (who really needs it). I hadn't even thought about doing it in the mornings, but that does make sense.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. It is very helpful to see what someone else is doing. I do hear many of the neighbors complain about the homework load, so I know that would impact what I could plan.

I do it in the morning as well. Dd is a morning person and does well with quick phonics and math in the morning. Thankfully she never has much homework from ps because afternoons are not good for her.

[KNF-TX]

I homeschooled all of my children for ten years. It was a wonderful experience and I have no regrets, but I am so happy I put the kids in school this year. I was a nervous wreck before they started. To my suprise and delight, they are thriving in public school and so am I. I love having the balance to clean and persue my own interests while they are gone. I feel that I am a more patient and focused mother when they come home. I was able to make the decision by telling myself that I could always bring them back home if I wasn't happy. For the most part I really like their schools. What I don't like is the homework that they need help with after school when they are tired and just want to play. Because of homeschooling, I do know how to be strict and make them get it done before playing so it hasn't been that painful. I do wonder why they can't get their work done in eight hours, but I'm not complaining because the good seems to outweigh the bad.

Good luck with your decision. Just remember that you can always try it and if doesn't work out, you can bring them home.

[sixpence1978]

I only homeschooled my kids for the past 2 years. This year they are in a very small private school. I was a mess while making the decision, but they are really thriving.

My DS is in 3rd grade this year. He's very shy and soft-spoken. We had a lot of trouble last year getting him to think on his own and work without me guiding his every step. I am constantly amazed at what he is coming home doing.

My DD is in 1st grade this year. It has been a bit of a difficult transition for her, but I am seeing her improve steadily each day. There are some days where it is hard to watch her struggle though her work, but all of a sudden it clicks and she sees how much she has learned.

We did have the luxury of being able to shop around for a school to find one that has a curriculum that we liked.

I am finding that I don't have much extra time to "afterschool" by the truest sense of the word. We have to be out the door by 8:00 in the morning to get to school as well, so the mornings are not good.

What is working is not really having a separate curriculum for them to cover at home, so much as really helping with homework and trying to fill in missing gaps. For example, my DD comes home with books in which she doesn't always know all the phonics. So I will go over those sounds with her. Their math is Saxon, so I haven't had to supplement there. The only place where I feel the largest "hole" would be in their spelling work. So I do have a list of spelling rules and try to help explain why their words that week are spelled a certain way. We also do work through a read-aloud each night before bed.

It works well here without being overwhelmed. I think the biggest thing I have learned from homeschooling is how to explain things maybe in a different way to help them understand what is being worked on at school.

[MIch elle]

My older ds wanted to go to school so we found him an excellent all boys Catholic high school to attend. My younger one will attend the same high school when the time comes.

[Breann in WA]

Originally Posted by msjones

If you're after-schooling, are you a former home-schooler?

I'm strongly considering putting my boys in our local public school next year. After 5 years of home-schooling, I'm feeling tired, resentful, and ready for a change.

If you are a former home-schooler, how is the after-schooling going? Can you do it along with the homework from the school? How much after-schooling do you do? (i.e. just math, or math and science, or?)

Are you pleased with your decision to enroll your students? If so, why? What are the biggest challenges?

Can you tell I'm conflicted? Not an easy decision... It reminds me of how I felt when I decided to home-school. And that wasn't fun...

I homeschooled three dc for four years and absolutely loved it. Dh insisted 2 years ago that dc go to public school and, for the sake of marital peace, I agreed.

We're in our third year of afterschooling and I'd give anything (except my marriage, I guess) to have my dc back home again. I spend a lot of time in their classrooms and around their school and the things I see every week have me shocked and horrified to think they're surrounded by this 6 hours a day. With the exception of dd's current teacher who I am extremely pleased with, I've been very, very frustrated fighting an uphill battle every day to make sure my kids are being challenged in the classroom. Their teachers have fallen far short of doing their jobs, including but not limited to ignoring my wishes, keeping me out of the classroom, ignoring the accelerated needs of my dc, and I feel, flat out lying to me. Dc's 1st grade teacher was a 30+ year teacher in her last two years of teaching and I think she had done thing in her classroom her way for so long, no pushy homeschooler was going to tell her what to do.

The kids get a packet of busywork every week to do at home. It's really not hard to finish unless we're really busy that week, not that they're even graded on it. You can see what we afterschool below. Nearly as much as we were before full-time school.

You can probably tell I'm not pleased with the decision to enroll in ps. The crap I see every day in their school is one of the greatest reasons we started homeschooling in the first place (I pulled ds16 out in the 5th grade). It's very hard for me, but dh is deliriously happy and the kids usually are, of course. We've made some great friendships and I've learned A LOT, but I'd bring them home (probably half-time at this point) in a heartbeat if I could.