Each Saturday, we would like to share a question from a reader. We’re hoping that we can depend on all of you to share your opinions, ideas, or experiences that might help each week’s reader.
If you have a question that you would like our readers to tackle sometime, please email Angie with “Reader Question” in the subject line with your question and make sure to put your name and link to your site (if applicable).
This week’s question comes from Kimberly (from our old site during a contest we had):
Do your kids want to go to school or do they like being at home to school? Was it hard at first?
Thanks for the great question, Kimberly! I can’t wait to see what our readers have to say, especially since some will have been homeschooling from the get-go, while others will have pulled children out of school to homeschool.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I have homeschooled all three of my children since my oldest was in first grade. My oldest went to kindergarten but my two younger boys have never attended a brick and mortar school. They are currently 13, 11, and 8. My boys absolutely adore homeschooling and have no desire to go to school. Having said that, they are sometimes not overly thrilled about doing their schoolwork each and every day. Overall, though, they enjoy their schoolwork.
My daughter is also happy to be at home. We have had many, many long discussions about homeschooling as she gets very close to high school age. If she wanted to attend high school, we were willing to be supportive. She has chosen to stay at home for wide variety of reasons, not the least of which are the flexibility of homeschooling and the freedom that she enjoys during the day at home. For example, we will be going out of state next week for 5 days for a swim meet. She doesn’t have to worry about missing school or making up work while she’s away. There are things that she wishes she could do at a traditional high school that she cannot at home (write for the school newspaper, for example) but she definitely feels the benefits of being homeschooled far outweigh the benefits of attending a traditional school.
So, my long answer, in short form, is YES – my children are all happy to be homeschooled and do not want to attend a traditional school.
Samantha
.-= Samantha´s last blog ..Several Weeks in Review =-.
We only started homeschooling this year with Pre-K. My daughter hears her aunts (twin 7 year olds) talking about school. And aside from seeing kids going to school on tv she really doesn’t have much experience with school. She tells me that she likes school (by that I mean school at home) though. She’s woke me up on our days off and asked to do school before.
.-= Riceball Mommy´s last blog ..Spring Equinox =-.
i home schooled my two kids for several years. My oldest (a boy) was not too anxious to homeschool. He was in 7th grade at the time a seriously struggling although very smart. My daughter was in 3rd and was a very good student. We decided to HS because of my son and chose to school them both. After the first year (which was a bit bumpy) neither wanted to go back to traditional school. They are now 29 and 25 and doing quite well. I would recommend it to anyone.
We have been homeschooling for over a year. I pulled all three of my children out of school – 3rd grade girl, 2nd grade girl, & Kindergarten boy – due to my sons horrible asthma and allergies. They have all enjoyed it – but the girls do miss the sociality of school – no matter how many other activities (Activity Days, Girl Scouts, etc.) they are involved in. My 2nd daughter wants to continue to do homeschool. My oldest daughter would *like* to return to b & m school – but just for the friends. lol. My son absolutely THRIVES doing homeschool – because we can do it at his speed. I enjoy using AzVirtual Academy (or K12) because the curriculum is awesome and FREE and it mirrors my own desire of education for my children. My husband is very supportive and we have 3 more children that we will eventually homeschool. My children DO recognize the benefits of homeschool – mainly the flexibility – the girls like to get up early and get it done – usually they have finished before 10am. Then they have the rest of the day to work on other projects, chores, play, etc. and they are liking this system. We will continue to homeshool. I absolutely cherish the time with them!!
Our 5 children have always been homechooled and they like it. I think the biggest realization comes for them when they see how much they can do in a day outside of the regular homeschool work while other children are still locked away in a classroom for hours. They also like being able to learn about what interests them, where they want (the backyard or even the park), and having the freedom to learn about God and how he relates to everything. They also are not acting like mini-teens with “boyfriends/girlfriends” in 1st grade, dressing immodestly, and kissing as early as Kindergarten (as several of my friends’ children have done).
Was it hard at first? No, but that is because we’ve always done it. Nothing changed when our children turned 5, we continued learning as a family. They have not switched their family interdependence for peer and teacher dependence.
Homeschooling is a blessing!
.-= Tristan´s last blog ..Family Mint Review =-.
I have been homeschooling for about 4 years now, with a one year break…I am now homeschooling 4 of my children. The only ones that say they “hate” homeschooling are my two older kids…but they are both girls who are going through puberty, and their only reason for wishing they could go to public school is to go to school dances…
.-= Jennifer´s last blog ..Website for Home Schooled Kids =-.
My oldest had a lot of non-homeschooled kids and we lived 2 blocks from school. He was forever wondering what it must be like to “go to school.” We just kept telling him how blessed we were to have him home with us and how sad we would be if he were gone all day from us.
He was too young at the time to understand the religious and ethical ideals behind the decision…that came later.
Our subsequent children have never really questioned being homeschooled at all. Probably because we have more homeschooled friends and this has become our norm.
.-= Amy @ Raising Arrows´s last blog ..Community Gardening – Frugal and Fun! =-.
I have three children ages 9, 10, and 14 who I have been homeschooling for four years now. Each one of them has experienced Public School. We started homeschooling for many different reasons such as; my daughter was not allowed to wear flip flops while other children whose parents were involved with the school more were allowed to wear them, the school called once to say that my oldest son was in the nurse’s office and I needed to pick him up about 20 minutes before school was to let out and guess what I arrived to a frightened child that was not my own. My son was on a bus home to a bus stop where his mother wouldn’t be. My middle son was told to get on a bus when he didn’t even ride a bus because his emergency instructions stated he was to go to his grandmother’s which required a bus ride. The funny thing was that it was a regular school day and I was waiting in line to pick him up from school. I didn’t get my hands on him until almost 5:00 p.m. that day. I could go on and on but I won’t. That was only the beginning of the reasons we decided to homeschool. Another reason was freedom of religion and so much more.
Was it hard at first? Oh My goodness…YES!!!!!! Our lives up to that point were filled with school, work, activities, and anything else we could cram into a day. I basically did a family detox from life other than inside the home. For a whole year we barely covered anything other than us. We all had to learn who we were as our own self, a family, a brother, a sister, a mom, and a dad. The first year was unbelievable. I learned so much about my children that I never knew and am still learning to this day.
Each year when we re-evaluate our plans for the upcoming year I sit down with the children and ask them their thoughts, opinions, and general input on our school year. I also always ask if they would like to return to public school. The answer is always a NO WAY MOM!!!! We like it just fine right here. I am always so relieved to hear that because I know the Public School system isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
I have a very social child who loves to be around others but I can always tell when she has had to much because she will say “Mom I am tired can’t we just stay home today?” If I try to do more than two outside activities in a week that is the standard reply so I have learned to keep it to a bare minimum.
My oldest boy loves to stay home. He can find so much to do around the house and doesn’t like a lot of outside activity. He enjoys being outside in the yard and is a country boy through and through.
My middle son is content with whatever you throw at him. He can go or stay. He just rolls with what we are doing and likes to try new things.
So the short answer to the question is YES my children like homeschooling. At this point they wouldn’t have it any other way. If I get my way they will not ever set foot back into public school but I leave it in God’s hands daily.
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Just A Little Note… =-.
We homeschooled last year for Pre-K and are currently finishing up Kindergarten this year. My 5 year old daughter says she loves it. I think the hardest part for me is trying to find a schedule that works for us.
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..I’m Lovin’ It Friday =-.
My kids wanted to be at school when they were home and wanted to be at home when they were in school.
MImi
My daughter is soon to be 11. She has always homeschooled so there was no transition issue for us. I would say that although she experiences days of “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence,” overall she likes HSing. In fact, just this week she told me openly how much she loves it. Now, I do want to say that we’d spent a lot of time that week doing nature study at the river. So to her, that was all play! But, yes, I think she can see how blessed she is in comparison to her local friends who literally slave for 10-12 hours a day on school work. It’s atrocious.
.-= Jimmie´s last blog ..River Rocks =-.
My kids would never voluntarily go back to a public school. The oldest spent 5 years there, the younger 2 kids spend 3 and 1 respectively. They never, ever, want to go back, although at the time we pulled them out of school, when I asked them if they wanted to homeschool they said that school was “fine”.
This is a great question, and I’ve enjoyed reading the answers. My kids will be 7, 5, and 2 1/2 next year. My middle one has been in full day pre-k this year…and loves it. I was most worried about her reaction to the change, even though my oldest has been in school longer. But they’re both really excited about learning at home and I’m really excited that I’m already teaching them a ton without even trying too. I can only imagine how much knowledge will be spread around when we put our minds to it!
.-= Annie Gebel´s last blog ..Good, Clean Fun =-.
My children have always been homeschooled and would never dream of doing anything different. I’ve asked the older ones (13 and 11), and they are completely happy with being homeschooled. They see it as a privilege. They are really involved in their education and want to keep it that way.
I guess I will be the first to say that one of my children hates to be homeschooled. We pulled him and his younger sister out of private school when he was 10 and she was 6. He is now 15 and attends a charter school. The transistion was amazingly hard but we got through it. His 4 sisters love being home…okay two are still in diapers, but they enjoy their ‘school’ too.
We started homeschooling our daughter in Kindergarten this year because her birthday is late (here they have to be 5 by October 1st and she didn’t turn 5 until November) but she was really ready to start school. So we decided I’d work with her at home and see how she did. She has done AMAZINGLY and I’m starting to plan (and buy) for next year, when we’ll include her younger brother for Pre-K work.
She likes school and will ask if we can do school on days when we don’t (we don’t school every day because we can cover so much more material in one day than the schools can and we’re way ahead, especially in math!) so she does enjoy it. She does talk about riding the bus when she goes to school because she sees the other kids in the neighborhood get off the bus in the afternoon. But then I remind her that she goes to school at home and she says “Yeah, I was just pretending.”
We’ll see how next year goes when things actually “count” with the state, but so far we are LOVING it!
.-= Kari´s last blog ..Intervention =-.