Is homeschooling common where you are?

[readyin07]

I have always known some homeschoolers, but it feels lately like I am meeting more and more homeschoolers. They are almost always families who are religious and the popular thing here is the classical conversations program which is apparently a lot of memorizing and being able to do things like draw the entire map of the world in third grade. It sounds awful to me, but what do I know. We have no charter schools in our county but one is apparently opening up with the same tenants of classical education. Just wondering if I am just in a pocket where it is popular. My county is know for its good public schools so you Think it would be less popular.

[hocus2]

It isn't common here. I know folks who do it especially in the younger ages.

[rosiebear]

It’s fairly common here, but not for religious reason. It’s hippie no-vaccination “unschooling” around here, but generally only through the elementary years.

[icedcoffee]

I don't think so, but it would also be super unlikely for me to meet them if they are around. I work FT so the people I meet are daycare moms and coworkers.

[mccallister84]

We know two families that home school (well one currently does and one will start next year when her oldest is in kindergarten). I don’t believe it is super popular here.

[hocus2]

Apr 24, 2018 9:00:38 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

I don't think so, but it would also be super unlikely for me to meet them if they are around. I work FT so the people I meet are daycare moms and coworkers.

  The one family I know that home schools I met at the park on a weekend. But there are facebook groups for families and I see folks cross posting about it. Schools here are highly variable in their quality and while home school isn't something I'm interested in there is a wide variety of reasons folks do it (religious, unschooling philosophy, very low quality options available, etc). 

[penguingrrl]

It’s very uncommon where I am. I’ve met 3 or 4 people in my life who did or were homeschooled, and even those situations were only for a year or two for varied reasons. One was a professional dancer who could t continue at public HS and dance, one was for religious reasons, one was a parent who was disenchanted with standardized testing and homeschooled briefly before finding a private school.

[msmerymac]

readyin07, do you live in a conservative area? I know one person who homeschools, but she's the token anti-vaxxer on my FB page. I live in the suburbs of a major city. I also don't have kids, so I might not know that many parents.

[huskymom]

I have never met anyone who homeschools, but like PP, I work FT and my kids are in daycare/school. People move to this town for the schools though, so if I was going to homeschool my kids, I'd definitely live somewhere where you can get more house for your money. I'm in CT.

[CurlyQ284]

I am not sure, we moved here a year ago and I haven't met too many people with young kids. However last year when I was going through getting DS diagnosed with ADHD and getting his IEP, I joined some Facebook groups (nationwide). Whenever anyone posted about trouble with school, there would be a bunch of "have you considered homeschooling?" Or "Is homeschooling an option?" And they didn't strike me as the religious types. More the crunch granola, anti-meds/anti-vax, 'my child shouldn't have to conform' types.

[cjcouple]

I have met a couple over the years but it's not common practice here. One family I know of: Only 1 of her 3 kids is homeschooled due to the child's anxiety.

I think there are also 1-2 families in various sports but most either go to public schools or the STEM Academy (lottery based) 20 mins away.

I also know of 2 families on FB but they live in other states.

[minionkevin]

Not in my immediate area but I live ~15-20 minutes from a huge military base and a ton of people who live on/near base do. The homeschooling population is large enough that they have their own swim lesson groups at our county college, where my kids go for lessons.
ETA: I also know one mom on my local moms board who homeschools bc her son has anxiety and other emotional issues, and was picked on/bullied at the local school. But she works like 3 jobs (house cleaner during the day, registrar at a hospital at night, and something I’m forgetting) + sells for an MLM, so I’m not sure when she has time to teach, even as part of a co-op. She is also a single mom with dad out of the picture.

[readyin07]

Apr 24, 2018 9:12:00 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

readyin07, do you live in a conservative area? I know one person who homeschools, but she's the token anti-vaxxer on my FB page. I live in the suburbs of a major city. I also don't have kids, so I might not know that many parents.

I am in south Florida so not the Bible Belt but a red county sadly. I grew up 30 minutes south of here and had never met a homeschooler before! One friend who has a child on the spectrum recently pulled her kid from public school in a different district and is an unschooler. Another is a former teacher and her h works second shift so she homeschools so her kids can see their dad. The rest are pretty much religious,

[Aquatica]

It's pretty common where I am now. The base has a lot of homeschooling resources such as how to connect these families together, computer labs and gym areas to use, and material resources for those thinking of homeschooling.

[calmcosmo]

Yes, very. And we have a classical charter school that is also very popular. The kids coming out of there are very unhappy much of the time (I enroll them into our IB public school often). Classical = memorization, being lectured at, etc. It is not innovative or collaborative or timely or really anything that is ahead of the education curve these days. People fall all over themselves to get their kindergartners into the classical school and it puzzles me. Then if ANYTHING happens that takes their kids out of the lane even slightly (learning differences, ADHD, autism, etc) they take them out because classical isn't designed to be accommodating either. I think its a mess.

[sonrisa]

Here it's unusual. i can think of two that i've run into over the years. Both cases were hippie type schooling by older parents who made their money then retired young to raise chickens in the redwoods. Here it's mostly regular public schools or very expensive private but there is one waldorf style charter school and one montessori style one.

[cabbagecabbage]

It’s uncommon in my area. I live in an area of smaller to modest family homes where people pay $7-15,000 in property taxes to get into our schools. I know no one in my area who home schools.

My sister is a homeschooler and lives just under an hour away. She’s also in Chicago suburbs but a different area. She’s in a bit of a hippie enclave and her homeschool group (both her loose network and the actual groups to which she belongs) are secular, often unschoolers. I’ve met many many of these families and I see a lot of kids who appear to have emotional or behavioral issues, whether that’s ADHD or ASD or something hung else, I’m not an expert but I see a repeating pattern of kids who would probably benefit from interventions getting homeschooled as a sort of protection from the world or because their parents don’t want to admit/face/navigate that aspect of traditional schooling.

It’s very interesting to see as an outsider who’s allowed a peek into the inner circle. I have some strong opinions but they’re colored by my feelings about my sister.

I don’t know any religious homeschoolers.

[auntie]

Not sure how common it is here. I know more people home schooling older kids. 

I know a lot of families who opt in for religious reasons and to have more control over who their children associate with- often doing a secondary co-op for most subjects. They describe the curriculum as classical but is basically rote instruction around topics that were more in vogue 50-100 years ago. Humane letters? Civics and Logic? I have worked with scouts coming out of this group and are underwhelmed. 


I know another family who chose a cyber homeschool charter so that their children could take only AP classes. These kids had some amazing opportunities for travel and hands on education over the years.


Many of the homeschoolers I know have kids with learning differences who felt were not being well served by special education services in the public schools. This doesn't generally end well. 

[aliciabella]

For the bible-thumpers.

[aliciabella]

My DD came home last week and said she wanted to be homeschooled because she didn't know an answer to one question the teacher asked. I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. Fuck no kid. Get your ass to school.

[Que?]

Apr 24, 2018 9:00:28 GMT -5 rosiebear said:

It’s fairly common here, but not for religious reason. It’s hippie no-vaccination “unschooling” around here, but generally only through the elementary years.

It's the same in our area; these are people that are shielding their children from the harsh realities of having to conform to society, so they can avoid a life of consumerism and greed. Oh, and vaccinations. It has nothing to do with religion.

We also have a charter school in our very small town; it costs a fortune, the teachers are substandard (don't even require a degree) and they don't get any special needs funding. It's basically a collection of special snowflakes with parents who have to work and therefore can't homeschool, but they still can't bear the thought of their babies in the real world.

Surprise, I'm a huge fan of public education, which has all been destroyed in our province by a total Betsy Devos type character.

[Deleted]

I don't know anyone irl who home schools and have one FB friend who lives several states away that home schooled. I live in an area with several Top 20 Ranked School Districts in the state, so that may be why, but I don't know.

[starburst604]

Not at all. I can't think of anyone I've ever met who was home schooled themselves or did/does this with their kids.

[wesleycrusher]

Not common, but I do know people who homeschool. Most of the moms that I know that do this are trained teachers who decided to SAH.

[textbookcase]

It's fairly common here, or maybe it just seems common to me since we homeschool. It's a pretty good mix of Bible-thumping, religious homeschoolers and secular homeschoolers around here.

[pandora89]

No, I don't think so.

I live in a large metropolitan city, if that has anything to do with it.

[lolalolalola]

I don’t know any homeschooling families.

[DotAndBuzz]

Apr 24, 2018 9:00:28 GMT -5 rosiebear said:

It’s fairly common here, but not for religious reason. It’s hippie no-vaccination “unschooling” around here, but generally only through the elementary years.

That's what it is here too.

I see kids all every day in our athletic club doing stuff with trainers to fulfill their P.E requirement. Not just little kids, middle and HS too.

[Alps79]

I don't know many (any really) home schooling families. I certainly know OF some, but I'm not personal friends with them. Classical education is really gaining momentum where we live; my kids attend a classical charter school and I really do love the education they are receiving. Several former homeschooling families now attend this school. I don't really understand what the draw is for them... but to each their own!

[somersault72]

I know maybe 2-3 families that do it. I don't know why they do it. None of them live in my school district.