Post by Leeham Rimes on Apr 24, 2018 18:14:45 GMT -5
Probably bc it’s a “school choice” option with a lot of variety and ability to tailor individual programs and be able to get credit for your classes. I don’t know anyone IRL that does it, save for the non vaxxers we sometimes meet on the playground.
I toyed with the idea for Xavier when he was little, not because of any particular reason that I can recall.
But then I decided I liked having my days kid free to get my work done.
I need ham like water Like breath, like rain I need ham like mercy From Heaven's gate Sometimes ham salad or casserole or ham that’s free range, all natural I need ham
It is very common here. And not just with anti vaxers. We tend to have a hippie vibe, which is some of it. Overall, the schools in our area are good, so that isn't the case either. I currently have a homeschool kiddo who comes to my class for Music and Art only. Her mom teaches her the rest of the day. I've had kids come from homeschool who are great and others who aren't. I definitely feel like there are some great options out there if it's what someone chooses.
Homeschooling is huge around here. It's for a wide variety of reasons, but I feel like I live in a paranoid town where people don't trust the government/docs/etc. I home schooled in the mid eighties in AZ when we were one of the first states to legalize it. One of my field trips was riding the bus (for the first time ever) to the capitol when they passed some sort of home schooling legislation. If my kid doesn't get into one of the two schools we're trying for, we'll look for a private school, but will more likely homeschool. Private schools around here are either really expensive ($13k+) or small Classical Christian schools and I don't like the classical approach at all. In a year (1st grade) a new public school is opening near our home and as long as we're zoned for it, we'll take that route. So long story short, we may homeschool because our zoned school sucks big time.
Post by CheeringCharm on Apr 26, 2018 7:24:59 GMT -5
It's not common but I know some "crunchy" people who do it because they want their kids to get a more in depth education than you typically find at public schools. I tip my hat to anyone who can do it well. I know for sure I could not do it.
It's not typical, but it's not uncommon. There seem to be two types locally: The hyper religious set and the hippie-ish new age set. Almost all are white.
We have good public schools available to us and neither of us have the inclination to want to homeschool, so it's not something we've ever considered.
This is what I was going to say. Of the friends I have that home-school, 100% of them are religious. The hippies go to the Montessori school in the country.
Post by Queen Mamadala on Apr 26, 2018 10:35:15 GMT -5
Yep. I live in NorCal and it's common here, though it likely leans heavily toward religious-based curriculum or reasons. We're opting for an online homeschool through a charter for dd2 when she starts middle school in August. We're considering the same for ds2. I'm not the biggest fan of the middle school we're zoned for. My oldest found her honors classes too easy and unchallenging. The plus side was that she had her group of friends, but most of the teachers were meh, especially math teacher. My H ended up covering lessons and concepts her teacher just didn't care to actually teach. Turns out, she was retiring that year, so she had a IDGAF attitude before mid-year hit.
Dd2 has ASD and her main struggles are mostly being non-verbal and social interactions. She can mimic behaviors and quasi-blend in when she needs to, but she's still uncomfortable, barely tolerates most of her peers, and feels it's too easy for her. She excels in academics and athletics and is a great independent learner. The charter has enrichment activities, field trips and centers. She plans to join a local volleyball league for middle school girls in Sept. and start fencing lessons. We get to choose the curriculum and structure and have an assigned teacher we check into.
We're nontheists and my kids are vaccinated, so our decision is not based on the things commonly associated with homeschooling. I'd feel far more comfortable if there were more teachers of color. My dd1 has had far better experiences with teachers of color and she's observed how white teachers treat their students of color, even when it's low-key and covert. I despise the white-washing of history and glossing over colonialism that is deeply rooted in our country's history. There's been some recent controversy surrounding the high school she'll be attending. I had to rethink whether it was a good idea for her to attend a program that is anti-Black and has treated their few Black students like shit. That kind of program can afford her many great opportunities, but it is extremely problematic, which bothers me a lot.
My kids go to a private school where the average household is quite wealthy. The school itself is located within a very high quality public school system. I know a much higher than average number of homeschoolers as compared to my general area. It seems to be a luxury for some of the better off families. All of them have at least one child at the same school as my kids but for whatever reason, the family doesn’t believe either the private school or the public school is right for another child in their family. I don’t think it is for religious reasons, because if that were the case, ALL of their children would be homeschooled, not just one or two. I can think of two kids that are homeschooled because they Felt out of place due to sexual orientation. One kid is highly gifted and the school was not allowing the child to pursue her own interests, two kids are Olympic caliber athletes (one in gymnastics, one in equestrian) and they travel quite a bit for competition, one is the youngest of 7 kids and her parents retired at 50 yo this year- they homeschool their youngest because they want to travel and have “school around the world.”
Among all the homeschoolers I know, the only thing they seem to have in common is being well off enough that they can do whatever the hell they want. I have no idea if this is common, but that’s my experience.
Post by imojoebunny on Apr 26, 2018 13:11:39 GMT -5
Home schooling and to a lesser extent, unschooling, are pretty popular around here. I don't know anyone who does it for religious reasons, and there are lots of resources and home school groups to help out parents with the task. Seems to work for the families that we know who do it. Our public schools are good, but they don't work for every family/child situation. The people we personally know don't necessarily do it forever, and the kids who have gone back to regular school seem to do well.
Haha, I would LOVE to homeschool David. I would love to be with him all day and also have the control I apparently so love! But I've always known I would never, ever do that. David is such a social kid and he really NEEDS to go to school. Even before realizing all of my issues with control before therapy, I STILL realized it was a horrible I idea and I'd be doing it for selfish reason.
I know a few people who homeschool, most are not for religious reason. I think it's the need to control the environment.
I'm not anti-home schooling or anything, I just think it *usually* does not benefit the child.
I have a handful of families in my practice who homeschool. Most of them have religious leanings and seem very lax, like school is an after thought for them. One family has a high schooler and I'm not sure why he is home schooled. He seems bright and well learned. He's also the only one that is part of some home school network. I've never asked. I encountered a lot more home schooling families when I lived in TN. I didn't understand how some of the moms did it because they had jobs in addition to home schooling multiple kids.
The thought of home schooling has briefly crossed my mind because I have nowhere to send DD for first grade. Her current school is great but it ends with Kindergarten. She can't start public school until second grade. I'd have to send her to some random school for just 1 year before moving her over to public. I don't know what to do but I can ignore the decision for at least 9 more months.
I have a handful of families in my practice who homeschool. Most of them have religious leanings and seem very lax, like school is an after thought for them. One family has a high schooler and I'm not sure why he is home schooled. He seems bright and well learned. He's also the only one that is part of some home school network. I've never asked. I encountered a lot more home schooling families when I lived in TN. I didn't understand how some of the moms did it because they had jobs in addition to home schooling multiple kids.
The thought of home schooling has briefly crossed my mind because I have nowhere to send DD for first grade. Her current school is great but it ends with Kindergarten. She can't start public school until second grade. I'd have to send her to some random school for just 1 year before moving her over to public. I don't know what to do but I can ignore the decision for at least 9 more months.
I've not heard of this before. What do other people do? That sounds terrible logistically.
I have a handful of families in my practice who homeschool. Most of them have religious leanings and seem very lax, like school is an after thought for them. One family has a high schooler and I'm not sure why he is home schooled. He seems bright and well learned. He's also the only one that is part of some home school network. I've never asked. I encountered a lot more home schooling families when I lived in TN. I didn't understand how some of the moms did it because they had jobs in addition to home schooling multiple kids.
The thought of home schooling has briefly crossed my mind because I have nowhere to send DD for first grade. Her current school is great but it ends with Kindergarten. She can't start public school until second grade. I'd have to send her to some random school for just 1 year before moving her over to public. I don't know what to do but I can ignore the decision for at least 9 more months.
I've not heard of this before. What do other people do? That sounds terrible logistically.
She misses the cutoff for our school district and there are no options to test in. You either go private or wait it out another year to send their kids "on time." The cutoff is Oct 1, her birthday is December 8. She is so ready for K, I'm sending her to full day Kindergarten at her current school this fall. The following year, our school district won't take her into first because she misses the cutoff and would make her do K again. Kindergarten in our school district is half day. So she'd go from full day K to half day K. That seems backwards. Once they hit second grade, the district no longer cares about the cutoff.
It's basically the opposite of red shirting. Without getting into that whole debate, there aren't good options for those on the other side who want to send our kids "early" because they miss an arbitrary cutoff that varies from state to state. Our cutoff is Oct. 1 but 15 minutes away in NYC the cutoff is Dec. 31. So she is eligible for K in one state but not the other.
I've not heard of this before. What do other people do? That sounds terrible logistically.
She misses the cutoff for our school district and there are no options to test in. You either go private or wait it out another year to send their kids "on time." The cutoff is Oct 1, her birthday is December 8. She is so ready for K, I'm sending her to full day Kindergarten at her current school this fall. The following year, our school district won't take her into first because she misses the cutoff and would make her do K again. Kindergarten in our school district is half day. So she'd go from full day K to half day K. That seems backwards. Once they hit second grade, the district no longer cares about the cutoff.
It's basically the opposite of red shirting. Without getting into that whole debate, there aren't good options for those on the other side who want to send our kids "early" because they miss an arbitrary cutoff that varies from state to state. Our cutoff is Oct. 1 but 15 minutes away in NYC the cutoff is Dec. 31. So she is eligible for K in one state but not the other.
I've not heard of this before. What do other people do? That sounds terrible logistically.
She misses the cutoff for our school district and there are no options to test in. You either go private or wait it out another year to send their kids "on time." The cutoff is Oct 1, her birthday is December 8. She is so ready for K, I'm sending her to full day Kindergarten at her current school this fall. The following year, our school district won't take her into first because she misses the cutoff and would make her do K again. Kindergarten in our school district is half day. So she'd go from full day K to half day K. That seems backwards. Once they hit second grade, the district no longer cares about the cutoff.
It's basically the opposite of red shirting. Without getting into that whole debate, there aren't good options for those on the other side who want to send our kids "early" because they miss an arbitrary cutoff that varies from state to state. Our cutoff is Oct. 1 but 15 minutes away in NYC the cutoff is Dec. 31. So she is eligible for K in one state but not the other.
Hard and fast cut offs help level the playing field for kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Wealthier families can afford an extra year of day care, or nursery school and therefore can choose to red shirt their kids. Other families need to send a kid to public school the moment she is eligible. Rich kids get the red shirting age edge in addition to the other academic benefits of wealth (private tutoring, kumon, whatever).
CA moved the cut off back three months and made it a hard deadline between when DD was born and when she was school age. She went a year later than we had expected even though she was ready the year before.
You can create your own problem and solve it with home schooling, or you could just wait and do kindergarten when she meets the cut off.
Hard and fast cut offs help level the playing field for kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Wealthier families can afford an extra year of day care, or nursery school and therefore can choose to red shirt their kids. Other families need to send a kid to public school the moment she is eligible. Rich kids get the red shirting age edge in addition to the other academic benefits of wealth (private tutoring, kumon, whatever).
CA moved the cut off back three months and made it a hard deadline between when DD was born and when she was school age. She went a year later than we had expected even though she was ready the year before.
You can create your own problem and solve it with home schooling, or you could just wait and do kindergarten when she meets the cut off.
Either way, DD stays home a year and I have to pay. She either stays home now and I pay for childcare instead of private pre-school or she stays home and home schools for 1st grade and joins everyone in 2nd. If she goes on time according to the cutoffs, she can start public pre-school this year in September 2018 and public Kindergarten in Sept. 2019. Both programs are half day programs so working parents in our town are still paying for childcare even if the send their kids to these public half day programs for 2 full years.
Hard and fast cut offs help level the playing field for kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Wealthier families can afford an extra year of day care, or nursery school and therefore can choose to red shirt their kids. Other families need to send a kid to public school the moment she is eligible. Rich kids get the red shirting age edge in addition to the other academic benefits of wealth (private tutoring, kumon, whatever).
CA moved the cut off back three months and made it a hard deadline between when DD was born and when she was school age. She went a year later than we had expected even though she was ready the year before.
You can create your own problem and solve it with home schooling, or you could just wait and do kindergarten when she meets the cut off.
I absolutely agree with this when we're discussing purposeful late entrance, but, "holding back" privileged kids who are ready for K a year "early" certainly doesn't help even the playing field. In our case, it just meant our kid got another year of a quality primary education under her belt before starting public school- while some of their peers got nothing.
sent , DD missed the cut-off by a month (and change). There's no test-in option here. DD (who is very, very bright, a great self paced learner, and blessed with a teacher this year that encourages her) is now 2/3+ grades ahead academically. My kids attended Montessori, so having her stick around an "extra" year wasn't a big deal (it's not like she had to repeat a prior year's lessons), but, I'm sure it didn't help the situation, either. It's frustrating. If I could go back in time knowing what I know now, I'd "cheat" the system, too.
I've not heard of this before. What do other people do? That sounds terrible logistically.
She misses the cutoff for our school district and there are no options to test in. You either go private or wait it out another year to send their kids "on time." The cutoff is Oct 1, her birthday is December 8. She is so ready for K, I'm sending her to full day Kindergarten at her current school this fall. The following year, our school district won't take her into first because she misses the cutoff and would make her do K again. Kindergarten in our school district is half day. So she'd go from full day K to half day K. That seems backwards. Once they hit second grade, the district no longer cares about the cutoff.
It's basically the opposite of red shirting. Without getting into that whole debate, there aren't good options for those on the other side who want to send our kids "early" because they miss an arbitrary cutoff that varies from state to state. Our cutoff is Oct. 1 but 15 minutes away in NYC the cutoff is Dec. 31. So she is eligible for K in one state but not the other.
I’ll be honest, from a social emotional perspective I would consider this plan carefully. My girls both have summer birthdays and we’re in a district in NJ where red shirting is pretty common. I sent them both on time with no qualms, but both are young seeming compared to their peers, many of whom are 15-16 months older than them. In preschool and K there was no disparity whatsoever, but now I’m seeing it, and it would be far more profound with a December birthday. December isn’t close to the cut off and is fairly middle of the pack as far as age. I understand that right now she seems the right age compared to kids a grade ahead, but as you get into puberty and such this disparity may begin to be a lot bigger. While the age cut off is arbitrary, she isn’t close to it.
I’ll be honest, from a social emotional perspective I would consider this plan carefully. My girls both have summer birthdays and we’re in a district in NJ where red shirting is pretty common. I sent them both on time with no qualms, but both are young seeming compared to their peers, many of whom are 15-16 months older than them. In preschool and K there was no disparity whatsoever, but now I’m seeing it, and it would be far more profound with a December birthday. December isn’t close to the cut off and is fairly middle of the pack as far as age. I understand that right now she seems the right age compared to kids a grade ahead, but as you get into puberty and such this disparity may begin to be a lot bigger. While the age cut off is arbitrary, she isn’t close to it.
Thank you for your perspective. I grew up in NJ with a December birthday. I knew several other "young" students with late birthdays/grade skippers who grew up in other districts in NJ at the same time so I feel I've lived through this issue. And I feel strongly that if we lived over the border in NYC, she would be "on time" but we could not stay in NYC anymore for many reasons when I found out I was pregnant with DD.