Anyone in here(parents) homeschool the kids? What curriculms do you use?

Jeepthing

I just want to know what most of jw(ex or inactive or active) parents use or used for curriculms. And results of using certain ones.

I happen to be of the homeschooled class.... my parents hooked me up to some online homeschool called ECOT. Homeschooling in my opinion has made me a very lonely person but im sure it works for some...

jeeprube

I spy a fellow Jeep enthusiast. I almost home schooled when I was young, but my mother decided it would be better to keep me in school. My wife's brothers went through the American School program, it was total crap judging by their education level when they "graduated." As a thirty year old college student I would advise you focus a lot on Math and Science. Most of tomorrow's in-demand careers will depend upon these areas.

Today it's hard to find good engineers, but college graduates with business degrees are a dime a dozen.

choosing life

Hi Jeepthing

GentlyFeral

thebiggestlie, I'm sorry that homeschooling is causing you so much pain. It isn't supposed to be that way :(

We began homeschooling our two children when junior high school landed on my son with both feet: he was bullied constantly, and not for his religious convictions either – just because he was small and smart. We took him out so he could be physically safe.

I was heavily influenced by the works of John Holt, and avidly read his bimonthly magazine, Growing Without Schooling.

My daughter, when she was old enough for first grade, decided to stay home with us because our projects looked so interesting; she made that decision on the day we built a still out of glass jars, alcohol, and string, so we could see how the process of distillation worked. (The design came from an old UNESCO texbook, 700 Science Experiments for Everyone. We had an old edition that still explained how to make gunpowder and things, but we didn't actually do those projects.)

We had no money for curriculum. For the first couple years we worked with a teacher who came to our house every two weeks, sent by the local school district (at that time, most of the Witnesses in town who had school-age kids were homeschooling). Soon my son ~~trained me to leave him the hell alone~~ inspired me to shift to student-directed learning. I used to tell people that any question my kids asked ended up in the next lesson plan. Sure enough, we were soon studying things like simple filmmaking, ninjitsu, and lots and lots of art. Both my kids are self-taught artists today.

gently feral

megsmomma

When I was young, we did Cal-vert. That worked out good and my mom was somewhat involved.

For highschool I did American (Out of Chicago) You sent in your work and you could call and talk to a teacher if needed. I taught myself through high school. I think I turned out OK, but I think parents being actively involved is key.

The good news is that by being home-schooled I had no bad association. I just got to go in service a-lot. Oh....wait...that was bad association!

becca1

If you love your kids and want them to be happy, well educated and well adjusted, send them to school. If you live in a bad school district move, or get a permit from the school board to snd them elsewhere.

IMHO

That sounds like a typical JW comment. Basically your saying if you teach your kids at home you don't love them you don't want them to be well educated or well adjusted. Where is the Biblical basis for sending your kids to school? You might have guessed I teach my kids at home and everyone, yes everyone comments on how well they are doing.

truthsearcher

Hi Jeepthing:

We are another hsing family. It has been a wonderful experience and our kids have turned out with great social skills, high academics, time to develop many other skills, and close family bonds. We make it a point to get them out in the community and not to isolate them from their peers. So we do lots of different sports, art, music lessons etc.

There are literally thousands of curriculums available, just do a google search. There are also many different hs philosophies of education, again do a search. Different approaches work for different families. We have mixed in an unstructured approach, a unit study approach, a textbook based approach with a classical approach!

Does it have to be a JW-friendly curriculum? There are many wonderful Christian curriculums out there as well as secular. The beauty of hsing is that you can tailor it to your interests, your kids style of learning, etc. Often in March, local hs associations have conferences with curriculum halls where you can have a look at what is out there. If you have a chance to go, I would highly recommend it. There are usually interesting seminars too.

becca1

I knew I would hit a nerve with that comment. I have very strong personal reasons to back up my view. I was raised by fanatical JW's who literally "put the kingdom first". I, their only child, was an after thought. When my school schedule disrrupted Mom's pioneer schedule, I was taken out of school. For the next three years, I did very little school work but consistently put in pioneer hours (at the time, "vacation" pioneers put in 100 hours per month). In this period of time we only covered two grades, so I was behind a year.

One day I snapped. I insisted I be put back in school. A two day screaming and shouting match ensued. I was called: disobedient, ungratefull, wordly... I did not back down. Finally, Dad relented and said: "do what you want". Several days of the "silent treatment" followed.

I started the 7th grade late in the month of October. I had forgotten how to multiply and my social skills were atrocious. I did catch on though, and was soon on the honor roll.

I know my circumstances are somewhat unique. However, I can honestly say that I have never met a homeschooled witness who went to college (except me). I have know many HS witnesses who never finished high school. I have known many HS witnesses who simply had books thrust at them and were told to teach themselves. I have known many wintness parents who had the nerve to homeschool their children w/o having even a high school diploma themselves. I have known many sad, unhappy, awckward witness kids who were homeschooled.

I see no good reason to homeschool in this country. Even children with disabilities can obtain an education in our public school system. I feel that parents who chose to homeschool do so because: they want to shelter their kids from the "world", they are overly protective and paranoid,or they want their children's schedule to fit their own. I don't think any of these reasons is valid. These reasons are all about the parent and not at all about the child.

You ask what Biblical basis there is for sending children to school. Well, as far as I know there was no arrangenment for sending children to school in Bible times. So what? They did not have aoutomobiles. Do you have one? They had no computers. Aren't you using one right now? I could go on and on, but I think you get my point.

As parents, we owe our children unconditional love. This means, among other things, putting their best interest above our own, and looking beyond our personal feelings of insecurity to allow them to spread their wings and become independant people.

I do not mean to impose my feelings upon you. But please understand that this forum allowes us to expess ourselves freely. I have terrible emotional scars from being homeschooled. The very concept makes me sick. The advice I gave the original poster was given with the best of intentions. It's up to her to accept it or not.

And of course, this is just "my humble opinion".

Anyone in here(parents) homeschool the kids? What curriculms do you use?

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