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

by Jeepthing 34 Replies latest jw friends

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  hemp lover

  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.

  Sorry about your bad experience, but your blanket statements seem designed to deliberately inflame and put people on the defensive.

  How about the parents feel they can do a better job than their local public school and/or they can't afford private school? How about their child WANTS to be in an environment where they get to choose to learn the things that are the most important and enjoyable to them, the things they really need to know to function in a well-adjusted, happy way once they reach adulthood?

  My daughter knew all of her letters/numbers at 18 months, was reading at 4, coming to work with me from the age of 7 where she learned Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop and used those skills to create her own business cards and flyers for her "travel agency", taking incredible photographs starting around the age of 10 (which was when her creative writing skills really took off), playing guitar and piano at 11, cooking gourmet vegan food at 14 which was also when she had her first singing gig, etc. I could go on but I have to check her biology and French homework before she goes to hang out at the local coffee shop with her artist friends. (Yes, she has friends.)

  To answer the original question: Calvert and now American School. She will be graduating from high school at 16 and plans to attend a visual arts college in NYC.
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  becca1

  Dear hemp lover: I know many parents (myself included) who have taught thier children many things before school age and continued to enhance and enrich their education w/o homeschooling. I stand by my experiences and my gut feeling that homeschooling leaves much to be desired. Going to school provides children with the opportunity to learn from someone other than their parents. It fosters independance as well as creativity. Simply put, I think it's a more balanced way to raise children. With my family backround, as well as my experiemce in a high control religion, I fight anything that fells restrictive, that includes homeschooling.

  By the way, does your daughter know what a hemp lover is? Does she love hemp too?
• 

  SixofNine

  You have a tiny imagination Becca, and I suspect that would be the case for you whether you went to public school or not.

  And as for your inference about Hemp Lover's name... well, let's just say it's lame, pathetic, and ugly, and you won't get far with it. Too many people here know both our daughter and HempLover to let you get by with that distasteful shit.
• 

  looking_glass

  I can honestly say that I have never met a homeschooled witness who went to college (except me).

  You paint a picture w/ a very wide brush. I have, on the other hand, seen the opposite. Not only did I go to college and off to graduate school (and yes I was home schooled), but a number of my friends who were also homeshooled, went on to college. I have a GF that is a teacher and the kids find it amazing that she never went to public school, they grill her all the time about it.

  And as for socialization, I think it depends on whether a person (young or old) has the ability to socialize to begin with. It has nothing to do if they have gone to public school or not. Think of all the "bullys" and self loathing there is in public school. It is not the social paradise some people want to believe it is. There are pros and cons to EVERYTHING and a person must make an educated decision on what is best for their child, so one person's bad childhood experience does not arbitrarily make it bad for everyone else.

  Anyways the subject line was not "what do you think of homeschooling", it was "what curriculums do you use.
• 

  Jeepthing

  Wow. I am really glad to hear some of you are hs parents. I was hoping but wasn't sure. Actually, I have been hs for last 6 years and still going strong. Got one in college right now and getting ready to transfer to university for ba. Another one would be going to college this coming fall. And I have this little bright energetic 6 year who is full of mind of her own and turning into full time work(doublte full time). So, I was wondering if any of you here got some good advise for me for my 6 year old. How did you guys do it with young one like mine? I do belong to couple of hs groups around here,but I am having little hard time fitting in since most of them are so called christians and got their own ways of doing things according to their beliefs. And they are very much dogmatic as jws. I even tried electic groups and they are as fanatic as other. I can't find any balanced group. So, what I want to know is how did you parents do with your kids when it comes to socialization. I do have them in several lessons and so far older ones don't have any problem with social thing but with my young one, I am having little difficulty. I can't seem to get away from this cult like minds wherever we go. Have any of you had simillar situation?

  Oh, by the way I want to express my feelings to "becca1". I know exactly how you feel because I do know at least dozen(in one congregation) of jws kids who did not finish hs and used pioneering as excuse to pulled themselves out and ended up marrying early and never finished highschool, but I don't think that is enough excuse to attack all the homeschoolers, because I also know many people did very well with hs including myself. If you are a sharp person, you should be able to tell that I do not have a perfect grammar usage in my writing. Also, I am foreigner and English is my second language. But I was able to hs my kids and able to send one in college. One in college have received a scholarship and part of PBK. She is at least one year ahead of her peers. I did not want to defend myself or homeschool ideas but I cant' help it. You can not attack homeschooling based on jws. It is not fair to other homeschoolers who are very zealous and sincere with their kids. I was and am still very angry with some of jw parents because they did abused the homeschooling for sake of pioneering or from to avoid the worldly people. I would be very shame to mention this to anyone outside of jw world. They would put my kids back to public school!!! Sad thing about this whole thing is that 3 of these drop outs are ended up in bethal and replaced by longtime bethalites there. Amazing.

  I was told by these drop out parents that I shouldn't hs my kids because they did not have any confidence in me. Of course these folks were pioneers and I wasn't. I just hate to see anyone making judgement based on other failures. They think they did well because these kids are in bethal. Makes me sick. This was one of my strongest motive for leaving kh and was very shame of them. But I am not going to fail others who are sincere and truly care about their kids. I have seen most beautiful things out of homeschool parents and the kids. I have learned alot from other homeschool people and I appreciate them more than ever. Please, do not judge others base on your parents inadquency.
• 

  becca1

  If I misunderstood the meaning of "hemp lover", please enlighten me. I guarantee that most people here who see that name think she smokes pot and is proud of it. If that's not the case or if she doesn't want people thinking that she should change her name. It just seems ironic. that someone who is in the role of both parent and educator would flaunt illegal drug use. And unless I totally misunderstood the meaning of "hemp lover", I think it just proves my point that homeschooling is "for the birds".

  I have only stated my views of homeschooling, based on experience. I have not stooped to calling anyone names, belittleing the intelligence of others or using foul language.
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  looking_glass

  It is always so nice to see when people who post are open minded. The whole jw black and white approach to life. I am right and you are wrong. It is a shame we all continue to take this aggressive hard line approach in everything we do.
• 

  RAF

  It fosters independance as well as creativity. Simply put, I think it's a more balanced way to raise children. With my family backround, as well as my experiemce in a high control religion, I fight anything that fells restrictive, that includes homeschooling.

  Becca it all depends on the Parents (as HL explained) !!! they are important in the equation ...

  I guarantee that most people here who see that name think she smokes pot and is proud of it.

  Most people? So what? (so it's all in the nickname?) also is she her daughter? That's where the difference is ... the bad part of going to school is to give everyone the same sens of judgement on most things ... you don't really learn to think by yourself for real in school before 15 if not 18 ... well the difference here is that it seems that they have choosed to let her choose in being there when needed and surrounded in an eclectic way ...
• 

  hemp lover

  Does she love hemp too?

  LOL - someday she just might. Uptight much? (By the way, industrial hemp is a different plant from cannabis, which is what you were probably referring to, and yes, my daughter knows the difference - because I taught it to her.)

  Back to the original post: I realized I didn't answer the second part of your question. Calvert is a little expensive imo, $600 - $700 per grade, but for our needs, it was well worth it. They send you a lesson manual that plans out each course for each day and explains how to cover the material. They keep religion out of it, too. And if you take good care of the materials and resell on ebay promptly (don't wait too long and let your child write in the test book like I did), you can get a good chunk of your investment back.

  I think for homeschooling to work, your child has to have the right temperament for it and desire to learn and you have to be diligent as well. It can be difficult to keep up at times, especially if you work full time. And I think that's where the problem lies for a lot of parents. They leave it to the children to school themselves. If your child is extremely self-motivated, this can work in the teen years, but not in elementary school.
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  Jeepthing

  I was only trying to get some mature inputs about hs and can't believe what I am reading.

  Hi, choosing life. How are you? Haven't heard from anyone lately. Hope you are doing okay. Keep in touch.