What type of schooling do you prefer for your kids?

[PrincessKLS]

Public, private, homeschooling, etc? And why?

[Athena-Nadine]

My children will go to public school unless the schools, and will be moved to private school if they aren't getting the education I think they need. I will not homeschool because I don't want to, though I will be very involved in their schooling as my mother was in mine.

[PrincessKLS]

Unless the schools do what?

I hope I move out of my town when I have children, lately I've been thinking I want to have a child by age 30. With my current income, I couldn't support them and they would have to go to public school, but I know how the public schools are in my town.

I'm not against private, charter, and/or boarding schools (even outside the country) but I would have to look into that specific school, I don't want to send them to a religious school that would be restrictive or shield them from certain subjects or ideals.

I could probably homeschool, but I'm the type that would prefer tutors. Grant it, it also depends on my income whether or not they go to private school or not.

[Lyrien]

I homeschool my kids because the Florida public schools suck and I have gifted kids. It would be MUCH easier to chuck 'em off to a private school, but down here the decent ones are 10k per year per kid.

There are a million reasons why I am for/against home/public/private schools; but it all boils down to your specific circumstance. For us, homeschool is the best option for many reasons.

I'd elaborate more, but the kids and I are off to the library.

[Athena-Nadine]

Right now, the public schools here still have a good curriculum even with the No Child Left Behind nonsense. They have a low teacher to student ratio (the elementary school averages only 14 students to a class), and there are a lot of good extracurricular activities available. They still have good art and music programs. But my oldest is only 21 months old so still has a few years before he will be attending school. I have been researching the schools around here and I will be continuing to look at them and how they're doing. If they stop being as good as they are now I will have to find another school to put my children in.

We will be watching how the middle and high schools are doing as well over the years and we will move if need be to make sure our children get good educations. Their educations are one of the most important things to me.

[WolfPup522]

My daughter went to private school, primarily because her birthday fell just shy of the cut-off date for starting school (and because my ex could afford it). We put her in Junion Kindergarten so that we wouldn't have trouble shifting her to public school later on and it worked out well. Sometimes it's frustrating for her to be a 14 yr old 8th grader, when all her friends are 13, but she got a great education in private and that is continuing now with the advanced program in her public school. I would have loved to have homeschooled her, but I can't afford to stay home and not work.

I agree that there are advantages/disadvantages to each type of schooling and you do the best you can with what opportunities present themselves.

[PrincessKLS]

I had that problem too, when I was in the 7th grade, some people asked me if I failed or assumed I was held back but the funny thing is, I had some peers who also had a birthday in October but they were a year younger. Of course I wasn't held back, nor did I fail. I graduated high school, on time, with a real diploma, and without going to night school.

[Athena-Nadine]

I was always older than most of the other kids in my classes too because I was born in early January and the cut off was the end of December.

[PrincessKLS]

Back in the 1980s the cutoff was Sept. 30 for my county. Apparently it wasn't very enforced or was changing because apparently it was in place when my sisters went to school.

[WolfPup522]

Back in the 1980s the cutoff was Sept. 30 for my county. Apparently it wasn't very enforced or was changing because apparently it was in place when my sisters went to school.

Yep, that's what it was when my daughter went to school. Maybe it's a VA thing - who knows!

[Faol-chù]

LOLOL....Just can't help but throw in here that you will find that your perspective on all of this could be very different by the time you actually have kids...Just over time, AND because the reality of the experience of raising children affects you in ways you would never expect.

Before I had kids I would have NEVER opted to homeschool. Even when my oldest was 4, I remember thinking that the whol idea of "homeschooling was just 'radical'....and, "Why would anybody want to do that...I could NEVER do that! I WOULD never do that!"

Well...I'm doing exactly that! lol


Unless the schools do what?

I hope I move out of my town when I have children, lately I've been thinking I want to have a child by age 30. With my current income, I couldn't support them and they would have to go to public school, but I know how the public schools are in my town.

I'm not against private, charter, and/or boarding schools (even outside the country) but I would have to look into that specific school, I don't want to send them to a religious school that would be restrictive or shield them from certain subjects or ideals.

I could probably homeschool, but I'm the type that would prefer tutors. Grant it, it also depends on my income whether or not they go to private school or not.

[Brónach Druid]

I sent my kids to public school. I went to a private school and there was no way I was going to do that to my kids. :p
Public schools are lacking in some areas but I think it works well with strong parental support.

[Tanya]

I went the 10k Route Bellehazar....despite the pain....

my daughter is 11 years younger than her brother, and he isn't able to live with us right now, as he's having some real emotional troubles.. her sster is 20 years her senior... so effectively, she's an only child, and while i like some aspects of homeschooling, I was seriously worried she wouldn't develop normal social skills if I home schooled... plus she really CRAVED other kids...

there is a lovely pubilc school 5 minutes from our home but since my husband and i work 1 hour away... it would have meant dropping her at daycare at 7 am... and picking her up at 6pm.

I wouldn't ever got to see my baby!

I work in another state, so the public school near where I work had no interest in taking her, so it had to be private if she was going to come into town with us each day.... so that's what we are doing. I have a really flexible job, I can drop her at 8, and pick her up at 4... we do shopping, errands, trips to the park and have other adventures until 5 when her dad gets off work.. and the time in the car we do a lot of talking and sining and general family bonding.. so I didn't want miss that.

your absolutey right.. its all about individual circumstances...

[Amethyst Rose]

Indeed. Before I had kids I was dead set on using private schools. However, then we moved out of the city and the nearest (non Catholic) private school is one hour away. So, public school it is. It's a really small town though, and there's only 100 kids in grades K-6, so class sizes are small.

So far he's only in playschool, but next year is kindergarden (ack!). The cut off here is kids have to be 5 by March to register - Quint'll be 5 in October, so he'll be one of the younger kids... he'll graduate when he's 17, poor boy. (Drinking age in Alberta is 18).

[SaviaFeather]

Right now DS is in LEAP, where hes been since he was 2 for a speech delay. It is a puplic school also. So far so good :)

[Lyrien]

I went the 10k Route Bellehazar....despite the pain....

my daughter is 11 years younger than her brother, and he isn't able to live with us right now, as he's having some real emotional troubles.. her sster is 20 years her senior... so effectively, she's an only child, and while i like some aspects of homeschooling, I was seriously worried she wouldn't develop normal social skills if I home schooled... plus she really CRAVED other kids...

there is a lovely pubilc school 5 minutes from our home but since my husband and i work 1 hour away... it would have meant dropping her at daycare at 7 am... and picking her up at 6pm.

I wouldn't ever got to see my baby!

I work in another state, so the public school near where I work had no interest in taking her, so it had to be private if she was going to come into town with us each day.... so that's what we are doing. I have a really flexible job, I can drop her at 8, and pick her up at 4... we do shopping, errands, trips to the park and have other adventures until 5 when her dad gets off work.. and the time in the car we do a lot of talking and sining and general family bonding.. so I didn't want miss that.

your absolutey right.. its all about individual circumstances...

With some changes, me getting a job specifically, we could send the kids to private school. The reason we opted not to go that route was because my husband has a very heavy work week and at times can work 70hrs per week. This has always been the case in his line of work and it will not change. The decision for me to be a stay at home mom came from the fact that the kids really needed to know at least one of their parents. Getting a job and sending them to private school would negate everything we've done as a family to ensure the survival of the family unit.

Like you, they would be in some sort of daycare before or after school and that would mean even less time for them to be with their family. If we lived close to extended family and they were willing to pick up slack here and there, that would be different.

The socialization aspect of homeschooling was a concern for me at first, but as it turns out there is a huge homeschool community where I am located so the kids get more than their share of peer interaction. Now that I've seen both sides, I think the socialization argument is bunk. I do not see how a school environment is all that much different than a non school environment with the same number of kids. I mean really, It's not like we lock these kids in closets and only let them out for their 15 minues of sunshine. On the flip side, many people live in rural areas or areas where there are three homeschool families. Socialization is a big concern in these situations, you really need to be diligent to make sure you don't end up being the parent of the 'wierd kid'.

[PrincessKLS]

The thing I would do if I decided to homeschool would be send them to some activities club so they can socialize with kids their age.

[Tanya]

ohh Belle, I didn't mean to imply that homeschoolers are deprived!

my husband also works long crazy hours... my job is really felxible... otherwise I would just go part time...its always damned hard to find the right balnace... with her in school near my work I can pick her up right after... sooo his has been a good choice for us.