Schooling ? (Parents & Students)

[Findarto]

To all the parents and students on here.
When your kids go to school how will you school them ? Home school, Public, or private ?
Also, Students which do you attend ?

Can you (parents) give your reasons/opinions ? And student's your opinions ?

[LittleRhiannon]

I go to public school.

I have mixed feelings. I like the diverse population and having lots of people I know around, but a lot of the teachers and curriculums are really bad. Some are really good though.

Mostly I dislike the History and Literature curriculums, but I have suggestions for all of them except math really. I don't like math, but I think my school has a pretty good math program.

I mostly self educate, and I don't find it any hardship.

[BrigidMoon]

To all the parents and students on here.
When your kids go to school how will you school them ? Home school, Public, or private ?
Also, Students which do you attend ?

Can you (parents) give your reasons/opinions ? And student's your opinions ?

My daughter attends what I think is the best elementary public school in the county. I work with the principal, her teachers, counselors etc...we all try and work together to make her experience a good one that nurtures good relationships and structured education. She is doing well in this school and her "problem areas" are getting better and better each year.

[Shanti]

I home school.

Reason 1. My daughter is very advanced and our local schools would hold her back. They dont advance kids, they say the kids have to match the pace of the class. That, from my experience with my other kids, leads to boredom and probs. My daughter can move at her pace, not someone elses.
My son is autistic. Our programs suck here.

Reason 2. We have one of the worst rated school systems in the state.

Reason 3. Our schools are in a small predominately white, fundie Christian town and the school system reflects the close minded attitudes of the majority.

Reason 4. I want to give my kids the best. And here, we are in the best position to do that. My adult son was home schooled and has already succeeded very well in life and he is only 24. :)

[Ceres]

we homeschool.
it started out because i didnt like the school my first would have been attending. once i started to research it, and discovered unschooling, i knew it was the only way for us to do it. unschooling for those who dont know, is an unstructured form of homeschooling in which parents dont authoritatively direct the child's education. we heard so many great things about it, but the hardest of all was not making her learn to read at the same time as school kids do. we held off and it really paid off. she taught herself to read and went straight for novels and so was reading well beyond her grade level shortly after learning how. whats even better is she loves reading because it wasnt something she was made to learn. everything else (with the glaring exception of times tables) has come on its own and then some! she is very well versed on topics from politics to sciences to history. its amazing how much they learn as u go, if u just talk with them. now she is getting older, we are finding she is branching out, learning from other sources and without our direction.
now that our oldest has had so much success with this method, we feel more comfortable in it. its much easier to be laid back with our younger children knowing the time will come when they will ask to learn things and they will learn them effortlessly for having chosen the time themselves.

[misschief]

my kids go to public school, but so far this school year has kind of.. soured me on it. my six year old son's teacher actually let him leave the school alone, and there was nothing i could do about it. i found out he scored high on his testing, but his report card wasn't so great... i think they 'fudge' the test scores to push the kids through. i've been seriously looking into homeschooling or something similar because i don't think public schools are doing the job. i'm not sure though, because i think it will be very straining for me.

[Khuinaset]

I'm in public school, and honestly, I hate it. They won't let me advance in what I want (my highest scores, on the ACT and the MAPs, are in science and language - the only thing they're letting me advance in is math); a lot of the teachers are awful, the curriculum is blah. Example: World History...we're managing to go over an entire culture(everything from India, to Egypt, etc.) in a week. It's all bookwork. Section reviews and then a test, and it is SO BORING, and that could really be a great class. yeah...I'm done now :lol:

[zehava]

we homeschool.
it started out because i didnt like the school my first would have been attending. once i started to research it, and discovered unschooling, i knew it was the only way for us to do it. unschooling for those who dont know, is an unstructured form of homeschooling in which parents dont authoritatively direct the child's education. we heard so many great things about it, but the hardest of all was not making her learn to read at the same time as school kids do. we held off and it really paid off. she taught herself to read and went straight for novels and so was reading well beyond her grade level shortly after learning how. whats even better is she loves reading because it wasnt something she was made to learn. everything else (with the glaring exception of times tables) has come on its own and then some! she is very well versed on topics from politics to sciences to history. its amazing how much they learn as u go, if u just talk with them. now she is getting older, we are finding she is branching out, learning from other sources and without our direction.
now that our oldest has had so much success with this method, we feel more comfortable in it. its much easier to be laid back with our younger children knowing the time will come when they will ask to learn things and they will learn them effortlessly for having chosen the time themselves.

oooo... i SO needed to hear that today... my parents were over for a while and my mom got in on how Jake 'should' be reading by now. he's very much a 'math-kid' (not to label him, but to give you an idea of how he learns)... if it has anything to do with numbers, he's all over it. my daughter is the opposite, anything to do with words and she's all over it.

anyway, to answer the question, we unschool also. we started off 'home' schooling - working in the dining room, doing certain stuff every day... but that didn't last long... we grew into unschoolers pretty naturally.

the reasons are just too many to list, but both of my kids attended public school. my daughter seemed okay with it for a while, but started to have problems in grade one - well, now that i look back, they started much earlier, but i was always told it was 'normal' for kids to do those things while getting used to school/new teacher/new classmates/etc. my son, however, HATED it from the beginning... he only attended a 'pre-kindergarten' class a few times a week. it just made me realize that i don't care what 'they' say, my kid isn't ready to learn outside of the home yet... and no amount of coaxing, praising, dragging him kicking and screaming to the school was going to make him ready. and since being home again, my daughter has turned back into the (mostly) sweet and sociable child she was BEFORE public school.

-z

[karma_lives]

I am attending a public school..and have been my whole school-life. I'm in 11th grade and I'm trying to get my parents to let me do correspondence for second semester. My school is horrible. There's a drug ring there and people stealing stuff and it's just horrible. I'm not one for learning like that. Also I work better alone. So its just not right for me I guess.

[Ceres]

to those teens disenchanted with their high school experience: there is a great book written for teens, not their parents, tho many parents like me, read it anyway. its called "the teenage liberation handbook: how to quit school and get a real life and education" by grace llewellyn. its on amazon.

[Sasha318]

We homeschool, for many of the reasons that the other homeschooling mamas listed. We want what is best for our kids, and we feel that this is the best way to do that. We're not strict unschoolers, though. We use a Waldorf-influenced program called Oak Meadow. The gentle structure is a good fit for us.

[Aleigh]

My sons will be going to public school. Our school district is ranked one of the best in the state, and the "high school" is actually a semi-private prep school which residents of this town can attend for free. My oldest son is in pre-k at the local primary school and the staff there is great. My husband and I are both in the PTA and plan to be very involved throughout their education.

If we had to move to another school district before they graduated and the new district wasn't up to our standards, or if one of them started having problems in school here we would probably consider homeschooling, but as things are now I have no problem putting my kids in the public schools here.

[xmezumiiru]

Why does it seem like most of the people who responded, and have responded to similar questions seem to think you have to choose either public school or home school?

My parents did both for me and my sister. We were sent to a good public school by day and we sat with one or both of our parents by night with our school books and what additional books by parents could get (aka afford). I realize now how much extra work it took, but I graduated with honors in highschool and college while working an almost full time job, and with band, orchestra, dance and equestrian practices. I didn't have much of a social life, but now I work at a fine company and am doing everything and anything I want.

Parents need to be the most important part of the child's education, not the school or the school work. I'm not saying anyone here or there is not involved, but we all need to realize our kids futures are in our, not the school's, hands.

[LadyTrinity]

catholic school cause even though My son is wiccan.. he will be going to the same school I did cause the kids are more structered cause they have a religion. :clapping:

[Ceres]

the problem with doing both school and homeschool is that there is very little time left for kid stuff. but i do agree - there is no way around it - parental involvement is the most important factor.

[fahawk]

Homeschooled my two oldest through 6th grade+ then they are attending as small private school in town.,....only because our town is small, and doesnt have a high-school--just an elementary school..
I am still homeschooling my two youngest...

but I didnt want my kids in the elem.. I wanted them to learn and experience life/school outside the "system..

[Sasha318]

the problem with doing both school and homeschool is that there is very little time left for kid stuff. but i do agree - there is no way around it - parental involvement is the most important factor.

I agree. Certainly doing both is an option, but not one that we felt was a good one for us.

[DragonsChest]

Our kids have always gone to public schools. I do not have the patience to home school. But the schools they have/do attend/ed have all been marvelous, and I am a staunch supporter of public schooling.

I am my children's biggest advocate for getting the most out of the system. They respect the teachers, do their work, and excel, for the most part. For our family, it wouldn't be any other way.

[Rowan Darkmoon]

I attended a public school for elementary and junior high school, and then a combination public/private school for high school. My school was kind of weird in that it was a lab school for a university, so it was partially publically funded but you had to be accepted to get in. While I hated it most of the time, looking back I got a better education at the private school because they did a lot more advanced work and the classes were smaller. We also had a lot more freedom than a traditional high school, open campus free hours rock!!

:bouncysmi

[Temptation]

My daughter goes to a private International School here in Switzerland. Why? Because we can afford it and because the public school system here is really not that good. Also when we go back to Canada, the fact that she attended a bilingual school here, French/English, will be an asset for her. :)