Home school, private school or public?

The christian prepper thread got me curious of the demographics in this group.

Poll incoming.

First on the poll. Holy crap I think that is the first time a married couple with no kids scored that high on a poll.

No kids, but F*ck Public school.

Crappy education, government brainwashing, plus it isn't even close to being a safe environment despite the fact that public schools are more and more like prisons these days.

As bad as things were when I went to public school, I would never willingly subject children to the kind of institutionalization that is destroying our country today.

Home school this year, next year private luthern school. Public schools in our county suck.

None school age yet but strongly considering home school. If not it will be public school with a lot of parental involvement. I'm convinced home schooling is the best way if the parents are up to it but its not for everyone.

You spelled country wrong, (and Lutheran).

We home school.

We homeschool so my kids know how to spell it. It's one word.

Right now, we're planning on putting ours in public schools. They are some of the highest rated schools in the state/nation.

Indoctrination by schools represents a failure in parenting. I look around me and see entirely too many parents who are not invested in their children's lives. At the play ground, at the restaurant, even at pre-school/daycare functions they are more interested in chatting with other parents or fucking with their iPhone to pay attention to their kids or get involved in what their kids are doing. Those are the people who have kids with behavior problems, kids with poor manners, and who will blame the schools for teaching their kids things they don't like.

Fuck that.

I am involved in every activity, every facet of my kids lives. I set the foundation for their belief structure, their code of morals. There is little a school could do, teach, or tell them that I cannot counter if necessary (and then remedy the issue).

My hat's off to you.

But make sure you know the details of what the anti-christian collectivists are doing in public education: The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America

My kids have been going to a christian daycare since they were 3 months old and my wife had to return to work. They have a very good basis to work from, and diligent parents to correct any 'inaccuracies' the school might foist upon them.

My wife and I are both public school attendees from the 1970's and 1980's, and deeply christian. I don't believe the two have to be mutually exclusive.

For those who home school, who's job is that? How many hours are spent in dedicated instruction? What curriculum do you use?

Public schools for all of our children. Somehow our oldest two have grown into mature, responsible, independent adults and our younger two are well on their way. Whatever kind of schooling you choose, it is mostly what YOU as a parent make of it. I can show you socially akward, spoiled, self entitled, rude, impolite behaviors and educational lag in kids from home or private school students just as easily as anyone can show similar in students from public school. The type of schooling you choose is not nearly as important as the investment that you as a parent are willing to make in your children. These days it seems that all too often parents consider their children an afterthought or a fashion accessory.

Home school...

Well,

Home schooled...

If anyone is on the fence about it PM me or post questions...I'd hate to see any child abused by the public school system if there is any other choice.

The Department of Education is not exactly what you may think it is...

Just do any research you can before just submitting to the public school system.

My 2 Cents
B

I am interested to know how much time the critics of public schools have spent in them as adults or parents.

I spelled COUNTY right, and yes I did misspell Lutheran. What are you the resident spelling nazi? lol.

Look online, there are a ton of resources. My wife is a stay at home mom, but is and has been a teacher for 10+ years and has a masters degree. She teachs our preK daughter atm. You can at that age use just about any pre-k curriculum you want, as long as it gets you the results you need.

Ours go to public school for a few reasons.
1) Neither myself, nor my wife have the patience to homeschool. I know k12.com took a lot of that load off, but we haven't looked too closely at that.
2) our public schools are actually reeeeeeeally good. We are in a great school district. Pay out the ass in property taxes to be in that school district. Our kids are in one of the top scoring elementary schools in the state. Once they get to high school level, they can choose from 4 high schools based on their interests. Clovis North High has a full community college sub campus on the high school campus for the high schoolers to take college classes, completely possible to knock out your first three semesters of college in your last 3 years of high school. Buchanan High has an awesome alternative energy program and a sports complex that is larger than most universities. Clovis East High has an incredible Ag program, with direct ties to Fresno State, one of the leading flora based ag schools in the world. Or, Clovis high if your kids want to deal drugs for a living (Won't be picking that one!). If that isn't enough, there are Technical High schools if the kids want to learn trades instead of college. Or there is University High school, a charter school on the campus of Fresno State that has never had a child graduate and not go on to at least a baccalaureate graduation...
Our public schools far outstrip the private schools in everything but forcing religion. Our private schools are reeeeally bad about that.

ETA: As much as I dream about homeschool, and despite the many advantages of homeschool, I want our kids to get the socialization of public school. I want them to figure out about douchebags, losers and bullies before they go out into the real world.

homeschooled for a few years, mostly private.

Depends on the family. BOTH will have to work at it, but usually one parent does the lions share.
In my case my wife does most of the day to day work.

I help review papers, help with math and some science. Lately I've been quizzing my daughter so she can earn a 'Memory Master Award'.


It varies. However my kids are sometimes getting instruction on the weekends and over the summer, and sometimes during the week they are on a field trip or some other special group activity.


Classical Conversations as the core.

The kids get a 'school like' setting once a week to go over what they should have learned the previous week and to make their weekly presenetations in front of their 'class mates'. I like the program but it's some serious work for the kids (they start Latin at the first grade level).

My kids go to a public charter school that focuses on math and sciences. Since my 3rd grader is doing pre-algebra, I consider it fairly decent. I also like the fact that there is school uniforms, with pants only for the 6th-12th graders. On the down side, some of the teachers have heavy accents which can make it difficult for note taking and their athletics dept is lacking.

My wife and I both graduated from public schools. We send our kids to the local catholic school, not because of religion but because all the parents want something better for their kids. None of them simply dump their kids on the system. Everyone cares - the school is clean, in good repair, kids are taught to respect themselves and others. Both the teachers and students are there because they want to be, not because they have to be. The kids are thriving.

Honestly, based on our experiences in public schools there is absolutely no comparison. In the summer my kids to go YMCA day camp and mix with the public school kids. Even my children notice the difference. There are a lot of good kids but the bad ones - forget it: Me first, no respect for anything, anything goes, etc..

My 15 year old nephew was tanking his grades in public school so his parents switched him to the diocese school. Instant turnaround and he's back in the A range.

I'm probably an extreme example, but:

-7 kids.
-All homeschooled through elementary, starting some dual enrollment in Jr. hi or Hi School
-All graduated public high school.

5 have graduated college. 4 of those Cum Laude. 5th is in college now, Two in public school.

My wife is well qualified. Degree in elementary education, specialty in individually guided education. She's homeschooled in 4 states. Several different curriclua. Choice of when to go to J.r Hi or High School based on how well she liked the school and/or teachers.

Ask me anything you want, via PM.

The original decision to homeschool was based on living in a crappy school district. My wonderful wife decided she could do better. So she did. Homeschooling is NOT for everyone. If you can't put the time into it, and can't hold your kid accountable, you will not succceed. Most people can, if they choose to do it.

BTW, don't give me crap about "poorly socialized" homeshcool kids. They exist, but they are the minority. ALL my kids did homeschool groups, field trips, and played with the neighborhood kids after school. The poorly socialized kids I saw came from poorly socialized homes, and probably would have been poorly socialized in public school.

My wife and I are quite the pair of left-wingers for gun owners. We live in an area with excellent public schools (and had to pay dearly to afford a house that is districted for their admittance) and sent all three kids there. All were well prepared for and got admitted to excellent universities. As of next weekend, all will have graduated in four years or less. I couldn't be a more proud parent, and attribute much of it to the experience and learning in the public schools. Yes, we did spend a lot of time with them as they were growing up. I have a job that had me traveling all over the world but would be sure to make it home in time to coach basketball, hold the chains in football, or work on a science fare project. No one thing helps in your kids success. It takes all things, done reasonably well, and a bit of luck. Wouldn't change a thing.
I'm not a supporter of home schooling, at least for our kids some time back. But I admit that I haven't looked that closely.

I detected some subtle humor, in that Gun_Crank was implying that public schools suck everywhere, not just in your county. Thus your REAL typo of "Lutheran" was in parentheses after, despite occurring earlier in your original statement. He can be sneaky that way sometimes.

Didn't mean to offend, let me put it another way. I want my kids to freely experience shithead scumbag cocksucking pieces of shit, if you catch my meaning. I want them to know they are out there and know how to deal with them effectively. My theory is, it's easy to get that experience in a public school, even a damn good one. Didn't mean to imply (or mistakenly state as the case may be) that homeschool kids were poorly socialized. Just that they might not freely experience every aspect of society. Hope that makes sense and unruffles a few feathers.


WELCOME! Whereabouts are you from in CA?

np, thats why I put the lolz.... ;) In some counties in georgia, the public schools actually are pretty good. Unfortunately I don't live in one of them.

I think this pretty much sums it up. We did private for kinder and I will admit that going into public for 1st our son seemed much further along than the other kids. I've often scratched my head at some of his homework and its simplicity. I also can't fathom how they're expected to learn when just about every other Wed is an early-release day and they get more days off than I've ever imagined.

We're very active with him and his school work. My wife spends a lot of time at the school. I think it pays off.

This generalization is as valid as the one about public schools being universally worse than homeschooling. They are both true, or they are both invalid.

PS - this is not directed at you specifically

The reason I send my kids to a private school is that there is a barrier to entry that filters out who his peers will be. It's a pain in the ass to go to a private school, and it requires sacrifice on the part of the parents. Parents of kids at a private school are going to be more involved in the children's education, because parents who don't give a shit are much less likely to send their kids to a private school. There's no buses, and it's expensive. The parents have to seek out the private school and fill out applications, take the kids to admissions interviews, drop off in the morning and pick up in the afternoon. Once they're in, they're held to a higher standard. A private school is not bound by law to provide education to all comers, so if there's a rotten little shit, they aren't required to keep them around. They can ask that family to "pursue other options". It's happened to at least 2 kids in my son's grade over the past few years. Are there people who have money spilling out their ears and just write a check? I'm sure, but those are few and far between.

I believe homeschoolers generally experience many of the same benefits. It's a pain in the ass to homeschool. Sacrifices are required by the parents. It would be really easy to let the big orange bus pick them up every morning and drop them off each afternoon. They have to care, and they have to be involved.

Now, before people start getting pissy and defensive, I realize there are plenty of good parents taking interest in their good students' education at good public schools. I want my kids to be around kids like that. I'm just trying to stack the odds.

It really depends on the local schools and the child. I started out in public and ended up in private Christian school and my with the opposite though she ended up at a private Christian college. The schools in my town are excellent and so far I have no cause for concern. My wife has been teaching public school for over 20 years in a district near by. We would NEVER send our children there. My 9 year old has a very strong personality and goes to public school. We could not be happier with her education so far. However education takes place at home as well. We go over everything again at home as if we were home schooling. That said I would pull her out of public school in a second if I things were to change. My 4 year old is different and I'm leaning toward private Christian or home school for him. So there really isn't a one size fits all answer to the dilemma. It's a difficult decision but I do have problems with Christians pulling there kids out of public schools in general. We are to be the light of the world and I think the public schools would be much better if all the home-schooled and private Christian schooled kids were there as well.

No offense taken. My comment was generalized, too, and not addressed at any specific post. I just get tired of an accusation that I think is minimally accurate.

without going through the entire thread, I vote for private schooling.

Depending on the district, public schooling can be crappy or it might be fine.

Private schooling at least gives parents a say in what the curriculum has to offer. They also tend to be much more accelerated than most public schools (people who care enough to pay for private schools care enough to make sure their kids are doing well.).

I don't believe that home school kids get enough of a variety to be properly socialized. I'm not just talking about being socialized with other kids, but also about different values, points of view, etc. I believe that however a child decides to lead their lives at 18 years of age should be their choice. They need to have exposure to as many different points of view on every different subject as possible. Growing up I found that many home schooled kids (we had a lot that entered into public high school after being home schooled so they could play sports) were naive about many different issues. Their nativity was based on the sheltered nature of their schooling.

My kid goes to our Church school, where my wife also works. I will keep him there if I have to sell the shirt off my back to do it. He will not go to public school if I can help it. The Church school is excellent in almost every way and we are very happy, the curriculum is rigorous and our boy is doing well in it. Exactly the challenge we pay for. That along with the Christian instruction that we want.

We will homeschool if the only alternative is public school. When he gets into high school private school costs will escalate rapidly, but we will work on it. Go into debt if need be.

Today's public schools are just incubators for welfare babies and looters., that do a good job of teaching drug and gangster culture along the way. You only get ONE chance with your kids, and I will not expose mine to that garbage. Some of the local schools here don't hardly even speak English anymore, either espanol or the jabber that passes for gang speak... HISD is pathetic. Most of the kids I encounter being raised in that system just seem like they aren't playing with a full deck.

We will likely soon have another kid on the way. Same for him/her.

more time than I needed or wanted...

However - its a good suggestion, for those on the fence, go visit your public schools (w/permission of staff/admin. of course),and don't just go early or after school,
go in the middle of the day, while the students are running around at lunch, or afterwards. Ask for a tour of the school while the students are there. It could be a real
eye-opener for those who have not been in public schools for many yrs. (especially an inner-city school). Obviously there are differences in school systems, depending
on where you live and the schools. I would never had wanted to send any of our kids into the school system where we now live. They would have used grandma and
grandpa's address in the suburbs first (and thats not a great school system)

There are probably some very good schools out there, and there are some that are not..

In a public school, they teach your kids what they want, the way they want....

YMMV

Let me preface this with the fact that I don't have kids, but I do have several family members that are in education from teachers to administrators and I think that across the board bashing of the public school system is just wrong. I went to nothing but public schools and since I will graduate with my Ph.D. in two months I can't say it was all that bad. I also think that home schooling seldom is a good thing. I have three cousins that were home schooled and of the three only one of them is gainfully employed and not still living at home (the youngest is 23). Teachers in public education have all been to college they specialize in what they teach, are often evaluated, and for the most part are good at what they do. I do not believe that any one or two people can come close to competing with the resources that the public education system can provide.

I'd love to have the chance to keep my boy from public schools. But it's the only viable option right now. EVERY one of the local private schools are all religious, and every one of them is pushy in that all kids have to practice their religion and do the rituals, etc. We're not religious, and as such this is a major no-go.

For a variety of reasons, I don't think homeschooling is for us right now. But I'm willing to at least consider it, though I suspect it's going to be way harder than I think.

For sure we're going to be very involved in the boy's education, and I have a strong suspicion we're going to get the administration well as we ride their butts to make sure they're doing their job.

If I have kids, I hope I can afford to send them to a private school.

NSB, You are right. Thanks for answering that for me.

83rd, I am far from a spelling expert. I usually keep my posts short because of that, and I ALWAYS use spell check. As a matter of fact I made a short post the other day, and was surprised that there were no flags.

Now, I will go work on a useful post for this thread.

+100 for being an active and involved parent.

You're right, some of the lesson plans are a joke. I have younger cousins in both 3rd and 4th grade and you wouldn't believe what they're learning. The 3rd grader was just learning to do addition and subtraction while the 4th grader was beginning division and multiplication! Neither of them even understood positive or negative numbers. No wonder this country is in so much debt trouble, we have 9 and 10 year olds running around with no concept of negative value! I had to watch them for 2 days and with just a few hours per day I had them up and running on all of it, hopefully to a level that they'll retain it. The 4th grader even started on some very rudimentary algebra! His school district doesn't start that until at least middle school.

We don't have any children now, but when we do I'd prefer to home school. If that's not an option then maybe public school with an after school "school" program tacked on. For those parents that home school, how do you socialize your children? I grew up in a very rural area and without the school system I doubt I would have seen any kids my age. Thanks!

Khan Academy 130,629,163 lessons delivered.
This year we have switched to Khan academy for our math curriculum. I would recommend this to anybody. If you have a kid that is struggling in a public school math class, I believe this will help them. It starts out at 1+1 and takes you through calculus. My aunt (the smartest person I've ever met) couldn't remember how to do a calculus problem, so she is using khan academy to brush up on her calculus skills.

There are over 3000 videos on all subjects. The cool thing about the videos is most of the math problems have a video to show you how to do that problem. If the kids get stuck they can watch a 10 minute video.

The thing I like it as a parent teacher is that I can go to the statistics page and break down his progress by the minute. I can also go back to the review page, and look at each problem that he got wrong. If he takes a few days off, he will have some review to do. He can run through all of his review questions at any time.

Seterra is what we use for testing geography. My 15 year old can get all the states right in 1 minute 18 seconds, My 11 year old can get 100% in 1 minute 23. I can get 68% in about 3 minutes. Damn you east coast states.

Currently, preschool in a church-based program.

Starting this fall, public elementary school. I have friends on the faculty and plan to be involved.

Middle/High school, undecided but leaning heavily toward private at this point due to some local issues.

I am a public school grad, and I think I did fine in life. It will really depend on the local school system and administration. Regardless of setting, parental involvement is crucial.

I spent K-4 and 9-12 in public school. I spent 5-8 in a Catholic school because the area middle school was known for prison quality violence.

I "did" my best in the Catholic school but I never felt I was learning anything...of course when your teachers tell you Jesus is responsible for photosynthesis, etc, etc ad naseum you get pretty tired of the so called education. When I was in high school I got less than stellar grades in science and math. Always did great in history, literature, Italian, and the elective classes. But in every single class, regardless of what my report card said I actually felt I gained something from my time.

When I have brood wandering this Earth, I will most likely go the public school route, then reconsider once I see the progress of the curriculum.

As an aside, when I told someone my SAT score they asked why I did so poorly.

Evidently they added an extra 800 points.

We just visited the local Christian school which we are planning on enrolling our daughter in for Kindergarten next year. We are not having her go there for religious reasons, but because our local public schools suck. My wife a public school teacher at said district. If we sent my daughter to public school, my wife could hand pick the teachers she would want to teach my daughter in each grade, but it's just not worth it. My wife has 34 kids in her class, 90% of them come from trashy families, they get free breakfast and lunch, and their parents are not involved in their education at all. It's just not worth it.

depends where you live

LOL, I went to a private HS, on a scholarship: lot of rich, spoiled, POS types there,who had the money for drugs while us poorer kids had to settle for a couple qts of Red,White& Blue. Folks gave them cars, money , toys, etc, instead of attention.

FWIW, we have homeschooled all of ours, except one who started public school this year, because he was BORN to be a lineman.

No set curriculum, we pick and choose for each subject.
Saxon math for the earlier grades, English From the Roots Up, Rosetta Stone for foreign languages,etc
Older kids also take some courses at the local community college by the time they are 12 or so.

Our kids LOVE the freedom, both academic and timewise, that homeschooling affords them, and are all THRIVING, academically and socially.

What I really get out of this thread, is that there are multiple good choices so long as the parents get involved and make good decisions.

I'm very pleased to see the level of commitment this group has for the education of their children.

The primary reason who have selected to educate our children at home is to establish a life long habit where our children's time is not wasted nor at the mercy of an uncaring agent of an institution.

If we were not able to educate at home, or if our children did not respond to these efforts, they would go to a private or charter school. I say this sharing a property line with one of the 10 best public high schools in the state.

One key point of the Arizona Federation for Home Education (AFHE) is that "homeschooling" does not have a single methodology and at its core it is a family centered movement. The family centered movement is equally valid where children attend public or private schools. It is the approach and attitude of the family which will make the difference in the young (and old!) people's lives.

At the annual convention for the AFHE, they take a moment to applaud all of the secular families who have come to attend, knowing full well that they need to tread through a sea of zealotry to sample materials and visit with consultants. The secular crowd is often made up of vegans, parents of high allergy risk children, parents of special needs kids, unschooling advocates, and full time travelers (etc).

We have no intention or desire to shelter our children. They experience the real world everyday and their social circle is only about 1/3 other home education children. Soccer, church, afternoon bike riding circuits, and Awana are all chiefly made up of public school kids. I even hesitate to say this, as I am inundated with research stating their is no socialization risk to home education which is not equally present in traditional public district education. I have no cause to disclaim the anecdotes shared in this thread; they are no doubt true. I simply think the anecdotes as singular samples cannot define a movement of millions of students in this nation.

Where my family deviates from other families in our home education network is the my wife and I would STRONGLY prefer that our children attend a university with a strong science presence, as we both did. Many families want to kick their kids out of the house at 18 (for the adventures of self starting) or send their young adults to a quaint Christian college. I have yet to me impressed with the output of a quaint christian college of the past 30 years.

Excellent post!

Here in southern MD, I'll just say we have a highly eclectic and diverse spectrum of folks homeschooling.
Runs the gamut from hippie unschoolers, to religious zealots, to anti-gov extremists, to miltary folks looking for some continuity in their children's education.
But the bulk are solidly Middle America, people who simply want the best for their kids.

We have run into resistance from some fringe groups, for not being of their particular mind, but you see that in all things, not just homeschooling.
And some families and kids ARE 3 X , but often they were like that from the get go, and would be whether homeschooled or not.
Many have been pulled from public school BECAUSE they couldn't get along or fit in, and I think that often helps perpetuate the myth of homeschooled kids being odd.

As far as socialization, what is "normal" or "real life" about being kept segregated by age and ability all day long?
Limiting your 8:00 to 3:30 interactions to folks with mostly the same experiences?

Plus, mine are taking Reloading 101 and Tactical Response 215 this semester.

I went public all my life. My kids will go private aslong as I can afford it. I have seen many people hired for their job strictly because they went to a certain school. None of them schools were public.

We home school. It isnt one-size-fits-all.

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