Former HS wanna be...now PS mama thinking about HS again

[Kaboom]

Also, the YMCA has homeschool P.E. you can put your kiddos in to make some buddies and get out some energy. Look at www.meetup.com to find a local homeschool group to do fieldtrips and 'school dates' and co-ops. There are plenty of ways to have a structured school/home life if that's what you're looking for, and there are MANY MANY ways to introduce your children to other children to get the 'same peer group' socialization.

That's the beautiful thing about HSing - you can do it any way that works best for you and your family

[iris0110]

In my experience it doesn't get better as the years progress, it just gets worse. A child that is advanced in K will get bored and eventually lose interest in school altogether and become a problem. Even if he eventually winds up in a GT class that only helps so much. But then I hated school as a kid, not because I was bored (though I was) but because I hated the social aspects of it, it was painful for me and only got worse as I aged. Kearnan attended one year in a Charter school and we noticed many of the issues you are describing. He was just worn out by the end of the day. He developed bad habits, and was sensory over loaded by the time he got home. Kearnan also has special needs and the school wasn't prepared to really handle him even though they had an IEP in place. He is all over the board academically. What do you do with a child who is dramatically advanced in science and math but doesn't have the writing abilities to put his ideas on paper or the reading abilities to follow along in class? What do you do with a student who can memorize facts and repeat them back to you but doesn't understand what he just told you and can't focus if you aren't one on one with him. He was bringing the majority of his class work home every day and finally I said to dh "Why are we sending him to school for 8 hours every day if I have to spend another 3 doing homework with him every night?" I did let him finish out the year but he will probably never be enrolled in a school setting again unless he goes on to college or chooses to attend a public high school. We can get through an entire days worth of schooling in the 3 hours it was taking to do his home work each night and we only have to work 4 days a week on average. A bit more if we are doing craft projects and then of course there is free reading time. He can read now and he is slowly starting to understand the more human aspects of things. It's a process LOL. We have finished grade 2 in a few months which kind of surprised me. We are really moving fast right now but I am glad because he was behind before with everything that was going on. You really just have to look at what you think is best for your child and go for it. I couldn't I leave Kearnan in school. He obviously wasn't thriving there. He liked his friends, but he wasn't learning and he wasn't going to do his best there.

I personally don't spend a lot of time worrying about socialization. My kids will be as social as they are going to be. I grew up in the public school system and I am socially inept. I don't like people and I just don't know how to interact appropriately. People work really hard getting to know me or they just don't get to know me at all. I don't have many friends. I am fine with it, I would rather be alone. While I do crave companionship, it is from one or two people and it is on my terms and not in the normal way most people do. It's just how I am. Kearnan is a social butterfly, that is just how he is. He is a natural at it. He is in Taekwondo with dh and enjoys it. As a family we are involved in Renn fairs and the kids always find plenty of people to play with there. Dh and I attend anime conventions and Kearnan has started attending with us. He loves these and has made many new friends at the conventions. We have another convention this month and I am sure he will make new friends there as well as see some old friends. I find this type of socialization far more natural than the forced socialization that happens at schools. I also worry about the state of the public school systems. Bullying, children falling through the cracks and an overall failing system just doesn't appeal to me. Not to mention living in Tx and having grown up in the schools my kids would have to attend makes me very leery. Just walking through the schools my boys would be going to makes queasy. They would graduate from the high school I was tortured at, though they would probably have many of the same teachers. I don't know if that is good or bad.

[sprout18]

Mama I so know how you feel. We have just made the decision to pull our boys back home after winter break. We have homeschooled all the way until now (they have never been in ps before this year) and after the conferences we went to today they need to come back home. My K student is above most of his class. He will learn absolutely nothing this year in math (they tested him in the 2nd grade range) and won't learn much in the other areas until closer to the end of the year. They are "hoping" to get him in enrichment but that usually doesn't happen until 3rd grade. So basically he will learn nothing if I keep him in school this year. Socially he is doing great and he does like school. The teacher was astonished (her words) that Andrew had never been in any school setting before.
By pulling him out we can work to his strengths (he can actually learn in math instead of stay where he is) and I can help him improve in reading and writing now instead of later. He will still get the socialization he needs because there are several homeschool groups in the area and we can take classes at the local businesses in the area (science center, nature centers, art places, ect) plus he is in recreation sports. Good luck with your decision mama I know its a tough one!

[annb]

One more thing I thought of, I don't know how it is in your state, but here it doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing. Though I'm sure they wouldn't be thrilled about doing it, you can bring them in for the PS classes you want, and homeschool the others.

[MamaNae]

Talked to his teacher.

Even more confused.

She really really really seemed to focus on James' weaknesses. Especially once I mentioned I wanted harder work for him. It's like she felt threatened or put down??

Only thing she offered was setting him up by himself to do work more up to his speed in some things and bringing him back for other subjects (he does have an issue with forming the letters perfectly but he does pretty well for 5 I think)...but if we're going to do that I may as well HS him!

Makes me want to HS even more now because this way I can mix and match according to his ability. It seems like at school it is very cookie cutter. We'll do it THIS way and those who are a little below average will catch up, the average ones will learn best, the above average ones can glean off it something else entirely.

I've always had it in my heart that I wanted to HS my kids but I let DH talk me into putting DS in public schools and I've felt uneasy about it since

[Psychomom]

Well it sounds like talking to the teacher may have made your decision a little easier. How does your dh feel about it now?

[hssusie]

Mama, there are sooo many ways one can experience socialization. I want to post a youtube. It is not my intention that anyone get offended by it, There are some socialization outlets mentioned in it that you may find helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjOXT_KSFhA

I don't think it is unusual for a homeschool Ker to be able to read and count. My 5 yo dd has been doing these things for sometime now, and I don't consider her advanced. I think that the way most schools are set up to be cookie factories is the reason more kiddos don't know how to read by K.

For the record these things are also taught in a home environment:
Posted by FreeThinker:
"learning to pay attention, be part of a group, listen and follow directions,"

[dragondance]

Originally Posted by Free Thinker Also, if your DC is so far advanced they will likely test him for challenge or whatever they call it at your school. If he gets into it it provides a few hours of extra hands on activities for those higher-level kids. My DD loves it! She was put into it in 1st grade after being tested. I don't think they usually put K kids in it, they wait until 1st to test them.

Here that doesn't even start until third grade.


Sounds like talking to the teacher may have made your decision a lot easier! Good luck mama!

[Florida_Jen]

Originally Posted by MamaNae Talked to his teacher. Even more confused. She really really really seemed to focus on James' weaknesses. Especially once I mentioned I wanted harder work for him. It's like she felt threatened or put down?? Only thing she offered was setting him up by himself to do work more up to his speed in some things and bringing him back for other subjects (he does have an issue with forming the letters perfectly but he does pretty well for 5 I think)...but if we're going to do that I may as well HS him! Makes me want to HS even more now because this way I can mix and match according to his ability. It seems like at school it is very cookie cutter. We'll do it THIS way and those who are a little below average will catch up, the average ones will learn best, the above average ones can glean off it something else entirely. I've always had it in my heart that I wanted to HS my kids but I let DH talk me into putting DS in public schools and I've felt uneasy about it since

This is the type of response that I got from the K teacher at the private school we were thinking of sending my DS too. At 4.5 he was reading words that her highest reading group was reading in December when we went to visit. Their "math" was learning to count to 20, shapes, colors and in the last couple of weeks of school adding up to 5. Ds could already do all those things and was working on adding up to 10.

When I asked the K teacher what she would do to challenge DS her comment was that her job was to get all the kids on the same level to be ready for 1st grade and if DS was bored she could give him tasks around the classroom like filing papers back into the kids baskets (because it made them feel important ) or let him play on the computer.

Those comments quickly made me decide to homeschool. Our PS are awful and this was the only private school that we were willing to send him to. I was not going to pay $500 a month for him to be the teachers secretary or play on the computer.

We kept him home and this year he is working mainly on a first grade level. We are only focusing on reading/phonics, handwriting and math this year. We do some science and geography for fun but next year we will do more for our official 1st grade year.