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Thread: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

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    Default I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    This is long ...and here is the background (you've been warned)


    The public schools here are shit. (I live in Chicago proper) I mean, shit. Paying for private school is just awful. Try 12 grand a year per kid. I'm so fucking poor and I feel like I have no relationship with them because I'm either depressed over money or always at work.

    I've been trying to figure out next years game plan for the last week. Every school is either religiously based or obscene amounts of money per semester. I've made a vow to the kids that I would never make them attend a religion based school, because I feel IF they choose an organized religion it's because they want to be apart of it. Not because I force fed it for the sake of an education etc. I want an unbiased view projected onto my kids as much as possible. So far so good, as both have remained on the honor roll through out and have had little to zero issues otherwise. Both are in the gifted and talented programs and it seems private school has been a wise investment. However, I honestly can no longer afford to do so.

    In my little looksy to see what else is available (because the charter schools etc are lottery based and impossible to get into) I found a solution. Home schooling that is part of the Public school system and is considered a Charter school. The kids will be apart of a normal school day via online. It records their hours and what not. The city ships out computers and the other materials. Once a week we are required to go downtown and spend 8 hours with the other students and parents that are in the program. They do have a limited amount of 600. basically once a week is a field trip and socializing. Which perked my ears up a bit. My biggest struggle in going through with this is that they would become introverted. I do NOT want that for them. Seeing as they get to have one day with other students that makes me happy.

    I'm also required to attend classes, seminars and workshops with other parents and it will include the kids. Which are twice a month.

    I'm so in love with this idea. We can literally move anywhere in the city now. Which frees up cost of living a bit. I'm going to get a larger apartment and turn a room into a classroom via Ikea. I've already spoken to their father figure and he's into the idea as well. I've encouraged him and his family to send misc books, and projects that I can use to help expand their minds.

    No uniforms, no fucking 12 grand a year. No stupid extra transportation costs. No asshole teachers or sex offenders to worry about. I get to spend 8 hours a day with the kids, on a good schedule and not feel like they are losing out on time with me to bond because I'm at work.

    Friends that are teachers have agreed to do almost guest speaker appearances and help with homework. It's pretty awesome. I'm not fooled into thinking that this is the correct way to educate children, and I'm going to stay on top of things. If by some chance they begin to fall behind or fall apart they will go right back into a class room. right now though I'm going to give it a whirl.

    Has anyone here had experience with home schooling that's structured like this? Any suggestions?

    I'm going to get both involved in community activities. Like art classes, music etc where they are around their peers and out of the house. I'm also going to move to a more kid friendly part of the city so that they will have neighborhood children to interact with and can go to the parks.

    I'm not trying to shelter them, I just simply want to be far more involved in their growing and education as well as stretch the almighty dollar. I'm a single mom and I have to play both roles.

    Sorry about the rant and rave. It's just been so long since I've had an great solution to their educational needs that isn't confining or strapping on our lives and budget. I could cry I'm so pleased.
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    I think this is a great idea for you and I wish you the very best of luck.

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    Featured Member MarvelGirl's Avatar
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    I think it sounds like an awesome program. I've been considering the same thing since the schools around here suck too.

    It's definitely worth a try, and if it doesn't work out they can always go back to regular school. Good luck to you.

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    That sounds like a great program. Especially the socializing aspect of it. Good luck!

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    I was homeschooled for the last 3 years of high school because the schools in Alabama are terrible, I really liked it and felt like I got a full education and there was so many activites to do. Didn't do much because I lived so far away from where everything was but I did learn a lot from the experience.

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    Featured Member R-209's Avatar
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    This sounds like a fantastic idea. My little nephew is also going to be home-schooled, because his school won't lift a finger to deal with a bully problem.

    Your description actually makes me a little jealous that I didn't have something like that when I was a child.

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    I'm a huge fan of homeschooling. Every parent should take responsibility for his or her child's education. Kudos to you for doing the right thing and not buckling to the broken system!

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    Featured Member Sophia_Ashley's Avatar
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    I'm soooo excited on this. I can't tell you how driven it makes me feel. how motivated and into it I am. Truly, this is a great answer.

    The biggest thing for us is time. This saves us time and allows us to lead our lifestyles. We love to travel. Our family is so spread out it's insane. My father is in Florida, my mother in Indianapolis and their father in California. We've had to work miracles around school holidays and it's always ended up with someone feeling left out. At least now we can all have a chance to be a part of the boys lives. Full time. Their father is very pleased.

    I've asked our family to send us books, come to Chicago and go on field trips and be apart of their education. It feels more like I have a say so rather than throwing them to the wolves and hoping they come back in one piece and educated.

    It's going to be a delicate balance though in allowing them to be kids and giving structure. I want them to have the best education that I and the school can give them, rather than "what money can buy". Because lets face it, money doesn't buy well rounded personalities.

    The program they are in only goes to 9th grade. Not too sure why. I have a 7th grader and a 4th grader at the moment so we are in the clear for another 2 years at least.

    Im so very excited. The school shootings here and gang wars are frightening. I'm glad that I don't have to worry about in house public schooling because private schools aren't affordable.

    God I don't know how to explain how stoked I am. I get to teach my children!! and stick it to the man! haha
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    R-209, your situation sounds a lot like mine! I ended up homeschooled for very very similar reasons.

    Anyways, i think you're doing a good thing for yourself and your kids. There's only two bits of advice i can give, from where my mom went wrong.

    Number 1, make sure your kids respect YOU as the teacher. I ended up not having a relationship with my sibling because I was put in a position of absolute accountability and authority for her when she fought with my mom. I taught her, and it made it very difficult for me to pursue my OWN work.

    Number 2. Make sure your kids have a "safe place" where they don't have to be around you ALL the time, and have space to develop . My mom didnt do this, and as a result, I never had a chance to develop away from HER mental disorders, or see how OTHER people coped with things, aside from codependance, eating disorders, and self hate.

    Anyways, i'm off to work, so i have to run. Good luck!
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    Featured Member Sophia_Ashley's Avatar
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    ^ I totally agree and understand what you mean with personal space. My youngest will pose the biggest challenge. I don't want them to be co-dependent or feel stifled. I think that them being able to travel to their dads and do their school stuff, going to their grandmas misc will help. I dont want to ruin their relationship with me either. Or feel I fucked their lives up. I'm not a controlling beast (although I probably should be more so) I hope that actually helps this rather than make it worse.

    As far as our relationship goes, our lifestyle is very different in the sense that we communicate rather well. It's going to be a trial and error phase starting out. What do you feel your mother could have done differently to make things easier on you?

    I am making the back bedroom if I stay living here their class room. It's where the modem is anyways and the school sends their computers in a few weeks for their online classes. I only help with the work and a few hands on things. Basically what I do now except I plan to add more to certain subjects or talk openly about what they learned and answer questions. I won't be instructing them. I do plan on tending to them the entire 6 hours of class so I can learn as they go and be more involved with the process.

    It's incredibly helpful though to get insight from everyone. Makes me double check my list of things I've thought about and rethink my position on others.
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    I worked for several years as a mentor-teacher for homeschooled students in the Bennett K12 program. What you describe sounds sort of like Bennett K12, with the computers, Internet connection, and the weekly meeting with a teacher.

    What I found is that about two-thirds of the students I worked with thrived in home school, and the other third did little or nothing. Another mentor teacher put it like this: There is home school, and then there is home SCHOOL.

    A dedicated student with a committed parent is the kind that will thrive. The parent needs to teach, help, model, mentor, and know when to let the student work on his/her own without help. The parent also needs to keep on top of the curriculum and not teach just what the student and/or the parent like.

    One of my mentored students enrolled in an algebra course, but her parents, who had been home schooling her without following a curriculum, had never taught her multiplication, division, fractions, or decimals. The algebra course assumed that the student already knew how to do those things. What had happened was that mom was "not good at math." Dad was, and he was supposed to teach the math part, but when his business took off and he started working 18 hours a day, he was too tired to teach math when he got home. So, it was up to me, the mentor teacher, to teach those skills that the student lacked. But we didn't know she lacked them until she looked at a math page and had no idea what to do.

    So, the last thing a parent teaching home school needs to know is that when they need help, they need to ask for it and not just let the subject go.

    The students who failed in home school were those who did not like school, did not like deadlines, and who thought that home school was a way to work only when they felt like it, which was not very often. They had parents who tended to not teach, but just gave them the materials and said to go study this stuff. Every now and then, when the student was not getting much accomplished, they would get mad and yell at them. Then it was back to letting them do what they wanted when they wanted, but "don't bother to ask me for help because I'm too busy."

    Teachers generally have a dim view of home schooling because they do not see the successful students who stay in home school. They only see the home school dropouts who come back into the public schools after a year or so of neglect when the parent gets sick of having them at home all the time. It was an eye opener for me to see the highly successful students, and we had great times together.

    It sounds like you are that committed parent and your progeny are those dedicated students, so I think you will do just fine. Have a defined place for your home SCHOOL, a daily time for your home SCHOOL, set deadlines for work to be accomplished, and don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Teachers are always asking each other for advice, so there is no shame in your doing it too.

    Good luck with your home SCHOOL, and be sure to let us know from time to time how things are going.

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    Thank you!! I want to add that they are the kind that look forward to school. They are OCD about things such as deadlines and perfection. Almost to the point of being narotic at times. They do value their education and aren't the type to fake being sick or come home crying. Of course they are pretty young 13 and 8.

    They will study and we will go through the lessons. I promise you that. I won't have lazy kids. Refuse!

    I think that's why It's best to convert the spare bedroom into a classroom. No distractions and a place that is strictly for school.

    How specifically is the set up with the studies? I'd like to do half indoors and half outdoors if we can. Like take that days lessons and go explore it..be it the zoo or the post office.
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    Featured Member Sophia_Ashley's Avatar
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    It won't let me link!



    It s a K12 Mike (I can't seem to link to the Chicago one)
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sophia_Ashley View Post
    How specifically is the set up with the studies? I'd like to do half indoors and half outdoors if we can. Like take that days lessons and go explore it..be it the zoo or the post office.
    Before I respond to that--is the program you are enrolled in Bennett K12?

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    This is what I enrolled them in
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    FUCK yes. you go, Soph. I wish i'd been raised in an educational 'system' that enouraged me to be more of a free thinker. if you go through with this and do it well (and why wouldn't you) you'll be doing them a huge service.

    Insitutions raised instituionalized peeps. alternative systems raise free folks. Up with freedom, yo.

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sophia_Ashley View Post
    ^ I totally agree and understand what you mean with personal space. My youngest will pose the biggest challenge. I don't want them to be co-dependent or feel stifled. I think that them being able to travel to their dads and do their school stuff, going to their grandmas misc will help. I dont want to ruin their relationship with me either. Or feel I fucked their lives up. I'm not a controlling beast (although I probably should be more so) I hope that actually helps this rather than make it worse.

    As far as our relationship goes, our lifestyle is very different in the sense that we communicate rather well. It's going to be a trial and error phase starting out. What do you feel your mother could have done differently to make things easier on you?

    I am making the back bedroom if I stay living here their class room. It's where the modem is anyways and the school sends their computers in a few weeks for their online classes. I only help with the work and a few hands on things. Basically what I do now except I plan to add more to certain subjects or talk openly about what they learned and answer questions. I won't be instructing them. I do plan on tending to them the entire 6 hours of class so I can learn as they go and be more involved with the process.

    It's incredibly helpful though to get insight from everyone. Makes me double check my list of things I've thought about and rethink my position on others.

    The back bedroom will help. We always did a LOT better when there weren't other "distractions". IE mom caving and letting us work outside, and then us sneaking off to swing until we heard her coming, and then picking up our mathbooks and pretending to be quizzing each other.

    The other thing was purely disciplinary. My sister grew up with no respect for my mom(learned from my dad being somewhat emotionally abusive, and quite disrespectful) so she REFUSED to let my mom teach her, and my mom and dad didnt step in to set that boundary. So she'd bitch and scream and cry, and make it so that NEITHER of us could work, if my mom gave her a correction, but she wouldnt if I gave that same correction. So I ended up just teaching her, because no one in the family would put the foot down to say "During these hours, i AM your teacher, and you will respect me as such."

    My sister STILL has that problem. Its one reason i can't live at home, because of her learned attitude that my moms words have less meaning or urgency than the dogs barks.

    In other words, set boundaries. THIS is the classroom, when you are in here, you don't play, you do your work. THIS is the minimum for what you need to do and study today. Definitely make sure they're getting the same message when they visit dad, which definitely WILL help with the "space" thing. Encourage them to do other activities to make friends. I know it gets expensive to keep paying for dance classes, martial arts, whatever, but if it gets them with a changing group of kids of VARYING viewpoints, it will do wonders. Its still probably cheaper than the private schools you talked about. The thing i like about your program is that it offers classes, and is somewhat regulated. I attended a homeschooling group, for socialization, however it was ALLLLLLLLLLLLL religious conservative families. THere was ONE jewish family in the whole group. So it actually set me off even worse, because I couldn't identify with ANY of htose around me because I wasnt blinkered by christ. So the varied groups during socialization is VERY VERY important during homeschooling.

    Mind you, I'm not a great example of the glory of homeschooling, seeing as how iwht the borderline abusive family, recent sexual trauma, and forced maturity, i spent my homeschooling years(9-15) sneaking painkillers, and intensely self mutilating. I still kind of marvel that I hid it for so long, and could have easily hidden it longer, had I not left a few bruises that a school counselor found when I went to spend my high school years in college. My mom STILL has guilt issues from the fact that we were in such claustrophobic proximity and she didn't notice a damn thing wrong with me.

    Sorry for the sidetrack.

    At any rate, good luck with it! PM me if you have any questions on resources, curriculums, or whatnot.
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    Love it. My high school years were all done through alternative schooling methods...I went to an alternative school, and then left to go travelling, and finished my HS off by distance ed on the road. I'm so glad my parents allowed it. The idea that kids should spend their youth indoors, learning at the pace of the lowest common denominator, is ridiculous.

    A great book on alternative schooling is the Teenage Liberation Handbook. A bit older than your boys, but something to think about for the future. If I could go back, I'd LIVE my (early) teenage years- travel, work, volunteer, learn about life- and then just write the GED. Fuck institutionalized schooling.

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    We are choosing to home school for some of the same reasons. The biggest is that I know my daughter would not be able to sit still in a class for hours a day. Her attention span is way too short. She needs to be constantly moving and she prefers creativity over books. So, we've been adamant that she not go to public school and we're not religious...so...

    I think home schooling is great. We belong to a home school co-op...which is kind of like a little school...there are 6 other kids in the co-op and every month is at a different house (where we go 3 days a week for the month). All the parents are involved in teaching and we also pay a teacher to come in those 3 days and split between 6 families, it's very manageable.

    We love to travel as well and this will help. It'll be nice to go on a nice family vacation when we want to and not when school is not in session.

    It's a big time committment (and mental committment) but with the right resources, it can be a great advantage to your own kids. Because they learn the way that is best for them.

    Good luck!

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    One of my girlfriends was going to do something similar to what you mentioned Venus. Her husband and I freaked out at the idea that she would be teach other people's children. She doesn't have the drive or commitment to take responsibility for other people's children's education. She also didn't have the best education and never took the initiative to learn on her own. She did enough to pass classes and never pursued anything else.

    Anyway. Ultimately they put her daughter in a Waldorf school. The Waldorf School is pretty amazing, from what I know. It was amazing to see the child thrive in such a different style of learning environment.

    Good luck Sophia...I'm glad you found something that will work better for ya'll.

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    ^ Makayla is currently enrolled in a Waldorf school...but there have been some issues come up as of late (at the school) so we have decided to remove her and do the Co-op using Waldorf Home School materials.

    I <3 Waldorf. I wish it was around when I was a kid.

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    Me too! I wasn't ware they had home school materials. Good to know for the future.

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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    Yay Sophia! I support homeschooling too, and think that sounds like a great program. Especially the socializing aspect of it - I think that's one of the only potential weaknesses of homeschooling, the possible lack of social interaction IF the parents don't put an effort into it. But it sonds like you 're right on the money!

    Quote Originally Posted by VenusGoddess View Post
    ^ Makayla is currently enrolled in a Waldorf school...but there have been some issues come up as of late (at the school) so we have decided to remove her and do the Co-op using Waldorf Home School materials.

    I <3 Waldorf. I wish it was around when I was a kid.
    Woohoo! I'm hoping for Waldorf as well. I was a Montessori preschooler, but then went to conventional schools all the way through junior high. My high school, though, was alternative as they come.
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    So I explained the entire thing to the kids. Of course my youngest grilled me on "library time " and they wanted to know about gym class. I said that we'll figure a program out 3x's a week to work out. We live near a park now (across the street) there's tennis courts, sports fields and a track. It's nice and safe. I have a friend that's a personal trainer so I think I'm going to get his advice on simple but effective stuff we can do here and it'll get the kids out of the cramped apartment.

    The library is close as in walking distance so we can do a day there and there is SO much that we do in the city that is free. The kids have been to author readings around the city, activists and even Augustan Burrows. It sure beats story time any day. Plus they get to hear why stories were in there and what the author was feeling. THey really liked David Sedaris.

    I've decided to also make our OWN music class. We will study a different musician every 3 weeks. I've already started coming up with a list that includes Bach to Wendy O and Lou Reed. Music, movies based on their lives and books to go over. It has to be better than my music classes growing up which consisted of watching West Side Story and making out with random other kids that were taking the class because it was a "simple" credit. I never learned anything I promise. Even study more recent works and see the bands live.

    Art class will be the best. The museum for contemp art has a free day. And we'll get to share in seeing new work that's been added. Both are avid fans of painting so it'll be more hands on to go there. There are tons of workshops available as well.

    I wouldn't be able to do this home schooling without the help of the online studies, teacher groups and the assitant that will meet with us. I'm not a dumbass but I'm far from brilliant. I wouldn't dare do this without all the help.

    I have even a new book I'm going to write based on this so I'm pretty excited to have so many things going on!

    The kids are happy with it, and I explained that if at anytime this doesn't seem to be working out for them to let me know. Nothing is fixed perm considering this. They DO have a voice in their education and lifestyle. I've always said that and I mean it very much so now.
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    Default Re: I just enrolled my sons in home school.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sophia_Ashley View Post
    This is what I enrolled them in

    http://www.k12.com/cvcs/
    Yeah, that's part of the Bennett K12 system. I was invited to apply to the Utah virtual K12 school, but have not decided if I want to do that.

    On your question, can you spend half the day inside and half outside, yes, of course you can. Just be sure you have objectives for the outside parts--looking for food chains in the bushes, identifying types of clouds, finding everything that there is in a cubic foot of soil, writing poetry under a tree, etc.

    One thing the Bennett K12 program requires is that your students MUST take their state mandated tests, the ones required by No Child Left Behind. Usually, that means one to three tests in reading (literature at higher grades), math, and science. Not every math level is tested. For instance, in Utah, pre-algebra is not tested, but algebra is.

    You need to find out what is tested in your state and when those tests are given. Then, you plan your instruction for those subjects so that you finish them a few weeks before the tests will be given so you have time to review. On the online interface, there is a button to check progress, and it will show you whether you are on track, ahead, or behind. This instrument is based on being on track to finish BY THE END OF THE YEAR, so you want to be AHEAD of it in the tested subjects. If you get behind in the others, you can catch up in them later, because you can go on teaching into the summer if you want to do so. You can even decide that part of it is not going to be taught. But you MUST cover the curriculum in the tested subjects before the tests.

    Your state should have a published curriculum for every subject available online. Download it, and see what is on it for your grade. It will NOT be exactly the same as your math book, science book, etc. If there is stuff in the book that is not in your state curriculum, it is OK to put it off until after the test, skim over it lightly, etc. But if there is some concept that your child is taking a long time to learn and it is not on the test, you should consider whether or not it is worth the time to master.

    Particularly in science, K12's science books have typically not matched the various states' curriculum. When I last worked with them, they were going to provide modules from which parents could pick and choose, so they could choose the science that matches the curriculum. If they have not done that yet, and there is science in the curriculum that is not in the K12 science course, then you will need to get some resources to teach those concepts in addition to or instead of K12's science.

    Another thing you should know is that homeschooled kids CAN participate in some public school courses. One of my girls played in her middle school advanced orchestra. Another took an art class.

    I think you and your kids will have a fantastic experience with that program. Enjoy!

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