So, my wife and I (mostly my wife cause I'll be working while this happens) started homeschooling in the last month. This decision has been a long time coming but we weren't expecting to be doing it until the fall.

Lots of factors have influenced this decision over the last year but one thing in particular made it abundantly clear that schools don't have the best interest of MY children at heart. My personal experience also taught me that most teachers didn't really care about me. Some did but the majority didn't.

So, my wife was at some parent council meeting or something that the principal was running and part way through the meeting my wife asked a question and the answer she received went something like this, "In my over 30 years of educational experience it has been my observation that parents don't love their kids." This is the principal at my kids elementary school. If that is the opinion that the principal holds then we were done with that school. We already were preparing to homeschool anyway this next year but that experience (along with some problems with a teacher) pushed the timeline up.

So, anyone else at Vizzed homeschooled now or in the past and what were your experiences like as a student. Anything you felt that your parent should have known to do or not do that would have made the experience better....

It's going to be very hard to pull this off dude, for a variety of reasons, I was homeschooled for like 3 years and didn't learn anything because home and school ended up getting in the way of each other too much to the point where I couldn't pay attention to the school stuff, so if you do this, you need to make sure that you have a very detailed plan on what's going to happen and everyone needs to be prepared or else it's not going to work.

zanderlex : my wife is extremely organized. She's already accomplished a lot with our kids. There is already a noticeable improvement in her math, reading, writing and comprehension compared to say 2 months ago.

It's not going to be easy but I think in the long run it's going to be better. The more I learn about home schooling and the public school system the more happy I am about the choice we made.

I think this is a very wise decision. The morality of this world is decaying and it's decaying fast. Home taught kids on average are far more obedient and are usually smarter than those who attend public school (don't worry, no bias here, I was attended the terrible public school system).

My wife and I also home teach our kids (well my wife anyway) and it's definitely been one the best decisions we've made. Our kids are so well behaved compared to other kids and my daughter is incredibly smart for her age (our son hasn't actually started any curriculum yet).

Being homeschooled means that you need a very long and strong attention span. One thing that helped me the most with this was the "white room".

The "white room" was a room in my house that was all white, even the carpet. There was a desk and a chair with textbooks and studying supplies. Either my mom or dad-- mostly my mom, was in the room who would watch me study. If I drew cartoons, I would have my privileges taken away. If I took too long on an assignment, they would make me repeat the steps over again. This lasted for about 2 years, until my attention span was high enough for me to do my homework with distractions surrounding me. Even though I had to put up with it, I still enjoyed it-- even to this day because I'm surrounded by loved ones.

Most kids and teens aren't close with their families, for whatever reason it may be. With me however, I grew up loving and establishing a bond with them. They always told me that, "Friends and colleges will leave you behind, but family will always be there for each other." Now, yes, I do have friends, however I'm closer with my parents and siblings than them. Their who I was close with first, and I love and appreciate them for giving to me the amount of effort and time in their lives. It helped enabled me to be the person I am today!

The only downside I see in this is social issues. While-- yes-- I've been homeschooled my entire life, I had some major social issues. I didn't know how to react to strangers and felt awkward and cautious towards them. I always stuttered or pronounced words wrongfully because of my lack in social skills. I never trusted anyone, especially kids of my generation. It took me some time getting used to being surrounded by different people and I'm glad I grew out of my shell. I am still cautious of people, don't get me wrong. It takes some time to earn my trust, still. So, socializing with people who are not relatives is something to take in mind. Sorry, um, not trying to be imposing or sound forceful. That's not my intention at all, actually, if you feel that way-- I am sorry.


Anyways, I hope this helps! Seeing that it might or might not, is all fine by me.

All right, looks like y'all are prepared and being organized is great, just brace yourself for the onslaught of tiredness.

Yup! I was homeschooled for much of my life. It had its advantages and disadvantages, but it was probably for the best. I did have a difficult time transitioning to college, though. Even more jarring was my transition from our local community college to University. The college was what I was used to: quiet and fun. I made friends there, even of people that I didn't think I would ever make friends with. Then I came to University. It was loud, busy, and difficult to adjust to (with the computer programs that required specific inputs). I had to work much harder to continue to succeed. Eventually, I let the stress get to me, and lost myself in video games. My grades dropped. I was less happy. I had little time for friends. I just wanted someone to take notice of me and reach out to me. Few people ever did, and if they did, it was only for a moment. Even my parents didn't seem to have enough time for me.

Once your children make it to college, MAKE SURE they have a support group, and make that support group include you, even if they act like they don't want that. Find a way. I had a deep rooted resentment and mistrust of my family due to certain circumstances, and if they had reached out to me more, I believe that would have disappeared. Too often they told me they couldn't help me simply because they didn't know the material, but really, what I wanted was for them to try. I wanted their time. Never, ever give up on your family, whether that family be your parents or your children or your wife.

That said, my family has done so much for me, and I wish I had focused on that more then. It can be so difficult to stop focusing on peoples' flaws once it's started. Just make sure your children have what they need, and they'll do fine. They may go through some phases, but they'll come round if you'll always be there for them. Homeschool can provide an excellent venue for your childrens' growth. It is perhaps the perfect environment for them to begin to trust you. Just don't let them down. It can be difficult to forget times when your parents failed you. I know from experience. I know what it's like to trust a parent completely only to have at least a portion of that trust quickly dashed. I also know what it's like to have family that loves me. Just hang in there, do your best, and I believe your children will turn out fine and will be happy.

supernerd117 : good to know. I imagine the transition from home schooling to any kind of public school or university/college would be tough.

I agree about supporting no matter what. Thankfully my wife and I were good in different subjects growing up so we each have our strengths to draw on. I don't see a time where we can't teach a subject. And we value family a lot so I also don't see our kids resenting not getting enough of our time. Still, good to keep in mind.

zanderlex : we've got 3 kids, we're already tired. It's not like my wife would be less busy if the kids went to school. She fills her time no matter what. At least this way she is spending time with our kids rather than doing other less important things.

Kuti_Kat : We've got a separate area where we home school that is away from the rest of the rooms in our house. We've set it aside only for homeschooling.

I've read a lot about socialization and for the most part it's a myth. I think a lot of social problems existed before homeschooling rather than being a result of homeschooling. And my kids are all pretty outgoing already. They don't have trouble speaking directly to adults or standing up for themselves. We're aware of the possibility of a problem but we're not worried.

Davideo7 : I had no idea you guys were doing that. I think that's awesome (obviously). We're really happy with the decision for a lot of the same reasons you've mentioned. Our kids have accomplished more in 1 month at home with us than we ever saw in months at school. According to some people kids get about 30-60 minutes of instruction time per day at school. They spend about 7 hours there and get very little time to learn. I'd rather they spend that time at home.

I know a lot of parents doing this, You don't have to worry about school shootings, bulling, And if your child needs more help you have the time for it.

rebelyell : a lot of that stuff has crossed our minds. Our oldest daughter was getting bullied this year and her teacher did nothing about it. It was really frustrating to deal with. It seemed like the teacher and administration cared more about the kids causing problems that about my kid who was suffering because of these other kids.

That's a shame but maybe they should see why the kid feels the need to bully another. As bad as it is their is a reason bad home life, Kid being mistreated and to bully another kid is the only way they know how to treat someone.

geeogree : My mom gave me a pretty advanced pre schooling at home. When I came back on the school bus from my first day of kindergarten, I got snippy with her . I said. "You are not my teacher any more!" That hurt my mom more than she let on. She really took personally the things I said to her from the perspective of a bratty little boy. She should have been clever enough to rationalize that I was just a kid but she wasn't. She still blames 5 year old me for how she felt back then.

 Sadly, my advanced pre schooling made kindergarten boring because I already knew everything the teacher was showing us. That is a bad first impression to have of the kind of schooling you will have for the following 13 years. School never really stopped being boring at a fundamental level of completing schoolwork. There were projects that energized me, of course. I finished high school with plenty of credits but not the required specific courses for graduation. No diploma.

 P3

Personally, as someone who has been part of one of the worst school systems in the state of Georgia, I agree with homeschooling. Many people I know are home schooled and have been their whole lives, and they're able to be successful while still being social and everything of the such.

Homeschooling takes so much pressure off of the kid and makes life easier as they don't have to put up with people who are trying to teach them while not really caring about their well being. 

And if your daughter is getting bullied, that's why you have the ban hammer. Use it whenever :3

It will be hard, but if you manage to do it then it will be a great decision since nothing will be able to influence them. Nor are there much distractions so that your kids can pay attention more. Sure it will be a pain to teach them, but it is better than public school since there isn't much there that can stop your kid from learning......unless it's a game console, take those away while teaching

geeogree : Yeah the school system isn't very efficient with a child's learning. Too much of the time is wasted and kid's learn so much better when it's more 1 on 1 (or 1 on 2, or 1 on 3 lol).

That's a pretty interesting statistic though and it definitely doesn't surprise me that it's only 30-60 minutes. I think my wife does about 60-90 minutes worth of teaching per a day which results into our daughter actually learning more each day than what a kid would in the public school system.

Davideo7 : yeah, and that is just direct teaching of the basic curriculum. You've got hours during the day where you can teach about anything else you want or she is interested in. Instead of wasting time driving your kid to school, or them sitting on a bus you get to have that time with them instead. I'm actually really glad for that extra time and I know my wife is too. She's got so many ideas of things she wants to do with our kids and public school took so much time away from that. Now she has more time than she knows what to do with to spend with our kids which is great. They get extra time with us and for themselves. I prefer it.

Back in the day my father used to do homeschool for me. It was really fun. Like he would always set up math stuff for me to sort out. And when I was done with them. I asked for more to do. homeschooling is really fun to do but. That would mean you won't be able to socialize outside as much. homeschooling isn't has hard as some people may claim it. If you know what you are doing and what you strength lies at then you will be fine. It seems your wife has it under control in a way. Schools nowadays won't help kids or give them what they need which is why now homeschooling is something a lot more better to do. I dunno if this answers any of your questions but I hope it does in a way.

Eniitan : we aren't too worried about our kids being social. We go to church regularly on Sundays, they go to gymnastics with a totally different group of kids on Saturday and they spend time playing with friends in the afternoon after their school is done (whenever the other kids get home from school). And socializing with kids your own age isn't actually a life skill that people need. Socializing with people who are older and/or younger is more useful of a skill than people your own age.

I'm homeschooled. I have been all my life.

I'm autistic, and can't really express myself that great, plus it affects my movement, so i can't go up/down stairs by myself.

Mama homeschools me, and from what i've heard about public school, that stuff sounds like it SUUUCKS, So, I approve. Yay, Homeschooling!!