Homeschooling

[Pittsburgher85]

Hello parents! During the midst of this quarantining, my husband and I have been weighing the possibility of homeschooling our 2 boys, since we are essentially doing that now and do enjoy the family time and having them here with us. We have two boys, 4 and 10. The 4 yr old is supposed to begin preschool in Sept, and our older one is in 5th grade. We did have a discussion with the older one about the homeschooling option, and although it seemed attractive at first, he asked why we would want to "take him away from his friends". Our goal is obviously not to tear him away from friends, and he does not understand the bigger picture, but it made me feel bad.

That being said, should we homeschool - we would have to sell our house, or at least that is my fear. Along with other amenities in our lives. My husband and I both work full-time jobs.

We were blessed to have family around for the first 4-5 years of our older son's life, negating the need for childcare. With our youngest - I took the first year off from work (my company at the time was beyond gracious with my maternity leave).

As much as I want to homeschool my children moving forward, I am curious how other parents manage. The indoctrination I feel my kids will go through at school is nauseating to me. I fear them returning at this point. I have gotten backlash on social media for even questioning how "homeschooling is possible ". I have been told I am putting "money before my children", etc in regards to financial concerns over the change of lifestyle that homeschooling would bring on. Homeschooling would mean quitting my job, which I am absolutely fine with - but the financial ramifications of that would tear up what we have worked so hard for. We cannot (financially) survive on just my husband's income.

 

So to you parents that homeschool - how did you manage? Especially those that went from working full-time to becoming a homeshool'er.

 

[Happy Lemming]

2 minutes ago, Pittsburgher85 said:

 but the financial ramifications of that would tear up what we have worked so hard for. We cannot (financially) survive on just my husband's income.

Prior to retirement, I worked from home for about 5 years...  I could do my work at any point during the day, as long as it got finished by month-end.

Could you work from home (part-time) in the evenings after your children went to bed?? Maybe set up a guest bedroom as a home office?? 

[Pittsburgher85]

We do not have an extra room to utilize as a home office/guest room. I am unable to do my work during evening hours from home or in-office (I deal with banks/financial institutions) due to "normal" business operating hours. I considered going back to school to get into a different field, but even doing that would take me away from being able to spend with my children and would mean even MORE student loans (which I worked my butt off for over 10 yrs to pay off). It's a shame more businesses aren't keen on working form home options and whatnot. Our society just doesn't operate that way for the most part.

It's basically comes down to trying to figure out how to make up what would be my lost income and do so by working from home.

[Happy Lemming]

2 hours ago, Pittsburgher85 said:

 (I deal with banks/financial institutions) due to "normal" business operating hours.

 

Could your present degree/field of working with banks/financial institutions be modified for something like "bookkeeping" or "accounting"?? You can do that "after hours"...

Also take a look at the family budget, look for places to trim fat... cable TV, expensive cell phone plans, going out to dinner, gifts for spouse and vice-versa.

When I retired, I got rid of a lot of items that trimmed quite a bit of fat out of my budget.  My cable bill was $160/month, canceled that and put up an antenna and purchased a ROKU; got rid of my cell phone and got a magicjack (land-line) and a bunch of other nuisance money waster items.  You'd be surprised what you can trim out of a budget when you have a goal.

[Blind-Sided]

With the current situation aside... and assuming it wasn't because you live WAY out in the wilderness, or down in the heavy drug/gang areas of a city.......

I personally think anyone who willingly home schools a kid, is doing their kid a grave disservice!!! There are several reasons for that.

1) Are you REALLY ready to take on that responsibility?  To properly Home School... you have to be fully motivated, and put in a full day of school. I have a neighbor who wants to home school her son because he is slightly autistic, and thinks she can get him "Up to speed" better than a conventional school setting. The reality is... she isn't.  I see them out playing any time the weather is nice, and not taking the assignments serious. (because mom isn't good in science and math) He should be in 1st grade now, and when I talk with him... I feel he's pre-K.  Mom is taking him backwards !!!!!!!!!!!

2) Can you HONESTLY be impartial? If your kid is doing poorly in a subject that you personally don't like... are you going to make him/her work harder, and study yourself to properly teach it?

3) Are you an effective teacher?  Some people just don't know how to teach.  I'm sure in your own schooling, you had a teacher/professor who SUCKED !!  And I'm sure you had some that were great !!

4) YOUR choice to keep them from the social/school experience is being forced onto your kid !!!!!  I can tell you this... in my college life... EVERY SINGLE home school kid I knew was totally socially inept. They couldn't handle themselves in real situations and they were unable to defend/debate or make choices because mom/dad did for their life up to that point.  Oh... and several of the smart ones dropped out because they couldn't take care of them selves. (wake up, get to class, take a shower, so-on)  But this still comes back to it being YOUR CHOICE for some reason, and not your kid's choice. AND, by the time they are old enough to say... "Mom, I want to go to public school"... the damage may already be done.

I know some people in good school districts have decided to home school because of their own issues, and not based on real issues. The biggest one is "Kids are cruel, and I need to protect my kid".  Well guess what... life is cruel, and if they don't figure out how to defend themselves early in life... they will be eaten alive in an adult situation.  

My 2 cents... take it for what it's worth.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Blind-Sided

[ShyViolet]

I'm going to answer this question the way I would before covid-19.  Now that this pandemic is going on and it's not safe to be in public places or schools, that is a consideration and who knows how long this is really going to be going on.  So that would be a consideration.  But putting that aside for now........

I am a teacher.  I strongly believe that homeschooling your child would be doing him/her a disservice.  In the early years, Pre-k and kindergarten, children absolutely need to learn to function in a group with other children.  It's actually much more important than having them memorize their ABCs and 123s.  Developing those crucial social skills sets the foundation for all their future success.  Is your child able to take turns, engage in a conversation with his peers, work on a project cooperatively with other children, regulate his emotions and deal with disappointment?   As a teacher I will tell you that a lot of children behave very differently with their parents than they do when they are in school and there are different expectations, and it's a totally different environment.

Schooling is not about just sitting at a table and doing worksheets and academics for a set period of time.  It's a whole social experience.  I can't imagine missing out on all that.