Parents Homeschool

[JBS]

Thanks to @Gymmomsarethebest for posting this thread. Looks like some great conversation here... keep it up!

 

[Gymmomsarethebest]

For the parents who homeschooled to have better life balance for the kiddos. Do you have any regrets ? Have your kids loved it? Do they end up wanting to go to regular school?

 

[Ty’s Dad]

Honestly my wife and I regret it, but my daughter loves it. I think she will only regret homeschooling if she doesn’t make the Olympics, then it will be like she did all this sacrificing for what. But me I love to see my other kids in school having fun, it’s sad but but this is the life my daughter wanted.

 

[JPC13]

My daughter home schools. It's obviously helpful for gymnastics but I'm also not a big fan of traditional school. She's currently what you might call medium young (e.g., >1st grade but <6th grade) and she's completed a decent amount of her high school curriculum in a few subjects, while still being pretty advanced in the other subjects. For someone like her, regular school just wouldn't work in any respect.

 

[gym_dad32608]

It was a hard jump for me and my wife, but I love the flexibility that it allows us for family time and my daughter is thriving in both gym and school. As a super tiny one, she was always subject to ridicule at school. Plus the gymnast in her could not stand all the downtime in school with no purpose, like the kids chatter, the teacher randomly talking for 10 minutes, etc. She wants her assignment and get to work lol.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

We would have never considered it pre-covid, however it’s ended up being an amazing fit for my daughter and our family. She gets the individualized support she needs with school (dyslexic/adhd) and we get to have dinner together every night as a family. Oh, and the smaller daytime training group for gym doesn’t hurt either. She says she never wants to go back to school, but if she changes her mind I’ll support her either way.

 

[gymgal]

Short summary - We don't regret HSing through k-8. I personally regret continuing 9-12. two of my 3 don't regret any of it. My third feels he would have done better going to physical high school but admits that with COVID, it wouldn't have been much better since they went to online courses like what he was already doing.

My 3 homeschooled almost all of K-12 - they went one year to experience it and because of some family issues. This was not because of sports but I have to admit, it certainly made life a lot easier. We had three in year-round travel sports so being with them during the school day and eating early dinner every day as a family before practices were blessings. the flexibility was a plus for family vacations.

Looking back, I loved homseschooling through middle school and I don't regret those years at all. I felt that they received a much better education than the public schools would have provided and there was enough time for them to be well rounded, socialized, etc. High school was different. I was burnt out and wanted them to go to some form of traditional school but they didn't want to go back so we compromised and did a public online program. It worked OK but in hindsight, they struggled more than they would have in physical school due to limited teacher interactions. There was also minimal opportunities for socializing since the course load took up so much time. They participated in dual enrollment at a local college, which helped with being comfortable in a class environment. Two of my three don't regret their homeschooling path and transitioned well into college. My youngest wished we would have forced traditional high school, though with COVID, he would have been online for large parts of his last two years.

 

[WV Gym Mom]

We've homeschooled our three kids for five years now (they are 9,11,14). Wouldn't change it for the world. My husband is the stay at home dad/homeschool parent, and he does great at it. We started pretty much by accident - my husband had lost his job right as we had a teacher strike here, and my middle son had been having bullying issues in school due to his special needs. So we took the plunge "temporarily" and never looked back.

The positives
-Our kids are close to their siblings
-We can adapt our schedule to work for our family
-My kids get sleep!! We spend family time in evenings without worrying about dragging them out of bed at 6am.
-We can adapt their classes to their level. My daughter is at a 3rd grade level in Language Arts, but at a fifth grade level in science.
-They get to spend time on their special interests, and we can adapt their curriculum to include what they love.
-My work can be brutal sometimes - when I have to travel for weeks at a time. In those cases, when I get home, we can take family time off together to reconnect, without worrying about attendance.
-My kids friends aren't limited to "age group" like in school...they have friends across all ages and are more geared to friends who have similar interests, no matter the age
-Vacations are MUCH cheaper when everyone else is in school! We cruise annually by going on the cheapest weeks available, drive instead of fly since the kids can do school on the road, otherwise we could never afford to.
-Never have to worry about a school excuse for a friday meet or travel day

The negatives
- Its a lot of work, especially as they get older, to ensure they get the well rounded education they need.
-Its not cheap! Curriculum, activities, FOOD BILLS lol, you name it. And having to do it all on one income is tough
-You have to be a very active participant in their whole education. We host events for other local homeschoolers, coordinate gaming clubs, activity clubs, you name it. I love it, but its a lot of work.

 

[gymgal]

The negatives
......
-Its not cheap! Curriculum, activities, FOOD BILLS lol, you name it. And having to do it all on one income is tough

It really depends on the path you take. It definitely can get expensive but it can also be done very inexpensively. We were eclectic classical homeschoolers (no set curriculum) and never spent more than $500 total for all three of my kiddos each year and usually was half that. Most of our materials were bought used from a local homeschool store or Ebay. We chose a public online school for high school but if we hadn't, then we would have gone the route of dual enrollment for their core courses, which would have also been free.

 

[JPC13]

The number one cost of homeschooling, which faaaaaaaar exceeds any of the stuff you might need to buy, is the lose of income from the homeschooling parent. In that respect, homeschooling my daughter "cost" more than tuition at Harvard.

 

[ROROSASSY]

We just made the shift this year after being very resistant and no regrets at all. She was burning the candle at both ends between full-time school and gym and she’s now able to enjoy what she loves and eat and sleep and spend time with the family. What’s more she’s actually got the time to try out some other activities. And she continues to have a very active social life. It’s been transformative. We were lucky to find an accredited program that works for us as a family and at this point would say she’s getting a more tailored and well-rounded education than she did in public school. I could say now that even if for some reason she moves away from gymnastics in the future I see us continuing homeschooling for all of the benefits we’ve seen so far.

 

[raenndrops]

I tutor kids as a hobby. The four I tutor most often are enrolled in an online public school (one of them is doing the online version of his traditional school).
I have had the first child since 1 month into second grade. He had been taking a lot of "mental health" days. There were days when they couldn't even get him to step foot inside the school building. There were other days where he would make it into the building, but would completely melt down in 1-2 hours. His mom contacted me, and I suggested the online school that I was most familiar with. He is in 9th grade now. He still has trouble sometimes, but I know how to de-escalate before it becomes a complete meltdown. He wanted to go back to the local school this year, but his parents wanted him to get a good start to high school, so I will have him until at least the end of this school year.
The second kid is also in 9th grade this year. He is the child of one of my best friends. When schools went online due to the pandemic, his mom started bringing him to me 2x a week (they live about 45 miles away). His mom kept him online for 8th grade and 9th grade because he has thrived in the online environment and he no longer gets bullied. The boys are now good friends, but if they both go back to their local schools next year, they won't see each other as often.
The third is a senior in high school. If she needs tutored, she will text me and we set it up. I have only tutored her for less than a year so far. She does well and likes that I can explain things in a way she understands.
My last one is a 7th grade girl. She is my OTHER best friend's kid. Up until this school year, she did regular homeschooling. he made the switch because the local school district was going to discontinue her speech classes because her speech is "good enough." She comes over whenever our combined schedules allow it. Her parents are glad she made the switch because she is staying on track with her classes AND she gets speech every week without having to worry about who will take her and pick her up..

 

[gymgal]

The number one cost of homeschooling, which faaaaaaaar exceeds any of the stuff you might need to buy, is the lose of income from the homeschooling parent. In that respect, homeschooling my daughter "cost" more than tuition at Harvard.

Good point for most families. DH and I were fortunate enough to have flexible schedules so we both still worked while homeschooling but I recognize that most family situations are not like this.

 

[Amumcalledove]

The number one cost of homeschooling, which faaaaaaaar exceeds any of the stuff you might need to buy, is the lose of income from the homeschooling parent. In that respect, homeschooling my daughter "cost" more than tuition at Harvard.

Exactly!
I can see the advantages of homeschooling but to do so for us would not work financially.
There would definitely be no gym and probably not a house either

 

[ROROSASSY]

Exactly!
I can see the advantages of homeschooling but to do so for us would not work financially.
There would definitely be no gym and probably not a house either

Agreed this would be the biggest cost. We are lucky to both work from home now. Weirdly, this would have never worked for us pre-pandemic.

 

[JPC13]

Exactly!
I can see the advantages of homeschooling but to do so for us would not work financially.
There would definitely be no gym and probably not a house either

Honestly, I'm not sure how most people make it work. I'm a professor, so have a lot of general flexibility and sufficient pay to support an upper middle class family on one income, and my wife did textbook and curriculum design before deciding to be a stay at home mom.

If we were two people who needed to work 50+ hours a week away from home, then homeschooling just wouldn't be feasible.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

I work full time from home and we make it work by getting up early. I’m able to help my daughter from 7am-9am with school, then she works on her own until she leaves for gym at 10:30. I start working by 9am, sometimes earlier, and use my “lunch break” to drive her to gym. She’s in 7th grade so school is much more independent than an elementary aged kid would be.

 

[Katie]

We've homeschooled our three kids for five years now (they are 9,11,14). Wouldn't change it for the world. My husband is the stay at home dad/homeschool parent, and he does great at it. We started pretty much by accident - my husband had lost his job right as we had a teacher strike here, and my middle son had been having bullying issues in school due to his special needs. So we took the plunge "temporarily" and never looked back.

The positives
-Our kids are close to their siblings
-We can adapt our schedule to work for our family
-My kids get sleep!! We spend family time in evenings without worrying about dragging them out of bed at 6am.
-We can adapt their classes to their level. My daughter is at a 3rd grade level in Language Arts, but at a fifth grade level in science.
-They get to spend time on their special interests, and we can adapt their curriculum to include what they love.
-My work can be brutal sometimes - when I have to travel for weeks at a time. In those cases, when I get home, we can take family time off together to reconnect, without worrying about attendance.
-My kids friends aren't limited to "age group" like in school...they have friends across all ages and are more geared to friends who have similar interests, no matter the age
-Vacations are MUCH cheaper when everyone else is in school! We cruise annually by going on the cheapest weeks available, drive instead of fly since the kids can do school on the road, otherwise we could never afford to.
-Never have to worry about a school excuse for a friday meet or travel day

The negatives
- Its a lot of work, especially as they get older, to ensure they get the well rounded education they need.
-Its not cheap! Curriculum, activities, FOOD BILLS lol, you name it. And having to do it all on one income is tough
-You have to be a very active participant in their whole education. We host events for other local homeschoolers, coordinate gaming clubs, activity clubs, you name it. I love it, but its a lot of work.

What state do you live in?

 

[WV Gym Mom]

What state do you live in?

West Virginia

 

[WV Gym Mom]

It really depends on the path you take. It definitely can get expensive but it can also be done very inexpensively. We were eclectic classical homeschoolers (no set curriculum) and never spent more than $500 total for all three of my kiddos each year and usually was half that. Most of our materials were bought used from a local homeschool store or Ebay. We chose a public online school for high school but if we hadn't, then we would have gone the route of dual enrollment for their core courses, which would have also been free.

Yes, it can be done relatively inexpensively. I listed curriculum because that is part of the expenses...but food and activities for us are the biggest ones. And mainly the one income part. We only spend a few hundred on curriculum for my three...but we participate in a lot of clubs and events that are part of their homeschool life. But no matter what you spend, with younger kids you often have to do it on one income, or work opposite shifts, etc.