Homeschooling

Homeschooling has some of the same advantages as traditional schooling. Some of the pros of homeschooling are that the child gets more one on one attention from the instructor. The curriculum is similar to that of traditional school. The parents can homeschool their child if they are qualified. The parent can see up close and personal how their child is progressing. One major cons of homeschooling is that the child does not receive the same social interaction with other children as they would if they were attending traditional schooling. Homeschooling is about making the child and the parent comfortable with the learning environment.

Convincing Parents to Homeschool I would start by locating some information on homeschooling. See if your area has any homeschooling organizations that your Mom could ask questions to. Do a search for homeschool high schools. There are many accredited high schools that offer regular high school diplomas to homeschooled children. They also offer classes, online and through distance learning. Your mom or dad would simply have to supervise you and provide structured time for you to complete the assignments sent by the school. Go online or to your local library and research information on homeschooling for your parents to read. Although, the ultimate decision will be left up to your parents. As a homeschooled student, I know it as a fact that parents don't have to have a Ph.D to homeschool. My mom, who is a single mom, homeschools my sister and me *and* has two jobs, is absolutely horrible at math, science, and English; yet I maintain an A in all my subjects but algebra, in which I maintain a satisfactory C. (-: The best time to ask for complicated changes in schooling from parents is when you have set an appointment with them. Sit quitely with both of them when they are rested and calm at the appointed time. Then, ask them to be home schooled giving your various reasons. Be sure to listen carefully to their concerns and to reply respectfully. Try to understand their point of views and they will be more respectful of yours. Well, I'm in the process of trying to get homeschooled as a freshman right now. This site really is helping as I read it because I hate my school right now. I'm actually trying to make a PowerPoint on why I should be home schooled and from reading all these other topics, it really does make me feel like I have a shot. I've just got the problem that my parents are divorced, and my mom says yes, she's behind me 100%, but my dad is just saying no. i homeschooled till third grade, and now I'm a freshmen and I've hated school the whole time I've been in the system. That's so akward, my parents are also divorced. I homeschooled in the third through forth grade until they got divorced -- I returned to my great private school, then this year (9th grade) I got through the first semester at my public school alright, but... the system sucks. :| I haven't proposed my opinion to my dad (although it will be my mom's decision in the end), and I have to work on an actual curriculum/financial "scenario" in order to convince her. Just tell them that it's easier because you don't have to pay for a bunch of school supplies and such. Also say it'll be safer for you at home than going to a school. If there are bullies in your school, you could avoid them by being at home instead. It always helps to tell your parents that they're smarter than your teachers, easier to talk to, and other nice things. Not exactly to "butter them up", but to make it more obvious how much you want to be home schooled. You show them all the benefits of homeschooling, and prove to them that you've actually done research on it. Also, don't be afraid to show them any of the cons to homeschooling because they will come up eventually, and to pretend they don't exist won't help your case. With that, you can tell them how you plan to overcome those cons and show how the pros to homeschooling greatly outweigh any of the factual or fictional negativity it has garnered over time.

Well, If you have the teachers addition that i think comes with your software you log in and check it it will show the answer, of if you do have it downloaded and your in the student SOS you click help and select type password and show answer, then you type in the password in the blank and it will pop up, (but if your a student asking this i would advise you not to do this if you know the password, b/c it is CHEATING) I'm a student in 9th grade myself and I've cheated before ONCE and trust me, you will get caught one way of the other

College Bound Homeshoolers There are a few problems to answering your question - one is the fact that no one actually knows how many homeschoolers are out there. There are estimates ranging between 1 and 2 million, but these are estimates only. Another problem is the fact that no one actually knows how many college students were homeschooled. Many homeschoolers attend some High school to have transcripts and avoid questions. Others list their home school as a private school - actually they are forced to be listed as private schools in many states by law. Still others attend Junior college concurrently with homeschooling - just as some state funded highschoolers do. This gives them college transcripts. Many Universities will take college transcripts without asking for high school transcripts if they have enough (often equivalent to a year's worth or even a semester's in some cases). A third problem is there is a small (but growing) segment within homeschoolers that homeschool college. A fairer question would be "what percentage of homeschoolers who apply to a college are accepted"? As I understand it. In many schools including Ivy League Universities, Homeschoolers are actually more likely to be accepted than Public Schoolers. They tend to have higher test scores, they tend to have more extracurricular activities, and finally, they tend to have fewer problems with transcripts :) Here is more input from Wiki s contributors: I can only answer from our experience. Our son was homeschooled until High School. He was a year ahead of his age and continued that way through H.S. He is now in college with a 3.9 GPA. I am from Oklahoma and was homeschooled from Kindergarten through Highschool. I am now 20 credits away from receiving my Associates degree. My brother applied to the OU and when he told them that he was homeschooled, they said "We find that homeschoolers do better in college courses. In fact, 30% of our applicants are homeschoolers." Administrations went on to say that they are more inclined to accept homseschoolers. A relatively high percentage of home schoolers attend college when compared with the total High School Population. When compared with traditional schools academic honors classes, however, the comparison is significantly less. About 60% of home schoolers go to college when over 90% of honors graduates go to college. This seems like a closer 1:1 comparison when you consider that "honors" classes in the modern venacular simply refers to students that are not in remedial classes and parents are at least moderately involved. [I would like to say to the person above, "honors" may mean just that in a public school in middle America, however in private schools on the east coast honors means the same thing as ap in most mid. American high schools.] Although most institutions agree that home schoolers are academically prepared for college level work, those in higher education seem to also agree that home schoolers are less likely to adapt to the structure of higher education which could explain the lower attendance level. Of course, this is just an assumption that they are making, for almost no research has been done on homeschoolers. A previous version of this answer said that sending kids to high school and getting involved with them is the best way to guarantee their success in college. That statement is incorrect. Statistically, it seems to be the best way to guarantee that they will go to college. Attendance and success are far from the same thing. Until more research is done into this topic, the success issue will have to remain an open question.

There are lots of online and offline resources available, One such resource is Facetofacestudy

The uneven heating of the earth produces pressure belts. these belts occur at about every 30 degrees latitude. The rotation of the Earth flings the bulk of the air creating an area of low pressure belt in this region.

Example: There were many variations in the new rules.

No. All colleges now accept both publicly schooled, privately schooled, and home schooled children. Scores on standardized tests like the SAT and ACT are used to identify how much students have learned. No,it is not hard to get into college if you have been home schooled. I am a freshman this year at Northland Baptist Bible College. I did not find it hard to get into college. Many colleges these days are open to home schoolers coming to their schools. Sometimes you have to provide a little more information on your grades, but that is it. No, it is not hard. Just ask the school you are interested in going to how they work with home schoolers. I am sure that they would love to answer your questions. Good luck! Quite true! Many colleges and universities are now actively recruiting homeschoolers and Harvard routinely accepts homeschooled applicants. I agree that you do need to check with the school you are interested in attending to find out what their requirements for admitting homeschooled applicants are. Best of luck! Homeschooling is actually quite good on a resume, I believe, because I have been home schooled for five years in a row, and so far it has been good for me. Homeschooling looks quite good to universities. It shows self motivation, interest in education, and usually a unique transcript. I've been homeschooled for a while, and have been able to take classes such as Genetics, Shakespeare, and Latin in addition to core classes. Excellent for helping you stand out and put you over the top! Another I met a lady once who had 3 kids and homeschooled all of them. One graduated from Harvard with honors, one graduated from one of the best engineering/technical schools in the country and now works for the military, and one is a movie producer in Hollywood. Go figure! In general, yes. There is a factor of bias regarding your grades, and you cannot be compared to your peers as easily (class rank, availability of courses, etc). However, SAT, SAT subject tests, ACT, AP/IB scores, if strong, will always work in your favor. Colleges also want diversity in their student population, which may cause being homeschooled to work in your favor.

It means to do things by itself.

It is a non-christian home school curriculum.

Smoking can ruin your life in many ways. When teenagers smoke their relationship with their parents go south. Most parents do not approve of their children smoking and will do anything to prevent it but some children just do not listen. When most teenagers rebel from their parents, the parents start to wonder if they are actually doing good jobs as parents and maybe they are the reason for this sudden rebellious act. However, little do they know that it is actually the teenager's friends. Peer Pressure is the main reason why teenagers smoke. If you smoke, you score some cool points with other teenagers that smoke. However, there is always that one friend that actually has sense and tries to talk you out of smoking. You do not listen and usually that friend eventually gives up and you lost a friend that actually cared about you.

Cost of Homeschooling Studies prove homeschoolers who spend $500 on education are just as smart as those who spend $200. If you are considering homeschooling, I would suggest buying used (Amazon, eBay, yard sales) and for even greater savings, in the younger grades you can combine art, history, English, and spelling together for free. (This is called a "Unit Study", and can be personalized around a child's interest) Here are more opinions and answers from other Wiki s contributors: I homeschool my children and people ask me this question often. It is hard to give a definite answer. You can spend a lot or only a little. It is totally up to you. You can buy expensive pre-packaged curriculum. Or you can design your own and save a lot of money. You can buy used textbooks at educational/homeschooling stores. You can buy them at yard sales. You can pay $15 a month for Internet service and get a WEALTH of information there. There are SO MANY web sites that have free worksheets, games, and all sorts of educational things. You can take advantage of your local public library for many resources such as books, CD-Roms, videos, DVDs, etc. There are many free places to go for fun field trips. It's really all up to you to decide how much you want to spend! I am homeschooled, and it costs about $3,000 a year but this includes lessons that would normally not be included in school such as horseback riding (an excellent form of exercise), and Irish Dance (another great form of exercise -- especially for the legs). I do distance courses from JHU CTY (Center for Talented Youth) and this is the bulk of that figure. I homeschool my kids for the high school years and it only cost $599.00. It ends up being a really nice program they ship all your books out to you and they are yours to keep. In most cases there are 'hidden' costs. For example, a parent who would otherwise earn an income may stay at home in order to homeschool the children and earn nothing or very little. Such costs should be included in any rigorous assessment of the real cost. It depends on how many children you're homeschooling. You may be able to get the books needed from the public system cheaper that directly from the state. You will most likely want to take them on excursions outside the home for learning experiences, so join the library, free, and a museum for family, usually 50/60 dollars. See if there are any science centers in your state and they may be on the reciprocal list for the museum and you'll either get in free or at a greatly reduced price. You would have meals in any event so that's really not a consideration unless you eat out. Call the Department of Education in your state or contact the Administration office of your public school and they can give you more info and help. NORMALLY IT IS £10 TO £100 IN ENGLAND/LONDON. I am homeschooled. I go to Online high-school and it is completely free, there is also another k-12 program that is completely free. The program i am on is called advanced academics.

No. More often than not, homeschoolers have better socialization than peers because they are around a variety of ages; young and old, not just peers. Homeschoolers social with kids in soccer practice, youth group, neighbors, etc. School is not meant for socialization, you go to school to learn. It is also noteworthy a 8 year-old will learn better socialization skills from a civil adult than from another 8 year-old.

He Is Hoping For Whirled Peas.

No National Ranking No! Because each student is unique, and there is no way to do it. Abekka, Saxon, Alpha Omega and Bob Jones seem to be among the most respected. Miz The above mentioned homeschool programs are all religious Christian. IF you find the curriculum names that interest you then do a Google search on them for reviews of what others have thought of them. I have several that we love but others don't. It does depend on your child's learning style. I have two boys 10 and 15 and they do better on totally different curricula. ~Pandahoneybee

It's not necessarily true that homeschooled kids are less out going. I'm a 16 year old homeschooled student and I take classes at a community college near where I live. There are a lot of other kids there my age and when we are together we are outgoing, were not insecure and we really aren't all that quiet. If homeschooled kids are in activities and around their friends they aren't going to be insecure and stick to themselves and not be outgoing. Hope I helped! My husband and all of his sisters were homeschooled.My husband was homeschooled until the eleventh grade and is very out going!I on the other hand went to public school all my life,and hated every minute of it.I've never been very outgoing,but my husband and his family have tought me how to enjoy life ,Iwish I would have had half the experiances in school that they did ...the difference between our familys is like night and day.His whole family is very close net...the love there is like no other I have ever seen.My husband comunicates better with people thanmost of the people I know..We are now homeschooling our own four children and although I some times feel as if I will go insane I would'NT change it for the world!!!My kids are very outgoing and have absolutly no problem getting along with others..Our oldest two went to public school for a while and now that we have them home,they get along alot better together,and they still have friends in the nighborhood.I just feel that homeschooling has brought our family closer not only to each other but to God as well,what could be more important? I'm not saying public schools are bad,I just personaly feel that having your children at home is were God would would want them to be,and that's just my prefrence. Different kids means different personalities. In school, I was shy, quiet, not out there, but not an outcast either. In homeschooling, I'm still quiet, shy, not in but not out of the group. That's just the way I am. If a child is not outgoing, it's not because they're homeschooled, it's just they way they prefer to be. With the post above me about how your family was brought together more, I totally agree. Me and my brother used to fight, a lot. When I first started homeschooling we still did, but it wound down some. In the last 2 1/2 years I've spent at home, we have grown pretty close. I can go in his room, sit down, bother him, and we just end up laughing and talking for 1-2 hours or more. We talk about whatever. The most random things and sometimes things that we wouldn't tell others. It's great. I owe it all to being home away from school. My relationship with my family has really grown. Heavens, no! I am 13 and homeschooled and I am one of the most outgoing in all my friends. Most of my homeschooled friends are very outgoing. My regular schooled friends are outgoing, but to me it always seems like the are doing something because they want to rebel, or get away. I am out going because I am allowed to be, not told to be a certain way by a teacher. It depends on the person, silly. That's like asking "Are girls more outgoing than boys?" It all depends on the person and their personalities and attitudes. I'm homeschooled along with my older sister. I'm 15 and VERY outgoing but my 17 year old sister is very quiet. It doesnt matter if they're homeschooled or not. I'm homeschooled and so is my sister, I'm shy and my sister is outgoing. So it all depends on the person

The following statistics are from a report entitled Home Schooling in the United States 2003 by the National Center for Education Statistics: In the spring of 2003, an estimated 1.1 million students nationwide were being homeschooled, an increase of 29% since 1999. During this period, the overall population of U.S. students increased by 1%, from 50.2 million to 50.7 million, for kindergarten through grade 12. The percent of US students homeschooled in 2003 is 2.2 percent, up from 1.7 percent in 1999. See New Report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006042.pdf The following statistics are from a report entitled Home Schooling in the United States: 1999: In the spring of 1999, an estimated 850,000 students nationwide were being homeschooled. This amounts to 1.7 percent of U.S. students, ages 5 to 17, with a grade equivalent of kindergarten through grade 12. Four out of five homeschoolers were homeschooled only (82 percent) and one out of five homeschoolers were enrolled in public or private schools part time (18 percent). A greater percentage of homeschoolers compared to non-home-schoolers were white, non-Hispanic in 1999-75 percent compared to 65 percent. At the same time, a smaller percentage of homeschoolers were black, non-Hispanic students and a smaller percentage were Hispanic students. The household income of homeschoolers in 1999 was no different than non-home-schoolers. However, parents of homeschoolers had higher levels of educational attainment than did parents of non-home-schoolers. Parents gave a wide variety of reasons for homeschooling their children. These reasons included being able to give their child a better education at home, for religious reasons, and because of a poor learning environment at school. See New Report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2004115

When home schooled you will be required to follow a base curriculum. Any diploma will be issued following awarding body requirements - If there is no association between the schooled student and an awarding body there will be no awards (certification) Some online organisation offer their own "in-house " certification but these are generally not acceptable across many other educational establishments and employers . They will prefer nationally recognised awards.

A HOMESCHOOLING MOTHER'S PERSPECTIVE While the research and answers tend to focus on the welfare of homeschooled children, there is another aspect to consider: cons for the homeschooling parent. 1. Homeschooling is isolating -- for the parent. Schools are great matrices for social involvement for adults: they give parents a common set of goals to work toward together: PTAs, carpools, sports teams, even birthday parties and just the joy of having children grow up together. Many adult relationships are built through these commonalities. In contrast, homeschooling families are each individual; they vary radically in perspective and priorities. A few families live in areas with enough like-minded homeschoolers to substitute for these relationships through church involvement or cooperative schooling, but it is a challenge! 2. Homeschooling is an all-day, year-round commitment. There are no off hours. Some parents have a "breather" when the children are at school: they can exercise, run errands, get a haircut, go shopping, decorate, bake, make plans, read, grab coffee with a friend, or work a part-time job. Homeschooling parents have more than a full-time job. 3. Homeschooling provides no income. Parents often sacrifice standard of living, college savings, or retirement savings in order to educate their children. Some parents are also sacrificing a career, with whatever prestige, remuneration, and future employability that may imply. 4. Homeschooling is emotionally challenging. A homeschooling parent is deeply invested in all aspects of the children's education: intellectual, social, emotional, physical, etc. Add to this the fact that many homeschooled children are exceptional in some way (ADHD, Asperger's, highly gifted, Down's Syndrome, etc.) which makes traditional schools not as good a fit for them, and realize that a homeschooling parent has few mentors and almost no feedback except from the child: it is a difficult situation, full of self-doubt. Let me re-emphasize: no one will come and tell a homeschooling parent, "You are doing a good job." And when a child has flaws, the parent cannot tell whether they are due to nature or nurture, and will often take the blame. 5. Homeschooling can be intellectually challenging. A homeschooling parent is teaching - or finding a class or tutor for - all school subjects. At the elementary levels, this is usually fine; but many homeschooling parents are not the best teachers of high school level subjects. If they do not get help, they may not be serving their children as well as they could. [comment: it was interesting to read that 2% of USA children are homeschooled, but 7% of USA children with two college-educated parents are homeschooled. Perhaps college-educated parents have higher confidence about their ability to handle subjects.] 6. Homeschooling at the high school level can be expensive. Providing the tutors, lessons, or classes, lab equipment, transportation, etc. for a comprehensive college-preparatory education will cost quite a bit. 7. Homeschooling can be especially burdensome in times of death or severe illness or disability. What is the backup plan? WITCH I researched homeschooling for almost two years before bringing my children home to educate them. While conducting this "independent research" I searched repeatedly online, sent blanket e-mails and interviewed homeschoolers both in person and on the telephone. Fact is, I could not find one negative aspect at all. I spoke to several who "knew someone" who was homeschooled and it was a horrible experience to them...but not one person that I spoke to who is currently homeschooling or was homeschooled has a negative thing to say. The sloppily repeated horror stories were disregarded by me as none were told in first person. The research is profound. Homeschooled teens and adults are most often confident, responsible, independent people with no social or educational handicaps. The need to wear the current hip clothing, listen to pop music, act as if you are someone else and bully or be bullied is not missed from adult interactions. If you are having a difficult time, as I did, with finding negative aspects that are based on documented facts about homeschooling ...maybe that is simply because they are missing from the equation all together. I am a homeschooling mom. I see a number of draw backs to homeschooling. Obviously I still believe there are benefits, or I would not be currently homeschooling....however, as this question pertains to, "Are there any negatives?" I will address what I see as difficulties. I homeschooled my eldest daughter in kindergarten. She is extremely social, which I knew before the year began. It was very hard on her to not be in a classroom setting with many friends around. The next year we bought homeschool curiculum, and also enrolled her in the local school, for choir and PE (about a half hour each day) thinking that might be enough to get the benefits of both types of education. She, however, fussed even more because she wanted to stay with her friends all day. We gave in after 2 weeks, and put her in the school full time. She loved it. Her grades remained good, but I must say not as high as they had been during homeschooling. Still she was at the top of her class always. The next year she and her sister (in kindergarten) attended the same school. They both did well (honor students), and both enjoyed the socialization. This year we moved districts, and because of that we decided to homeschool them again. We have four girls, and thoguht that them spending more time together would be nice, and we would see more of them, and wouldn't be driving them back and forth to the same school....... So we went to homeschooling. We plan to move back to the same district in two years and didn't want to move schools.... The biggest negative has been the girl's view point and attitude. They will tell anyone that asks that no, they do not like homeschooling. They don't seem to value the fact that their education has academically improved. They desperately miss their friends. They fuss and even cry about doing assignments, when I know they never complained at all in school. I think it is difficult for them having mom and dad be the teacher, too. Of course there are things all of us do not enjoy in the schooling process, and for our family, what I have seen is the kids feel free to express this in a way that can be quite frustrating to me, as a mom. Also, I have seen some kids who are homeschooled straight through who really are not good at being with a wide variety of personality types. Often they are not as confident and skilled at relating with adults, and peers. I think, unfortunately, the families who have chosen to homeschool entirely, do not see the difference, and sometimes the kids have to figure it out on their own once they are finally grown and independent. This is definitely not an insurmountable challenge, but one all the same. It also can be exhausting to be a mom with kids constantly needing you. There is something nice about a few hours free during the day to do the things that need to be done, without interuptions. Yes, there are good things about homeschooling.... lots of them.... but I must admit that every year I ponder whether I am willing to go through this yet again. I have looked hard and found no good websites addressing drawbacks to homeschooling. This is curious since so many of the websites that promote homeschooling refer to and rebut -though rarely cite - a seemingly well-established group of critcs. I am very supportive of homeschooling, though I do not believe, like Michelle, that homeschooling presents no significant disadvantages for children, families, schools, and communities. A website that explored both sides of the issue would indeed be helpful. I too have done an extensive search looking for cons or drawbacks to homeschooling in order to make an educated, researched decision whether to homeschool. I would like to hear about parents who had a difficult time homeschooling or keeping their kids to grade level or who had trouble finding friends for their kids or whose kids were depressed and miserable from homeschooling, etc. Although I really feel in my heart that homeschooling would be a good thing for our family, surely there is another side to homeschooling-it can't be a wonderful thing for every family who has tried it can it? And though nobody seems to think "socialization" or lack of is a problem at all, surely there are some lonely homeschoolers out there! It seems like all the 'drawbacks' listed out there in cyberspace are written by people with no actual experience homeschooling themselves so they don't have much credit with me. Something odd Like the person who wrote the last answer, I've noticed that nearly all the websites listing disadvantages have been written by people who are in favour of homeschooling. They tend to have rather lurid, melodramatic titles like 'The Ugly Side of Homeschooling' and then go on to attack 'straw bogeys'. The conclusion is always that homeschooling is just fine. So I'll try to be a little awkward, but I may not be able to cover more than a few obvious aspects just now. 1. How does one provide a good range of subjects for a homeschooled child, a real curriculum? How does one teach the kind of science subjects that require a reasonably well equipped and properly maintained laboratory? 2. How can one (or two) parents teach every from World History and Spanish to maths and physics? (Teaching reading and writing is usually easier). 3. The child is already used to learning from others members of the family. At various stages in their lives, he or she will have to learn the art of adapting to the teaching styles of others. Is this something developed at school? 4. What is the *real* cost of homeschooling, making proper allowance for earnings foregone by the parent(s)? This must be included in any rigorous costing. 5. If a parent gives up a job or a career in order to homeschool, may he or she later feel resentful? 6. On the issue of socialization, we all heartily dislike bullies, arrogant, self-important people (whether kids or adults), BUT we also need how to learn how to deal with them. We need to experience some of the rough and tumble of life; we need to be streetwise to the extent of learning how to spot trouble and avoid it before it hits us. 7. We need to have a feeling for the demands of really high achievement across a range of areas, for competing and so on. I'd expect homeschooled kids to lead a sheltered life and not be very good at coping with the rougher side of everyday life ... I also wonder how they would handle people they disagree with, people with a fundamentally different outlook on key matters, or would they just avoid those who think differently? Well, here's someone thousands of miles away, on a different continent, trying to provided some food for thought. There something very strange, by the way. Thinking this through (to some extent, anyway) and typing it up took me less than one hour, which makes the absence of intelligent arguments against homeschooling on websites very odd. My own experiences of school were extremely positive ... One of the best aspects of my secondary school, especially between ages 14-18 was being together with a group of exceptionally interesting, lively and intellectually stimulating peers. About 18% of the year group went on to prestigious universities (about half on scholarships). Now, I know I've been provocative. NOTE. I wasn't homeschooled and didn't homeschool my own children. From a previous Homeschooler I am a previous homeschooler and I can identify several negative aspects of homeschooling. Looking back on my homeschool years, I have now come to realize that I was depressed during the majority of it. I was homeschooled with two of my other sisters, and my older sister also suffered from depression. I never told anyone that anything was wrong growing up, because I didn't identify with people outside of my house well and just hid everything inside that I was feeling. I knew that how I was feeling was not right, yet just accepted it. I remember being excited about homeschooling at the beginning of every year with the new books and everything, but gradually, life just became dull. I mean, lets face it, I got up, got ready, then studied every day. By the time I reached 3rd grade, I basically read the book then followed the directions. When I got to be in 6th and 7th grade, I was so depressed that I would just go into the basement and sleep. Anyway, this is coming from a previous homeschooler and it is true. Homeschooling is not perfect. Just like any community that is in the minority, they will do anything to protect themselves, even lie. Don't let the utopian outlook of homeschooling fool you. For the social and extroverted child, homeschooling is awful. I could go on. I guess I will. I have homeschool friends that suffer as well. They might not admit it, but I know they do. I will talk about one in particular. She came from a large family and was the oldest child. Instead of learning very much, she spent the majority of the day babysitting her brothers and sisters. I know there is value in these skills, yet it did not provide her with a bright outlook on her future. It was like she became a mother as soon as she was old enough to help out. Even more so, I think it strains family relationships. You are with your brother's and sister's all day long and of course you will fight more than usual. You have no life outside of the house, nothing to look forward to other than TV and video games. Going to swim class twice a week is not nearly the same as being with friends all day. Finally, I realize that what I lived for every day were the stories I invented in my mind. Since I had no life, I created a life in my mind. It is completely strange for me to not live there anymore, but I am gradually learning to tell people my problems and accept the love they give me. I used to be terrified of people, but not anymore. So, now if I have a bad day, I remember the life I used to live, and practically nothing seems bad compared to that. Even when life is terrible, it is so much better to actually be living it then not. another note Just thought I'd add something to this. I went to school and not all public school situations are great either. I went to a small public school and was picked on. I didn't have many friends. Probably the best time I had was in the gifted program. I suffered from depression. The teachers were not the best and alot of times added to the problem. I left school right before I turned 16. I got my GED and went to college. I never regreted my decision. I think my situation in school led me to feel inferior of others and I had no self confidence. I don't necessarily think you cannot have a good life and live everyday to its fullest if you homeschool. I think it depends on the situation, the parents, and the children involved. Sometimes the grass on the other side is not always greener. Thanks, Amanda

Sorry for the typo in the last message, I was interrupted. What I meant to say was my other two kids will probably also graduate at 15 yrs old. They are currently 14 and 11 1/2 yrs old. Yes,there is a great book on the statistics of homeschooling. It is called "Homeschooling: The Right Choice!" by Christopher Klicka, Loyal Publishing, www.loyalpublishing.com. Check out Chapt. #5. We have purchased the book for our family a couple of times because we continue to lend it out, but never seems to come back. It may not be the most up to date, but it is a starting point. (P.S. we have been homeschooling since 1996 and have truly been amazed. Our daughter will graduate from high school at 15 yrs. old this year and our other two kids will probably will also.)

The public system caters to the lowest common denominator and thus brings down the rest of the students. Our nation will become a nation of idiots if we don't change the school system. We home-school our children because the "Blue Ribbon" school they were attending catered to the problem child. Even though the school had high test scores, it still had problem children who took away from the learning experience of the regular kids, and the kids with a higher intellect. The "gifted and talented" program was a whopping 1 hour every two weeks. The rest of the time was spent standing in lines "learning" how to eat lunch or go to recess. We also home-school our kids because God is being forced out of their lives. We could not say Merry Christmas or even have red and green plates at the "holiday" party because we might offend someone. That being said, it was fine to celebrate Islam and Kwanzaa and every other religion, but not the religion that our country was founded on. "In God We Trust" We don't live in the country. We aren't anarchists. We just want our children to be treated as they should - with respect. They should be taught to learn, not how to stand in line. We home-school our kids because we want them to form a life long love of learning. Our daughter lost her spirit to learn as soon as she started going to the public school system and it has been a struggle to get it back. Our daughter still can't spell due to the insane ways the public school was teaching spelling...

I don't believe that anyone knows how many children with hearing loss are being homeschooled. As far as I am aware, no study of homeschoolers has looked at this question. I run an email list for parents homeschooling deaf and hard of hearing children, and I receive email from parents through my website, deafhomeschool . Based on those interactions, and the amount of information available on this topic, I estimate that there are fewer than 500 children with hearing loss being homeschooled in the United States. The number of deaf children would obviously be even smaller than that. That said, the number of families homeschooling deaf and hard of hearing children is definitely on the rise.

Three million written in number form is 3,000,000. Remember that a million has base 106. Then, 3 million is 3.0 x 106

Alan Moses provided this answer on the Home Education Mailing List: As I understand the way the Growing Without Schooling crowd uses the terms, unschooling refers more to the process of removing your child from school and overcoming the negative effects of the compulsory education process; homeschooling is the more general term referring to home-based learning. I'd love to come up with a better term than homeschooling, due to the implication that the child is spending all their time at home (see my comments on "socialization"); but it's the best I've seen so far. Heather Millen added: The process explained [above] could actually be considered "de-schooling" rather than unschooling. Unschooling is child-led learning in a home environment rather than duplicating school and its curriculums at home. Most unschoolers don't follow lesson plans, or even have "school learning" time structured into their day. Subjects are covered when the child's interest dictates not when the "educational experts" say its time for every child to know that subject. David Mankins added: Unschooling, for this unschooler, is based in the beliefs that children: are incredible learning machines, as shown by their ability to learn language and to function in society with little or no explicit instruction are insatiably curious about the adult world, and are driven to learn by these features, and sometimes children learn *despite* our attempts to teach them! Unschoolers also believe, or at least this unschooler believes, that *imposing* an agenda on a child is more counter-productive than helpful, because it doesn't take the child seriously. I think a lot of this can be justified by reflecting on one's own learning experiences. Nobody makes me learn new things, I just do because learning is fun, or because I want to know about this subject for my own purposes (even if those purposes are as prosaic as justifying my paycheck). The same is true for children. I think it is also motivated by a certain kind of respect for the rights of children. *I* don't want to be told what or when to study, what right have I to tell another what to do and when? Unschooling requires a lot of faith in your child, that they will learn the things that are important for them to know despite not being "forced" to, that their seemingly patternless play is experimentation that will pay off in insight, and that they will stick to a subject through the "hard parts". Again, reflecting on one's own experience can help solidify this faith, as can reflecting on the behavior of one's own children. [The answer above is based on a homeschooling FAQ originally edited in 1994 by Dave Mankins for the Home Education Mailing List.] To me, "unschooling" simply means when a parent says they are homeschooling, but does not take the time, nor make the effort to do it correctly, and hinders their child's education. That is not true! I was homeschooled my whole life, and never fell behind. Infact, I knew alot more then all the kids in public school. I was unschooled, which doesn't mean I never did a work sheet, it just means that I didn't just do work sheets. Unschooling is alot more hands-on, instead of learning how yeast raises in a book, you would do an experement with yeast, and watch it raise. People always act like homeschooled kids are these weird animals that know one knows anything about, but their just like everyone else. People like you think that a child belongs in school, where they are all tought to be perfect at every subject. Which is why almost every child hates school. People are forcing them to be like everybody else. Every child learns differently, one kid may be great at math but horrible at history, another kid may be perfect at spelling, but hate science. It just depends on the kid. All the kids in school are all in a class with a bunch of other kids their age, with all different questions and all different problems, and only one teacher to answer them all. The child then doesn't get enough one on one time with the teacher, then making the subject harder to learn. I remember when I was little having total conversations with adults, who were about three times as old as me. I liked talking to adults more the I liked talking to kids, and I was one. The adults had more interesting things to talk about then the kids did, plus the kids never understood what I was talking about anyway. Lots of times when a parent unschools their child it is for a reason, not because they don't feel like doing anything. If they wanted to do that, they would just put them in school. Where the teacher raises your child for you.

I am doing online schooling but it is the same as homeschooling. Homeschoolers do much better in college because you don't have any distractions so you are more focused on school work. Of course if you are focused on school you will do great in college. I was in a public school through 8th grade and wasn't doing so good. I started online schooling/homeschooling and I am doing much better now. I have two homeschooled daughters presently in college. Both of them are in the honors program because they did well on their ACT exams. They continue to do well (on the Dean's List with an A average). Yes, there is more to college life than the grades. We have had the opportunity to meet some of their new college friends and have been very pleased with their choices. They are selective, something I am very grateful for. College is not for everyone, just as homeschooling is not for everyone. But it worked for us! I was taught at home from 2nd grade on and did wonderfully, as did my home-taught siblings. I actually started taking college courses as a non-matriculated student at age 16 and spent several years earning my bachelor's degree. I am now pursuing a master's. I should point out that neither of my parents were professional educators; they were just two people who wanted to give their children a more hands-on, attentive education than they were getting at the time. I should also point out that I also decided to attend high school for two years, and while I did decide to eventually leave due to sheer boredom and frustration, I did very well socially, and was elected class president among other accomplishments. I say this not to brag, but to discount all the people who claim that hometaught children have problems socializing etc,. If you're thinking of homeschooling your child, go for it. I would say that you have more reason to do it now than my parents did to do it 18 years ago. NO teacher, no matter how well-intentioned he or she is, can give your child the love, attention, and positive influence that you can. Homeschoolers tend to be self-motivators and in the college environment that is exactly what one needs. Self-motivation is really key because your teachers are not going to tell you what to do 24/7 like they do in highschool. I am a former homeschool student. I am in the 11th grade attending college. Being homeschooled through out my late elementary years and jr. high attending high school in the 10th grade was not what I had expected, at all. In the one year that I had attended high school I felt like I had already out-grown the people and the idea of high school where as, in college, I feel alot more comfortable in my environment. The people are far more mature and realistic. As far as academically, I have a 3.8 at the college. My boyfriend is also a previous homeschooler and attends college as a junior, as well. His experiences have been quite similar to my own. All homeschoolers that I have met(known), THRIVE in the college environment! Ours is doing excellent. Most homeschooled students do very well in college. Average test scores among homeschoolers in comparison to public school students is extremely high. The one-on-one attention they receive allows a much better education than the alternative. Homeschoolers actually enjoy reading and writing, which, unfortunately cannot be said about most students these days.