Homeschooling Questions - Allen,TX

Hi A.,
Research shows that children who were homeschooled tend to be leaders when they are put in a more traditional schooling setting (college/high school, for example). The reason for this seems to be that they have been taught and shown how valuable and loved they are up close and personal 24/7, for years. They don't have the struggle of fitting in or feeling unloved by peers, etc. Of course, this is not to say that anything is 100% across the board on either side of the scenerio, please don't misunderstand me. This is just the general outcome. My question to you, though, is why do you want to homeschool? Is it just geography (classroom or home), or is there a deeper, more important reason? I wonder why you would consider putting them in a different school environment at a later date if you don't want to do it today. Just curious! :)

I have not homeschooled but one of my best friends does. She has 6 kids. Her very outgoing and friendly oldest homeschooled through her sophomore year and then she entered public hs the last 2 years. She passed w/flying colors w/honors, enough that she got into Texas A&M w/scholarships.

Her friendly and outgoing 2nd oldest homeschooled through his freshman year and again, decided on public school, passed w/honors and was offered scholarships at 3 out of state schools.

Her very shy and painfully introverted 3rd homeschooled all through h.s. and was accepted into Texas Tech w/scholarships.

Her 4th is special needs and goes to a special school.

Her very shy 5th child homeschool until 3rd grade and then begged to go to public, entered public school in 4th grade and HATED it, begged to be homeschooled again so they did in 5th, found out she'd rather go to public and is now in 6th grade public and hates it again.

Her friendly 6th is in 3rd grade and is still homeschooled and loves it.

HTH!

Hi I'm a Rowlett mom that home schools. I have one in Kindergarten and one in second grade. Texas is one of the most friendly homeschooling states that their is. Knowing someone that has been there before you is a great asset. I had my BFF a few years ahead of me and even though she didn't make any desisions fo me it felt great to have someone to call if I had a question or simply felt overwhelmed. After the first year I relaxed alot. It's not so tuff at all. Deciding which kind of curriculum is probably the hardest thing to start doing. Everyone has the best :) Are you familiar with the book fair/Conference in Plano and Arlington? The one is Plano is not yet up on thier web but should be by this Thursday. It's smaller and is held a bit later in August but is just as great as the larger one in Arlington held in May. Here is a link to both: http://www.nthen.org/ and http://homeschoolbookfair.org/
If you register early you can save on the entry price. I highly recommend these. It's a great way to get you hands on the curriculum and check them out in person and ask questions if you have any. Also they have speakers that can really shed light on some things. On the book fair sites you can see the lists of Exhibitors that will be there. I'd suggest looking them up on the web and see what interests you before going. Also I think it takes a year or two for you to figure out which type of curriculum works best for your child (hands on, workbook style) As for children going into a more traditional school after being home schooled I've known several children that have done this. Most did in a High School level. Most did very well and had no social issues and in most cases were a bit ahead academically. Some children prefer home schooling and enjoy the more one on one teaching that they can get at home. They can find the more traditional schooling a bit distracting. Also most home schooled children do very well in college and are usually taking college courses by the age of 16 or 17.
Well I wish you well and encourage you to continue searching the idea of schooling your child. It's simply great and no body is going to care more about your child's education they you. You the best teacher he/she could have!
C.

check in your area for a homeschooling co-op, you might also try to find a place like the Center for home education in Watauga, Tx. That might have a workshop you can attend, if you are not far from there I would suggest that one. We are in our first year homeschooling our Kindergartener. Being in Tx, there are no tests or restrictions for homeschoolers, you might check with the school district that you are in to find out if you need to let them know you are homeschooling. If you need more info you can email me at ____@____.com

Hi A.,

I'm a home-schooling mom, and this is my first year. I have a daughter finishing Kindergarten, so I'm brand new and have been asking all the "newbie" questions over the past year and a half. Since you're in Allen, check out this website for McKinney Area Christian Homeschoolers: www.marchgroup.org/. They have a co-op, and it's been very helpful to me. I also recommend Frisco HIS (Home Is School). They have also been helpful. There are a lot of home-school families in Allen, and once you meet them, they'll be a lot of support to you. They come from all walks of life, so you're sure to connect with someone. When you visit the MARCH home page, you'll see a link to THSC (Texas Homeschool Coalition). THSC can answer a lot of questions I'm sure you have.

Obviously, I'm new at this, but I have one good friend who homeschooled her twin boys up to 8th grade. She had an "unexpected blessing" (baby girl), and found it difficult to keep pace with the needs of a toddler and the needs of the twins. They were flying through some advanced math and she felt that public school would be the best route at that point. The twins are doing really well. The only complaints they seem to have are that the classes are too slow. Thankfully, they are turned off by a lot of the behavior they observe, and these are athletic, good-looking, smart boys. They probably have girls trying everything to get their attention! Actually, this is what I've found with the teenaged homeschoolers. They seem to be really comfortable in their own skin, so to speak, with reasonable confidence in their own abilities such that they aren't swayed by the whims of others. It's very inspiring. Good luck!

Oy. Such a huge question.

Nearing 4 years in... I don't have an answer for you (just jealousy that you live in the BEST state to HS in in the country, although WA isn't bad at all, Tx is the envy of us all ;).

In the first year or two I might have had some tips... now, the tips are soooooo long, and so varied (because I have so many HS friends, and we all do things differently) I can't even really tip the iceberg.

Hmmm...

http://groups.yahoo.com/ search homeschool ________, or ___________ homeschool for some KILLER HS'ing boards (there are hundreds, I'm on about 10 of them; a super active secular hs'ing board, a few local ones, some philosophy linked boards -like montessori and secular charlotte mason and well trained mind-, an adhd homeschool board, a gifted homeschool board, a penpal/postcard board).... there are TONS of them. Age related, college bound, SAHP / Working Parent Hs'ers. Field trip groups, religious, curriculum review... if you can think of it, there's probably a homeschooling board on it. Some are more active than others and nearly all are moderated (meaning it usually takes at least 24 hours to get "approved" and your first few posts have a "delay" because the moderator reads them to make sure you're not a spammer). Yahoo groups has been my BEST source of a "teachers lounge" I've found online.

http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/001/bitter_homeschoo... is also a good dose of common sense/ humor

http://www.homeschooldiner.com/ is a fantastic philosophy resource

Anne Zeiss has a tremendous amount of legal (which you don't need) and local info http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

No personal experience with returning back to k12 schooling, although a lot of vicarious experience. There tend to be 3 main groups:

- Those whose kids want to try it out (most don't like it and request to go back to hs'ing... cracks me up what the PS system thinks of those kids... the whole "they can't handle it". ROFL.... no... most just don't. like. it. one. bit. and have another viable option. Some do like it.)

- Those who have to send their kids back (divorce, illness, job loss, move, etc.)

- Those whose kids return for a specific period of time on purpose (highschool, etc.).

((I'm not including the HUGE number of 'dual enrollment' kids in this group. In our area, and many others, it's free for kids under the age of 18 to attend community college. Many highschoolers do it part time to get a leg up. In our area most homeschoolers go full time and either use their AA/AS as their "highschool transcript" to apply for the ivy leagues, or graduate and move on to the 2nd half of their 4 year degree as a transfer student. NOTE: Sooooooo not required for entry into college, in fact many colleges are now actively recruiting HS'ers going straight from homeschooling -no dual enrollment- to their 4 year degree program, like many colleges recruit athletes. It's just one avenue that many HS'ers use for upper level education.))

There's a 4th group: those who attend K12 programs part time (like CTY programs, or in middle/ highschool just take Chem or English or Basketball or Drama) but, like dual enrollment, that's not actually "returning" to school. Merely using an available resource.