re: RealTalk: Homeschooling

TLDR: I'm 28, was homeschooled K-12. I liked it, and you can try it for a year and if you don't like it, put em back.

I was homeschooled from K-12, to preface. Had 3 younger siblings, they all had the same amount, but different experiences because of advances and changes in homeschool culture and where we lived. I'll explain.

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So my wife has recently started sharing that she is interested in homeschooling. At first, my impression is, no, public/private schools are fine. i did public schools, my wife did public schools. and we loved it.

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No, they really aren't. If your kid succeeds it will in spite of the schools, not because of them (unless you pay a LOT out of pocket).

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a majority, but not all of the homeschool kids i know are mostly well adjusted, but usually a different personality. a few flat out weird peeps, and a couple of completely normal people (looking at you T)

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Could definitely say the same for public/private schoolers in general as well, just sayin'.

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her attitude is that she's just not ready to not see them all day and with my job that travels. she wants us to be together more often. she wants to be able to say "hey, let's go see the grandparents" and leave at the drop of a hat. also with my travel, they could come with me more often and see some cool parts of the US that she and I never saw growing up. With my job currently, my kids have seen more of Texas than i did by the time i was 20 and they are 7 and 5.

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We had a blast on vacations because thanks to homechooling, we always went on the offseason. Our parents figured out ways to make trips anywhere educational.

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My apprehension is not just the "stigma" attached to homeschoolers, but i like my kids being around a lot of people that aren't like them. The majority of our friends from church are a bunch of upper middle class WASPs and i love them, but i feel that my kids meet people from different backgrounds in school. and i really like them not having a sheltered childhood like i had in that. i sincerely didn't have a black or hispanic friend in my small school till HS, and my kids have friends all over the place in that spectrum.

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Ok, the perception of homeschoolers as being all WASPs was a lot more true in the 90s, but the pool of people who are now doing it has grown since. I grew up in a very WASPish homeschool group, but due to the fact that I was around my parents a lot, I took their attitudes more than I did my peers. As a result, I branched out more into other groups (baseball/soccer/boyscouts) and hung out with a more diverse group than most of the other homeschoolers I knew. Really what you are trading as far as socialization is the primary influence in your kid's life: You or their peers.

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We're involved in plenty of activities that keep them socialized, so i'm not worried about that, because they are both "popular" in their group of friends, but I feel like we get too much control in those things, whereas in public schools, they experience much of the real world i can't offer them in homeschool.

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As a 28 yr old who has been in the military and now corporate world, I don't know how much of the 'real world' kids experience in public school... But I didn't go so I'm basing that off of what I've heard from friends.

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So obviously based on my posting, we're christians, and don't believe that the earth is only 5000 years old and Adam and Eve played with dinosaurs. So no we don't want to shelter them from science and secular crap. It's fine that they get different beliefs from our own.

So if any parents of homeschoolers or critics have opinions, i'd love to hear them. I'm currently leaning NO at about 70% right now. a month ago when she brought it up i was around 99%.

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Homeschooling is not for everyone. However, there is no harm in trying it for a year or two and seeing what you think. Most people don't do what I did and go K-12 as a homeschooler. Try it and if you don't like it, put them back.