Ariel 73, This is off-topic, but was mentioned in your post.... One of my children has some learning disability. He qualified for a McKay scholarship and has been going to a private (Christian)school for a year where he has made straight A's. This scholarship is NOT income-based, only disability based.(Not knocking home schooling, either. But I'm a single parent and that would be too much for me.)McKay scholarship pays for extra tudoring and school uniforms and bus transportation. Sugarcane52

I homeschooled my son from 6th grade through graduation. We associated with a school in Michigan called Clonlara, so he does have an "official" diploma. We started out with textbooks... but ended up unschooling. I took him out of school because he was being bullied and not doing well academically. After I took him out I realized the situation at school was MUCH WORSE than I had even thought... and was sorry he had been subjected to it for so long. I was a very active proponent of public schooling before that time... on the PTA board year after year... and a volunteer at the various schools my children attended. I tried to resolve the problems through official channels before I decided to homeschool him. I was originally a mom who was horrified at the thought of homeschooling and having the kids around all day! Now I think back and wonder how I blindly sent them all off, starting at the age of 5 - to a place so institutionalized. My two daughters went all the way through public school, and did wonderfully. One is a National Merit commended scholar, and the other is a National Merit scholar. Both my girls wish now that they had been homeschooled and feel, that although there were some good points associated with regular school, that the benefits don't necessarily outweigh the bad points. The discussion of homeschooling versus government schooling versus private schooling, etc., is huge... and endless. You can see it just in the discussion here. http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/ has some very interesting, and VERY controversial views on the subject. You can read his book online. If you homeschool - you will have to be a lot thicker skinned than if you continue to use regular schools. People are rarely hesitant to let you know exactly what they think about your choice... and while a lot of feedback is positive... some is vitriolic. If you homeschool... the responsibility for any successes or failures lie with you. You mentioned that you would not be homeschooling for religious reasons. In my area (and from talking to people online for many years... it seems this is mostly true countrywide) a lot of homeschooling is from a Christian perspective. Many groups require a "statement of faith" before you can join in their activities. The laws vary widely state by state. Some states laws make it simple... some are very restricting. In many areas there are lots of opportunities for activities outside of school. My son was active in Civil Air Patrol, a church youth group, and a blacksmithing group (where he was by far the youngest member for a while!) He took music lessons and hung out with his peers in the neighborhood. As a young adult (now 19) he is glad he homeschooled but feels he did miss out on a bit by doing so. No solution is perfect! I tend to overdo everything I do... so I went crazy investigating homeschooling. I bought too many books in my quest for what would interest my son. Our family tends to buy too many books, anyway (my oldest is now a librarian) so it wasn't just a homeschooling thing. I agonized over all the different methods of homeschooling... what if I did it wrong? I no longer agonize over methods. Kids learn. Period. They learn. Did anyone teach you to walk or speak? No... because "kids learn" Do what feels right to you and don't worry about what other people say (easier to say than implement!) Diane in FL

Hi all, I've read on here for many months but never posted. I've homeschooled my kids for I think 15 years now. I started with my oldest daughter in kindergarten. She is now a Junior in college. BTW, she's made the dean's list every semester. Our baby just turned 4 this month so I still have many years to go. I still wouldn't call myself an expert but I have learned alot of things through the years. I think the most important thing to realize as a HS parent is that you are not in competition with the PS. Once many parents get over that they enjoy HSing and so do their kids. I really think that pressure to perform and "show the world" is one of the main cons you were asking about. It's hard to talk about the pros b/c there are so many. Just the fact that my kids love to spend time with their Mom & Dad is worth it to me. My oldest daughter and her Dad race cars. They leave on Fridays and come home on Sunday. (Maybe twice a year) She loves it and it's good bonding time with dad. When our boys turn 10 they go to work and my husband's company. They work an hour everyday. They start out by taking out the trash, sweeping the shop, counting bolts, etc. I really think this has helped them to develop into men. I'm not trying to say a PS kid can't do these things but we do have more time since they finish school by about lunch. As far as socialization goes, we take harp lessons, piano lessons, play rec baseball, 4-H, active with church youth group, go to summer camps. There is plenty of places for socializataion. And yes sometimes I think they have too Much socialization. There are times when I am really tired and worn out and would love to quit. I've even asked my kids about it sometimes and they have a fit and can't believe that I would even think about it. As of last year we start schooling with videos. Teacher teaching the class and the students taking notes and doing homework. I LOVE IT and SO DO THE KIDS. My oldest daughter was watching her younger sister doing school last year and said she wishes she would have done that when she was in high school. Well, I guess you're tired of hearing from me so I'll shut up. If I can help anyone please ask but I can't promise to respond immediately. We will start school in 2 weeks.

Interesting thread that I am just seeing now. I thought I would share our circumstances and school set up. We have a 12 year old son, who did distance learning in the spring. It went horribly and I worried through the summer about the long term impacts of missing so much education time. When it appeared that his regular school wouldn't be going back in the fall, we enrolled him in a public virtual charter school. It is a K12 school (https://www.k12.com/) with a full time remote program. He has two to four live 'classes' each day and then completes assignments that are mostly computer based, but with some reading assignments or hands on components. Within three days of signing up, they sent us a laptop, printer/scanner, books and other supplies. Prior to Covid, my husband and I worked mostly from home and have a bedroom set up as our shared office. My son has a 'twin over desk' bed set up in his bedroom. We set up his school laptop on the desk under his bed and added an office chair, large monitor, keyboard and mouse. This is where he participates in his live classes and does his computer assignments. We cleared one half of his existing bookshelf for his text books and put his other supplies by subject in a closed cabinet in his room. His printer/scanner is wireless and sits on top of his dresser. When he is reading offline materials, he often chooses to do that on the couch in our living room. We have a extra large whiteboard in our office. If he needs help, I pull up his assignment on my computer, and we often work through the concepts on the whiteboard. He started with head phones but we have now reverted to him using the laptop's audio and microphone, which is more comfortable. When they tested him in August, his test scores had dropped significantly, but by the next test in October they had bounced right back. He likes being able to work at his own pace and we love the high quality curriculum and the support of an excellent teacher.