The last few weeks, a lot of us have given some of our reasons for homeschooling. Some public school supporters don't think that they're good enough reasons for us to abandon the public school system. I have one main reason for homeschooling my daughter. But, over the past seven years, I've watched public schools that I've been near and have formed several more reasons. Most of them have to do with the quality of education that I see in today's public school system. Others have to do with safety issues. My main reason remains the same after seven years. I'm going to list my reasons in order of importance (and/or how long I've had the reason). Feel free to add your own reasons for either homeschooling or putting your children in public or private schools to this thread.
You will notice that most of my reasons have to do with the quality of education/teaching. I have more reasons. But, compared to these, they're minor.
I have watched public schools. I have searched, hoping that I was wrong, for a glimmer of hope in the system. I've looked for the good stories about public schools, only to find more than enough "horror stories" about public schools and their policies.
I've had several public and private school teachers tell me that "parents are not able to teach their children effectively." I've also watched homeschooling parents prove them wrong. My cousin, D, and his wife are homeschooling parents who have proven the "experts" wrong. My cousin's son finished high school (homeschooling) last year and got a scholarship that covered room and board, tuition, and books to an Ivy League college. His sister is about to do the same thing next year. My daughter, who is in ninth grade this year, already has an offer for a "free ride" through college if she gets good SAT/ACT scores.
When I was in school, they had several programs aimed toward gifted children. When I had a child in school, I looked for the programs aimed toward gifted children. These programs were either gone or being phased out (offered to older children every year). One public school teacher told me that they don't want to make the children who are of "average or lower intelligence (her words, not mine)" jealous of the intelligent children. So, they won't let intelligent children go ahead anymore. Now, according to the same teacher, a lot of intelligent children are labelled as ADD/ADHD because they get bored in class and start disturbing the others.
I'm going to add another post in this thread about the morals being taught in public school as well. But, I thought my first one should be about my reasons for homeschooling. Like I said, every year, I get to add to that list because schools, IMHO, are getting worse and worse.
1. I began homeschooling at the suggestion of a public school teacher, when my daughter was in second grade, who said that public schools can no longer handle intelligent children.
2. Public schools, that I have dealt with concerning my daughter's education, don't want parental involvement in the education process anymore.
3. Violent acts involving students have increased over the years. This includes fighting, rapes, bringing weapons onto the school grounds, etc... All of these have happened to students and been done by students.
4. In my area, in the last four years, there have been more than ten coaches, teachers, counsellors, janitors, and principals going to court for "inappropriate relations (child molestation and/or statuatory rape)" with students.
5. While lowering educational standards so that "no child is left behind," the public schools are not allowing intelligent children to get ahead. In other words, they seem to think that one size fits all when it comes to teaching children. Again, this is my experience in my area. I don't know about other areas.
6. Instead of encouraging children to set high boundaries in education and reach for them (and keep doing so), the schools are lowering the bar and not allowing those who reach it go on ahead of their classmates.
You will notice that most of my reasons have to do with the quality of education/teaching. I have more reasons. But, compared to these, they're minor.
I have watched public schools. I have searched, hoping that I was wrong, for a glimmer of hope in the system. I've looked for the good stories about public schools, only to find more than enough "horror stories" about public schools and their policies.
I've had several public and private school teachers tell me that "parents are not able to teach their children effectively." I've also watched homeschooling parents prove them wrong. My cousin, D, and his wife are homeschooling parents who have proven the "experts" wrong. My cousin's son finished high school (homeschooling) last year and got a scholarship that covered room and board, tuition, and books to an Ivy League college. His sister is about to do the same thing next year. My daughter, who is in ninth grade this year, already has an offer for a "free ride" through college if she gets good SAT/ACT scores.
When I was in school, they had several programs aimed toward gifted children. When I had a child in school, I looked for the programs aimed toward gifted children. These programs were either gone or being phased out (offered to older children every year). One public school teacher told me that they don't want to make the children who are of "average or lower intelligence (her words, not mine)" jealous of the intelligent children. So, they won't let intelligent children go ahead anymore. Now, according to the same teacher, a lot of intelligent children are labelled as ADD/ADHD because they get bored in class and start disturbing the others.
I'm going to add another post in this thread about the morals being taught in public school as well. But, I thought my first one should be about my reasons for homeschooling. Like I said, every year, I get to add to that list because schools, IMHO, are getting worse and worse.