There are "weird" people from all sorts of educational backgrounds. Being homeschooled doesn't make one weird. They would have been that way no matter how they were educated.

I combined your posts with Martin's. I'm sorry.

There is also a big difference between a kid homeschooled as an only child and a child with a bunch of siblings being homeschooled.

Basically, there are a whole bunch of factors and no single one lives in isolation.

NoahAg said:

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Ralphy said:

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It doesn't matter what we as parents think or want. It's almost universal that home school kids regret being home schooled. They don't get the social benefit and are encumbered by the idiocy of us parents. The effort is just petty worthless protectionism.

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Lol. I guarantee my weird homeschooled kids get way more (and higher quality) socialization than most public school kids.

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Yeah, probably considered "weird" because they aren't obsessed with video games and can carry on a proper conversation with an adult.

The criticism that homeschooled children are "weird" just doesn't make sense to me. It's typically the same people who complain about how horrible kids are today, yet turn around and call our kids weird for not being like the "horrible" kids they complain about.

RetiredAg said:

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I found an article that addresses that: How These Parents Work And Homeschool Too

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Thanks, RA. We are leaning towards this, but have pretty crazy (although flexible schedules).

Ralphy said:

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It doesn't matter what we as parents think or want. It's almost universal that home school kids regret being home schooled. They don't get the social benefit and are encumbered by the idiocy of us parents. The effort is just petty worthless protectionism.

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Did you create a separate account and blue start your own comment? What a joke!

I starred it for the trolling attempt. Solid.

To answer the original question, my wife pieces together curriculum from many different sources. I tell her it would be easier to just buy one "off the shelf" curriculum, but she likes math from one program, writing from another, etc. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.

I'm sure there are "bad" homeschool parents out there, but from what I see, parents (mostly moms) don't homeschool because it's easy.

Some folks judge their support of homeschooling in a vacuum, but it needs to be weighed against the available alternatives. I've had kids in good public schools in a large Texas City, and in Fairfax County, VA, which has some of the best schools in the country. I've also had kids in schools in 3 states in the Deep South.

We homeschool our youngest for the time being because the local schools stink. When we move again and there is a better public school option, we'll take advantage.

I homeschooled in Fairfax County, VA. Sometimes you just want something different for your kids than what public school offers.

Sorry to dredge up this post, but over the summer a string of events has led the wife and I to seriously reconsider what we are doing.

TL;DR
I'd like to get in contact with some home schooling parents to talk to about the idea of starting homeschool for our kids that are in elementary school now.



Longer version is that we I lost my job about 2 years ago, and while I am paid well as a contractor in O&G, I'm sick and tired of working for someone else. My wife is the same. On top of that, we live in a bad school district, so my kids have attended a good private school since kinder. That said, my kids are vastly different from each other and though they are in private school, I do not think they are learning what they need to learn.

On top of this, our entire lives have been spent 'outdoors'. We have farmed, ranched, worked in corporate America, and our kids know no other life outside of living 50 miles from the city. We work and play on acreage. My kids learn every day. We grow, we farm, we hatch chickens, we build things....they know more about life and how the world works than many of my adult co-workers. Because of this, we are already viewed as 'weird' and 'different' because we enjoy these things.

Anyway, we've kinda had enough, we are looking at drastic life changes including starting our own business, GTFO of Houston (we hate it with a passion..everything about it) and I don't want my kids hog tied to a system that I feel doesn't work for them and costs me money.

Sorry if this comes off as snotty or angry...it's desperation and not intended to be otherwise.. While we are not highly religious, we have sought God's guidance and on one hand feel we are not receiving any such guidance...and then on the other, setback after setback after setback may be God beating us down and trying to force us to stop being stubborn and follow a different path.

Anyway, I think my wife would be interested in speaking about homeschool to those who do it and have done it for a while. She is going to be running this show for the most part.

Sorry for the long post....we're cooked. We want better.

Username @ gmail

I don't have kids, so I don't homeschool anyone. I thought it might be useful if I share my experiences as a public school teacher, however.

I teach HS math at a small school in a medium-sized city. Because we're a small school among large schools, people correctly assume we have a decent social environment and send their homeschool students to us for the last 4 years before college. All of that to say that I have had the pleasure of teaching a lot of homeschool kids.

I'd say that for the most part, they come to us a little bit "weird" in the public school sense. They tend to fluctuate like a sin(x)/x curve because they don't initially know how to act around public school kids, but they seem to level out quickly. After they figure out the game (a semester or so in), they tend to be pretty well-liked.

My data is definitely biased given our fairly open-minded school culture, but I get the feeling homeschooled kids adjust well to life after homeschool because they have resilient self-esteem. The petty stuff that crushes other students bounces right off of homeschool students because they haven't yet been beaten down by the bureaucracy or the sometimes lord of the flies culture of the students.

All in all, parents who are homeschooling for the right reasons and who care enough to organize, specialize, and execute their kids' education are parents who raise excellent people.

This might be a good place to start: Houston Homeschooling Resources

You sound like a great candidate for homeschooling.

The first year will likely be the hardest. If your kids like school, or they have a particular expectation of what "school" is for them; there could be some conflict if homeschooling doesn't match their experience of school to date.

Homeschooling can range from "school at home" where you set it up and manage much like a regular school, just in your home with Mom and/or Dad as teacher; to "unschooling" where you just live your lives with your children learning through "osmosis" and being provided the resources to learn more in depth based on their specific interests.

I would recommend getting involved in a local homeschooling organization; or with an organization in an area you would like to move to.

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to "unschooling" where you just live your lives with your children learning through "osmosis" and being provided the resources to learn more in depth based on their specific interests

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We unschool our children, and it's been the best decision we ever made. It is really just based on learning as adults learn. You have interest in a subject, and you study that. A child has their specific interests/passions, and as parents, our job is to facilitate the learning process. For example, our son has a passion for prehistoric creatures/paleontology, so we provide resources to assist in his learning process. We've been to the Houston Museum of Natural Science countless times. We buy books, watch documentaries, we engage in discussion or go to speaking events (his favorite paleontologist is at HMNS). Next year, we're visiting the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. He's 12 and can tell you every geological period, how long ago it was, what creatures could be found in those periods, along with their scientific names and phylum/order/family/genus/etc. We do the same with our daughter and her interests, even though we provide more structure for her as that is more suited to how she learns.

Unschooling is certainly not for the lazy, as it takes an immense amount of engagement. I highly recommend it to anyone who looks into homeschooling, but also realize that some children may thrive under a more structured environment though. It's amazing how thirsty they are for knowledge when they are passionate about the subject. People are surprised at how much they pick up in other areas, say reading/vocabulary, even though we do not require any reading or vocabulary work. They will pick up those things along the way as they pursue their passions. It really is a fun way to guide your child's learning process. It does require patience though, because your child may not progress in some areas, such as reading or math, like kids of their age group.

e-mail sent.

Although you may be closer to Houston, if you wish to travel a different direction, here are some options in the BCS area.

I included the Aggieland link because the directors have email addresses and are a pretty nice group of people.

Aggieland Home school https://aggielandhomeschool.com/about-us

Community homeschool center
http://www.communityhomeschoolcenter.org/

BVCHEA (Brazos Valley Christian Home Educators Assoc)
https://bvchea.org/

I think there are some other groups, but those are the ones here of which I am aware. Good luck!

I got it! Thank you very much.

We ran into some unexpected chaos and we have not had a chance to pen an email.

I haven't been on Texags in many years, but a topic this important has brought me back. As my husband said, a lot has been happening in the last two years and something needs to change. I have considered homeschooling very briefly in the past because of my strengths/experience that I could share more fully with our children, our outdoor lifestyle, commute, etc. but we have chose to just keep moving along in the same fashion as always and keep at least one thing consistent for our children. I am very organized, extremely hands on and detailed when teaching/living our lives, so I know that I could figure it all out but it's a big step. I already know the learning styles that work for each child, some similar and some different, and how they don't always respond well to their private school teachers - whether it's math or religion, if the teacher can't get through to them, it's not going to click. However, they are happy at their school, for the most part. For the first time, this summer, they asked me about homeschooling. That and many other things have led us to pursuing this farther. I have a couple of close friends that homeschool 2-7 children of their own. They have been helpful but I still need to dive into researching curriculum farther. I know I do not want a packaged curriculum. I want the freedom to chose and add all sorts of extras that interest my children.

Charlotte Mason was mentioned - that caught my eye and a friend told me to look into it for a starting point because she knows how much we like nature/hands on learning activities. Is there a reason you switched to Unschooling? Or was there something in particular that you did not like about the Charlotte Mason curriculum?

Otherwise, I have a list of curriculums/subjects to look into that my friends have recommended. Apologia, Tapestry of Grace, Connecting with History, Right Start Math, Singapore Math are some I was told to look into. I would like to continue with the Catholic faith that we have raised our children with, but other Christian views are just fine as well. When it comes to science, I would like an Old Earth approach. I will honestly say that we are still in summer mode (our commute/work/school year is typically so crazy that we detox over the summer) and life has gotten in the way. Therefore, I am only making baby steps when researching. Does anyone else have favorite curriculums for particular subjects to add to my research list?

Any particular tips for for art, music, cooking, Spanish, Sign Language? Our list has other interest too, but I'll start with that.

Life is handing us the possibility of staying put for a year, homeschooling or even moving to what is known as a fairly small but very good public school district in the near future. My children have shown some interest in the last option, but won't it be pretty similar to our current private school situation?? I don't see how they would be happier/learn more in a small, good public school than they do now at a good private school.

Coops will be a definite must for us. Not necessarily for academics but for friends, field trips etc. Thank you for the B/CS ones. I haven't seriously looked into those either since I don't know if I will need Katy, Brenham/Bellville, West San Antonio etc.

Besides Coops, museums, zoos, library etc, are there other memberships I should look into?

Do you know of any families that have ever regretted switching to homeschooling? If yes, why? My friends only say they wish they started sooner.

I guess I've rambled enough for now. As you can tell... there are so many variables in our life right now. I'm hoping it all comes together very soon.

We just got a subscription from The Great Courses

An incredible quantity of high-level education resources for a wide variety of subjects.

They have a ROKU channel / app as well.

I have known families in which one or more students wanted to go to, or back to, public school so the parents allowed them. In one particular case I remember, the return to public school only lasted a semester.

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Charlotte Mason was mentioned - that caught my eye and a friend told me to look into it for a starting point because she knows how much we like nature/hands on learning activities. Is there a reason you switched to Unschooling? Or was there something in particular that you did not like about the Charlotte Mason curriculum?

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We started out using Charlotte Mason. We really liked it, but it just was not a good fit for our son. He was the only "school aged" child we had at the time, and since then we've learned that he has asperger's. The structure was just not conducive to how his brain works. That's why we switched to unschooling. Then, as we began learning more and more about unschooling, we became hooked and decided to use that approach with our daughter as well, although every now and then she'll ask out of the blue to do some work in some of the old math/science workbooks we have.

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When it comes to science, I would like an Old Earth approach. I will honestly say that we are still in summer mode (our commute/work/school year is typically so crazy that we detox over the summer) and life has gotten in the way. Therefore, I am only making baby steps when researching. Does anyone else have favorite curriculums for particular subjects to add to my research list?

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This can be a challenge because the YEC mindset had really gained a foothold in Christian homeschool curricula. I did a quick search and found a couple sites that may be promising with regards to an Old Earth approach that's also Christian in nature:

http://www.reasons.org/education/educators-help-desk/curriculum-options
http://www.csionline.org/home

Disclaimer: I have not really looked at the links, so you may need to look into them further. Our children use all sorts of sources, Christian and secular, with regards to sciences. The thing I love about unschooling is that we see our kids go down these rabbit trails online, especially with sciences, and we always talk about them as a family. That's where we can really bring some of the focus back to our faith.

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Any particular tips for for art, music, cooking, Spanish, Sign Language? Our list has other interest too, but I'll start with that.

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With stuff like art, music and cooking, I'd say just experience it. Take the kids to museums, exhibitions, etc. Find a fun meal and make it together as a family. Cooking is also a good way to teach about fractions and measurements.

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Coops will be a definite must for us. Not necessarily for academics but for friends, field trips etc. Thank you for the B/CS ones. I haven't seriously looked into those either since I don't know if I will need Katy, Brenham/Bellville, West San Antonio etc.

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You can find a ton of groups on Facebook. We have been part of several unschooling groups here in Houston. It's mostly for the interaction with other kids, but sometimes they'll have days where all the kids bring laptops and they have a massive minecraft day. Also, I have seen many people downplay video games, but games like minecraft are actually quite useful for homeschoolers.

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Do you know of any families that have ever regretted switching to homeschooling? If yes, why? My friends only say they wish they started sooner.

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I don't. I would echo what your friends say. I just wish we had started sooner and not put our son through the misery of public education for a year and a half. It was a nightmare for him, and his 1st grade teacher was constantly recommending medication.

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I guess I've rambled enough for now. As you can tell... there are so many variables in our life right now. I'm hoping it all comes together very soon.

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Best of luck to you. I know homeschooling can be daunting, but it is seriously the 2nd best decision we ever made with our children. The first being to practice peaceful parenting with them.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at christianpacifist@hotmail.com

I would discourage unschooling if you think your kids will ever go back to a traditional school.

The Well-Trained Mind has some informative homeschool message boards.

redcrayon said:

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I would discourage unschooling if you think your kids will ever go back to a traditional school.

The Well-Trained Mind has some informative homeschool message boards.

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Why is that?

Do you consider college to be "traditional school"?

I think it really depends on the child, but we unschool our children. So far all of them have gone on to take at least some community college courses. Two have graduated from Texas A&M and one will start grad school next year.

Part of my issue with 'standard' school is that its nothing like the real world. It's a massive waste of time for many parts of the day. They have to teach to the average kid and there is no such thing as an average kid. More importantly, I think back through ALL of my public school and college through a MS degree and I can't think of a considerable portion that I actually use in my real job or in life. I can make a case for some math, some science, a little English, but mostly, everything I know I have learned on my own. My job is in the exact field I have a degree in and I don't use anything from my degree (Hooray for all of the hassle and stress learning differential equations for a whole semester). All on the job training. On top of that, we all should be working and doing things we have an aptitude for, otherwise, you aren't going to keep a job long anyway. If you are learning things you 'get', then you will be proficient in those things because you like them, and that seems like it will transfer to the real world much better. It is exactly why some people change their oil oil and do vehicle repairs and some take their vehicles in for service. It's why some people are CPA's and some people USE CPA's. LOL.

Am I wrong?

Brazos, I think this depends on whether you are considering the purpose of school as training your children or educating them.

Training, like vocational training, is a means to an end. Education can include training but I think that ultimately it is a luxury, it is the end itself.

A well-trained person is competent and capable at performing the task that they've been trained for -- or anything directly applicable to the training.

A well-educated person has a capacity for reasoning, a formed ethical character, and a broadly applicable knowledge base.

Obviously there is some overlap.

redcrayon said:

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I would discourage unschooling if you think your kids will ever go back to a traditional school.

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If you consider college to be "traditional school", then this statement seems uninformed, as many unschoolers go right into college without any problems. In my experience, unschooling results in a greater ability to research and think critically versus a system of being spoon fed information to memorize.

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Part of my issue with 'standard' school is that its nothing like the real world.

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I agree wholeheartedly.