I think homeschooling is a very good alternative to public school. I plan on homeschooling my (future) kids for kindergaten through 2nd grade before introducing them to public or possibly private school. I think homeschooling your kids while they are young helps to instill your family values in them, teach them disclipline, and puts them ahead of their peers academically. Also, kids are most interested in exploring things and not sitting still when they are young. I think school kills this interest in young kids, I see that in a lot of the kids I babysit. They have to go through testing in first grade! Homeschooling in my opinion is best for young kids before transferring them to the public school environment in second or third grade.
Is Home Schooling Right For You?
1. Time commitment
2. Personal sacrifice
3. Financial strain
4. Socialization
5. Household organization
6. Both parents in agreement
7. Is your child willing?
8. One year at a time
9. Intimidated by the teaching?
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/homeschool4you.htm
Personal Experiences
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/whyhomeschool.htm
Legal Information by State
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/gettingstarted/a/legalusa.htm
Overview of Different Methods
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/homeschoolmethods/a/methods.htm
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It is a good idea academical, but not socially. Kids that are already in school may have a bond and be more social than kids that are in home school. That is how my cousin is. So if you can find a way to get them to be social or something, than try it
Why do people always assume that kids who home school have poor social skills? While home school students may not see as many children their own age on a daily basis, this does not mean they have any worse social skills then public school students. In my experience home school students are perfectly capably of interacting with their peers, and are usually ahead of their public school peers in their ability to interact with adults. Yes, you need to look a little farther to find the social activities that are a given in public schools, but that doesn't mean they aren't available to home school students.
I agree, there are many social things for homeschooled kids to do.
homeschooling is only good for the smarter children
Homeschooling can be good for ANY child, so long as they and their family are commited to it. I'm not trying to say it's right for everyone, but you don't have to be exceptionally smart to homeschool.
Ha. Find some stats to back that up.
Homeschooling is a good option, but you must also keep in mind that you have to cover at least the minimal curriculum standards as set by your state. And you have to provide proof that you are covering and that your child comprehends them.
You should start by talking to an educational board, and find out what the curriculum is for each year (for example, 5th graders here are supposed to learn algebra by the end of the year and some pre-geometry to prepare them for the geometry classes in 6th grade). They don't really care how you teach these things - but they do care that you teach them.
And, you have to allow for progress visits as deemed necessary by the school board. If for any reason they feel your child is not progressing at the educational level they "should" be - they will get a court order to have you send them to school despite your best efforts.
Also, some states have a law against homeschooling. You have to look up your state's laws regarding this and find out if there are any laws restricting or prohibiting this type of education.
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/user/fanaile-drupal-org
Just out of curiosity, may I ask where you're from? Most of the people I know didn't start algebra until high school. Also most of the algebra books and resources I've seen are targeted at high school students, so it surprized me to see you say Algebra is taught by 5th grade where you're from.
I live in West Texas. I went to high school in Connecticut, though, and there, too, we had algebra in fifth grade.
Is it really not that common a class in fifth grade? I had to look it up for my sister in law when she was contemplating taking her kids out of public school to homeschool them, and it was listed as a state-wide requirement. I just assumed that it was at least close to national standards.
Of course, we must remember that it was a basic algebra course, possibly equal to like a pre-algebra? That might explain the difference. I remember in fifth grade learning basic algebra, but the more complicated algebra, like graphing equations, was taught in high school.
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/user/fanaile-drupal-org
Nationally, I don't know how common algebra is in fifth grade. It's probably not that uncommon to cover basic algebra, it's just a matter of what you call it. I do know that when I tell people I started doing algebra in sixth grade they usually get a surprised look on their face and ask something dumb like "you mean pre-algebra, right?" (wrong) and sometimes go on to ask what book I used like they don't believe I could really do algebra in sixth grade. Since so many people here (Pennsylvania) think sixth grade is early for algebra, it seemed funny to me that it would be a requirement in fifth grade.