This question is for parents who decide to homeschool their kids; I am just curious why you decide to do that.

I home school for two reasons. The first being that I was born and raised were I am raising my son.And even 20+ years ago when I attended public school here it sucked.The school system were I am from pushes through the jocks regardless of their education level.I know some people who graduated and couldn't read.While everyone other than the star athletes just get blown off and forgotten about.There has also been a long standing cover up when it comes to the violence in the public school system down here.There are 8 year olds carrying 9mm handguns to school.And the little thugs are allowed right back into the same school with the other children that they terrorized. The other reason I home school is because my son is an severe asthmatic and they won't allow him to have his meds on his person.They want them locked up in the office across campus from were he would be at.And so basically they are putting my child's life in jeopardy.Because he could die before he reached his meds.

There are many different reasons people homeschool, including some you mentioned. My daughter asked to try homeschooling after six years at public school. She is a quick student and was bored of wasting so much time at school and with homework. Now she gets her schoolwork done by 1 or 2pm every day and has plenty of time to be with friends, and participate in 4H, church youth group, read, volunteer at the animal shelter, hang out with the family. Free time all afternoon and no homework on evenings or weekends. Because we live in an area with lots of homeschoolers, we also participate in homeschool choir and sports league, field trips, science co-op. Mostly she appreciates being more in control of her time. She is enrolled in a virtual high school that's a lot more like college than regular high school. California Virtual Academy, www.caliva.org. The instructor sets due dates, holds weekly online classes, office hours.

I decided to homeschool my son, because the school he was attending did not give him challenging work at his grade level. Upon 1st grade admittance, he complained of boredom and of having to do "baby work" that he done at a private home learning center in kindergarten. Because of this, I spoke to his 1st grade teacher who talked about having to go over concepts agan and again, because "they just don't get it." I then asked what her curriculum/goals/plans were for the year, and her answers were vague. Additionally, during my conversation with her, I realized that she did not have high expectations for her class. After all, although this was supposed to be a better magnet school program, these children were in an urban environment and could not achieve great things per the experts. Also, during the first four days of school, the teacher already had to deal with chronic discipline problems in some students. After four days of the magnet public school, I pulled my son out. Subsequently, I began to school him via a "public school at home" virtual charter school which required that you teach your child 5 hours a day at home and for them to attend a 1.5 hour science class once a week at a downtown learning center. However, this was not a good fit, because my son's attention span (he was 6 years old then) would not allow him to be taught for 5 hours a day. After 7 short weeks, I pulled him out of the virtual charter school and began to homeschool him with the curriculum of my choice. Since then, he has been evaluated and diagnosed as "cognitively gifted," along with some challenges. He is, however, excelling in the homeschool environment. If I graded his assignments, he would be getting straight "As." However, the grades are not important to me; the fact that he is mastering concepts and learning are most important to me. His initial reaction about being homeschooled was not positive, and at the age of 6, he had to be deschooled. He had attended two years of public school pre-K and a year of kindergarten at a private Christian home learning center. He only thought he could learn, have friends, and have play time at school. However, he is now enjoying being homeschooled. Those were my initial reasons for homeschooling; I had done very little research on homeschooling when I pulled him out of school, but I knew since I had high expectations of my child that I could do a lot better than a teacher who lumped all the children into "they just don't get it," regarding their abilities. Now I homeschool, because I can teach my child about God, do Bible study, work on character building, etc. along with academics. I have come to understand that homeschooling is not just about academics, but that it promotes a close, loving, united family; it is a lifestyle. That's my story of how I began to homeschool.

I plan on homeschooling my son. I planned on it from the very moment I moved from my home town. I am the daughter of a school teacher and was raised in a home where education came before everything else. Ironically, my own mother met me with opposition, initially. I find that our schools, including most private schools, are far behind, with regards to academia. I have friends from around the world and I'm always amazed when I learn what they covered in their elementary classes, not to mention that advanced sciences and mathematics that high schoolers get in other countries. What I always find interesting, is when I mention that I plan to homeschool my son, people automatically assume that it's for religious reasons. That's not the case. To ensure that he's properly socialized, I'll have to work my butt off to get him out and get him involved in activities, but I'm really excited about working with him. My husband and I agreed that we'd try it for a year and if things don't work, I'll consider charter schooling him or a private school. insert: also, like the first poster said, I do not like the fact that American schools wait so late to introduce a foreign language. I've lived in other countries and I can tell you that just about every where you go, natives speak their language and at least one other, in addition to English. The US is failing, badly.

My reason for homeschooling is that my son was not learning in public school. The teachers said he was performing at his potential. They did not expect him to do his work. They did not expect him to learn. He did not qualify for LD resources but did not learn in classroom setting due to being easily distracted and problems learning in traditional style. My husband's reason to homeschool was that he drove a school bus. (I drive a school bus but I was numb to the behavior issue after a few years.) Two weeks on the job of driving the bus, he came home and said it was time to homeschool. He could not believe the rudeness, disrespect, and lewd behavior of high school students. My kid's reaction. Ecstatic! We spent the first few weeks of homeschooling getting him out of the habit of saying "I'm stupid", and "I can't learn this". His confidence level increased. He is not to the point that he likes learning, but he is at the point that education is not painful. The best thing is that he tested at 11th grade level for reading comprehension after less than 2 years of homeschooling. He is not homeschooled because of disabilities but because he learns better with individual attention and material adapted to his learning style and interest. He has homeschool and public school friends.

well, im a homeschooler, not a parent, but a student. I decided to homeschool because i was traveling so much, and because i was helping all th eother kids with there work and not getting all mine done. it is working really good and i love it. By the way, its not always the parents decision, i had to beg my mom to give it a try and now she is so glad she did.

The people I know have done it for a myriad of reasons. Most are not satisfied with what is happening in Public schools and can't afford private schools. For myself- I don't have any kids yet- but I tend to favor home school for many reasons. One is that schools are becoming socialistic and liberal. Everyone has to be exactly the same- ie No child left behind. There really is not a lot of tolerance for children with different learning styles- those kids end up in special ed or they end up having behavior programs. Home School gives you the option to move your child along at their own pace. I have a nephew who absolutely excels in some areas and is ahead in those areas, but struggles in other areas. Home school is great with him he can work at the different levels in these different subjects. Another thing that I like about Home school is that you can teach your children about character and that character matters. They won't get that in public school. Kids learn that a persons worth depends on where they buy their clothes and how fancy their house is. That is what the social hierarchy in public schools teach our children. Kids are not popular because they have great characters, they are popular because they shop at the right stores and know how to bully those who don't meet their standards. Those are not the social skills a lot of parents want their children to learn. Then there is the growing need for endless Zero Tolerance policies- they make me crazy. My Niece who is in Middle School was talking about the Zero tolerance physical touch policy in her school. She said that they aren't even allowed to shake hands with their peers because that is physical contact and physical contact is simply not allowed. That is completely insane and just an example of how they are just taking things too far. I figure by the time my future kids get to be that age, they will each have their own cubicle that has bullet proof walls where they can't see other kids, just the teacher and they will have a computer to do all their learning. That way, no school shooter can get to them, they won't have any physical contact with their peers, they won't be able to tell anyone their behavior is wrong, they will just be locked in this cubicle all day just so that some NEA trained teacher can teach them how to be political correct. Ok- maybe that is a bit of an Stretch but it is certainly going that way. But I digress. I think really for many parents it is about teaching values, building character and giving their children a good quality education- that is not happening in public school. Private and charter schools are making strides in these areas, but I worry especially with charter schools, that the government will get their way and ruin those schools too. Also I think that schools should be a privilege that every person can have so long as they behave and mind their manners. No child should be entitled to school regardless how poorly they behave.

I'm homeschooled and was for 7 and 8 grade becuase that can be the worst times of the years for schooling as my mom said. Also to really follow their dreams exp: I really want to go to cullinary school early and start my own resturaunt so i can get ahead becuase i'm homeschooling and graduate collage earlier and do cooking at an early age- also again with college homeschooling helps kids make their own schedules and be flexible which rly helps with collge! that's what my mom told me!

well my son has crohns that is why but i have two daughters 26 and 24 and from the school experiences i decided to check into it my two daughters eventually went out of public into private school public schools are full of foul mouthed kids who talk about drugs sex and anything Else that doesn't protean to school teachers who could care less because they have 30 kids to deal with germs nasty programs that push your child ahead regardless public schools are over crowded narrow minded hypocrites who don't give a darn about anything home school makes kids excel never pier presser or drugs or crappy teachers home schooling is the way of the future programs are sweeping the world