Adventures in Homeschooling

Growing up in rural Montana I occasionally heard about kids who were homeschooled. The ones I met were kids who lived on farms many miles from the nearest school, but I’m not sure whether or not that was the primary reason their parents had for homeschooling. I remember having a sense of wonder and fascination about it, though. I daydreamed about being homeschooled myself and being able to avoid all the awkward social interactions and embarrassment of growing up in a small town where everyone knew more about other people’s personal business than they probably should. It seemed like a far-off fantasy at the time, though, because it wasn’t very common back then as far as I knew.

Introduction to homeschooling

It wasn’t until many years later that I had my first experience with homeschooling. My son and I had moved in with my sister and her son in Las Vegas after I became a single parent. With the price and difficulty of finding adequate daycare I stayed home with the two boys while my sister worked. My sister eventually got a promotion at work that required her to move to California, so we all packed up and went. When she contacted the school my nephew was supposed to attend, however, she was told that it was full. The only options available at the time were to travel to a school outside of our area or to homeschool him. Since we only had one car in the family, the only reasonable solution was to homeschool.

My sister found a program that provided the books, curriculum, and an actual teacher to work with. A monthly lesson plan was provided, but I was responsible for breaking it down on a daily basis and making sure we stayed on track. Using the textbooks, we held daily one on one schooldays. We took turns reading the lessons out loud and then he did the written work and tests. I used the “Teacher Edition” books to grade everything and used the grade sheets I was provided to enter grades and then average them each quarter. We met with his teacher once per month and she looked through his work and took work samples to keep in his file. I’m sure my responsibilities were nowhere near as difficult as what a teacher with a classroom full of kids has to do, but it definitely kept me busy. We were lucky enough to live in an apartment complex with a basketball court and swimming pool, so PE was easy enough to do. We did as many field trips as we could, including visiting the La Brea Tar Pits and the Aquarium of the Pacific a few times.

We decided to continue homeschooling for two more years after the first one, but when my nephew reached eighth grade he decided he wanted to go back to public school. My son, who had also been home all day with us, started kindergarten in a public school the same year, so I kept busy with volunteering in my son’s classroom and taking him to the park after school. After my son’s first year of school I started working again.

Back to homeschooling

My son attended public school until fifth grade. We had moved to a different school district, but I had chosen to keep him at the same school because his daycare was located right on the campus. I could drop him off before work in the morning and they would take him to his classroom and pick him up after school. His daycare also provided income-based scholarships, which was the only way I could afford it. They even had a summer program with field trips and activities.

Unfortunately, the school only went up through fifth grade and he would have to go to middle school the next year. The daycare that would transport him to his middle school was much more expensive and I simply couldn’t afford it. My work schedule required me to be at work by seven o’clock every morning, so I couldn’t drive him to school myself. I considered transferring him to the school district we had moved to, but I wasn’t comfortable with the transportation and daycare options available at the school he would be attending.

In my desperate search for options I thought about homeschooling. I had my doubts about it working out, because I was working full time. I knew it would only work if my son was able and willing to do most of the work on his own. I decided that it was worth trying, especially considering the other options available. My first step was to have a conversation with my son about it. I explained the situation and told him that if he wanted to continue to attend public school I would find a way to make it happen. He has always been very disciplined in areas that he has chosen to be, so I knew he could do school on his own if it was his choice. To my relief, my son decided he wanted to try homeschooling.

The next step in the process was finding a homeschool program. There were actually far more options than I had imagined, but I eventually decided to apply to a charter school. The school I found was about to start their first year of operation in California, although they had operated in Oklahoma for a while. There were a couple of reasons I chose the program. First of all, they were an accredited school. I knew that would be important if my son ever decided to go back to public school. The charter school also had a curriculum that was mostly online, which meant I would not have to find time to set up lesson plans, grade papers, and calculate grades in addition to helping my son with any subjects he might have trouble with. He also had a teacher who monitored his work and met with us each month. One of the biggest draws, however, was the learning fund that was provided for students. The learning fund for the first few years was $3,500 (it was later decreased to $2,000). The fund could be used for the curriculum, outside classes, and school supplies. The school also provided an iPad or laptop and a mobile hotspot to make sure he could access his curriculum.

Some policies have changed over the course of our homeschooling journey, but we are getting ready to start our sixth year of homeschooling. We took one year off from the charter school, because my son wanted to use textbooks. We spent that year in the program my nephew homeschooled through, and we even managed to get the same teacher. We had to return to the charter school for my son’s first year of high school because the school district we live in would not allow students to go to that program for high school courses. He has chosen to continue his schooling at home as opposed to going to public school. We recently found out that my son is far enough ahead in his curriculum that he could graduate up to a year early if he chooses to. He’s not in a hurry, though, so he will probably finish halfway through his senior year.

The pros

My son has enjoyed his homeschool journey and we have both been really happy with his experience so far. His learning fund at the charter school has allowed him to participate in a lot of activities I would not have been able to afford on my own. He has taken cooking classes, parkour classes, and trampoline classes. The fund even paid for his driver's education courses. He has also gained excellent experience in self-discipline and responsibility. We have always had the agreement that he can do his schoolwork at whatever time he chooses, as long as he stays on pace. His school requires him to maintain a grade of 80% or above in all subjects, so I don’t have to worry about whether or not his grades are adequate. He is allowed to redo his assignments as many times as he needs to, so he has learned the value of doing things right the first time.

The freedom to make choices in curriculum has also been a big plus. We had a teacher during the first couple years of homeschooling who was really excited about letting him try new things and find new ways of doing schoolwork. She allowed him to use a different science curriculum when he found the one he had chosen to be boring. When he wasn’t excited about the history lessons she let him do an “independent study” program where we covered the basic curriculum, but spent the rest of the time doing a monthly research project to submit. These projects included a research report, but they also included a creative aspect. One of the projects involved making a video where we prepared traditional Mayan food. For another project he built a maze out of legos (for the maze of the Minotaur) from ancient Crete. One of his favorite projects was building a pyramid in Minecraft and making a video explaining different aspects of it. Sadly, the teacher we worked with the first couple of years was promoted and we have not had another teacher quite that cool.

The ability to have flexibility in our schedule has been great, too. I have worked a job for most of the time he’s been in school where I have to work weekends, so being able to go do things on the days I have off has been priceless. I also don’t have to worry about taking him out of school for appointments. He never takes “sick days” either. When he doesn’t feel well he just does what he can and then makes it up when he feels better.

His charter school also provides online tutoring services that he can access anytime if he needs help with his curriculum. If he needed an in-person tutor, though, his learning fund would pay for it.

The cons

One of the biggest concerns parents have in homeschooling their students is socialization. My son has had some in his cooking classes and his parkour and trampoline classes. He has also trained with kids around his age in Krav Maga since before he started his homeschool journey. I will say, however, that all of the activities he’s done are probably not the same as the type of socialization he would get in public school. When my nephew decided to return to public school he found it very difficult to fit in with the other students his age. He worked very hard to learn how to fit in with his peers and managed to have an active social life in high school, but it definitely wasn’t easy.

Another obvious disadvantage is that it requires some work on the part of the parent. That’s probably true even in public school, but the homeschool atmosphere seems to be too relaxed for many students and parents. My son has been complimented frequently on his work ethic. He is frequently the only student his teacher has who stays on pace in his classes. Part of his performance is, of course, his discipline, but it also involves me keeping track of what he’s doing and checking on his grades. It often only takes a few minutes a day, but occasionally he needs help with his lessons.

Perhaps the biggest con is the criticism a parent who chooses to homeschool faces. Not only from society in general, but also from friends and family members. For some reason people who would never dream of getting in your business under normal circumstances feel they have the right and/or responsibility to tell you how you are failing as a parent. I faced a lot of disapproval when I chose to take my son out of public school. The good news is that people will eventually get over it. I once had a friend make a negative comment about my son’s homeschooling. A couple years later, though, his wife texted me to find out which program I went through so she could get her son into homeschooling. The boys had their eighth grade promotion together.

The most important thing to know about homeschooling is that it’s a very personal choice. I believe the choice should involve both the parent and child and my son has always had the final say in where he attends school. Homeschooling has been a very positive experience for us, but it is definitely not right for everyone.

If you want to read about homeschooling from the student’s perspective Jessica Norris has written an excellent piece titled Thoughts from a former homeschooler. Jessica brilliantly addresses the concern of whether or not homeschoolers are able to compete on an academic level.