Tell me about being home-schooled.

Post Reply New Topic

I feel like I'd like being home schooled, because I loathe public school, and...... it's just that, to a high degree. The only thing I like about it is getting to be in band.
Anyway, since I like band so much, and I'm excited to become a part of marching band soon, I don't think I'd quit public school.

The thing is, I think that after a while in home-school, I may get lonely, because if I'm not forced to be around people, it's not likely that I will often make a huge effort to spend time with people. Usually, this isn't a problem, because I like to be alone, but I have a friend who's home-schooled, and she developed depression, and it seems heavily impacted from loneliness.

I feel like I would get lonely after a while, but it's actually easier to be around some people when I'm forced to, because if I'm forced to, I'm likely in a setting where we're being told what to do, rather than me having to come up with things to do to spend time with people.

Being a part of some activities would help, but we never have money for that. I just hate school so much. I hate the way I'm being "taught," I hate trying to learn things from teachers that won't teach me, I hate people talking to me at times, I hate having to be there, I want to leave at every second, I'm failing, I hate getting in trouble with classes for things I didn't do, I hate getting fussed at for things that I don't even know what was bad about them, I just hate it. Being home schooled may not even help though, because nobody here is going to teach me better either, but at least I'd be at home. I always want to come home.

Tell me what you would do. Tell me about your home-school experiences, if you have them.

I was home schooled full-time in 6th grade. In 7th and 8th grades I was home-schooled half days and I was at a Catholic school the rest of the day (same school where I'd done grades K-5). Then I went to a public high school for 9-12.

The whole time I was home-schooled, I also did band at the public middle school. Maybe you'd be able to do the same? I think my school district had a policy that home-schooled kids could still do extra-curriculars and music classes and stuff, but I don't know if that would be true in every district.

I really loved being home-schooled. It was good for me academically. I got to learn at my own pace and focus on things I liked. It was a lot more efficient, too. My mom and I could get through all my classes in about half the time of a normal school day. Then I had the rest of the day to myself for homework, special interests, etc. I never struggled too much academically in the schools I went to, but I often got really overwhelmed by changes in routine.

It was nice to have a break from traditional school for a few years, but I am glad I went to public high school after that. I didn't really have friends while I was home-schooled. It didn't bother me at the time, but I think it would have eventually. High school also helped me get better at the non-routine stuff, which I didn't need to deal with while home-schooled. If I'd kept going with home-schooling, I think it would have been much harder to transition to college and living away from home.

One thing that may be different for you: I wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's until college, so no one at school knew why I struggled with certain things. My parents knew what some of my issues were, but they didn't understand me very well. (And I didn't understand myself well either.) I think targeted therapy for my Asperger's might have helped me a lot. Since there wasn't an opportunity for that, home-schooling was the next best thing. It let me focus on academics and avoid most of the things I struggle with until I was a bit older and more able to deal with them.

If you hate public school, I think it would be worth looking into home-schooling. It doesn't need to be a permanent change. You could do it for a year or two and go back to public school if you got really lonely. I know for me, stress and frustration accumulate, getting worse and worse as long as I'm in a bad environment. Having a long break can make things a lot more tolerable after going back.

A lot depends on who your parents know.

If they are in a home-schooling co-op like the parents in oru church, they may get you together with other studnets; you could even wind up putting on small plays or something else. Home schooling co-ops also pool resources to visit different places for field trips, really helpful to get out of the house onces in a while. And, of course, they share resources, ideas, etc..

So, that is my experience. I don't know how people do it who are not in a church setting but given the social media nowadays it may be possible for your parents to find others who home school even outside of church and do things. Home school isn't always just staying home, though, from what I have heard.

Hi there, I home schooled through a few different things over the years. Including local co-ops, traditional, and self-teaching. In the end, it had many positives along with negatives. The environment as a whole was much less stressful and you could alter the curriculum to suit your own needs, and the less overwhelming environment was the biggest pro to me. The cons for me personally was that I found it hard to keep a routine with schooling included along with keeping up motivation to get it done. From what you've said, the biggest con will likely be possible isolation. It is a very real possibility with home schooling if you don't go out of your way to do things. I know my state laws allow home schoolers to participate in their local high schools extracurriculars, so I would look into that. I know it included sports for mine, but I'm not sure about things like band.