The reason my mom began homeschooling me was because my birthday is late in the year, so the school system wouldn't allow me to start in public school kindergarten at age 4 (almost 5). My mom already had me reading short books by that age, and felt like I needed to be in school. So, she started to homeschool me, and loved it so much she didn't want to quit! ;-)
Starting in kindergarten, I was fully homeschooled through middle school, then partially homeschooled my freshman and sophomore years of high school. My mom took my siblings and I to homeschool groups where we would play with other LDS homeschool kids in the area. That led to a fantastic Spanish class with maybe 7-10 kids in it, taught by another homeschool mom (who I now consider one of my mentors). My youngest siblings now participate in band at the middle school, which probably would have been an option for me if I had been interested (I played the piano though, and didn't have the desire at the time to learn another instrument!).
Note: For me in high school, it wasn't a problem for me to graduate. All I really had to "catch up" on during my junior and senior years (after I decided to earn a diploma instead of a GED) was a science class I didn't take my sophomore year and a couple PE and health classes. However, at least at my old high school, policies have changed and it would probably not be quite as easy now to catch up. My younger high-school-aged siblings were all full-time from the beginning.
The Cons:
- Social Skills
I would have liked more interaction with non-LDS homeschoolers as well as the LDS, because when I got to high school it was a pretty huge culture shock. I don't think I was quite as prepared as I could have been on that front. - Different Kinds of Work
Because our homework and studies at home were basically one and the same, I wasn't super prepared for the type of work that went in to homework and studying for exams. Though we had homeschooling exams every other year (I believe?) to make sure we were on track, they didn't come close to the homework, papers, projects, and exams that high school presented. However, it didn't take me too long to adjust to the different workload, because of the self-discipline I developed. So maybe this isn't a "con" after all! It was just another learning experience. - Depth of Some Subjects
I would have liked a little bit more depth to some of the subjects taught me as a middle schooler (science and English in particular). However, because of the self-discipline I developed, it really wasn't that hard to catch up (and there wasn't too much catching up I needed to do). - Potential Con: Catching Up
This didn't happen to me, but it almost did. In high school I almost just got a GED (which I'm not dissing, but it's not quite as beneficial as a diploma), which probably would have made it harder to get into college, especially if it was a non-LDS school. Because I made the decision just in time to catch up, there was some catching up to do, so look out for this one.
The Pros:
- Work Ethic
I appreciated the work ethic I learned from having to be self-disciplined (to do studying and homework). - Morality & ReligionI loved having the moral and religious aspects of education taught alongside, and even incorporated into, the secular subjects.
- Social Skills
Now I appreciate the social skills I developed because I interacted with other kids of all ages, and with adults. Because I had so many social situations not only with other kids my age, but with people of all ages, I was more able later on to ignore age differences than I think my peers were (especially in high school). - Early Start
Because my mom started me young and pushed me, I was able to start high school math in geometry instead of algebra, which is a huge contributing factor to how much I enjoyed math (which I later got a degree in!). - Love of Learning
When you are homeschooled right, you appreciate learning for learning's sake. This is so different from some other kids who hate learning because they associate it with standardized tests, boring lectures, and either too much or not enough of a challenge. (Disclaimer: Not all teachers are boring, in fact, I didn't have a boring teacher or class until I got to college. I'm just saying that kids tend to exaggerate the bad parts of school and associate school with... well, boringness.) When you get to tell Mom what you want to be taught and have her guide you through it, or best of all, let you learn it on your own, you get so much excitement from learning a new math theorem, reading a good history story, or discovering why the baking soda and vinegar blow up the balloon. That is probably the most valuable thing I took from being homeschooled.
So, this list isn't even close to all-inclusive, but hopefully that gives you something of an idea of the pros and cons. Hopefully they made sense. :-)
- Sarah
Edit:
I was further asked what I liked and didn't like about high school versus homeschooling. Here are my (rather unorganized) thoughts on that.
In high school I liked having more friends with different backgrounds, whereas a lot of my homeschooled friends were from similar backgrounds (LDS, homeschooled, lots of siblings, same culture, etc.). I also liked learning different subjects in person from people who studied those subjects, instead of getting the information from books. (Although I love reading, it makes it much easier to be able to ask clarifying questions and understand the subject a bit deeper than book knowledge goes.) I also liked the social learning aspect of my high school - being able to ask questions and have different perspectives and methods of solving equations, analyzing poetry, explaining why scientific things work, etc. provided by the teacher and different students in the class. With homeschool, you get the book's opinion and methods and your mom's (which are great, but if your learning style is different you may need more).
On the other hand, with homeschooling I loved being able to study and get all my work done at once, whereas in high school, of course, there's class AND homework AND tests AND finals AND projects, etc.... I also liked having the closer to one-on-one attention that my mom can give, which you don't usually get in high school as much (depending on the class and your teachers).
Another thing is, at home you don't have to worry where you fit in or who your friends are, because you're a family and you kind of have built-in friends. :-) In high school there's that whole trying to fit in, find friends you like and get along with and can spend time with. But in my opinion, it's good for kids to experience getting to know people and going through that struggle of being a good friend to have good friends. So that's another thing to think about.
Hope that helps! :-)
Edit:
I was further asked what I liked and didn't like about high school versus homeschooling. Here are my (rather unorganized) thoughts on that.
In high school I liked having more friends with different backgrounds, whereas a lot of my homeschooled friends were from similar backgrounds (LDS, homeschooled, lots of siblings, same culture, etc.). I also liked learning different subjects in person from people who studied those subjects, instead of getting the information from books. (Although I love reading, it makes it much easier to be able to ask clarifying questions and understand the subject a bit deeper than book knowledge goes.) I also liked the social learning aspect of my high school - being able to ask questions and have different perspectives and methods of solving equations, analyzing poetry, explaining why scientific things work, etc. provided by the teacher and different students in the class. With homeschool, you get the book's opinion and methods and your mom's (which are great, but if your learning style is different you may need more).
On the other hand, with homeschooling I loved being able to study and get all my work done at once, whereas in high school, of course, there's class AND homework AND tests AND finals AND projects, etc.... I also liked having the closer to one-on-one attention that my mom can give, which you don't usually get in high school as much (depending on the class and your teachers).
Another thing is, at home you don't have to worry where you fit in or who your friends are, because you're a family and you kind of have built-in friends. :-) In high school there's that whole trying to fit in, find friends you like and get along with and can spend time with. But in my opinion, it's good for kids to experience getting to know people and going through that struggle of being a good friend to have good friends. So that's another thing to think about.
Hope that helps! :-)
