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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 313
Location: WI | Ok so I know this is WAY off topic but looking for pros/cons opinions etc. from those that have tried either one. Thanks in advance
Edited by PennyAnnie 2014-10-10 9:16 AM
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 Veteran
Posts: 135
Location: louisiana | I did homeschooling 10-12th grade for rodeoing, I went through abeka academy. they would send you everything you needed and the classes where on a cd so everthing was easy to pack up an take with and I would do my schoolin with a laptop an earphones in the truck on the way to rodeos. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
 
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Public school online is common core aligned. Homeschool gives you flexibility with your curriculum |
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | This is just my personal opinion. I think there are a lot of good reasons to homeschool kids and I think homeschooling is an attractive options.
Doing it primarily for the sake of rodeo seems odd to me. By that, I mean to say that I wouldn't put that at the top of my list as a reason.....unless, of course, rodeo is the sole source of work for a family and sole source of income. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| Questions:
1 is rodeo the sole income in this scenario?
2. Who would kid be with if they weren't on the rodeo trail?
3. Is the reasoning behind home schooling because you want this and can't wait a few years to hit the road or do you feel home schooling has genuine benefits? |
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BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | Nateracer - 2014-10-09 7:07 PM
Questions:
1 is rodeo the sole income in this scenario?
2. Who would kid be with if they weren't on the rodeo trail?
3. Is the reasoning behind home schooling because you want this and can't wait a few years to hit the road or do you feel home schooling has genuine benefits?
^^^This. You said it better! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 313
Location: WI | I should not implied for rodeo...I just knew there were a few rodeo families that have tried these options. I am looking for an option for my daughter who has been struggling in school. I did edit the title as not to confuse people. Thank you for the replies :) |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
 
Location: Gainesville, TX | Is she struggling in school because of other kids or the content? In what ways would homeschooling help if it is content? Do you feel qualified if its a content area?
I hope I can homeschool my kids but I have a ton of education experience and feel very comfortable in all content areas. I think it can be a great option, but its one of those things that its not a good idea to remove her access to trained teachers without good reason. |
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Veteran
Posts: 135
Location: louisiana | PennyAnnie - 2014-10-10 9:18 AM
I should not implied for rodeo...I just knew there were a few rodeo families that have tried these options. I am looking for an option for my daughter who has been struggling in school. I did edit the title as not to confuse people. Thank you for the replies :)
I would homeschool, me and 3 of my friends where homeschooled due to the school not excusing us for a high school rodeo like originally they had said they would, an then it was a struggle to get caught up for missing that day I managed to be a 3.9 gpa in public school and a 4.0 homeschooled due to the fact if you didn't understand something you can always replay it til you get it down. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1034
| I've done both as a parent. I didn't care for the Homeschool curriculum choices and it didn't feel as well laid out. The online was a lot easier for ME, and more interesting for the kids. Plus with online, you have a teacher you can call and ask questions of. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| My nephew was struggling at his public school. My SIL became friends with a lady that quit teaching to home school her son who was having trouble in school. She offered to home school my nephew. What a godsend she was! He was finally diagnosed as having Asbarger (?) syndrome. This lady knew exactly how to teach him. After only 1 school year with her, my nephew caught up to his grade level in reading and math. This year he went back to public school because she went back to teaching, but she is at his school so he has confidence some one at the school understands him. He is doing great! He is now reading a year above his grade and he is sooo much more social. He looks you in the eye when you talk to him and in situations where there are a lot of people, he will actually come out and talk to everyone. BEST THING EVER to happen to him. |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | We have two upper elementary kids. One is home schooled, one is still in public school. Some things to consider re: online curriculum or not - how old is the child, are they sincerely old enough for more independent or online study or are they younger and need to be directed and have more parent/teaching involvement. What are they struggling with and do you have the skill set to help them. There are literally hundreds of curriculum choices. Kids are kids, they still get bored, have to be kept on task, might not like the subject or lesson unit, doesn't matter if you're doing online or textbooks, the choice really should be what's best for your child to get a great education, not what's the path of least resistance or easiest for the parent.
A lot of curriculum is aligned with common core. The only CC-aligned work we do is math and Texas social studies, the rest I've chosen based on it's reviews, whether it fits my child, and it's academic strength. I chose various publishers in every subject vs. a complete curriculum from one developer. I am not bothered by "CC math" yet because in reviewing the various publishers I wanted to use for math, I have not yet run across a single one using the ridiculous "methods" you see in photos on Facebook, etc. My child's math curriculum is challenging in itself and ahead of his peers in school, however there is nothing convoluted about how he's learning to solve the problems. It's teaching the same concepts and methods I learned and I'm in my 40's, same thing my dad learned and he's 80 and a professional engineer. They stress more mental math practice/techniques with some things than I got in school, but it won't hurt anyone to learn to get quicker at some things at some level.
I chose all textbooks and workbooks (supplemented with some online work or games in a couple of subjects). While he gets his lessons/instruction from me, he then works independently. I believe in writing, I believe in book-reading and dissecting information. If my son wants to continue home schooling, he'll move to an online math program as he moves past my skill set.
If one curriculum doesn't work because you missed the mark in aligning it with your child, take what pros and cons you've learned and choose another. Also be aware that some online public school programs still require your child do standardized testing. Such as K12. They have the child do their standardized tests proctored at your local school.
I am fortunate in that my son who is almost 10, loves learning and has a strong work-ethic. He wanted to go back to HS'ing this year because he gets tired of the classroom lag and disruptions and felt they were moving too slow in math. He's a GT student, straight A's, is great at math, I am blessed that he's an eager and capable learner.
Edited by Tilt The Kilt 2014-10-10 12:10 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 928
Location: Northern CA | Charter schools are a really good option. I work for a School District, we have a strictly independent study charter school. The kids do all their work at home, meet with a teacher once every two weeks. The work is aligned with state standards but you have options within that. You work with an actual teacher, and get all the benefits of being a a public school. State testing is performed, and when a student graduates it is just like graduating from a public school. We pay $50 monthly for each student to take part in an extracurricular activity- martial arts, art, music, etc. Though meetings are only required bi-weekly, we offer many one on one classes, tutoring, and field trips. Definitely a good alternative to the in class options. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Tilt The Kilt - 2014-10-10 12:09 PM We have two upper elementary kids. One is home schooled, one is still in public school. Some things to consider re: online curriculum or not - how old is the child, are they sincerely old enough for more independent or online study or are they younger and need to be directed and have more parent/teaching involvement. What are they struggling with and do you have the skill set to help them. There are literally hundreds of curriculum choices. Kids are kids, they still get bored, have to be kept on task, might not like the subject or lesson unit, doesn't matter if you're doing online or textbooks, the choice really should be what's best for your child to get a great education, not what's the path of least resistance or easiest for the parent.
A lot of curriculum is aligned with common core. The only CC-aligned work we do is math and Texas social studies, the rest I've chosen based on it's reviews, whether it fits my child, and it's academic strength. I chose various publishers in every subject vs. a complete curriculum from one developer. I am not bothered by "CC math" yet because in reviewing the various publishers I wanted to use for math, I have not yet run across a single one using the ridiculous "methods" you see in photos on Facebook, etc. My child's math curriculum is challenging in itself and ahead of his peers in school, however there is nothing convoluted about how he's learning to solve the problems. It's teaching the same concepts and methods I learned and I'm in my 40's, same thing my dad learned and he's 80 and a professional engineer. They stress more mental math practice/techniques with some things than I got in school, but it won't hurt anyone to learn to get quicker at some things at some level.
I chose all textbooks and workbooks (supplemented with some online work or games in a couple of subjects). While he gets his lessons/instruction from me, he then works independently. I believe in writing, I believe in book-reading and dissecting information. If my son wants to continue home schooling, he'll move to an online math program as he moves past my skill set.
If one curriculum doesn't work because you missed the mark in aligning it with your child, take what pros and cons you've learned and choose another. Also be aware that some online public school programs still require your child do standardized testing. Such as K12. They have the child do their standardized tests proctored at your local school.
I am fortunate in that my son who is almost 10, loves learning and has a strong work-ethic. He wanted to go back to HS'ing this year because he gets tired of the classroom lag and disruptions and felt they were moving too slow in math. He's a GT student, straight A's, is great at math, I am blessed that he's an eager and capable learner.
Just a note on common core math stuff--the worst of it I've seen is K-3, when they are supposed to be learning fundamentals. |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | I think it would have been better to have chosen "a" year to implement it at the kinder level, rather than trying to rewire the kids who learned other ways.
I can't remember what year all that really got going but I know my kids were raised much of those years (they are in 4th and 5th now) with CSCOPE and it was way more convoluted than the CC math curriculum I'm using here at home and the school is using this year. My son had no problems with either one. My daughter is still GT and A honor roll but she has to work for her math grade, sometimes through tears, and the woo-woo CSCOPE math was not a lot of fun for her. She did learn some tricks and memory things that did help her, so I credit whatever was in there for that. Our school pushed back as did many districts and CSCOPE was pulled back, replaced with CC-aligned work. Again, back to meat and potatoes math, I've seen the textbooks our surrouding districts out here use anyway, nothing weird. I am fully certain the curriculum powers-that-be will attempt to reinvent the wheel again before mine sit for the SAT's and we'll remove them again if we have to. I'm ok with where my PS kid is as long as her grades are reflecting her comprehension and CC doesn't get weird in other areas which go against our beliefs. We're a pretty conservative area, not likely they'll be asked to dress in burkas and present as islamic sympathizers - if so they'll lose more ADA money from us in a hot minute. :) Those things bother me more than the math. She's for sure not the puddle of tears she was with CSCOPE. I can't say the CC-math has hurt them, but then again the publisher they use here and what I use isn't at all what the photo-snippets show on FB. About the only thing that has changed in what we have seen, is they call things different names. "Round to the nearest" - When I was in school they called it rounding. His CC book calls it "rounding error" (programming lingo - but very confusing to elem. kids who relate the word 'error' to a mistake and probably defined it as such on the spelling test they just had), one of the schools in another nearby district their CC curriculum calls it "front end rounding" and yet an online supplement my son uses, they call it Maximum Possible Value. It's rounding. That's it! I've explained it as nothing but "synonyms" just like they've learned in english class, and that helped my kids hear it, see it and move on doing the operation as they have always done. I have a math teacher friend, AP level, high school, who says without a doubt the biggest problem she has identified as handicapping kids in regards to math...is the lack of READING COMPRENSION. Well....as we can see by my "rounding" example, the curriculum gurus haven't addressed that issue. lol
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | There are a couple of problems I have seen. One is that the standards disregard the value of repetition to establish basic algorithms as an automatic function of memory. Instead, it's taught FROM THE BEGINNING as a quest for deeper understanding and problem solving. So they never learn to look at 7+4 and automatically recall 11, or 7x4 and automatically recall 28. They only learn to solve the problem and this handicaps them when they move on to higher maths. They need both to have a good foundation.
The other problem I've seen is some of the elaborate visuals the kids are supposed to create using cubes or dots and lines to represent tens and ones. My nephew, as an example, is a whiz at math with a very intuitive understanding. When he would be forced (in firet grade) to draw his way to getting an answer he could do in his head, he would get caught up in the drawing and end up with elaborate doodles that had absolutely nothing to do with the work at hand. Why not let the kid solve the problem in the way that works for him? He's homeschooling with Saxon math and working above grade level now. |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | Thankfully that's not how it has been here at this district or at home. I'm seeing it seems every school picks what and when and how to teach the objectives. It's not the same across the nation. It's not the same in a 30 mile radius around out back of the beyond Texas.
Our last principal, (no longer here PTL and Amen for that) was a huge proponent of CSCOPE and not sending homework home...because parents were "too dumb" to understand this "new math" - she drew back and hissed at me when I complained and said what the hell is wrong with good old rote learning?? How did they learn their ABC's? We sang them a million times to them before they reached kindergarten.
Kids just aren't going to learn the same and the sad thing is while teachers know this, I'm convinced many parents think the school better meet those hundred different needs or else. Parents have become very litigious. I'm not a fan of some school boards or administrators but think from their end, there is no way to meet everyone's needs and they will NEVER make everyone happy, it's up to the parents to find out what will bridge a gap for their kid. I've got one friend who has one very gifted child and one slower child. She was pissed as the school wasn't meeting either need. Finally pulled them and put them in the appropriate schools for each, she had that freedom. We only have one little school, you either supplement at home (as we do when they are in PS) or you home school them. And thankfully CC math isn't a mess here as CSCOPE was. |
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 Ms. Elvis
Posts: 9606
Location: Running barrels or watching nascar | I only homeschooled for a year because of chemicals in the school triggering my allergies. It was NOT in order to be able to ride, although it gave me more time to. It doesn't matter how competitive you think you are. Wait until 18. You can't hit it hard until then anyway. Part of me wishes the limit was 21. |
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Miss Southern Sunshine
Posts: 7427
Location: South Central Florida | I Home schooled 2 kids k - 12, both have college degrees and both have had successful working careears.
We did a not on line, more flexible schooling, but online was not really available like it is now. My youngest did Florida Vertual School for 1 year and it was harder than any college course she took.
There is a lot to consider. I loved it, my kids loved it and both had great educations. Problems in public schools can come from so many directions it's hard to know what the problem is.
Before anyone jumps in to say Home Schooled kids are weird, lets start with the fact that public schools produce tons of "weird" and anti-social kids. Also, because of outside activities, most Home Schooled kids excell in communication and social skills in studies done, so I would not worry about that aspect much.
The simple choice between online, and parent teaching is just a personal choice. I would look at the books, online program, the student and the lifestyle.
First I would find a Home Schooling association in my local area and get in touch, find out what your county does or doesn't do with kids, find out what other families are doing.
Lots of great reasons for alternative schooling. My personal position is that not every kid learns the same way and traditional public education can never meet the needs of every kid, find what is best for your family and your child.
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 Expert
Posts: 1409
| If by online you mean your local public school online the negatives I have heard about in my homeschool community is that there is not much freedom with that type. Meaning that you have to monitor your time according to their rules and report to the local school.
Depending on your state laws you might have to report to your local school anyway.
I have homeschooled for 8 years the last 5 have been focused on a Classical type of Education. You can check out
Classical Conversations for a local group that meets once a week and is a very well rounded program. For the older child I highly recommend Teaching Textbooks for Math. Apologia for Sciences. Institute in Excellence for writing, Mystery of History or Story of the World for History, Essentials in English for grammar. Reading lots and lots of books.
Homeschool review has a review for every curriculum under the sun and there is hundreds and hundreds of different curriculums. You can find any type to fit your criteria if you search.
The pro to not be associated with the public school is that you can figure out how your child learns and tailor their education around them and not be tied to the cookie cutter system. Also making your own hours and having freedom for field trips or whatever else you desire to add to your curriculum. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| halter_ego - 2014-10-10 12:13 PM
Charter schools are a really good option. I work for a School District, we have a strictly independent study charter school. The kids do all their work at home, meet with a teacher once every two weeks. The work is aligned with state standards but you have options within that. You work with an actual teacher, and get all the benefits of being a a public school. State testing is performed, and when a student graduates it is just like graduating from a public school. We pay $50 monthly for each student to take part in an extracurricular activity- martial arts, art, music, etc. Though meetings are only required bi-weekly, we offer many one on one classes, tutoring, and field trips. Definitely a good alternative to the in class options.
I finished high school in a charter school similar to this... It allowed me to work full-time and finish early. I loved it. You need to have self discipline but I learned more through the charter school than I did in public schools. |
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Home schooling vs Online school