Why do parents still homeschool children when public schools are free?

If I have $1 in my hand and spend it – I’ll never see it again.

If I have a child in my heart – they’ll never leave it.

Education is an investment in the future of our world, and our children.

I’m the one who controls what my child learns and doesn’t learn. Things like religion have nothing to do with it here.

1- I know when my child understands a concept – not when 2/3 of the classroom does.

2- I know what my child is driven by. Dinosaurs are popular here… so dinosaur math makes it fun. Teachers in public school can’t do that.

3- No matter how much your child’s teacher tries – they will never love that child as much as you do.

4- I know when to push the limits and challenge, and when to review. My child isn’t wasting hours on trying to be where the rest of the class is or isn’t.

Do I wish I had a full time paycheck and free curriculums? Heck yea! But you know what – it’s worth it.

1) Where are you getting the idea that public schools are ‘free’? They are paid for by your taxes, but just because you don’t pay extra doesn’t mean it’s free.

2) A lot of parents (even ones that send their kids to public school) don’t agree with all the things taught and the way they are taught.

3) Some children who are homeschool may not be able to go to a public school for behavioral or psychological reasons, or may have tried public school but it didn’t ‘work for them’.

4) Parents who homeschool were frequently teachers in the past and feel that they can do a better job preparing their children than a generalized public school can.

=]

Because you don’t know the values that the public school teacher is teaching your child.

Becuase 8 hours of their day (12 hours of waketime) is being taken up by other people. Hence it is other peoples morals that they are learning.

There is no discipline for bullying in public schools. Hence bullying and violence goes unchecked (yes even in primary school).

There is no reward for fast work in school. They still have to wait for the period to end before the next subject. As a homeschooling child knows how much work he has to get done in the day, and if he finishes quickly he gets more play/free time.

In schools children are grouped only in their age groups – where as in the real world they need to be able to relate to people of all ages.

School takes 8 hours of their day, and then the children are given huge amounts of homework. Surely if they are at school for 8 hours, there shouldn’t be any more learning they have to do when they get home!

I personally am giving it serious thought as I have a child with mild mr and she is not being respected as a person but rather an mr girl. I did not know until the end of last year (her first grade) that they were basically feeding her problem by avoiding teaching her in ways she could learn and understand. It’s far to easy to push kids away that do not fit into the system properly and the parent does not know what’s going on so don’t fool yourself into thinking you do. I’m not saying it’s easy but my feeling is that if you are a teacher, the student should come first….every student. If you see he/she can’t understand your way, be willing to modify your teaching or get help for your class room. My daughter was permitted to take a nap or go to the back of the room when she displayed poor attention or stubborn attitudes. She isn’t stupid, lol. She took full advantage of this and fed them what they expected to see. The result was that she fell behind in areas that could have been helped at the beginning and I am just now catching her up through continued summer help. At home, it’s different. I care, believe, and love her and equally important, I respect her as a person. I’m not going to let her down. I’m willing to take the time she needs to learn the academics she’ll need to survive in this world one day. I know when to call her bluff and when she knows she isn’t winning, she can go much farther than expected and many times results are wonderful. She can learn and will learn IF given the proper chance and taught in ways she can grasp the concepts. I suspect many learning disabled children (mr and other) are sent out into the world with not half of what they could have learned if only someone could have believed in them. Is it any different than giving a blind person a regular book instead of braille and asking them to read? It’s not that they can’t……they just need something different to do it. : ) By the way, state approved cyber schools pay for everything to do the curriculum at home and offer support beyond anything I ever realized. Look into it if you want more for your child….learning disability or other. Blessings!

Have you ever heard the saying, “You get what you pay for”?

I want my children to have a quality education. Look at the test scores of American Public School kids with those of kids in other countries. Now look at the test scores of American Homeschoolers compared with American Public School kids, you will see that it is an improvement.

Besides, while we don’t “pay at the door” for Public School, I do pay my property taxes, which largely pays for other people’s kids to go to school, since my kids don’t go.

I could do whats “cheap” and send my kids to school and have them graduate still needing to do four years of study before they would be ready for college, like I had to do… or I could teach them at home and they could have two years of Junior college already under their belt by the time they graduate High School… hmm, the choice seems obvious to me.

Sorry “ArmyWifey” I didn’t mean to steal your answer, I didn’t read it before I answered so I guess we both thought of the same expression!

The public schools in the area aren’t very good. School is not a place where discipline is taught and recent it seems as though it’s not being taught in homes either. Schools are overcrowed and not a good indicator to children what real life is like.

Some people have children that would be termed ADD/ADHD and don’t want that label put on their kids. Others have children with health problems that cannot be handled appropriately in the schools or the parents don’t trust the schools to handle the issues.

Other parents feel that they can do a better job educating their children than the schools. Others do it for religious reasons.

Because they love their children and want them to get an education which students do not receive in public schools. Public schools do such a poor job of educating that students graduating from high school cannot read their diploma.

Look at the questions and answers posted on this site. Most are high school graduates and they cannot write as well as ten year old home schooled students.

For alot of reasons. Might be having trouble in the school or safety if the school is to big or has a gun issue. Or the child needs extra attention to pass the grades. And some states provide states provide free virtual schooling.

Some parents home school their children because the public schools are not very good in the area they live in.

The reason I home schooled my middle child was because she was having problems in public school so I pulled her out. My oldest graduated from public high school because it worked best for him, so I didn’t pull out of school.

It depends a lot on the situation, everyone has their reasons.

Home schooling, public school, private school, one works best for some children, the other doesn’t, it depends on what works best for a specific child, not for everyone.

Because there’s a helluva lot more to life than money and the financial cost (or not) of a decision.

Because my parents want something a lot better and a lot more relevant for me and my siblings.

Because home schooling is the natural way for families to educate their kids.

Because schools aren’t in the business of educating kids; they’re in the business of schooling kids.

Because school is an artificial environment – established at the time of the Industrial Revolution to control working class kids.

Because schools and teachers are affected by their own agendas and politics.

Because much of what goes on in public schools would result in people being thrown into jail if they behaved that way anywhere else (outside of school).

Do I need to go on?!?

Hannah