Not by choice but because I had no other viable alternative. He went from a Christian school to public school last year and has been failing miserably ever since. He went from a classroom of 10 students per teacher to one with 30 students per teacher and he got lost in the shuffle. His grades started to slip and I was told constantly they didn't have to time to deal with him when they had 30 other students to deal with. Not to mention, the "society" he has been exposed to in public (a rural public school as a matter of fact) have been a bunch of undisciplined, foul-mouthed, druggies who's parents could care less what they are up to.
My son was expelled from school for defending my nephew after another kid threatened to slit his throat over a girl! My son was put on long-term suspension for threatening to kick the other kids butt, but the kid who made the threat, was coddled and only got a stern talking too. His father died of cancer four months ago so apparently he is allowed to behave however he wants with no repercussions.
I started homeschooling him in January and he is on his way to passing the 9th grade whereas before he was going to have to repeat.
My opinion is this, if states want to start regulating homeschooling parents and requiring teaching credentials or certificates, then they should start paying the teachers in their public school system more. How can they require me to have a teaching certificate when I make more than a school teacher does right now?
Public school is a joke. Yes, I went to public school. I grew up in a small town and was successful in school, but not all students learn at the same rate or in the same way. My son is a visual learner. If I sit him down in front of the computer with a software package that he can play with, he will learn twice as fast as he did sitting in a classroom of 30 kids staring at the board and listening the teacher drone on and on.
I have a first grader and she attends public school and she does amazingly well. She loves school, makes good grades (1s, 2s, and 3s can be considered grades!). Every child is different and approaches learning differently. I will let her stay in public school for as long as she is successful.
That's my 2 cents on homeschooling. |