[quote=scaredyclassic]the unschooling is over. the oldest is in college, the middle is in hs just won his first game minutes ago in a jv tennis match; oh man; so sweet; he needs the win….); the youngest is a part timer at a charter school and follows his mama around the other days, plays piano, practices magic tricks. so clever and interested. i left a rolling stone article around the house from this month about jesse snodgrass, an autistic kid at a local temecula hs who got busted in an undercover sting by a manipulative cop. heread it in full, we discussed…kid’s only 11…stuff like that is worth a week or more in school from my perspective. lots of dead time in school…
hell, I don’t know what the longterm outcome is. but they can all read and write and do their maths so fast it makes my head spin…[/quote]
Yes, what scaredy said. When you homeschool, you get lots and lots of time with your kids. Most of the homeschoolers I know like to have very in-depth conversations about these sorts of current events and philosophical observations. Though this might sound like a bad thing to “regular” parents, I can’t count how many nights my kids and I have stayed up into the wee hours discussing life, human nature, economics, current events, etc…even watching old music videos or Monty Python videos and then discussing the sociopolitical context. 😉 It’s the most magical thing in the world, IMO. People ask if we would ever want to go back to regular schooling…the answer is a firm hell no.
As with scaredy’s kids, our kids (especially 2 of the 3) are rabid readers — something that seems to be a common thread among homeschoolers. Our 11 year old (the eldest) has already self-published a 100+ page book; she did all the research, found out how to publish, make the cover, get the art, etc. She did the entire thing by herself. She can read and write basic Mandarin (characters, not just Pinyin), and is doing honors algebra. We don’t think this would be possible if we weren’t homeschooling.
The #1 coolest thing about homeschooling is the lack of peer pressure. Our kids still hug and kiss us in public and enjoy being with us. When you sit down with homeschooled teenagers, they are perfectly capable of holding intellectual discussions with adults…and they enjoy it! They tend to be very well mannered and lack the snarkiness and rude behavior often seen in schooled kids. I can’t say enough good things about homeschooling.
