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Replies to '12/26 "I Am Right!"'
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October 18, 2005, 11:49 pm PDT
 Quote From: cw102358 Dr Phil was right on the money with his comments about homeschooling if it is done right. I have homeschooled all four of my daughters. I made a point of having them play city sports and they were involved in community and church functions. My 2 youngest were homeschooled the longest. I did them both from the second grade till the eigth grade. I have watched them grow and change with great interest. I watched my girls be perfectly happy at home but by the eigth grade I could see in them a need to be involved alot more outside of our home. I had a hard time letting them go to school but my daughter has excelled. She was inducted into the National Honor Society, she plays 3 sports a year. She has tried several areas of interest like photography and drama, and she is an accomplished artist. But most importantly she is very well adjusted. She is very much her own person and doesn't let the latest fads or peer pressure move her. In fact she has been a trend setter at her school. She is a senior this year and she was just honored as a volleyball player. Each of the seniors had an opportunity to say something to each other and the most common comment about her was that she was an inspiration to them. My youngest daughter is a freshman this year. She also plays 3 sports a year and is involved in student goverment. Most people are surprised to learn that I homeschooled my kids. The comment I hear most often is"But they are so normal!" I will admit that I know homeschoolers that aren't doing it very well but like Dr. Phil said , if the parents do all the right things and are willing to make the sacrifices and are making sure certain things are done-it is a great thing. If I had to do it over I would have done it sooner. My children are bright, well rounded, creative, kind and compassionate and I know that homeschooling was a huge part of that. I think it is possible to homeschool kids in high school but I personally saw my children's need to have an outside life. But because they were totally grounded in who they are and never lived under peer pressure when they were young , I believe that is why they could enter a high school enviroment and not fall into the trap of peer pressure and in fact now have peers following them. Considering that you did look at your child's needs, and sent them off to high school (which I am sure was probably more difficult for you than for your child!) I can tell that you are one of the "doing it right" parents that Dr. Phil talked about on the show. I don't have children, but I am a former high school teacher. I am not completely and totally opposed to homeschooling - especially when the family lives in an area where the schools may not be completely equipped to handle all the students - however, I do think that there are a lot of people who choose to homeschool who (a) choose to do so for the completely wrong reasons or (b) are NOT equipped to do it. I taught high school and I can tell you that I had some homeschoolers that were just as you described your daughter. However, a significant number of them didn't just have socialization issues with their peers, but had difficulties with their teachers (not just myself). One child struggled with the fact that I was NOT going to discuss things from a strictly biblical point of view (he even tried to follow me into the restroom - only because I said one of the 5 basic conflicts in literature was person vs. God/Supreme Being. He insisted that God is a known, and why would people have conflict? He couldn't accept that while he might not struggle with his faith, a character in a story might struggle. He was an extreme example - I found that others struggled with the idea that I could not give them one on one attention that they were clearly used to, or that I didn't teach it exactly how Mom or Dad taught it. With one student, I asked her to try to wait 5 minutes before she asked me for assistance on a task, OR, if it was a group task, ask her to try to seek assistance from her peers first. She did eventually get used to it, but it was something I didn't have to do with students who were homeschooled.
I think it boils down to the ones who do it because it is the best thing for their child vs. all schools/school teachers are at fault/bad/inadequate.
I also was wanting Dr. Phil to say something like "you didn't discuss this BEFORE you had your child?" because no matter what, I think both parents need to be committed to and participate in homeschooling. |
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