Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Penny for your thoughts

There are a lot of opinions out there on how children should be educated. I want to hear your thoughts. I think all of the options - public, homeschool, and private - have pros and cons. So...let me know. What are you doing or planning on doing and why? Just curious.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

My husband had private elementary, was homeschooled for middle school and had public high school. I had all public.

I honestly don't have the patience to homeschool :) I taught preschool, I can handle that and I'm doing simple things with our oldest (approximately 2.5) right now (about 15-20 mins of structured things in the morning and afternoon - songs, letter/number tracing recognition, motor skills, etc...) I'm using a modified version of ABCJesusLoves me.

We'd love to be able to send the boys to a charter school, but, we already agreed before we were even married that they would go to public school (we'll apply for charter, but know that since it's a lottery, we may not get in).

Melissa Kell said...

There is a lot of irony in this for me. I have ALWAYS said that my children would go to public schools. Then God moved me to FL so he could break me of my stubbornness. The school system here is well, BAD!!! We did send Landon to pre-k here (it is free) to discover that he was bored, stayed in trouble and became a bully.
A month before school we decided to homeschool (excuse me as I swallow my words). God gave me a burden for the teachers. So many children are sent to school by parents/guardians who don't care about their education. The way I look at it, if Landon is at home, then that's one less child a teacher has to work with and he/she can focus on other children.
Landon had a lot of friends from pre-k who didn't attend church. This is the only thing that I miss about public school. We are still friends with some of these families.
I will never tell someone what I think they should do, but I'm happy with the decision that we have made. It's a personal decision between you and God. Every year we will evaluate where we are decide what steps to take next.

carlyn said...

funny i just now saw this on your blog!! i know we already talked about this some but i thought i would challenge myself to put my thoughts into words since it is an issue i have run into a lot lately. james and i were but public schooled. i have to say that for the most part my experience was pretty negative and james claims his was pretty good. we have known for about 5 years that we would homeschool any children God blessed us with. but our decision originally came because of our plans to do international missions. we have been encouraged to start homeschooling from the beginning so that will be one less change for the family when we move to another country. the more i learn, read, pray about and talk to others about the subject the more i am encouraged and excited about it (at first i was scared to death). so here are the reasons i think homeschooling is going to be awesome and should be strongly considered by every family(note: i am not saying i think it is the best decisions for every family). i think i can provide my children with a better education than they would get else where. i can tailor the curriculum to their learning needs and there interests. i will be able to teach them about the Bible in addition to normal school subjects. i can do this in far less time than then would take in a public setting. we will have much more time for fun family activities and travel and will not be tied down by school year schedule. my children will be each others closest friends and will enjoy each other company more than if they were in separate classes all day. i can teach my children practical skills such as cooking, cleaning, sewing, gardening, etc. i will have more time with my children in their formative years to live out Deut 6:7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise"

Anonymous said...

Interesting question... Tim really wants to homeschool our kids. I think that would be great, except I am now in my Master's program to teach. So now we are thinking about either homeschooling while I also work, or putting our kids through private school. Either way, we are both against public school. Tim is against it b/c of political reasons. I am against it b/c of my horrible experience with public school. Either way, Carlyn has made me rethink the homeschool thing (I have been rooting for private school). I do like the idea of traveling whenever and getting to design the curriculum to my kids' needs. If we homeschooled and I was still working, we would hire a nanny and teach the kids at night. Not impossible, lots of parents do this actually, just difficult. We still have many years to figure this one out.

mendi said...

well...you know i'm a blockstalker who doesn't ever respond. but someone should speak on behalf of those kids out there stuck in public school (like i was...am?) my husband and i were public school kids; we are well educated and (i just asked him about this) both grateful we were in a public setting. you guys know that i began attending church in middle school because a girl at lunch asked me to sit with her. then her amazing family let me spend the night with them every saturday for a year. i saw Christ CLEARLY because of my public education. my husband showed others Christ CLEARLY in a public school. people find him on facebook now to tell him of the example he was in their lives. if we take out the light and the example of how God intended life to be, who will show them? the statistics on people accepting Christ after the age of 18 are terrifying. (obviously this is more important than an ACT score, but educationally, i think i turned out ok.)

Talia said...

every time i hear your story, mendi, it renews my passion for public school. my passion changes weekly between public, private, and homeschooling : ). i know, i know, i said i would never homeschool ; ). sigh. it is such a big decision. i am praying that God will place on my heart what is best for our family. thank you all for your thoughts. keep them comiing!

 
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