[joshstrange]

I wholeheartedly believe you are doing your children a disservice and setting them up for failure by homeschooling them. I'm sure you have your reasons and I'm sure you think they are good ones but I honestly can't believe it's what's best for them. If you want to work from home work from home there are a number of online resources/job boards to do this (WeWorkRemotely comes to mind) but don't homeschool. I honestly can't think of anything worse than being cooped up all day with a single parent and then not being able to go out because dad has to work in the hours he isn't teaching. Homeschooling is bad enough on it's own but further removing the ONLY parent from society? Dear god... I can count on 1 finger the homeschooled adults I know that are capable of non-awkward social interactions, don't do that to your kids. To be perfectly honest if I was a judge your spouse would have to be a real piece of work to give a stay-at-home homeschooling father with no current job custody.

Sorry to be so blunt but if you go forward with your stated plan I think you are making a huge mistake. I understand how parts of this comes off "Who the fuck is this guy to be telling me how to raise my children?" but I think if you were to poll people (on HN or elsewhere) you would get a similar response re: homeschooling.

[quadrangle]

As a teacher who has worked with homeschooled children but not been homeschooled myself or been a homeschooling parent, I can assure you that you are grossly misjudging here with very little perspective.

You don't know what you're talking about, you're just speculating.

The kids I worked with went to specialized classes anywhere from 1 to 4 days a week (where I taught them), had a network of active social relationships, participated in local sports clubs, and were also able to avoid some of the pitfalls of traditional schooling. They learned from some of the best teachers around for the subjects their parents didn't feel comfortable with. They were commonly more well-adjusted people than most. They are people you wouldn't guess were homeschooled and they went off to standard (and sometimes elite) colleges. You may know a lot more homeschooled people than you realize.

I also saw some real problem kids where parents were not doing the necessary things to give the kids space, independence, and proper socialization. In my case, that was the exception but obviously I didn't get to see any of the kids who are so isolated that they wouldn't have come to the out-of-home classes where I was a teacher.

To assume that homeschooling means the kids never get out in the world, don't have friends and social interactions and are just cooped up inside just shows you have no understanding of what homeschooling is like (in that it varies widely). Just like all other forms of schooling, it can be done wonderfully and done terribly.

You have no understanding of what the case is for this particular parent.

[bioneuralnet]

What you're describing sounds kind of awesome, but it's not "homeschooling." It needs a different term. And you're right, we don't know which OP is considering. But given that money will be tight...probably not the one that involves paying tutors.

And I can assure you, the bad kind you describe is not the exception. What percent it actually represents no one knows, which is a whole other problem. But it's not just a few people here and there.

There are huge networks of people and conferences full of vendors selling parents do-it-all-yourself curricula. In the 90's and early 2000's Bob Jones University (even most evangelical Christians think they're too extreme) found it profitable to sell pre-recorded math and science lessons for high school level homeschoolers. And while I know what valence electrons are (my public school peers probably forgot), I also thought the Earth was 6000 years old into my mid twenties. And like I said, they didn't make and sell all those videos just for me.

It would be great to have more hard data on the current state of homeschooling/home tutoring though...

[pattrn]

> What you're describing sounds kind of awesome, but it's not "homeschooling." It needs a different term.

This describes most of the homeschoolers I have ever known, including myself. It's what I think of when I hear the word. Perhaps I had an atypical experience, having grown up in a Boston suburb.

[quadrangle]

Once anyone starts homeschooling these days, they use the internet etc. and learn about resources, find out there are others around them… I would guess it's actually the tiny minority of homeschoolers who don't know about and have some involvement in these sorts of co-teaching, co-op, special tutor, etc.

Side-note for the original OP if they're reading this: these types of communities are so supportive of one another, there may even do things like fundraise to help the more needy within their communities or otherwise work with you. There's huge benefits from being part of such communities which are typically far stronger and meaningful than any community of parents around a typical school.

Now, that's not to say everything is fine. Some large portion (majority?) of homeschooled kids including most of the ones who went to these largely excellent co-op elective things where I taught are homeschooled in part so their fundamentalist parents can keep them away from ideas that would challenge their religious dogma. So, the kids learn ballroom dancing, computer programming, public speaking, music, and more while being socialized in a largely healthy, supportive place with close friends… and also learn that the Ice Ages were caused by the floods around Noah's Ark a few thousand years ago… and the sort of parents who are those fundamentalists have inherently some other quirks that lead to some awkwardness. Also, the rest of us don't know that these people exist since they were never our classmates in normal schools.

And there's a portion of homeschool parents who are just great in every regard and homeschool because they can afford it and realize that the combination of what they can do plus all community resources results in a top-notch education. So, those kids took classes with me at the same places and skipped the insane anti-science classes that were also taught there and instead taught their kids real science either on their own or through different outlets.

In short, it's complex. But everyone who experiences these not-all-that-home-schooled contexts realizes that it's pretty good and that leads to more people doing it. So, in the end, I suspect that's the majority of homeschoolers these days. It's probably super rare to be homeschooled and literally just be at home and never connect to these other home-school resources right around you.

[sjrmb]

Ok regarding a poll of HN re:homeschooling here's a positive vote. I was homeschooled during my elementary years and I had a truly great experience. The issue with homeschooling is that it has high variance in outcomes. For some families homeschooling can really be a negative, kids won't be challenged or the parents might have an extremely narrow worldview they intend to foster in their children. There can absolutely be cases where kids become isolated to their detriment. However the benefits can be wonderful. Homeschooling gave me a chance to move at a much faster pace than traditional public schools could have offered. I was able to excel in very different areas (mathematics and art) I believe in a large part because I had total freedom to persue every field to the full extent of my abilities. Also the question of "socialization" is one that I find is somewhat out of date with the way many families homeschool. I always took part in homeschool co-ops once a week and I had many friends who homeschooled. We went on tons of field trips to museums , parks and cultural events. Many places actually cater to homeschool groups visiting during the weekdays. For example I remember getting a behind the scenes personal tour at the local aquarium a and the ski hill nearby had weekday ski days for homeschool families. Also I find that some of the negative experiences some people had at a traditional school I didn't have to deal with at all. I know many people who were bullied for being nerdy introverted kids who actually enjoyed learning (I can't help but think that might have been me and I could have had far less confidence in myself as a result). Kids can be cruel and not all "socialization" is positive. As a final note I hear that "all the homeschoolers I know are hella awkward" objection all the time. It's classic selection bias. The homeschoolers who pass as socially "normal" don't get counted.

[pattrn]

How many homeschooled adults do you know? As a successful homeschooled adult who knows a considerable number of other successful homeschooled adults, I have to respectfully disagree with your conclusions.

It's difficult to counter an argument about homeschooling having a negative effect on social interactions, since that observation is highly subjective. For what it's worth, I've never had any trouble grabbing beers with co-workers after work or meeting people in social settings. Some of my homeschooled friends definitely feel uncomfortable in social situations; I wouldn't say it happens with a higher frequency than my non-homeschooled friends.

That aside, when discussing education I prefer to compare quantifiable metrics, such as test scores, college GPA, employment rate, and median salary. A number of studies have compared these metrics, many of which indicate that homeschooling may provide better opportunities for children (after adjusting for income, location, ethnicity, number of parents at home, number of working parents, etc...). If you're interested, I can dig up these studies.

Homeschooling has prepared me, all of my siblings, and many of my childhood friends incredibly well for the "real world." I highly recommend it.

[1123581321]

You probably don’t know the backgrounds of the people around you. Homeschooled adults are about 3% of the population, test at parity or above, attend college and don’t have an unusual unemployment rate. At some point that starts to look like normal.

I do see that some homeschooled adults are more comfortable doing their own thing, similar to Montessori-educated adults, and some people find having interesting hobbies and jobs upsetting, but we need a few more people like that!

[jonbrennecke]

As another anecdote in favor of homeschooling, as a kid I was homeschooled in a small town in north Idaho and I believe I've escaped all the stereotypes of the awkward homeschooled adult. Quite the contrary, I'm a very successful app developer. And even though I work remotely I have a great social circle.

Of the childhood friends I still keep in touch with, I know several other who were homeschooled. None of them are awkward, antisocial or unsuccessful.

[DoreenMichele]

I think if you were to poll people (on HN or elsewhere) you would get a similar response re: homeschooling.

FYI. I homeschooled my sons. Tokenadult homeschooled and is author of one of the earlier and most respected homeschool websites, Learn in Freedom.

http://learninfreedom.org

I worked for The TAG Project for part of the time I homeschooled.

http://www.tagfam.org

[jrowley]

One other important thing to consider is that the Wisconsin public school system has been gutted by Scott Walker, so unless you're in a particularly great district, there might not be great resources for students, and there will probably be large class sizes.

[wungsten]

He responded to another comment which asked why he is homeschooling, if you're interested.