Homeschooling?

Question

Although my son is only 2, I've really been considering homeschooling with everything that has happened lately. We live in a pretty small town (8,000 people) but I'm terrified to send him to school. Two nights ago there was a homicide, right across the street from the headstart school. The person who did it wasn't caught, but parents weren't notified until after they went to pick their kids up from school. A few months ago, a high school posted a picture of ammo on Snapchat with the caption "don't go to school on Monday." The kid is still in school and in no trouble. Just today, just over an hour away a 14 year old was arrested for threatening to do a school shooting. Besides that, atleast one child a year commits suicide in our little town due to bullying. Metal health issues are a laughing stock at these schools. Recently a 14 year old did "suicide by cop." I'm just terrified for my son and what could happen at school. It seems there are problems every where right now, so even moving wouldn't be a solution to how I feel.

Answer

I was homeschooled my whole life and my sister homeschools her kids. When I got into middle school I started an online program. There are many, such as Connections Academy and K12, which help you to homeschool with their guidance and coursework. There is a big misconception that homeschooled kids are sheltered and antisocial. We can just do things during the day that other kids cant, as well as at night with others! I am now graduating college and I am married so it must not have been too bad on my social life :P

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i have 5. my lldest two are in a virtual academy and we have field trips, live lessons which are interactive with teachers and classmates... flexibility.. it's wonderful..

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To be honest there are quite a number of reasons why our children will go to public school. The first of these being that I know they will get a better education from instructors who are knowledgeable in their subject areas than they would get from either my husband or I using a pre-built curriculum (and we both have masters degrees.) My homeschooling experience consisted of my parents purchasing curricula for me to work through and I basically taught myself. This despite the fact that my mother has a doctorate degree. There are just so many subjects that you can’t be expected to be able to effectively teach your child in all of them. While I wouldn’t necessarily say that my education suffered too badly (I got my GED and put myself through an associates, bachelors, and MBA), I’ve seen a lot of kids including my own sister who really needed a special education plan and didn’t receive that support within a homeschool environment, but most definitely would have had they been in public school. 
Secondly, and I know folks will fight me on this, but like it or not homeschoolers do not get the same socialization and experiences that public school kids receive. My mom did a lot to try and get us out of the house for field trips with other homeschooling families and we also did co-op learning, and church groups (AWANA etc.) It’s not the same. I would say that probably a good 80% of the homeschoolers I grew up with are not socially well adjusted and some of them have paid for that by making mistakes that might have otherwise been avoided if they had been better socialized when they were younger. Speaking from my own experience, shortly after I got my first job I was overwhelmed by the interactions and started having panic attacks which developed into generalized anxiety and agoraphobia. I was basically constrained to living at home and taking anti-anxiety meds for a year and a half before I was able to get another job. It wasn’t until I forced myself to enroll in community college classes which provided the social experiences I had lacked up until this point that I fully developed as an individual and gained self confidence.
Lastly, many of you are mentioning safety risks/fears as being a primary reason to make the decision to homeschool. I won’t say that this isn’t a valid concern; my husband used to work in the high school in our district and they have experienced threats although no actual shootings, and beyond this they typically lose at least one graduate/year to drug overdose. He now works in one of the middle schools, but issues like bullying are still very real as well. That being said, I refuse to give into living in fear and keeping my children in a bubble to protect them. They will need to learn how to deal with bullying, drug use/peer pressure, and threats of all kinds (physical or not) as adults. Do I want them to have to see these as children? No. But do I want to be able to support them and encourage them in ways to navigate these sorts of situations while they are young rather than seeing them make potentially life changing mistakes down the road because they don’t know what to do at that point? Absolutely. 
In my opinion, the lifelong benefits to be gained by sending my children to public school (at least in my area) are more beneficial to them than the benefit of keeping them home for my peace of mind and “protecting” them. Violence in schools is real, there’s no denying that. But to let ourselves live in fear when the statistical probability of something like Sandy Hook or Parkland happening to *my* children is still as remote as it is gives the perpetrators in events like this even more power over us as a community than they deserve. 
There are other financial reasons why my children will go school as opposed to homeschooling (having them go will allow me to go back to work, and they will be able to commute to/from with their father every day) but I won’t get into that because those situations can vary so much from family to family. I hope this helps explain our reasonings behind our decision! And hopefully Glow won’t break up my nicely formatted paragraphs.

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my sons just 2 months old and i decided i will be homeschooling him when i was still pregnant. im concerned about bullying and all this too but its not just the kids. i found out a few years ago that a teacher at my old high school, who had been my music teacher, was convicted for drugging and raping several male students over his 20+ year career. so yeah that was scary. everyone thought he was so nice. I also feel I can educate my children better myself. no unruly class clowns to derail leaaons. i remember my school years well. distracting the teacher aa much as possoble so they dont have to learn anything was the ultimate goal for some boys. there were alaays a few like this in every class. made me frustrated. we never learned shit. i want my son to enjoy learning not see it as something to avoid ar all costs.

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i agree with you. i live in a bad town amd everywhere we move too is horrible. last Halloween night i brough my children hom from trick or treating amd cops amd all on my court. there was a double homicide. it was scary. just a month before that some teenagers broke into a womens house and robbed and shot her. she lived amd doing ok now.  its scary in this world today. i have 4 kids 3 older ones are in school and i also have a 2 yr old and her father amd I asked each other about homeschooling her as well, i say go for it. at least you know your baby is home with you safe and sound.

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Seriously, sometimes I consider it too but I'm opossed to asking my husband because he might think I'm sheltering him too much.

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ugh I feel the same way and we live in a small town too! 😞 my daughter just turned 1 and it scares the shit out of me just thinking about it.

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Just because you homeschool your kids it doesn’t mean they won’t still in harms way. As much as many parents want to protect their children they can’t always do that. People are getting crazier everyday it’s risky to even go to your mailbox to get the mail.

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I’m homeschooling. I was a math and music tutor for years and my husband was a professor. Most public schools are garbage, funneling straight into prison.

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I love homeschooling - but there are some great public schools. Every family and every area is different you just have to do what you believe is best for your family. 💜

Homeschooling?

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