If you started at home with pre-k or K, don’t answer that question. Actually, I don’t even think you really need to answer the question if you started them at the elementary level. Most kids that age adapt rather quickly. I’m mostly talking about your teenager who was pulled from the public school system. Does he/she like homeschooling? I’m curious if it’s just a boy thing, or if girls are the same way when it comes to the feeling of “missing out” on life.
He’s a lot like his dad when it comes to high school. Getting an education is a must do, because the law says I have to! It’s not really necessary! The only difference between the two of them is that his dad wasn’t real outgoing. Our boy gets that part from me. Public school was extremely important for one reason and one reason only…socializing! It’s where you hang out with your friends, talk in class, talk at lunch, talk on the bus, and of course there’s the sports!
I get it, I do, but I also knew I had to make the grades! I had the parent who threatened physical punishment for anything less than an A. The man was ridiculous, but that is an entirely different story. We don’t talk about him much, so back to the subject… I was lucky to make a B with all of my socializing and what I had to put up with at home. I did make worse grades and took my punishment. I was most likely capable of getting a B with little effort had I kept my mouth shut, but I didn’t. As for straight A’s… That wasn’t likely. I didn’t learn how to study till I got into college. I struggled for a while, but it paid off in the end! I wasn’t top of the class with my 3.67 GPA for my undergrad, but I did get a 4.0 when I graduated with my masters. It wasn’t easy. It’s not supposed to be.
I never pressure my boy to make all A’s (or even all B’s) but I do want him to do his best. I know what he is capable of, but sometimes I feel like he is going to be forever miserable for the simple fact we are home-schooling. Or at least he wants me to feel that way because he’s not getting his endless hours of talking and socializing.
He enjoyed public school. Ask me how I know!...He hardly ever missed school. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to get behind on assignments and the like, though because he NEVER had any of those, nor did he ever have homework… Bahaahaaahaa!
We decided to home school for several reasons. At the top of our list was that our boy was so easily influenced by the world. We envisioned what the high school years could bring about and how he would deal with peer pressure. Our go with the flow, follow the crowd boy… oh you can imagine. Because he already (just in the 7th grade) focused too much on socializing than his education, he was very close to failing by the 2nd half of the year. The grades were gradually declining. Assignments weren’t getting done in class. Homework never came home to get done. He was becoming more obsessed with having friends, hanging out, and sports. We knew we had to do some re-directing. He needed to find the JOY in life and not just be full of joy in school.
So our boy is still working on the whole JOY thing (Jesus 1st, Others 2nd, Yourself Last), but it’s coming along terribly slow and not without trying to make the rest of us feel miserable for turning his life upside down. He doesn’t realize that there are certain influences you don’t need in your life, and removing them form the equation is an easier way to handle things at this point. As you grow in Christ, one can become more equipped to handle all the good and the bad this world has to offer.
I love the Bible scripture in my header.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
I’m trying! I’m trying, Lord!
‘n a note to all readers who don’t know a thing about homeschooling or happened upon a one of those rare families that lock their kids in the home and never let them out giving the rest of us homeschooling families a bad name… (eyes roll) spare me the replies with a story, please! I am not raising up a socially deprived outcast who won’t be able to function in the real world!
The boy does get to socialize! Yes, the majority of that is with people at Sunday school, youth service, church/outreach events, and family, but he does travel a lot. He goes on hunting trips with his paw paw! I have yet to have the two of them return without a story of meeting someone new, hitting it off, and practically making lifelong friends. Yep, these are adults, but he does well with them. He even befriended one man’s wife and hung out with the entire family for a few hours.
Our vacations are much the same, except he typically meets people closer in his age. On our last cruise, he befriended a bartender. We’re not drinkers, but the guy was assigned to our area of the dining room. They got to talking here and there and even when he wasn’t working the dining room. On the last day, they swapped contact info.
There is definitely something about him! Complete strangers become best friends in a matter of minutes! One guy even passed off his iPhone 4 to him to play games with while he was break dancing. He could have ran off with that $300 device and tossed it overboard or gave it to his mom…lol! … yeah… I know! I would have given it back! Maybe…lol! Jk!
Anywayz….He’s never made a person, young or old that he hasn’t found something in common with and eventually called friend. He maintains those relationships and the relationships from public school via phone and online, so he’s not socially inept. But I guess some resentment to what he ‘thinks’ he is missing out on is expected. We all know there is nothing like hanging out with your buds at lunch, ya know.
