Posted on 10/05/2006 2:02:08 AM PDT by Mr170IQ
They certainly could, easily. I had two years of college done at 18. And that wasn't pushing me, I did those 'two years' of classes in three years at the community college. But if your kids have their college degrees at eighteen, what will they do then? It varies with every kid but I know I was not ready to go away to college at 16. I might have been ready to work a real job at 18 but probably not.
It can work, certainly, and by the time you get to that point with your kids, you'll know.
review
An attentive art teacher can easily see if the kid has thrown something together at the last minute. He or she should be graded on effort, attitude, craftsmanship and attention to detail. I agree that he should NOT be graded on the teacher's subjective opinion of the actual "worthiness" of the finished art.
It does definitely depend on the maturity of our kids and their interests, our income, all of that. We don't even have kids yet, but I can't help but get excited by the possibilities the future holds! :)
Sounds fantastic! :) I am always curious on how different people approach homeschooling. I like the idea of continuing school year-round and beginning with educational-type things at a young age. I can't wait until we have kids of our own so we can go through the journey with them! :) Thanks for the info on your particular style!
LOL To me, this comes across as though it was written by a sullen but intelligent 16 year old who is ticked off because he had to do homework instead of playing video games with his buddies one evening.
Well, it's not too early to start thinking - I only got married a month ago but I've been planning homeschooling stuff ages before that.
The one real constraint as far as ages go is that in very few cases will a sixteen year old be ready to travel hours away from home to live at school. If you live somewhere with lots of colleges, or even a decent community college that can get them started on their program, no reason to keep them in high school longer than they need to be. But if they really want to attend a particular school that's not nearby... in my case, my mother did not want me to leave town to go to a college so I went to a seriously lacking program and then got myself into graduate school so I could learn what I'd missed as an undergrad. Thankfully when she saw I did not go nuts in college she was all right with my younger siblings being farther from home.
Oh, and by the way: we homeschooled year round. Took two weeks off every few months to veg out or take trips but schooling year round keeps you from forgetting stuff or getting out of the mode. Since our school days didn't take very long until high school, I didn't mind.
I do agree with not sending a younger teenager away from home. I guess I was hoping we'd live in an area close to a couple of large public colleges (coming from the East coast, I'm used to having a bunch of colleges within 30 minutes of home).
Yup, we agree on the year round too. Why hold yourself to the non-summer months - you'll just forget stuff! Sounds like you were schooled similarly to how we want to educate our kids.
For some majors, I would agree. For others - for instance, how could one get a degree in chemistry without taking actual lab courses? And the one thing I discovered in grad school is that college can be, if you choose to make it so, a great time of life socially. You can have lots of friends with common interests, few demands on your time, and it doesn't take much effort. Now that I am out of school I really miss that. All of a sudden I don't talk to anyone or get to hang out and make really geeky jokes with other computer science students.
Although my experiences before grad school - going to community college and then commuting to a tiny school near my home - were good for me in a lot of ways and I can see God's hand in things, sometimes I wish I'd had four years of that social experience instead of just two. No, that's no reason to pile on tons of debt but it's a benefit of college that internet classes and other options don't cover.
Every family will be different of course. Every kid in each family will be different. No one mold works for everyone.
I was homeschooled all the way through, my husband for about half the time. That was one of the many things that attracted us to each other! We have spent time talking about our future homeschooling plans even though that's years off. There will be things we do that are different than how our parents did them. Just remember that the beauty of homeschooling is that it is flexible - you can do exactly what works for your family and nobody is to tell you that's wrong.
The one thing I would point out that many people don't seem to realize is that - and this is getting back to what the article was talking about, in a round about way - it does not take 8 hours of school a day, plus homework, to educate kids. I believe if a not-yet-highschool kid starts school at 9 and works diligently, he should be done by noon easily. Then the afternoon is for playing outside, building lego or model rockets or baking cookies or reading books. Letting kids be kids is a wonderful thing homeschooling gives back!
I agree for sure. My husband was homeschooled for a lot of his growing up years. I myself was a public school student. I felt like I was held back in a lot of areas, not taught enough in others. School also inspired me to dislike certain subjects (history in particular) that I think I would've liked, given a chance. I get really excited with the idea of doing what fits us best in raising our kids and not being told by a big public school what our kids need...
If you get to be the primary teacher of your kids, you'll get to learn all those things! My mother says she only learned history, really, when she taught us. And she had as much fun as we did reading "Winnie the Pooh" and other read-alouds.
Trust me. It's the best thing you can do for your kids. Think about whatever salary you could make. Now compare it to your kids having a real education, a real childhood, and parents who they know are always there for them. Almost makes any sacrifice sound easy, doesn't it? Heh, when I think of things that way I almost can't wait to have kids... almost...
Homework? What is that? The girls did my homework for me the next day on the bus going to school. I know that is against the morals of most on FREEPERS but I was 10 or 13 or something. I guess I survived it and somewhat productive in America. lol.
Gosh, I am sorry that you have that type of job. Any possibility of getting something else. I know sometimes it is impossible (years at company, family matters etc), but it just doesn't seem to enjoyable. Good Luck!!!!
Homework, Part II
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1715240/posts?page=61,11
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