Anyone have their kiddos in a hybrid homeschool program? My nieces and nephew are and seem to love it, which has made my daughter (1st grade) start asking about it. They go 3 days a week and of course dont have a state attendance requirement which has been an irritation with public school. Education quality is first and foremost, not that I feel like public school is great in that regard so far, so I'm just gathering info and starting the research.
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Public school is not where you want your kids right now....the post covid school system is a joke...
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We homeschooled ours from K-12 with help from One Day Academy. Www.onedayacademy.com
They are 26 & 23 now, both college graduates and fine young adults. I wouldn’t do anything differently if I could.Comment
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We homeschool our kids. They did go to several Christian coops and some dual credit from lone star (mostly remote). No problem getting into college or graduating.Comment
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I have a daughter that did a hybrid program and graduated last year. My middle son decided he wanted to go to school everyday (he is at a private school). My youngest (12) goes to a hybrid program. They key is to find one that holds the child accountable. We have been in some that they school puts that on the parents and then it just became a glorified day care. I highly recommend a classical program. My daughter could write papers at an 2-3rd yr college level when she graduated. I see you are on the NW side of Houston. Shoot me a PM and I can give you some more information on a few programs around town.Comment
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No matter which direction you choose, the education of a child is ultimately on the parents. The most important skill a kid can have is the ability to read. That needs to be fostered at a very early age. The younger the better. Parents who push education will always have better educated kids. Parents who rely on some else to do it all will not.Comment
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Homeschooling is very effective, especially if you have access to the right resources or co-ops, which is easy to come by in the DFW area
My two boys will agree and attest… both went to college afterwards and did fine on the college level campus as welllComment
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Another vote for homeschooling. All 4 of mine are doing it. We're with Liberty Academy online. It's Christian based, the teachers do all the grading work, and it's been a blessing for our family.Comment
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Great question. I am looking at private school. We wanted to imbue a level of religious teaching on our kid, so we chose a daycare that is affiliated with a church. He has learned a ton about Jesus and God - more than I had at his age - and we're very happy. It ain't perfect, nothing is, but we are confident he is loved and is learning as much about Christianity as he is scholarly. And I agree with most here, public school just isn't for us anymore, even as my wife and I are successful products of it. It's just not the same.
We are looking at either a christian private school OR - at the recommendation of someone on TBH - the Acton Academy. I could write a novel on the Acton Academy, but I don't want to bore you. Do yourself a favor and listen to the Jordan Peterson podcast with Jeff Sendefer. He created the Acton Academy. I had to listen to the podcast twice because the first time I was seriously having a hard time grasping how it would work. Needless to say, I'm sold on the concept. My wife went to an open house in Grapevine the other day and they had an eight year old presenting why we should send our kid there. He is 8, but he knocked the presentation out of the park according to her. She was impressed when he answered the question "What has been your favorite thing to do so far in school?" The answer...
Learning to CODE and build a robot out of legos.Comment
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I say this as someone who was homeschooled from k-12. Much like public school, what you get out of it all depends on the involvement of the parents. There are a lot of advantages, like flexibility, being able to adjust to the individual child's learning style, etc. Social side of things like competitive sports don't happen as organically and require more effort from parents than public school programs. Definitely take advantage of dual credit programs in local community colleges for foreign language, math, history, sciences etc. Makes it easy to provide a high caliber junior and senior year. Will also give your kid a good hard look at what life looks like if you don't put in the work to take your education seriously.
I wouldn't do it for religious reasons. Teaching children to think critically, field challenges to their beliefs, to actually understand their faith, and wrestle with it, is one of the greatest gifts you can give them. It's either going to be real or it isn't, and just surrounding them with nothing but Christian inputs will only work until they leave the house, which they will, Lord willing, eventually.
One other thing I will add is that, based on my personal experience, homeschooling seems to lead to more binary results than public school. The people I know that I grew up with are either extremely successful, or extremely unsuccessful. Not a lot of in between. Public school is more designed to achieve average results for more people. That might be good, or it might be bad, depends on the kid.Comment
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This will be unpopular and I say this with all due respect. We, as men, are constantly commenting on this forum about how soft subsequent generations are, but we're always looking for a way to make things easier for them. I see kids coming out of public school every year with a bright future if they continue to make good choices. I've seen kids in private school that were there because they'd never survive anywhere else, because they'd been coddled to that point. Schools can't raise our kids.
I will admit that I have little experience in Homeschooling, but I liken it to a much cheaper version of private school. Good education in many cases and very little of the social perks (and issues) that we enjoyed (endured) as kids.
I had two girls that went K-12 in public school. Both went to Texas A&M and both own their own businesses. I had two girls that went K-5 to public, my wife talked me into 6-10.5 in private and then back to 10.5-12 in public. They both also went to A&M also. My older girls thrived in public school academically, as athletes and just enjoyed the life of a high schooler in a mid-size town. My younger girls also excelled academically and athletically in private school, but HATED the social aspect of private school, where weird boys at dances preferred to play Pokemon rather than dance with a girl; where there was no Friday Night Lights; where everyone was white, well-to-do, narrow minded and had little whales on their shirts. (IFKYK). They begged to move to public school after basketball season of their Junior year. Guess what? They excelled there too. They excelled socially and academically. I prefer my kids fight for their lunch money at least once. I want them to face uncomfortable situations early because that's what life will throw at them. They never have to learn to say "No", if there is never anyone trying to get them to say "yes".
I'm not saying that either is wrong, but I know which ones are easier and I regret the youngest two having it easy for those 5 years. So do they.
disclaimer: I'm doing 30 days without alcohol, bread, sugar or dairy, so I may just be delusional.
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There is a huge golf between public school and home schooling. Feels like trying to compare a bicycle to a Ferrari. I feel like there are many stops in between and not all public schools are created equal. For what it is worth I am a public school guy, But I live in the best public school district in Oklahoma. I have a lot of friends in church that go the homeschool rout and I respect them for it because of the effort a discipline in takes. I also am often jealous of their freedom to travel and not be tied down by the school schedule.
What I like about public schools is that there are actually many more programs in the large prominent public schools in Oklahoma vs. private. My 6th grader is in all advanced classes, algebra, reading, writing, orchestra all during regular school hours. She wrote her first novel last year through the school gifted program. My next one is a fantastic athletes and decent student. I know she will play with the best athletes and coaches in Oklahoma for the remainder of her k-12. My number 3 third grader has fallen behind on her reading. We are in constant contact with the reading specialist at school, that she now sees every day, and reading with her every night so it will be remedied. We also have a kindergartener and a 3-year-old. Also, we get to hand pick our teachers(unofficially) because we are polite and positively involved at the school. That means we know our teachers values. But it is still my job to instll the values in my children that I want them to possess. My kids also ride the bus which is awesome.
My private school friends are always surprised when one of their children are politely asked to leave the private school due to a learning disability or behavioral problems. Or told that they will need to independently pursue a speech pathologist because their child has an issue, and the school doesn't have a speech path on staff. And most of the good private schools in my area have good teachers, but private school teachers are not required to be certified in Oklahoma.
Having said all of the above I reserve the right to homeschool or send my kids to private school at any time. I am constantly monitoring the values and teachings of my kid's public school. The second we feel that things have gone the wrong way we will pull our kids in a heartbeat.Comment
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