Homeschooling or private schooling??

there are more options than just public or homeschool. i hope to send my daughter to montessori when that time comes, and when she’s a little older maybe a hybrid between school at home and homeschool meetup groups or a part time school. i definitely don’t want public school for many reasons, but safety is a big one

I send my oldest to a magnet school, they seem much safer than your general neighborhood public school based on statistics and talks with other parents!

My son is homeschooling until he’s able to coherently tell us about his day! We’ll reevaluate in a few years. But for now I’m not worried. 3-3.5 years old is when socialization actually starts to matter, and there’s home schooling pod groups all over the place, there’s museums and national parks that have educational packets they hand out if you ask for them & their state approved learning materials! I’d prefer my child to be able to exist and socialize in actual society than focus on having a perfectly behaved student (: Also getting a library card to your local public library is a huge game changer for early socialization opportunities as well as indoor play spaces (:

research on social skills of homeschooled kids shows they have mostly the same (or better) social skills. I plan to homeschool & I was previously a teacher. Although I like the flexibility of homeschooling, I don't think you should base your decision on fear.

@Izzie I’ve been looking at some charter schools and ofc I won’t send him to a school without having a vist there to see if we like it

You live a couple of hours from me in a small town. I just looked it up and less than 500 students in prek-3. I feel like with both the small town life and the remote location, you are likely pretty safe. You should be able to ask anyone around town about school security. The biggest concern I have with Oklahoma public education is our state secretary. Feel free to message me if you want more information on that. Homeschooling in Oklahoma is a fine alternative, if you are up to it. I would make sure kids are in sports or church or clubs outside of just being with the family unit all of the time. Homeschooling requirements are pretty lenient here, which can often lead to kids being put back in public education without actually being taught at home. Just don’t do that and you could go either route. I’ve also been a public educator in Oklahoma for over a decade, so feel free to message me if you have further questions.

The lack of socialization with homeschooling is no longer an issue in most areas. Homeschooling is gaining in popularity every year, especially in the last 3 years! Seek out your local homeschoolers to see what's available in your area. Autumn through spring, we have 2-3 homeschool activities a week, my parents visit once a week, & we try to get together with my best friend & her kids once a week. I'd say we average 10-20 hours each week. And that's not including trips to the grocery store or field trips, or doing anything else that involves navigating the real world. 😉

I was homeschooled for a portion of time and always told how good my social skills are how I can hold a conversation and my active listening. I grew up going to various co-ops and groups. One thing I would be mindful of is that some of the group can be religious based and some co-ops vary like my mom wasn’t and let me read what I wanted when I talked about it in my English class they went and talked to my mom

I plan to homeschool. Don't trust public schools or people very much to just send my kid there.

Homeschooling children have a way better social life than children In a school house......Homeschooling doesn't mean children stay In the house all day.....homeschooled children have a free range 😉.....I'm a homeschool mother of 11 years.....all the school systems suck....private, charter, public, whatever.....set your own foundation for your children don't let nobody else do it......it's way better to teach on a clean empty canvas than it is to teach on an already messy scattered one 👌🏾👍🏾

@Brandi what about foco Colorado bc I will be there for a while too

School shootings should not be the reason to not enroll your children in public school. It has happened numerous times, but the odds are slim. Schools have gotten stricter with security as well. If this is your only reason, I believe your paranoia may hinder your children. You cant hide them from the world to protect them, u may end up doing more harm than good. Do u have any other reasons?

I think it depends. A lot of kids are homeschooled to abuse and what not. I know there’s home school groups and meet ups but personally anyone I’ve ever met during my life that said they were homeschooled I followed immediately with “I know” they were all very smart just socially inept/off

My husband and I talk about this a lot too. Ultimately we decided that we will try a couple of different things out and see what works best for us and our child. It’s hard to say what will be best for your kid because I truly believe that certain kids do better in a “traditional setting”, while others will thrive in Montessori, and others will do better with some form of homeschooling, etc. So it might help to just try out multiple things to see what works for your family.

I was homeschooled for most of elementary school and was absolutely miserable for this exact reason. I’m naturally a very extroverted and social person and hated not being able to be in a group of kids. I was instantly so much happier and started thriving so much more academically when I went back into school.

I'd talk to the local school district about their security measures before deciding - as a public school employee, there have been huge changes in safety and security across my 10 years in this setting. Also, I'm not sure why you'd assume it would be impossible for a shooting to occur in a private school? If you home school, I would try to establish a network of other home schooling families to create social opportunities outside the home. I can't speak for all but the few home schooled people I've met definitely don't have typical social skills. I think you can certainly develop them, but because it isn't part of the home school environment I think you'd have to be really diligent and purposeful about creating those opportunities.

Homeschooling doesn’t cause social issues unless you keep your kids in a box. I was homeschooled most of my life and went to private schools…I had more opportunities to be social while homeschooling because we went to parks, local group activities, field trips with our co-ops. Now it’s even better, there are so many cool meetup groups and co-ops! We are having each kid start in a Waldorf School from pre-k to 1st grade, then pulling them out and homeschooling! We will follow the flow of their needs, but hoping they enjoy homeschooling longer term!

Im home schooling my baby girl when she is old enough ....