Home schooling?

femmedada · March 2008

I have been trying to come up with educational options for my daughter who will be beginning 6th grade in September. For reasons too complicated to get into here, home schooling is beginning to sound like a better and better option.

Does anyone know anything about homeschooling a middle school child? My daughter is warm, funny, kind and highly imaginative, and tests in the 98th and 99th percentiles on measures of verbal intelligence.

A friend of mine told me that there are groups of parents in the Slope/Carroll Gardens or Brooklyn Heights who have banded together to start their own "home schools," but my friend had no idea how to reach anyone involved with these efforts. I would like to find other parents involved in home schooling in these areas.

Anyone have a clue as to where I should look for a group home school or private tutors? Also, does anyone have experience (good or bad) homeschooling a middle school child?

Thanks so much.

Femme

filmlover44 · March 2008

Subject: Re: Home schooling?

Why don't you contact the NYCHEA?

old time brooklyn · March 2008

Subject: Re: Home schooling?

femmedada wrote: For reasons too complicated to get into here, home schooling is beginning to sound like a better and better option.

It's probably not complicated: most city schools suck and it's impossible to get into private schools or they're ridiculously expensive.

jhh1822 · March 2008

Subject: home school

Hi,

I tutor homeschooled kids (and kids in school), covering math, science, writing, reading, etc. My students have ranged from first through eighth grades (I also tutor high school-aged kids) and have, for the most part, lived in Park Slope.

I can also recommend a few resources (including a couple of excellent math and science series) and try to answer whatever questions you have.

You might also take a look at my reading website (for reading kids of all ages): www.readingpenpals.com.

Good luck,
J. Henning

scarlett · March 2008

I work with childreen ages 6-21 and all the kids I have known who were home schooled were socially awkward, never on age-appropriate testing levels........... even the kids with severe disabilities benefitted more from day hab. Just my two cents.

wtgirl · March 2008

My friend was homeschooled and she and her cousins are still pissed off at their parents for doing that. They really feel resentful about it (and they are in their 30s)! They felt claustrophobic and when my friend finally returned to public school she was shocked to be held back two years and had to be in class with junior high kids in order to catch up (which also didn't help her socially). My second cousin was homeschooled and he too was held back from the 10th grade. His mother "schooled" him at her convenience and around her schedule. This made it also hard for him to return to highschool and work on the rigid schedule that school is.

There are good middle and high schools in Brooklyn and NY.

the chipster · March 2008

what about all those Westinghouse winners and spelling bee phenoms who are wildy successful?! Sometimes Homeschooling is the best way for a child to learn; to not waste hours stuck in an overheated school all day. Not take test after useless test. And if you are gifted,HS is for you! Gifted children suffer so the more mediocre kids don't get "left behind" And if NCLB isn't repealled our country is screwed. Can you spell me. de. o. currrr?

booklaw · March 2008

Speaking of spelling, I think you meant "repealed".

wtgirl · March 2008

The Chipster wrote: And if you are gifted,HS is for you! Gifted children suffer so the more mediocre kids don't get "left behind"

If your child is truly gifted, then there are programs for those kids. (Not the gifted and talented programs which are for white middle class kids who test well). But how many kids are truly gifted (I know every Park Slope parent thinks their child is but actually gifted is only 3% of the population). Having a profoundly gifted child is no picnic. If you homeschool, it is more then a full time job because most profoundly gifted children are born to parents of usual IQs and they must constantly find ways and teachers and things that will challenge them. Most profoundly gifted children are not the most productive members of society in the end.

But that isn't the point of the post. There is definitely a big group of homeschoolers in Williamsburg (although I think they stop by middle school) and there is a group in Windsor Terrace/Kensington (again, this group is homeschooling elementary age kids). I am sure you can hook up with homeschoolers on PSP or any fundamentalist religious organization--i.e. most Jehovah witnesses homeschool as do fundamentalist christians.

queencallipygos · March 2008

Disclaimer: I do not have a child, and I do not know anyone who has a child that's currently in middle school now.

But: I live in Clinton Hill, and my neighbors have a very bright, funny, spunky ten-year-old who for a while was going to a school in Prospect Heights; however, this year she transferred to a magnet school for children with an interest in dance, and is by all reports doing very well. She has the regular classes, she just also has dance classes as well.

So I wonder if magnet schools may not be something you could investigate, particularly if your child has an especial interest in some area. She may have to go to another borough, and it may be a little competitive to get in, but from what I understand the academics are good, and your child also gets schooling in a particular field of interest.

scarlett · March 2008

Um, Booklaw, your period is misplaced. I think you meant "repealed."

Home schooling?

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