7 ms·

At least one of my three boys would have an incredibly hard time with this. He's definitely "aspie" in a lot of respects. The decision to home educate our 4 ch

• tocomment 13y ago
  Any tips on getting started? It sounds interesting but I wouldn't know where to start.
  • altcognito 13y ago
    Google homeschooling resources, and begin talking to the homeschooling groups in your local area. Homeschooling has a network of families that support each other generally. It's the easiest and best way to get started. Plus, you'll get a lot of guidance on what resources are good and which are a waste of time.
    • Groxx 13y ago
      Having been homeschooled, this is a great suggestion. It's pretty easy to get too isolated, and homeschooling groups help a lot. Also check with your local schools - I was able to take 2 classes while still being classified as 'homeschooled', for free (since it's part of taxes already), which can give access to tools that are otherwise way too expensive.
      • zaphoyd 13y ago
        Seconding this. I was also allowed to take two classes at the local high school free while being homeschooled. Useful for classes that benefit from in classroom interactions (foreign language) or expensive equipment (science labs).
      • archon 13y ago
        > Having been homeschooled, this is a great suggestion. Agreed. I was homeschooled as well, and homeschool groups were absolutely vital to making the experience a success for me. I did great teaching myself at home, but especially in high school, I needed outside classes and outside social activities. The city I grew up in had a huge homeschool community, so it was easy to find classes on a wide variety of subjects.
        • joelhooks 13y ago
          My son was in a great group this past year that was a Shakespeare deep dive. They gave a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the end of the year. It was a great experience.
      • PebblesRox 13y ago
        I'm so jealous! My parents homeschooled me for nine years, but put me in public high school because they weren't sure how to teach language classes and science labs effectively, and they wanted me to have more opportunities for social development. I was miserable and ignored the opportunities for gaining social confidence until college (when I finally put effort into making friends and realized what I'd been missing out on). I wish I could have gone your route; it seems like you got the best of both worlds! Oh well, I know what to look into for my own kids : )
    • danielweber 13y ago
      It's nearly a guarantee that you have at least two homeschool groups in your area: one explicitly secular, one explicitly religious. Don't be afraid to go wading in the pool of the "other" group.
      • joelhooks 13y ago
        we haven't had much luck with the more religious groups (as heathens). The mormons are actually really cool, so I agree, cross the fence. It doesn't always work out, but it is worth the effort because we live in a broad world and everybody has something to offer.
  • joelhooks 13y ago
    We have a great homeschool group that provides a lot of high quality social time combined with sports and other activities. We also participate in a co-op that is a lot of fun and provides some variety. The oldest is in a leadership program that has benefited him greatly. We are very loose curriculum wise and follow a self-education approach[1] loosely. The Robinson Curriculum is awesome, and I highly recommend it. [1] http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/ http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/
• sanarothe 13y ago
  I just want to say that you might want to consider public high school. There's a lot of social development going on there, even if most people come out of the entire system bitter.
  • joelhooks 13y ago
    My oldest is 15 and the decision is his to make. There are lots of avenues for social development and we talk about it as a family. He chose not to this year. I've offered both public and private options.
  • AutoCorrect 13y ago
    I'd rather they not develop 'socially' the way most high-schoolers do: conform to the group, if you're different you're wrong. Our children get plenty of socialization among their cousins and other home-schooled friends.
  • unimpressive 13y ago
    I walked out of the double doors for the last time. Where I had expected to see a large crowd of people there were only scattered groups of two or three. It didn't matter, they were probably already at flapjacks. I had never heard of the tiny breakfast diner until it was chosen as the unofficial after school lets out breakfast for my graduating class. Nobody else seemed to be showing up, so I walked with one of the tiny groups I saw. I had left home with the intention of eating at flapjacks, even if I dined alone. Getting out of school has a strange unreality to it. The thing that changes for me is home work. At least with a regular nine to five job you clock out and it's over. With school it's never over, homework is dealt in sufficient quantities to make sure that you're always left wondering if you've done all of it or not. Otherwise enjoyable activities will suddenly be interrupted by your memory trying to figure out if there's any homework that needs to be done. So when I walked out of the double doors my sense of reality was underpinned by the feeling that nothing had seemed to change. It wouldn't be until later that I'd realize my sleep schedule returned to normal after school let out. The walk to flapjacks was nothing to write about. We crossed a road, and then a bridge, and then a train track, and we were there. As we walked into the restaurant one of the boys at the center table yelled "GET OUT! GET OUT RIGHT NOW!", to which I yelled back an emphatic "FUCK YOU!". It took a few seconds of the other kids cacophony of "He can't say that..." before I remembered that I was, in fact, in a restaurant. I sheepishly apologized to the owner (who was cashier, waiter, and manager) and sat down next to the boy who yelled, Khanor. Immediately I started to wonder why I came. He apologized and told me that he was actually commenting on my beard, which I had shaved a few days prior, he hadn't been there for them. I inferred that he was speaking in that strange vernacular that all groups of teenage boys invent, and I had shouted at him for it. The distance between us made itself even more felt. I'd been to flapjacks exactly three times, at the end of my Freshman year, my Sophomore year, and now my Junior year. I happened to be hungry, and left with twenty dollars for food, which I spent all of. Part of the reason I came was to get a group photo. To take a photo in a public high school you're supposed to have everyone sign consent forms agreeing to be photographed. This is of course unwieldy for a group photograph, and I wasn't even sure where to get the consent forms. Besides, I wanted the photo to be organic, to show them accurately. When people pose stiff like corpses for a photo the memory is soiled. I remembered a photo I had seen on wikipedia of the Italian Arditi. The people in it seemed so lively that I could almost imagine standing there with them. I wanted a photo like that. Part of the problem with getting it was that I needed to take the photo before anybody left. The other problem was finding a place to take the picture, everybody was sitting too far apart to take it from the ground floor. The shot would need to be taken from above the floor level. I eventually set the camera and its tiny tripod on top of a ledge painted green that had a piano set against its side. It took me three tries as I recall to take the picture. Getting more than ten people to not pose for a group photo, but still look at the camera is an impossible task. What I eventually ended up with was a restaurant of boys and girls striking various poses. Even I had to quickly run to my seat to get in the photo. As I looked over the final photo I frowned, somebody had flipped off the camera, the others had tried to be "wacky" to stand out. The more I stared at my photo, the better I felt about it. These kids were the type to flip off a camera, and they were the type to make funny faces for a group photo, which in that sense gives a viewer the "realism" of their personalities. More importantly though, it was my photo, I could share it with anyone I wanted, any time I wanted. It's probably the only photo I have of these people that I can show. School got out at 9:15 as I remember it. My mom had made sure to tell me she couldn't pick me up if I missed the bus, so I knew that after I left this restaurant it would be a long walk home. I asked the boys next to me if I could get a ride in their truck. The short one, Mason, blew off the request, telling me it was a short walk to my house. (Later when I told my mom where I'd walked from her first comment was "That's clear across town!") I got up to pay, and went over my order with the overwhelmed manager, noting the orange juice he had forgotten to write down. (Flapjacks is the sort of restaurant that charges you three dollars for a glass of orange juice.) As I walked out Khanor drove past me, shouting in a mocking tone "Have fun at the hydroponics store!", a place I had announced my intention to visit earlier. It was right next door. When I got to the road, a man with a backpack stood there with me. He asked if I had any bus tickets. I looked at his olive face and almost considered asking him the cost of a bus ticket and giving him the money, but showing money to a stranger seemed like adding more danger than necessary to a walk across town. I told him no, which was the truth, and he pressed the crosswalk button and waited. It's funny, the last time I'd walked around in a town was years ago, and it wasn't until he'd pressed the button and I saw the little white man on the other side of the road that I remembered if it was the stop sign or the man that told you when to cross. In retrospect it seemed obvious that it was the man. I visited every store and building that I hadn't had occasion to prior. This included a trip to Value Village, where I looked over the used book selection and found it wanting, I usually have better luck at Goodwill. I walked out of Value Village with a book on technical writing, and started again down the sidewalk. By this point it was something like one o clock. As I walked down the side walk I became distracted by a passerby and ended up walking in front of a blue truck. The driver didn't seem pleased, and made a motion for me to walk up to the window, I declined and kept walking. And walking, and walking. I crossed another road, passed Starbucks, bought a Jones soda at Haggens, and made the final walk down to my house. On the way there I was worried about how I would clean up the soda bottle if I dropped it on the concrete. When I finally got to the door it was almost 2:15 PM. I sat down in my chair with a vague sense of malaise. The feeling of unreality from earlier had been heightened by the walk home. I realized it would have been better to dine alone. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Italian_Arditi.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Italian_... http://i.imgur.com/FtaMfSx.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/FtaMfSx.jpg?1