If you home school your child, how far is it from your home to a traditional school?
May 9th, 2009 | by |If you live in a rural/suburban/urban area and you home school your child, how far is the nearest public/private school from your home? Did u decide to home school your child for your/their convenience?
I was misspelling the term "homeschool" on purpose....lol
Im not saying people choose to homeschool as a matter of convienence, but did it play a factor?
If anyone homeshcooled for JUST convienence, It would be a shame.
No major term paper on homechooling, I just like to expand my mind and learn new, interesting facts each day. When I go back to school, I'll think about doing a research paper on this subject.
The internet is great!!!!! You can chat with people from different walks of life to learn numerous things.
Tags: convenience, convienence, interesting facts, private school, research paper, shame, term paper, urban area, walks of life
By Mom x 4 on May 9, 2009
I have to admit that the convenience of not having to rush around in the morning getting four small children ready for school and out the door is a definite benefit to homeschooling in my opinion. I also like the convenience of being able to avoid crowds on vacation or even at the store after school. But convenience is not the reason we homeschool.
Our neighborhood school is about a 7 minute walk or a 3 minute drive, and private schools range from 20 to 45 minutes away. Neither would be exceptionally difficult to get to. My kids' gym is 20 minutes away on a good day, and we are up there a lot. Other activities aren't super close either, but we go if it's worth the trip.
Homeschooling is far from convenient even with the benefits I stated above. I have my kids with me ALL the time. I love it, but it's not convenient. I have to strategically plan dentist appointments, haircuts, etc. It's very tricky. I either take them grocery shopping with me, or I work around my husband's schedule. I can't get anything done while they're in school because they don't leave for school. They have activities, but usually not at the same time, so I've always got kids with me wherever I go. Not to mention the fact that I spend a great deal of time planning and conducting our school.
So, in answer to your question, convenience concerning the location of the public school really has nothing to do with our decision to homeschool. And while there are conveniences associated with homeschool, many of the conveniences that come along with public school are lost.
By Melissa C on May 9, 2009
I live about 1 mile from 2 different schools. I Home school for the reasons I stated in the other question, not convenience
Blessings
By HS Mom on May 9, 2009
It's three miles to our "neighborhood" elementary. However, my daughter attends PS and is sent to a different district for special education. She's nine miles away. Our former district had our elementary within two miles, but the high school 12 miles away.
The only private school I would consider for my son is 14 miles away. The only private school for my daughter is 57 miles away. In our former state, the only private school for my son was 17 miles away.
Convenience to/from school has never been a deciding factor in our HS decision
By MSB on May 9, 2009
We live near many schools as we are in a medium-sized city.
Convenience was really not a factor in deciding to homeschool, though… if I was thinking convenience I would have just turned them over to the public schools nearby. For my daughter it was necessity because school was problematic for her, for my boys that came later, it was because we'd settled into a very happy homeschooling lifestyle and didn't have any desire to change.
MSB
ADDED:
Curious, then, did you send your kids to public school for convenience? Do you think many people do?
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be coming from a thought that homeschooling parents have not put as much thought and consideration into their educational choices as you have. Since homeschoolers are taking on a greater bulk of the educational responsibility themselves, I can't help but wonder why you get this impression.
By homeschoolmom on May 9, 2009
We're just a mile away and I can't imagine anyone homeschooling for convenience, although there are a LOT of different reasons people homeschool. I suppose if you had an hour drive each way to school, I might understand. Still, seems like a pretty weak reason.
By imasis2 on May 9, 2009
The correct spelling, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is "homeschool". You have been spelling the term incorrectly. You also criticized a woman in your previous post for spelling homeschooling incorrectly, when in fact, you were the erroneous one.
There are many factors involved in making the decision to homeschool. Convenience is not one of them.
We homeschool because we feel that God gave us the responsibility to educate our children. We do not think it is the government's role to raise our children. Children in government schools have very little time with their families. I want to be the one that teaches my child right from wrong. I want to be the one who sees their joy at making a new discovery. I do not want the government to teach my children that divorce, homosexuality and such are normal and acceptable behaviors.
EDIT: If you are trying to write the pronoun "you", please spell it as such. U, when used alone, is just a letter of the alphabet that has no meaning.
By busymom on May 9, 2009
We have elementary, middle, and high schools, both public and private within about 5 to 10 minute walking distance.
Home schooling is not a matter of convenience, it is a matter of dedication, conviction, and the love for our children.
You must be doing a major research paper on home schooling.
I hope that everyone who has taken the time to answer your questions, has been able to provide you with all the information you need?
By Janis B on May 9, 2009
We live in rural area and the high school is 10 minutes by car and an hour by bus.
This was not the reason we decided to home school. It had absolutely nothing to do with the reason, but it does seem like a waste of time for the students. The public school students leave home at 7 AM or earlier, school starts at 8 AM.
They leave the school at 2:30 PM and arrive home 3:30 or later. I realize that important socialization is going on at this time. Yes, that was sarcasm.
The driver is, or at least should be, concentrating on the road and driving.
I drive a school bus for a living and the students on my bus are basically good kids but it is a full time job trying to keep my eyes on the road while monitoring activities on the bus. It is a tough job with 40 students ranging in age from 12-18, and I'm sitting with my back to them.
To finish answering question concerning convenience, it was for my son's benefit that we decided to home school. It was also for the teachers' convenience. The teachers all have said that he learned better one on one or small groups. We thought of tutoring with Sylvan, saw the price, and decided 'Hey, we can do that' and we did. It works.
By mom21gr8girl on May 9, 2009
There are 2 elementary and 2 middle schools within about a mile. A junior high within 3 miles and a high school within 5.
We do not homeschool for convenience.
By NJRoadie on May 9, 2009
Glad you are learning a lot from reading the responses to your questions!
We live a 5 minute drive from our local schools, but in NJ that still means a 45 minute bus ride. I'm not sure how it would be more convenient to homeschool, it is much easier just to stick the kid on the bus. Homeschooling takes dedication and patience, I don't just plant my kids in front of the TV or computer!
By Jenifer D on May 9, 2009
The closest middle/high school to me is about 6 miles from my home. However my daughter is bused 13 miles to her school because of the zoning lines. I didn't choose to home school my son because of the distance. The bus picks my daughter up in front of the house and drops her off in front of the house. I chose to home school my son because it was the best thing for him.
By Jessie P on May 9, 2009
I live in the suburbs and my nearest elementary school is 1/2 mile. The nearest middle school is 1.5 miles and the nearest high school is 1 mile. I wouldn't send my children to any of them if they were the only schools in my county and I was being forced to legally send them. I'd move out of state first.
By glurpy on May 9, 2009
I live in a city in an English part of Canada. Because my children's first language is French, they would go to one of only 2 French elementary schools on our side of the city. It is probably a 15-minute drive to the nearest French school–when the traffic is good. I would guess on a typical, non-snowfall day, it'd be closer to 20-25 minutes. First snowfall: probably at least 45 minutes. That's if *I* drove the kids. The bus ride would probably start at 30-45 minutes.
This had absolutely nothing to do with our decision to homeschool. It was all due to our own experiences as teachers (I taught elementary and my husband currently teaches gr. 8/9). And people can cite "diversity" all they want as reasons to not homeschool, but if our kids went to the school in question, it's pretty much all a bunch of Catholic French Canadians! They get a lot more exposure to other people through our homeschooling than they would otherwise.
By Meng on May 9, 2009
Rural and I'm not sure how far but it's close enough to bicycle to even for 5yos (although I wouldn't let them go that road alone until they're 8yo or so). That'd be to the closest public school, which happens to be ranked pretty high and even has a program for gifted kids.
No, it doesn't play a role. I'd homeschool my kids even if I were living right next to two different schools. When I was young we lived 50 yards from the school I went to and man I wish I'd been homeschooled instead. Now, I do think homeschooling is a convenience, but not because of the distance to the building.
By Olivia on May 9, 2009
I home school because it work's best for my kid's.
When they did go to school. They got door to door bus
service. I live less then a mile from 3 different public schools.
By answer faerie on May 9, 2009
a few blocks.
it'd be more convenient to send him there.
I home school for the academic benefits, not convenience.
By wat_more_can_i_say? on May 9, 2009
i was homeschooled–graduated already. school was less than 1 minute's walk because i studied AT Home
nearest public school was 5 minutes walk from our house. my parents homeschooled us because of religious reasons, unnecessary peer pressure, and concern about my character–i was an easily-bullied child.
am working right now and engaged to be married
By MrsMac on May 9, 2009
It's about twenty-five minutes to the nearest school but I homeschool because I don't like the public system, and I can homeschool. I live in a very rural area, way up in the mountains in an old railway town. I have four kids so I suppose in a way it's convenient to have our afternoons free of homework for spending time with 'daddy', as he gets home quite late.
By S C on May 9, 2009
We live about 300 feet from the local public school and have 2 private schools within a mile. We homeschool:
- to ensure our children receive an excellent education
- to give them more time to participate in extracurricular activities
- to allow our family to spend more time together
- to give us more freedom and flexibility to travel when it's convenient versus when the school schedule allows
- there are many other reasons but distance from a school is not a factor for us.
By Elizabeth K on May 9, 2009
We live one block from the elementary school, 5 blocks from the junior high, and about 2 miles from high school. It would be more convenient to let our elementary and junior high aged kids to go to a close school, but that's not why we homeschool. I have been homeschooling for 10 years. We live in in between the urban areas and suburbs. BTW, we have two different families on our block who take their sons to a charter school about 5 miles away, even though the public schools are closer. The elementary school just down the block is actually considered to be one of the best in Colorado.
Homeschooling mom of 7