Why I Home-School My Teenager

Many families consider and make decisions about home-schooling prior to their children entering kindergarten. Some families find significant problems with both public and private schools after their children have attended classes and decide to home-school at a later age. Problems can range from conflicts with religious beliefs to medical issues to a child just not fitting into a strictly scheduled school environment.

Many children considered to have behavior problems in school are simply square pegs the system is trying to shove into round holes. School is designed for the convenience of the administration and teachers. It is not necessarily designed to help students learn better. The No Child Left Behind Act shifted many resources to the bottom 10% of performers to bring them up to a minimum standard. This shift is causing the other 90% of students to perform poorly compared to their potential. This act has effectively resulted in the school system becoming a completely socialized system and it is simply not helping students learn to the best of their abilities.

My son was a model student in kindergarten, 1^st grade, and 2^nd grade. He has suffered from migraine headaches since he was 4 years old, and when he reached 3^rd grade, his migraines became an almost daily occurrence. His academic performance declined in 3^rd grade from A's and B's to mostly C's. He then failed 4^th grade. He repeated 4^th grade in public school and passed. I moved him from public school to a special-needs private school in the middle of 5^th grade because he was doing very poorly again. He was expelled from the private school because his frequent migraines, need for daily treatment, and general lethargy were considered a class disruption and would not be tolerated.

Between 3^rd grade and 5^th grade he was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and bipolar disorder. By 5^th grade he was prescribed Prozac, Lamictal, Abilify, Focalin, and Xanax on a daily basis. He was prescribed Lortab for migraine pain. That is a lot of medication for anyone, especially an 11-year-old. All the medication was required to make him able to attend school. It also made him very sleepy. He would take his morning medications, get to school, and need something for a migraine. He would then doze off in class if things were not moving along and keeping him interested.

I decided home-schooling was the answer for us after he was expelled from the private school. I was exhausted from fighting him daily to get him to school and to keep him there once I got him there. I also did not like the amount of medication it was taking to keep him in school. If this much medication was required to keep an adult going to work, the doctor would prescribe a job change, so why not a significant school environment change? I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry and I am a full-time math and science tutor. I felt reasonably capable of teaching my son what he needs to know to graduate from high school, perform well on the ACT and SAT, and have the necessary academic skills to attend college.

We have been home-schooling for a year now, and my son is doing beautifully. He only requires two medications once daily to treat bipolar disorder. He is usually calm and now enjoys learning. His medical bills have decreased sharply. He no longer has daily migraines, and when he does have one, I give him some Advil and change the pace to something less intense until he feels better. Instead of continuing with a regular lesson, I have him lie down on the couch and watch a History Channel, Science Channel, or Discovery Channel program for an hour or more. He gets a science, engineering or history lesson while resting and getting over the migraine.

I am making some significant curriculum changes this coming year. When we first started home-schooling, I did not have very much time to find and implement a program, and I signed up for the K12 program. It is an excellent program, but it is too regimented for my son's many interests and talents. We did not follow the curriculum well, and I had to keep records outside of the online school to document all the other work he has done.

I set some different rules for home-school. I require that he understands a topic well enough to get a B on a test or quiz. If he does not earn at least a B, we repeat the material until he earns a B. I require him to study all year. I do not give him summers off. He gets a break between semesters. I decided to do this because studies show students experience a 1.5 month backslide in math and language skills after summer vacation. Teachers spend the first 6 weeks of the new school year reviewing the last 6 weeks of material from the previous school year. No summer breaks means no backsliding and a smoother transition to more challenging material. When he gets to the working world, a full year of work without a summer vacation will not be a shock to his system. I know the biggest adjustment I had to make after finishing college was living without summers off.

I treat summer as a special project focused 9 weeks. He has a significant amount of summer reading. We go to the library and consult with the youth librarian about books of the appropriate reading level. We work on some math lessons each week, but not textbook lessons. I have him focus more on everyday uses of math. He also does two major projects for the summer. One is usually developing software or building and programming a robot, his two greatest passions. The second is an annual, month-long free Internet marketing course called the Thirty Day Challenge.

We found home-schooling to be the best way to educate our son. He excels, has a lot more self-confidence and is learning to trust in his own abilities to be successful. He is becoming a much more independent learner than his friends who attend traditional schools. He reads at a higher level than is usual for his age, and he is a better problem solver.

If you find traditional public or private school does not fit your child or you are struggling significantly to keep your child in school and learning, home-schooling is an option you should consider. If you are a single parent, as I am, you can still home-school. Lessons can be written out and given to a sitter for the child to work on while you are at work, or you can work from home. I have a part-time job away from home and a home-based business. When your child is old enough to stay at home alone he can work on assignments independently and go over them with you when you return from work. I thought my son would ignore his assignments while I was away working, but I found he was more than willing to do the work as long as he did not have to be in a classroom.

If your bright, enthusiastic kindergartner who loved learning and school has transformed into a sullen, depressed or angry 5^th or 6^th grader who now hates school, maybe it is time for a change. If you have tried switching schools and problems continue maybe it is time for a change to home-schooling. Learning should be enjoyable and challenging in a positive way. It should not be torture.