I hear your concerns and completely understand where you're coming from. I decided to pull my eldest daughter out of school when she was half-way her first year, I think it would be 9th grade. My younger kids stayed in school till the end of that year and never went back after the summer. I think what gets to a lot of people is the wording 'home school'. Here in Ireland we call it home education and somehow it takes a lot of stress from the task. And that's what it is: it's a kid being educated at home, it is not a school at home. There's a difference.
At the beginning of our journey, I tried to hold myself to a certain curriculum, similar as they would have in school. That completely changed into child led learning after I discovered that my kids show their interests and will focus on that if I give them the right tools and they excel in it! Don't get me wrong, it's not just fun and games all day, because I think subjects like reading, writing and maths are just those that they have to do. But they do it at their own pace and the funny thing is: They love it. My youngest only just started reading in school when i pulled him out and wasn't reading more than three letter words like cat, dog etc. He was 5 years old. Over the summer, he learned to read more and more and not because I was following a curriculum. I can honestly say he was completely reading on his own, with a little help, he taught himself because he wanted to! By the end of the summer he was telling my daughter, who was one year ahead of him, how to spell things!
The same thing happened with maths, he is now one year ahead of his age peers, at the same level as my daughter. But this doesn't mean he's better, or smarter than she is, and I never ever make them feel like that either. My daughter just is a perfectionist, and she loves to practice things over and over until she excels in it. My boy enjoys maths so much that he can't wait until the next lesson and is ahead of things because of that. At first, I was a bit worried my daughter would have issues maybe, but then when she tells me exactly what a grocery bill is coming up to, to the dot, and then exactly to the last penny what I should get back, I know that she has no issues learning these things. I started to lean more and more towards child led, or 'un-schooling' as the time went.
For example: my son will ask me something about the Egyptians and I will tell him as much as I know, and then together we'll explore the subject.
We use creativity, art and even music to get to the point when he is happy he now knows what there is to know.
If the subject is history, we read stories, draw pictures, make things in regards to the subject etc etc. It works like a charm and they never forget this! I could quiz them weeks later or months even and they just know their stuff.
My son loves to paint and draw, but he also loves computers. Because I was trying to show him what art actually is, he discovered animation.
He got really interested in it, because before that he had no clue how cartoons/animations etc. were done.
He's not even 8 years old and now reading and finding everything he can about computer animation. Not because he has to, but because he wants to.
He's taking an online course on animation and does the work for it and is great at it! The course is for teenagers or older!
My youngest son, who just turned 3, was in the kitchen and first counted to 10 in English and then in Dutch. I was flabbergasted, because I never taught him more than up to 5 in either language. I asked the others and they said he learned playing hide and seek with them. So simple, so logical and so natural.
Another thing to keep in mind too is the following:
The part of the brain that controls functions like science or maths only fully develops at a later age, around 18. Of course, there are kids who excel in those subjects at a young age, but lots of others don't. Not because they have lower intelligence, but because naturally they can't grasp the whole subject yet. And seen the fact that most schools have such emphasis on these kind of subjects rather than subjects that are already fully developed like: art, music etc. the school system in most places is set up for children to fail.
Coming back to the young children that excel in subjects like maths. Of course it's great, and wiz kids can be found in either setting, school and home. But just think of this: what if this maths wiz would have had more opportunity to explore other subjects like music or art?
Maybe instead of a maths wiz, you'd have a child that paints like Leonardo da Vinci. And maybe not, but he or she would have had the chance to figure that out, instead of being placed in the box of 'excellent maths student'.
Like a few others have said: I would love to follow your journey, and I am here if you have questions or doubts. I'm going to follow you because I'm interested and would like to help.
Enjoy your journey!
I am totally overwhelmed by the response, thank you so much! I have gained more confidence on our decision now that I have been shared first hand advices and experiences. Knowing that I will not be alone just makes me feel "braver". I am now in the process of "conditioning" my son to the tought of homeschooling - ensuring him that it would be much more fun than regular school. We've got a long way to go and I am anxious (or say, excited) to start this new phase of our life.
I will try my best to share our journey.
Following you back. See you around @misslasvegas!
I'm happy to help, or even just listen. You will do great! Because you're doing it for the best reasons. How many people would take the school's word for it and think that the problem of behavioural issues lie with the child and not the school. I mean we've all heard people say: He was just difficult in school; when it really was the school that created his behaviour. What I did with my eldest was I didn't right away dive into the 'work' with her. I let her do her thing for a bit, for months really. We'd do stuff together like cook, talk, or just plain 'be' but no 'school' stuff. I wanted to get her out of the school state of mind. And it took a while, but that's because she's been in the school system longer (13). Your son is younger, so probably won't need that long. But I'd advise you to go for walks, play or whatever makes him happy, but do it together if possible. And then you will instinctively know what he needs and he will be open to tell you what he would LOVE to do. I wish you all the best with this, you got this mommy!