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Is Homeschooling an Option?
Q: I am 15 years old, and I hate school. I try really hard and my grades keep dropping. I get in trouble when I get bad grades. And I think that homeschool would be better for me because I could work at my own pace. The only problem is that I cannot convince my parents to homeschool me. I am having a lot of stress with the school itself and I get confused easily with my work. Can you please tell me how I can convince my parents to homeschool me?
A: In recent years, many parents have elected to homeschool their children in order to help them get through a bad time at school. Others have wanted to give their children special help with learning problems. Homeschooling is a possible solution to your problems if you can convince your parents that it would work for your family. They are going to have to be strongly motivated for it to be successful, because homeschooling will require considerable time and effort.
Before you talk to your parents again about homeschooling, go online to Homeschool.com, The Teaching Home, and Home Education Magazine to find more homeschooling information. Your parents may not know that it is becoming easier to homeschool. First of all, there are books and Internet sites on how to homeschool. Also, many families have joined homeschool cooperatives that let parents take turns teaching different subjects. Plus, many public schools now have independent study programs and even let students enroll part time for courses.
Please be aware that homeschooling is definitely not the only solution to your problems. A chat with a sympathetic school counselor could really turn things around. Perhaps, all you need are different classes or some special academic help. You should also explore with the counselor the possibility of attending an alternative school or participating in a work-study program. Such creative programs are just right for many students who are having problems in traditional high school programs.
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Peggy Gisler and Marge Eberts are experienced teachers who have more than 60 educational publications to their credit. They began writing books together in 1979. Careers for Bookworms was a Book-of-the-Month Club paperback selection, and Pancakes, Crackers, and Pizza received recognition from the Children's Reading Roundtable. Gisler and Eberts taught in classrooms from kindergarten through graduate school. Both have been supervisors at the Butler University Reading Center.
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