# Ask a home-schooled doper **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 7, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-home-schooled-doper/573743 "2011-03-07T03:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iNF\_MASCOT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a698b9/32.png) [@iNF\_MASCOT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iNF_MASCOT)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-home-schooled-doper/573743/1 "2011-03-07T03:43:27Z")
I’ve been browsing the forums for a pretty good amount of time, so I figured I’d make an account so I can attempt to contribute. I’ve been home-schooled all of my life, and I am now in the 10th grade. I get quite a few questions regarding how certain aspects of my schooling work, so I thought you guys might have a few questions about it yourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-home-schooled-doper/573743/2 "2011-03-07T03:45:07Z")
We are homeschoolers as well, teaching our two sixth graders. The main question I have: do you feel like you missed out on anything by being homeschooled? ---
**Author:** ![iNF\_MASCOT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a698b9/32.png) [@iNF\_MASCOT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iNF_MASCOT)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-home-schooled-doper/573743/3 "2011-03-07T03:51:42Z")
> [@Ann\_Onimous](#): > > We are homeschoolers as well, teaching our two sixth graders. The main question I have: do you feel like you missed out on anything by being homeschooled? I can’t say I feel like I missed out on anything. I’ve loved being homeschooled so far. It gives me a lot of extra free time. I have plenty of friends, I just meet them in other places besides school. Personally I certainly wouldn’t want to go to public school after being homeschooled and enjoying it so much; Although I do know some people that didn’t enjoy being homeschooled, so they ended up going to public school, and vice versa. It isn’t for everyone, but I think it’s an amazing choice for a lot of families. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-home-schooled-doper/573743/4 "2011-03-07T07:50:32Z")
Who are your teachers? Are they your parents or do you have professional tutors coming to your home? Was it a religious based choice by your parents? How does homeschool work? Can you choose to go to public ( or private schools) for some subjects and opt to have parents teach others? How do you accommodate subjects which may need some specialised or expensive equipment to fully explore the subject? Do you have to conform to a standard curriculum? What happens to subjects outside your parents or home tutors’ skill base ( foreign languages for example) Do you still need to take state tests? If you fall below the standard expected of your grade can the state force you back into the public system? Sorry if these questions are not relevant but I understand nothing about homeschooling and can’t think why people would choose it unless it was in a rural area and really the parents may feel that the only education their child needs is to get out and work in the fields. home school my ignorance 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![iNF\_MASCOT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a698b9/32.png) [@iNF\_MASCOT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iNF_MASCOT)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-home-schooled-doper/573743/5 "2011-03-07T19:02:36Z")
Sorry for the delay. > [@manila](#): > > Who are your teachers? Are they your parents or do you have professional tutors coming to your home? > > My mom sets my work out and checks it, but I mostly just read the material myself. Some of my subjects are done online, and help is available if I need it. > > Was it a religious based choice by your parents? > > Perhaps partially, but I have to say it was a good choice for our lifestyle. We can work extra anytime we want/need time off. The flexible schedule has helped out in a lot of situations, especially as my parents are going through a divorce. > > How does homeschool work? Can you choose to go to public ( or private schools) for some subjects and opt to have parents teach others? > > I’m not sure about everywhere else, but where I live there are classes offered for homeschoolers that want a teacher in a certain subject. It’s nearly like a public school for homeschoolers, if that makes any sense. > > How do you accommodate subjects which may need some specialised or expensive equipment to fully explore the subject? > > Usually no extra materials are needed, although some experiments require things we don’t have, and then yes, we purchase the item. Usually it’s just a rather cheap ingredient for the experiment, not equipment per se. > > Do you have to conform to a standard curriculum? What happens to subjects outside your parents or home tutors’ skill base ( foreign languages for example) > > Yes, we have to follow a standard curriculum. When a subject is outside my mother’s skill base I usually do it on the computer. An example of that is that I am currently taking Spanish using Rosetta Stone. > > Do you still need to take state tests? If you fall below the standard expected of your grade can the state force you back into the public system? > > Yes I take state tests, and in most places one is put into the public system if their grades aren’t passing. > > Sorry if these questions are not relevant but I understand nothing about homeschooling and can’t think why people would choose it unless it was in a rural area and really the parents may feel that the only education their child needs is to get out and work in the fields. > > There are a lot of reasons one would homeschool their child, and to be honest I’m not totally sure why my mom chose to homeschool me. I’m glad she did though because it has really let me get ahead. I’m currently 15 and since I got ahead by homeschooling I can now start taking college classes and have two years worth of college credit done before I actually begin college full-time. Things like that, and the extra free time I get with homeschooling make it an enjoyable experience for me. > > home school my ignorance 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-home-schooled-doper/573743/6 "2011-03-07T19:33:35Z")
So, I take it you have a standard state curriculum to follow. How detailed is that? Is it just a list of subjects or does it lay out the full syllabus for the class? I think some of us are concerned that some subjects get skipped over and I don’t mean the obvious either. It would be easy to just skip chemistry if a parent didn’t feel comfortable teaching it, for example.