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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling -> Homeschooling
BT Homeschooling/Homeschooling fears



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thisone




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 28 2013, 9:43 pm
DH and I are very intrigued about homeschooling. Honestly, as a former teacher the idea makes me super excited... and very scared! Are there other BTs out there homeschooling their kids? We would definitely need to hire tutors at some point for LK, but I'm also nervous about being confident enough to stand our ground doing something so "road less traveled by" when we are anyway newer to the system.
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bamamama




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 28 2013, 11:06 pm
Dh and I are both BT and we homeschool. Our oldest is nearly 7. We don't live in a community with a school though so we're not bucking the system. We were encouraged to move but we declined. Even in a larger community we would homeschool. I'm not too worried about kodesh. There's Room 613 and there is always the possibilty of getting a tutor for kodesh. In the meqn time, I'm using some of the high school worksheets at chinuch.org to augmentmy own knowledge and text skills.
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AztecQueen2000




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 06 2013, 2:55 pm
I'm a BT, and my kids have never been to school. And I live in Brooklyn, so there's no shortage!
There are a lot of resources out there. The L'Shon HaTorah books (Hebrew grammar), and the Chayeinu books (general knowledge) are written with all explanations in English. Chinuch.org is a wonderful site for materials--all free!
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mummiedearest




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 06 2013, 6:02 pm
AztecQueen2000 wrote:
I'm a BT, and my kids have never been to school. And I live in Brooklyn, so there's no shortage!
There are a lot of resources out there. The L'Shon HaTorah books (Hebrew grammar), and the Chayeinu books (general knowledge) are written with all explanations in English. Chinuch.org is a wonderful site for materials--all free!


may I ask whether you've had any problems in the community due to homeschooling? and how many kids you homeschool? sorry to interrupt, op, I'm very interested in hearing anything having to do with homeschooling in brooklyn. (I'm not a homeschooler, just a wannabe.)

oh, and op, I think you should go for it. as a child of a bt, there were gaps in my education. my school assumed my mom taught me certain things, and my mom assumed the school would cover that. she had no experience in a girls' yeshiva herself. homeschooling would actually give you the advantage of knowing exactly what is being covered. no gaps.
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SJSBlog




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 28 2013, 2:26 am
Hi Kayla!

You might be surprised to find out that Jewish Home Education is flourishing around the country - and in Israel!

Please sign up to participate in the 4th Torah Home Education webinar scheduled for next Sunday. I am the webinar moderator. There are three great women presenting on the topic of getting started as a new homeschooling family. Sounds right on target for you! Thumbs Up Find the registration info at this link:

http://sustainable-jewish-scho......html
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servewithjoy




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 28 2013, 8:38 am
Thanks for the link!
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TSmom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 08 2013, 1:53 pm
I am starting to homeschool this year and a bit freaked about LK subjects. I have found major gaps in their education though from going to a day school (ie 2 of them are struggling to daven properly still and I see it in their entire class!). I am focusing mostly on the gaps this year because thinking of doing grade level work with them just doesn't seem realistic. I can do that for now but the idea of the future is scary because they will surpass me at a point.
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thePrimaIma




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 08 2013, 2:07 pm
My brother and his wife are homeschooling their kids.
I do believe they will get a better education at home when it comes to books smarts and yahadut .
However, I fear that home schooled kids might grow up with some difficulty in social skills and street smarts. By attending a school, they face many different types of people and personalities and learn how to behave with different characters independently. I also feel they learn a lot of street smarts by being away from home for a few hours and learning social skills on their own.
lastly, it may be "setting them up" to be outcasts, something that no child wants to feel like.

These are my opinions and concerns. You have to weight the positives and negatives with you and your DH. Good luck! Very Happy
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TSmom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 08 2013, 2:50 pm
Those concerns only happen if you are hermits which I don't know many homeschooling families who are.
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Happy Mom




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 20 2013, 5:40 pm
DavidsMom wrote:
My brother and his wife are homeschooling their kids.
I do believe they will get a better education at home when it comes to books smarts and yahadut .
However, I fear that home schooled kids might grow up with some difficulty in social skills and street smarts. By attending a school, they face many different types of people and personalities and learn how to behave with different characters independently. I also feel they learn a lot of street smarts by being away from home for a few hours and learning social skills on their own.
lastly, it may be "setting them up" to be outcasts, something that no child wants to feel like.


I actually think that homeschooling give a child the best chance for healthy emotional development, leading to stronger self-image which leads to better social interactions and relationships. The more of your true self you can bring to a relationship, the more meaningful and significant that relationship can be. When a child suppresses who they are in favor of the person they think they should be - which most kids are doing since they are so dependent on the valuation of their peers and are afraid to be 'different' - by necessity relationships are more superficial. How can you have a strong relationship with someone when you're busy trying to make sure you don't let your guard down or mess up?

My teens went to school when we moved to Israe and we've had a number of discussions about school and homeschooling differences. My older kids have a lot of maturity and perspective and I've found it very valuable to hear their feedback. They all think that socially school is a stunting experience, unless your self-image is firmly enough developed that you can rise above it. BH it's been a real bracha to watch our older children growing up (ages 14 - 20) and have gotten tremendously positive feedback over the years; we've never felt they could have developed themselves better socially in school.

Having said that, some kids are never going to be socially gifted no matter how they're educated. Children have different natural abilities and awarenesses, and it's a mistake to assume that everyone can be the same if provided with the same education or opportunities. I have kids that are super social, some that are average social, and one that I consciously help with certain social skills.

I'm not sure how street smarts are defined, so I can't say how critical this is to a person's success in life. In general, my feeling is that when a person is ready, he can learn most information or skills. Without that motivation, he won't, no matter what he's exposed to. How do you develop intrinsic motivation is a big topic, but I'm pretty confident in saying this is much more easily supported and encouraged in the home educating environment.
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Happy Mom




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 20 2013, 5:46 pm
Kayla wrote:
DH and I are very intrigued about homeschooling. Honestly, as a former teacher the idea makes me super excited... and very scared! Are there other BTs out there homeschooling their kids? We would definitely need to hire tutors at some point for LK, but I'm also nervous about being confident enough to stand our ground doing something so "road less traveled by" when we are anyway newer to the system.


I'm not a BT but there are plenty of homeschooling parents who are. Something you have in abundance is a willingness to grow and learn, and to find resources when you don't personally know something - and all of these qualities are foundational to homeschooling, more than knowledge. Knowledge can be learned but the desire to learn is much more important than the knowledge itself, and you are a great model for your children of continual growth and personal development.

As others have said, there are online resources and people you can hire to fill in your gaps, and you will continue learning with your children along the way, something many parents have found an enjoyable part of homeschooling.
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Chavakaye




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 20 2013, 8:36 pm
I agree with Aviva. I've known dozens of homeschooled children over the past 20 years and have been impressed with their social skills. I know people mean well with this concern, but I (and so many veteran homeschooling moms) would love to see the socialization MYTH die! If traditional school did such a great job of socialization, we wouldn't have problems with bullying, poor manners, and disrespect of adults. I think the reason this myth gets perpetuated is that people still imagine homeschooled children stuck at home all day with only their parents and siblings. Homeschooled children join scouting, go to shul, Bnos, NSCY, take art and gymnastics classes. They have homeschool groups and activities with a variety of kids. They don't become ageist. They know how to talk with adults. There is no reason one has to sit in a class of the same age kids all day in order to be a social human. So, lay your fears to rest.
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