4Real Forums: Is it the school or the age?

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High School Years and Beyond ( Forum Locked)
4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond

Topic: Is it the school or the age?

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rose gardens
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Joined: Feb 23 2006
Location: Minnesota
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Posted: Nov 07 2009 at 3:47pm \| IP Logged

Thus far, after homeschooling up to 8th grade, we have sent our oldest children to a private Catholic high school. It's a good school with good families, although many (most?) come from a higher economic class than my family. We're not poor but not wealthy either, and we have eight children.

The school tuition takes a large portion of my husband's income, but we thought it would be worth it for a good Catholic college-prep school. I went to a private Catholic college-prep school and highly value the education I received there, but my oldest son, who already graduated from this high school, doesn't. Now he says he's sick of school and wants to drop out of college!

With both my formerly homeschooled children, we have seen bad attitudes develop in high school. At first, they approached going to this school as a privledge. But within a year or two, school becomes a burden. We hear complaints that frankly sound like the complaints of spoiled brats. The amount of homework plus sports takes most of time after-school, so they don't have much time for household chores. They seem to regard making and taking their own lunch from home almost like a favor they do for us. (School lunch is $$$) While we live quite comfortably, they compare how we live to their school friends and complain about their lives.

I'm not sure if we're just dealing with teenage attitudes or what. To put this in perspective, people who know my family tell us we have good kids. But when I look at them, I compare them to the innocent kids I homeschooled through 8th grade. My husband and I wonder if we'd be better off homeschooling for highschool next year. I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts.

sewcrazy
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Joined: Aug 17 2006
Location: Illinois
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Posted: Nov 09 2009 at 5:40pm \| IP Logged

I don't know the answer to your question. But we have similar issues with our one son in school. I am tired of listening about how "boring" school is and how "rich" his friends are. He is at a Catholic boys college prep high school. He doesn't appreciate the sacrifice we are making to send him to this school both in a time and money.

My other teen is home schooling for high school, and so far, we aren't having the same issues with him. He gets irked with his older brother's complaining and bad attitude.

At this time, we don't see sending any of our other children to high school. To us, it hasn't been worth it, either in terms of educational or emotional growth.

Good luck!

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LeeAnn
Wife of David, mom to Ben, Dennis, Alex, Laura, Philip and our little souls in heaven we have yet to meet

Elena
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Joined: Aug 13 2006
Location: Ohio
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Posted: Nov 09 2009 at 10:00pm \| IP Logged

I sent my first born to a local digital academy where he was at home three days a week and at the school twice a week. In addition he was on the public school swim team. And yes his attitude was crappy. Now he is 20 years old and he finished his EMT program and is working as an emergency medical tech, his attitude is still pretty bad although I think the reality of adult responsibilities is starting to change that.

My 16 year old and 14 year old are still at home and I get compliments all the time of how fun, sensitive, helpful, and respectful there are. I can't help but think it's because they aren't being exposed to a lot of unnecessary influences outside of the home.

In my homeschool group I have seen a number of formerly nice homeschooled kids go off to high school and change. The girls start wearing too much makeup, the boys become more disobedient, and the parents start putting up with behavior they wouldn't have tolerated just a few years before. (At the local Catholic HS the young ladies refer to each other as b****es and wh**es. Nice huh?) And the Catholic school parents PAY for the privilege of having their kids transformed before their eyes.

If at all possible, I intend to keep all the rest of mine at home. Maybe they aren't getting a "top notch" education, but they are turning into top notch adults and I think that's more important. Just my 0.02 cents.

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Elena
Wife to Peter, mom of many!
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