We sent our homeschooled kids to public school - here's what happened...

I was public schooled. That doesn't mean I talked to anyone. Or had any friends. And once I graduated, I didn't really know how to talk to anyone that wasn't my peer. You don't just magically learn social skills because you're surrounded by people your age. Thank you for the video. I'm committed to homeschool my kids all the way through, but I'll try to be more open minded as they get older.

As a homeschooled kid, being sent to public school sounds like a nightmare. I am years ahead in math and I have plenty of friends. I'd be bored out of my mind at public school.

New subscriber here. This isn’t something I normally comment on but I just wanted to genuinely compliment you on your video format. I really loved how straightforward and informative this was, without getting too lost in the weeds with details. Right now I just have a toddler plus one on the way, and my husband and I are highly interested in homeschooling. Your video gave a very refreshing perspective on how it can be done. Thanks ❤

I quit home schooling and sent my kids to a public school and it was the best decision I ever made!

Great that you have this choice. I wonder if my mom would have chosen to homeschool if we hadn't been broke. She had to work. Also, great that you didn't shame public schools. That's what people have been doing lately and it makes me so uncomfy! as a public school teacher!

Great video! My oldest is going into 8th and has been asking more about going to public school. We are open to it and I have contacted the high school she would attend in 9th. It appears we could maybe do classes part time there…which would be so awesome for her. I love that we can all choose what works for our families and our kids! I’m a new subscriber. I also have a homeschool youtube channel.

We homeschooled all 4 of ours all the way start to finish. They all did some PSEO (Post Secondary Enrollment Option where they can take college classes while still in HS). Academically ours were always way ahead of their public schooled peers in all subjects, except for spelling which they were on grade level in. (We aren't great spellers, lol) Socially they were all way ahead as well. We ran a family business in which they were all involved. They could carry on a conversation with adults and children of all ages, they weren't stuck in a rut of only being able to communicate with people their own age. I never considered sending them to the public school, and I have absolutely no regrets. Our kids were in piano lessons, homeschool bands, orchestras, speech classes, coops, went on field trips, made up their own plays, played on basket ball teams, one played football for 3 years of high school and was the quarterback even. 3 of them have college degrees, one from an Ivy league school. The one that doesn't have a degree went straight into business and has a good career, coaches his daughters basketball and softball teams and plays on a softball team himself. One daughter and her husband run the same type of business that we ran as a family, and they are even more successful that we were. 3 of ours had some degree of dyslexia (part of the spelling challenges) but totally overcame that learning challenge without being labeled or tested by public school "officials." I do not have a degree, and neither did my husband at the time we were homeschooling, yet we were highly successful at homeschooling. All but 2 of our 10 grandchildren are being or will be homeschooled as well. The 2 that aren't will be in a charter school. 😀

Thanks for the video. Our eldest went to public school kindergarten. I really wanted to homeschool so we pulled her out. Next year, she'll be going back to public school for sixth grade. The need for peers was a big determining factor. It was really encouraging to hear you say your children were able to thrive in the middle school setting.

This video is seriously, a balm to my soul. We have five, and I’ve been struggling to figure out if we should do homeschool or public school. But I’ve felt the weight of making a decision that we have to stick with for the next 18 years (our youngest isn’t quite one). I haven’t considered that public and homeschool may be something that changes by seasons, and that we may have some at home and some at school. Thank you so much for the clarity, positivity and openness!! ❤

WOW. Your open-mindedness and unbiased opinions are the refreshment my soul needed today. You are an amazing woman. Your children are blessed to have you as a mother and I hope they know that. I pray the best for your family always. <3 I was homeschooled, and now homeschool our 3 kids and plan to keep it that way. But plans can change. ;) Thank you for the video. I am bookmarking this for hard days when I need a reminder that you can always change course when you feel you need to.

I always understood "being socialized" not only as learning to navigate social situations but also learning social skills like asking adults for help, how to be polite, taking turns etc. Which would be more of an issue for an only child than one that is growing up with siblings. The principal of my older son''s school asked the parents of future students to start "socializing" the kids for school the year before instead of teaching them numbers or letters. Some of the examples he gave was learning to wipe up their own spills, finish board or card games that they started instead of switching activities and learning to wait for replies, for example if they ask many questions about dinosaurs, scheduling a Google assisted dino Q&A later that day.

Thank you for this video. We have homeschooled for the last three years and in this fourth year my boys are 6 & 8 grade and we are thinking about public high school. I wish there were other options in our area to have quality peer opportunities and the kind of education that is tailored to them.

I just found your video tonight. I agree with what you said throughout the video. Every family is different so what works for one family may not work for another. Thank you for sharing your story. I am homeschooling my 6 year old son. Some days, it can be a struggle and other days he loves it. He finds me a boring teacher. I think I just need to find a was to change it up for him.

I appreciated hearing everything you had to say here. You also gave me useful framing of 'unmonitored comments' that is more graceful than what I was using in my mind to describe interactions between undersupervised kids at public school. I would add a caveat that not all countries are flexible about in or out. I live in Spain where homeschooling is a gray area because according to the Constitution it is legal, but according to education law it isn't. Local schools will not hold a place for you if you are not fully enrolled, nor do they accommodate mid-year changes unless there are extenuating circumstances like a documented move or refugee status. If you don't jump a lot of hoops to demonstrate that you're homeschooling in a way that's been dictated you may run afoul of the equivalent of child protective services. This may include passing tests in a local language. It kind of defeats the purpose for a lot of parents. I'm American and have ten-year-old neurodivergent twins. My kids attend a Catalan public school but I am essentially giving them a parallel home education in English. I'm trying to best meet their needs and leave the door open to living or continuing their schooling in the US if they want to later. Literacy skills in English have been my primary focus. (We do some supplemental math and science to make sure their vocabulary is strong.) I'm considering downshifting to mostly 'pleasure reading' from our quality home library. We are at a place where a steady supply of good books would probably be enough to ease my anxiety about meeting their educational needs, but maybe I'm not 100 percent there since here I am commenting on your video :) Does your 'two hour' estimate includes your kids' independent reading time? Or does it reflect the time in which you're doing structured instruction?

I refused to put my kids in public school when they were younger. The schools in my area are crap, all levels. We never stopped homeschooling until they finished 12th grade. Both have now graduated, and they're getting their GEDs, just to make it easier to get into secondary education without jumping through hoops. They got a lot of interaction with other kids through church, our homeschool group, and their groups/hobbies, as well as volunteering at their dance and ballet schools for years. We also sent them to co-op classes, just so they'd know what a classroom was like and to allow them to learn from someone other than me. I used to threaten them with public school when they acted up. They totally did not want that! I gave them achievement tests every year, just to make sure I was doing a good job. They always scored years above their actual grade level. I'm not sure that was because I was a great teacher (I wasn't), just maybe they take after their dad and are pretty smart. Now that they're adults, they have no regrets about being homeschooled. They are both working before college or vocational school, once they make up their minds about what they want to be. I feel like the lack of the pressure that I had to go to college right immediately after graduation I got when I was in high school has allowed them the freedom to realize they don't have to decide on their careers until they're more mature.

I am glad you shared your story. Very honest and balanced

This was informative. Thank you for sharing your experiences and tips honestly.

This perspective is so refreshing!! I am very grateful you shared this. We homeschooled for 2.5 years… (Yes, Covid gave us a good excuse to try what I had always wanted to do! And we stuck with it for two extra years.) Then we moved states and my kids wanted to go to public school in order to make new friends. It absolutely felt like the right decision! (We moved to a far-superior school district.) And now we are changing it up again, and next year I am bringing my two younger ones home, and my upcoming 8th and 11th graders are going to stay in public school. This actually puts us in a surprisingly strange position. As I try to make new friends in the homeschool community here it feels like they think I’m crazy to let 2 of my kids stay in public school. But they’re having a very positive experience! It doesn’t have to be one or the other. I just feel like now all of my peers on both sides of the schooling aisle think I’m crazy and don’t really belong in their “camp.” I hope you continue to share your experience with kids in homeschool and public school. I will definitely be following along. I also agree wholeheartedly with your point about having a solid sense of self. I think our years homeschooling prepared my kids to jump back into school and thrive. Also, fwiw, my daughter who was homeschooled for basically all of middle school jumped into AP and honors classes at the HS and is absolutely up to snuff academically. ☺️ Intentional homeschool is completely sufficient for a child’s academic needs.

Did you use box curriculum or did you do the " unschooling "? Thank you for sharing.

I’m struggling to decide if I want to do private homeschooling, me schooling them at home or do a virtual online school through my school district it’s free. All they have to do is complete all their assignments for the day to be marked as present and if needed they can get extra help. Also we have to meet with their teacher once a month. I feel like I’m a bad mom if I don’t private home school my kids myself.