Home School'n Lil' Crushers

I think I've got a few future crushers on my hands and I'm thinking of pulling them out of the God-less public school to home school and give them more time for training. Has anyone switched to home school to pursue athletic pursuits? What kind of school to training ratios are you running?
Thanks for the info.

Trolls are welcome to hate if they got a problem. All opinions welcome.

How old are they?  How into training are they? 

I would first think about how much knowledge and experience you have with child development and the progression of learning in the different subjects. Homeschooling properly is a full time job that requires a lot of work and reflection. I wouldn't go into it lightly. With that said, I'm happy to help as I've both taught in a public school for 17 years and homeschooled my kids.

Cindy wrote: How old are they?  How into training are they? 

7 and 8. Very into training.

@Adam
I would be hiring a teacher for the schooling.

When was the last time you met a home schooled kid who wasn’t...off?

Don Ferris III wrote: When was the last time you met a home schooled kid who wasn’t...off?

That's if they are only children and have exclusively socialized with adults. Home schooled kids with siblings are OK, especially if they are allowed out of the house alone.

Make sure you don't vaccinate them Tradi!!

Only thing I'd say is make sure they still have a way to meet and make friends.  Organized sports, climbing gym, something....kids are even more cliquey these days 

Making your kids live your dreams for you... I expected better from you man. 

PNW Choss wrote: Making your kids live your dreams for you... I expected better from you man. 

Really?

Unless you are wealthy enough to provide for them until they have children old enough to provide for them, I would keep them in school.  

My experience is that young ones like that can be a great age.  It’s *very* kid dependent, i.e. are they heavily invested in the social scene at school or not.  If they have lots of social time at the climbing gym AND at least one other place with quality, consistent social time (i.e. public homeschool program 1 day/week, standing playground play dates, a class they like (music or science, maybe), another sport, etc.) it will go a long way to helping things feel socially filled out for them, which becomes more important each year.  

Smart to pay for a teacher, at least for primary subjects, if you can.  Really helps define the relationships more clearly between you all.  A great teacher and motivated kiddo can end up very ahead of public school and more creative, self-confident and independent in their thinking after a few years.  

Ratio for training/school often runs something like 4-5 hours school 3-5 days/week, which leaves a LOT of time for training.  At your kids ages I would think much of that would just be creative, open-ended playtime.  And 7,8 year olds could easily do just 3-4 hours/day of school.  First task will be for them to learn to do all of their work independent of a classroom setting, totally doable, just different than traditional.  Once they get that rhythm the whole situation can really flow and you’ll wonder why you ever had them in school.  The important part is getting them social opportunities, and in most places these days there are so many.  You just may need to dig for them at first.

I have a 12 year old who really loved skiing by the age of 4.  Homeschooling for several years left him with a lot more ski time and very ahead of his peers in critical thinking and reading/writing.  This year he’s asked to go to school to be with peers more, which means skiing less so that’s what we’re doing.  He’s crushing school and likes the new balance.

Ignore the lemmings.

Just be sure that they'll be able to fulfill all your failed dreams.
Otherwise you might just yell at them for no reason.

B P wrote: He manages a gym. 

Correct. I can vouch for this. The training at the facility is top notch and the group of 10 and under kids is off the charts when it comes to climbing and training discipline. Look out in the next 5-10 years....

I was home schooled starting in 7th grade for athletic pursuits (ski racing). Looking back at it, I wouldn't change a thing. I got to do devote myself to the thing I loved doing and came away with many great life experiences. Without a doubt though, there is an element of not being able to relate to others in your cohort later on when you have led a completely different lifestyle than most. This should be carefully weighed, and I'd recommend not pushing the idea onto kids, so much as letting them know that it is a path that is available if they wanted to explore it.

On the education front of things, there are many great programs out there that can help provide the tools and guidance to getting them a great education and will prepare them for college. The education part of the whole thing never seemed to be disadvantages for me, if anything, it prepared me well for college that required more independence than the coddling that most high schools provide. In my case, I graduated out of high school at 16, took a two year break and started at a junior college in Colorado. I then went on to get an Econ. degree from Texas A&M and graduated with a 4.0.

Long story short, MAKE SURE IT'S WHAT THEY WANT TO DO, NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.

The real take away here is someone actually let Tradiban breed with them...

Cindy wrote: My experience is that young ones like that can be a great age.  It’s *very* kid dependent, i.e. are they heavily invested in the social scene at school or not.  If they have lots of social time at the climbing gym AND at least one other place with quality, consistent social time (i.e. public homeschool program 1 day/week, standing playground play dates, a class they like (music or science, maybe), another sport, etc.) it will go a long way to helping things feel socially filled out for them, which becomes more important each year.  

Smart to pay for a teacher, at least for primary subjects, if you can.  Really helps define the relationships more clearly between you all.  A great teacher and motivated kiddo can end up very ahead of public school and more creative, self-confident and independent in their thinking after a few years.  

Ratio for training/school often runs something like 4-5 hours school 3-5 days/week, which leaves a LOT of time for training.  At your kids ages I would think much of that would just be creative, open-ended playtime.  And 7,8 year olds could easily do just 3-4 hours/day of school.  First task will be for them to learn to do all of their work independent of a classroom setting, totally doable, just different than traditional.  Once they get that rhythm the whole situation can really flow and you’ll wonder why you ever had them in school.  The important part is getting them social opportunities, and in most places these days there are so many.  You just may need to dig for them at first.

I have a 12 year old who really loved skiing by the age of 4.  Homeschooling for several years left him with a lot more ski time and very ahead of his peers in critical thinking and reading/writing.  This year he’s asked to go to school to be with peers more, which means skiing less so that’s what we’re doing.  He’s crushing school and likes the new balance.

Ignore the lemmings.

Awesome, sounds like you've had great success with home schooling. What's the coaching situation?

Don Ferris III wrote: The real take away here is someone actually let Tradiban breed with them...

Let’s not jump to conclusions.

Tradiban wrote:

Awesome, sounds like you've had great success with home schooling. What's the coaching situation?

He was part of a team at the ski area.  Met two days midweek + weekends, we had a nearby condo.  Would‘ve looked very different if he had wanted to climb, lol, my dream, because there are many climbing teams and gyms near our main home.  In that case it may have been a more balanced, school 4 days/wk in the morning, gym in the afternoon and 3 day weekends for some travel.  Finding a team may be ideal but with climbing at least you don’t have to start with that.

Over time I met lots of successful families with elementary kids, plenty of athletes.  When I started it, I was concerned it was too on the fringe but at least where I live it just isn’t now.  There are lots of cool programs and people to hook up with, you just have to dive in and start searching everywhere to find what works for you.  Aside from google, I learned to “see” people that appeared to be homeschooling and asked questions, always had very positive, helpful responses.  And as they get older there are some great educational programs that are flexible and can really suit the kids learning style, alluded to by a poster above, and I would think you could wean off of paying a local teacher then if they’re still into it.