Public Teachers and Homeschoolers

I taught math for 3 years in the public schools before having 5 children and homeschooling.  I taught junior high and high school and loved it.  In my opinion I think that most teachers don't know much about homeschooling except for the students they see who have come from homeschooling.  They don't see many of the very sucessful homeschoolers because they are still homeschooling!

In my years of teaching I taught only one formerly homeschooled student and he was a wonderful wonderful student.  He got along very well with his teachers and I could tell that he would do well when he left high school because he had the skills one would need out in the real world, not the skills taught in high school.

I chose to homeschool BECAUSE of the socialization I saw in the high school where I taught.  Almost all the students I taught copied their homework from their friends, and they saw nothing wrong with that.  I decided that I didn't want my children to learn to be dishonest, immodest, rude, and disrespectful, because that, in my opinion, is what the students in my school had learned from their peers.

I have met quite a few former teachers who homeschool.  I think there are lots of teachers who "retire" and then homeschool because teachers know that there is no magic to teaching.  They have taught students in the past and they know they can do it.  Also, they can clearly see the flaws that the public schools have and they know they can do better.

I have read about many public teachers who are anti-homeschooling.  IMHO I think that they are negative about homeschooling because of a bad experience they must have had with a homeschooler or because they have been raised in "the system" and they have been taught that homeschooling is bad.

I haven't been subjected to very much negativity regarding my homeschooling.  Not yet.  I count myself lucky.  I have lots of support from family and from friends.  I only wish everyone had as much support as I do.