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Home School Success Stories - 4/14/2009 7:22:29 AM
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SpurredByFaith
Posts: 25
Joined: 4/6/2009
Status: offline
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We all know that home schooling is the best choice for our kids - that is the reason we persevere through the hard work, long days and many sacrifices. Often times, we hear - or make - vauge references to the fruit of our labors, however, we often fail to quantify and qualify those results. I think it would be wonderful for 'graduated' home school parents to share the fruit of their efforts. This would encourage parents who are currently home schooling their kids and collectively, provide us with quantifiable, substantiating evidence that home schooling does indeed, provide a superior education for our kids.
If you have graduated home schooled kids who are currently in college or making their positive contribution to the world, would you please share that with us? I would love to hear of the victories you've experienced in raising up godly children!
I'll go first:
My son graduated from home schooling last year, at the age of 18. Not wanting to be at the mercy of the current weak economy and high unemployment rate, he decided to start a non-profit organization of his own. He has since received a number of resumes from college interns and recent graduates, who are looking for work. In his spare time, he enjoys writing and has written several books which he is planning to get published.
My daughter completed her home school courses at the age of 16 and began taking college level courses online. She is now 17 and getting straight A's in sophomore level courses. She also helps run the family business. Taking the current economic crisis into account, she proposed a unique niche-marketing idea which has generated over $12,000.00 in it's first six months.
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 4/14/2009 3:22:38 PM
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RJR_fan
Posts: 1168
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: RTP, in sunny NC USA
Status: offline
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When she was 19, our daughter took the wife and me out to lunch, on separate occasions, to thank us for raising her the way we did.
Today, she's discussing, with her husband, which university to honor with her presence. At least three have offered her a full-ride scholarship to pursue a doctorate in English and linguistics.
_____________________________
Blogging my way through the Turkish New Testament
Meet my beloved mentor, RJR
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 4/14/2009 4:33:41 PM
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shadowspring
Posts: 620
Joined: 5/27/2006
Status: offline
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My daughter is at college now on the Dean's Honor roll, majoring in International Studies. She speaks and reads Japanese, Chinese and Spanish. She is an informal leader among her academic peers in some classes. More than one of her professors has singled her out for special positive recognition. Her Sunday school teacher is impressed with her knowledge of the Bible, and she attends student-led weekly worship at her secular university. 
But we almost lost her to an ill-chosen romance: she was secretly plotting to run off as soon as she turned eighteen and totally destroyed her Christian testimony by sleeping around behind our backs while living at home. 
NOW she is repented and living for the Lord, but if you asked six months ago I would have nothing good to report. Well, she still would have been earning As her first semester at college. I suppose that's something.
My reason for posting is this: being a home school family, even being a Christian home school family, does not guarantee perfect children who will never fail.
It may even make it easier for us as parents to excuse our own failures as little things, after all we are making the great sacrifice of home schooling. We must watch ourselves closely!
At best, raising Christian home schooling graduates should mean that:
a) their lives were shaped by parents living in communion with the Holy Spirit of the Living God
b) that those same parents have taught by precept and example the life of obedience to the Word of God
c) that the love and purity of Christ were revered in word and deed in the home, including showing hospitality to all men, especially fellow believers, and forgiving freely (70 x7) when we have been wronged
e) that in all that we endeavored to accomplish, we as parents-teachers-neighbors-workers, should have done so to the best of our ability, as if we working for the Lord himself.
And when we as home schooling parents are not at our best, when we fall short, our children should see how we repent and find restoration in our Great Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous!
So is our family a success story? Or a cautionary tale of home school moral failure? I submit that we are both. But I leave it to the reader to decide how he/she will classify our experience. 
_____________________________
"Blessed is the man...whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by rivers of water..." from Psalm 1
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 4/14/2009 5:31:17 PM
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whoz-it
Posts: 6
Status: offline
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Our son is "officially" graduating this May. We have home schooled him since First Grade. During his second semester junior year he took one class at our community college. His senior year, we didn't teach him at home, rather he took all of his classes at the college. He'll graduate our home school with 21 college hours and it looks like with all A's.
I remember when I first began home schooling I heard all sorts of stories about what appeared to be genius home school students. I fretted a little because my two babies, although bright, were by-no-means brilliant...well okay I think they're brilliant but ya' know what I mean.
For those of you newbie home schoolers who hear the same stories I'm referring to, I say, "Don't let Satan steal your joy". He wants to zap the energy and joy right out of you by having you compare your child to someone else's. Again I say, "Don't allow Satan to do it".
Our son received a honors scholarship, an academic scholarship and a Christian leadership scholarship, (blows away the whole "what about socialization" question right there huh?). He earned those academic scholarships by working hard, not by any Einstein abilities. He earned his leadership scholarship by his extra-curricula activities, (mission trips, praise band, Toastmasters, Front Liners, volunteering as a student worker in VBS, etc.).
*editted here because I forgot to say what I really wanted to say
We never told our son, "Get A's, get A's". We told him, and still tell him, "Follow God, follow God". That's what will make him a success story.
Our daughter is a sophomore; we've home educated her since the get-go. Her story is still being written, but just like her older brother's...I'm loving the chapters.
< Message edited by whoz-it -- 4/14/2009 5:38:01 PM >
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 4/15/2009 11:19:35 AM
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SpurredByFaith
Posts: 25
Joined: 4/6/2009
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: shadowspring
So is our family a success story? Or a cautionary tale of home school moral failure? I submit that we are both. But I leave it to the reader to decide how he/she will classify our experience.
Success is, in my opinion, not about triumphing in the absence of challenges, but triumping BECAUSE of the challenges. The fact that your daughter repented and returned adds richness to her testimony and greater credit to you, her parents, as ones who planted and nurtured the seed in her - then were there for her when she returned to you and the Lord! I don't see her period of rebellion as a moral failure, but rather her time in the wilderness, as she blazed her own trail to her promised land - having built for herself, her own unique and personal relationship with the Lord! Kudos and blessings to all of you!
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 4/22/2009 2:08:15 AM
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B-longs2Jesus
Posts: 151
Joined: 10/5/2008
Status: offline
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Because I have five graduated homeschool children, I must admit that success is relative to each, and they are all successful in their own right.
My oldest son has a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science, and he is walking very closely with the Lord. He is married to a girl who was also homeschooled. They have two children and are pre-homeschooling them.
They both serve in ministries at their church. They are a blessing!
My oldest daughter only has a couple credits to go before she holds an associates degree. She decided to work instead of continue her college career, but is now taking classes once again. She works in a public school but encourages me to homeschool as she sees things that go on there. She is happily married, and walking closely with the Lord as well. She too is a blessing!
My third daughter only went to a few classes at the local college, but was trained through the state as a home health aide. She is married. Unhappily the marriage is not doing well. She and her husband are getting divorced  . They have a baby girl whom she hopes to homeschool someday.
She married outside of her faith and I believed this would pose problems for them, but you know, you can't do much when they decide to do their own thing. I feel sooo sad for them.
She too is a blessing from the Lord, though a prodigal for awhile there. She is a wonderful mommy to the little baby girl, my grandbaby doll!!! Such a blessing from God! I just pray that the Lord works things out for this precious little family, and brings her husband into a close and loving relationship with Him. Pray for them?
My fourth is working toward his Bachelors, is in ministry and has a close walk with the Lord. He has been successful at just about everything he has set his hand to do. He is an enormous blessing to all of us.
My fifth child did well in college until she met a boy who has seen his fair share of Trouble...with parents, law etc. She was making A's till then. After the relationship crumbled she didn't continue her education and instead worked her way to become a manager at a fast food place. She recently returned to her ex-fiance and secretly married him when he got out of prison. I am worried to say the least. She has always been a blessing from God, and I pray His hand of protection remains upon her. She believes she can help this boy to walk in the ways of the Lord. Pray she is successful, that this boy really has repented...
Success can be measured in homeschoolers lives as in other faucets of life. There will be bumpy roads along the way. I wish I could say that everything has turned out wonderful for all my children, but for now, we have some low spots.
I cannot take credit for the blessings of the Lord, for all good things come from Him. All glory belongs to the King. He led me to homeschool. He opened doors to educate them. He is a success, and through Him, we succeed through His mercy, grace, direction and love.
I wanted to post with this truth. Don't be dismayed if you have bumps and bruises along lifes way even if you do homeschool. Know that you did your best, you poured your love into them, and life can still throw you a curveball. Homeschoolers are after all human, and we will all have our shining moments, mistakes and heart breaks.
But the Lord is in control.
I am homeshooling my three youngest now, pouring my love into them, and hoping the best for them in their lives. Their accomplishments will never go unoticed by me. I will weep with them when they weep, and rejoice with them in their successes.
_____________________________
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 4/22/2009 3:18:23 PM
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W.O.F.
Posts: 1653
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: an ignoble beginning
Status: online
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quote:
ORIGINAL: shadowspring
My daughter is at college now on the Dean's Honor roll, majoring in International Studies. She speaks and reads Japanese, Chinese and Spanish. She is an informal leader among her academic peers in some classes. More than one of her professors has singled her out for special positive recognition. Her Sunday school teacher is impressed with her knowledge of the Bible, and she attends student-led weekly worship at her secular university.
But we almost lost her to an ill-chosen romance: she was secretly plotting to run off as soon as she turned eighteen and totally destroyed her Christian testimony by sleeping around behind our backs while living at home.
NOW she is repented and living for the Lord, but if you asked six months ago I would have nothing good to report. Well, she still would have been earning As her first semester at college. I suppose that's something.
My reason for posting is this: being a home school family, even being a Christian home school family, does not guarantee perfect children who will never fail.
It may even make it easier for us as parents to excuse our own failures as little things, after all we are making the great sacrifice of home schooling. We must watch ourselves closely!
At best, raising Christian home schooling graduates should mean that:
a) their lives were shaped by parents living in communion with the Holy Spirit of the Living God
b) that those same parents have taught by precept and example the life of obedience to the Word of God
c) that the love and purity of Christ were revered in word and deed in the home, including showing hospitality to all men, especially fellow believers, and forgiving freely (70 x7) when we have been wronged
e) that in all that we endeavored to accomplish, we as parents-teachers-neighbors-workers, should have done so to the best of our ability, as if we working for the Lord himself.
And when we as home schooling parents are not at our best, when we fall short, our children should see how we repent and find restoration in our Great Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous!
So is our family a success story? Or a cautionary tale of home school moral failure? I submit that we are both. But I leave it to the reader to decide how he/she will classify our experience.
To me...your testimony is a REAL success story. It is not how our kids turn out perfect or undamaged that makes them a success...but the fact that we choose to raise up our children in the way that they should go, in the faith and hope that they will not turn away from it when they are old.
For every child who never strays who is homeschooled...that is a success.
For every child who STRAYS and then returns and was homeschooled....that is the real proof in the pudding.
_____________________________
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, "Oh no, she's awake."
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 4/26/2009 11:18:56 AM
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psalm867
Posts: 117
Joined: 1/10/2008
Status: offline
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I've enjoyed reading all these stories.
My success story would be my homeschooled daughter, Jackie. She has worked full time since we was 16, and went from working and homeschooling to working and college. The group she hung around with was public schooled. She earned a bachelors degree in accounting, and has been a corporate accountant for about five years.
We were not problem free, of course. She was rebellious, but with God's help we got through it all. When she was about 22, she told me that she really hated the fact that we were so strict, at the time, but now she is very thankful that we were the way we were. She also thanked us for homeschooling. The ps'd group she hung around with when down a different road, and she said she believed that if she hadn't been hs'd she would't be where she is today.
_____________________________
Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3
JoAnne's Prayer Closet
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 5/5/2009 9:37:48 PM
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hillbillywoman
Posts: 56
Joined: 4/12/2005
Status: offline
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I am getting ready to graduate my third child from homeschooling.
My first child, a daughter, resented being homeschooled initially. We took her out of p.s. in 7th grade because of her rebellion and poor grades. She thought we were ruining her life! Well, her grades improved because she was really learning and retaining (finally!), but the resentment still simmered. She, too, became promiscuous around the age of 16-17. She graduated at 17, one year before her p.s. peers. At 18 she left home to live with her boyfriend's family. (She had been working and paying for her own car from age 16, but left it all behind to move in with her boyfriend's family.) This living situation only lasted about 3 weeks, as this family got tired of supporting her. She then went to live with her grandparents and resumed working. My husband and I were heartbroken and prayed and cried to the Lord fervently for our daughter. At around age 20, she got her own apartment and was dating a new and wonderful guy (who is now her husband.) She gave her heart to the Lord, and is sorrowful over her past behavior. She now tells us that we did not ruin her life. She now says that she is glad she was homeschooled and plans to homeschool her own children. She works in bookkeeping at one of our local banks.
My second child, a son, has been homeschooled from 5th grade. He, too, began working and bought his own vehicle at age 15 -16. He enjoyed homeschool and did not rebel. He currently has a great job with benefits. He did not go to college, but he has been tutoring his fiance who is in her first year of college. He also tutored her when she was in high school.
My third child, also a son, has been homeschooled since First grade. He does mowing and odd jobs for people in our community. He plans to attend college this fall, majoring in Computer and Electronic Technology. He just recently built his own super computer. All of his computer knowledge, he picked up on his own, as neither his father nor I know much at all about it. He has been the most obedient of our children, as has never rebelled against us.
Homeschooling families have the same problems with their kids as other families. However, I think that because we tend to be very close-knit, if our kids stray away, they won't stay away for long. Raising them with Christian principles helps ensure their eventual return as well.
_____________________________
When momma ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy!
( author ? )
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 10/6/2009 8:54:22 AM
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Consecrated2God
Posts: 4926
Joined: 4/4/2005
From: Formerly Jesus Land
Status: offline
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I went back to school this year, after graduating from homeschool/high school back in '96. I'm actually taking my classes online, and yes, it's at an accredited, brick-and-mortar school that I occasionally have to drive to for various reasons. The online classes are actually harder than the face-to-face classes, from what the teachers and students who have experienced both tell me, but I am doing very well with it.
I am glad to discover that my homeschool education has prepared me very well for higher education. Even though I have been out of school for several years, I am not at all behind anyone else--in fact, I am in the top of my class of every course I am taking. Being homeschooled has given me an advantage in taking internet courses: I know how to be an independent learner. I know how to read and follow directions without someone having to help me along every step. Some of the other students are really struggling with this. I feel so blessed that my education has adequately prepared me for this.
_____________________________
"A faith that can be destroyed by suffering is not faith."--Richard Wurmbrand
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RE: Home School Success Stories - 10/12/2009 3:48:14 AM
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rynthetyn
Posts: 277
Joined: 4/12/2005
Status: offline
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Let's see...
My older brother graduated college with a 4.0, spent four years in India doing linguistic research, realized his real passion was the hobby he's had since he was 13 of studying Greek and then later Latin, so after spending 2 years doing post-bac work at UNC, he's now in one of the top Classics PhD programs in the country.
After college, I worked a while, then went and spent some time teaching English at one of the top universities in Vietnam, now I'm back in the US and preparing to apply for grad school.
My younger sister works as a community development specialist for a city redevelopment agency and just started her Masters in Urban and Regional Planning.
My little brother got bored with high school, so he dual enrolled at the community college when he was 16 so he could graduate high school a year early, went off to college at 17, and graduated a semester early at 20, got a job working for the tax collector's office and is now in the process of applying to do an MBA, and he's still only 22.
So yeah, I think we turned out ok
_____________________________
~.~Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines~.~
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). Before he was so busy with studying for various things, he served as base Honor Guard, something we're very proud of as those selected are of outstanding character and values. He has successfully advanced well in the Air Force and has stood out in his MOS. 
