I believe the decision faced on whether or not to home-school an older child should be based on whether the child will reap any benefit from it.

My sixteen year old daughter started homeschooling about 3 weeks ago and there is already a marked improvement. While in school she was failing two of her classes and on the border-line of passing the others. Her grades have tremendously improved to A's and C's, just in class work that she has submitted during this time.

There are a lot of different programs for homeschooling, so there are a lot of things to consider when making a decision. The program that we are using is based on working through her actual high-school and her guidance counselor oversees her progress. It is a Virtual Learning program that is done by logging on via the computer and submitting her work when she is finished. There is a deadline of how many lessons she has to complete, so this helps her motivation. My daughter and I have our own user-name and password, so this allows me to also track her progress. There are still a few exams she will need to take at school and pass before she can graduate.

I feel the decision to home-school my daughter has increased the chance of her graduating. She is excited at the fact her grades are up and I no longer have to worry about peer pressure interfering with her education.

I feel that peer pressure and teen socialization are a major obstacle to learning. My daughter begged me to be home-schooled because of all the "drama" at school. She was regularly involved in fights and arguments and receiving after school detentions and alternative school. There doesn't seem to be anything constructive in our area for teens to do after school, so they have too much idle time on their hands.

Peer pressure seems to start younger now. My six year old daughter is already complaining about the "cliques" at school. One day she has friends, another day she cries and says she doesn't. She is already wanting to be home-schooled. I feel I need to consider the pro's and con's even more in her situation because of her age. I don't want to isolate her from other children her age because she needs to learn socialization skills. Also, she is a sensitive child, so she may feel that the situation is worse than it really is.

A friend of mine, that counsels children said that peer pressure in children seems to get younger all the time. She said it usually starts in the third grade and my daughter is only in the first.

While I am considering the situation with my first-grader, I feel I have made the right decision with home-schooling my teenager. I hope others might consider all the options before deciding one way or another.

Learn more about this author, Kathie Scarberry.
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