Homeschooling your Sims Child

[maddyclyde9]

Does anyone else homeschool their child? If you get to, level 6 I think, of logic you can tutor sims.
If you only have 1 sim child, it can be quite useful; you set the school hours, so no waking up at 6:00 to catch the bus. But your Sim becomes quite unsocial as well.
Do you homeschool your child? 

[Joria]

Only in real life!  Next year high school and I'm bowing out.  It's been quite an adventure.

The only thing I've done with a Sims child is make sure the toddlers spend every waking moment reading everything age appropriate.  It won't let them read things that aren't.  I did try tutoring one child once but that young adult sim had a lot of other things to do to get to their LTW so I never pursued it further.  Is there a special technique?

[maddyclyde9]

Not really. I made the basement a school room though. You know, books, easel, that stuff.

[Joria]

This could really make a cute room or two and maybe even a challenge.  Imagine that your Sim family must be eco friendly and do the whole homeschool thing.  You must find a way to socialize well though but that could even be done within the context of a large family or via the internet.  Oregon is one of the best states in the US for homeschooling, by the way.  Our resources here are almost limitless and the community of homeschoolers, and the support, is huge.

This might be a bit more difficult to accomplish if you don't have Ambitions but I bet it could be a really cool challenge, especially if you did it with some modified legacy rules.  I'll have to think about this but I bet I could come up with a cool challenge or contest.

[Meurix]

Does homeschooling raise their grades, or does it just raise their skills?

[Pam]

Homeschooling may raise their skills but it won't do anything for their grades.  If they don't get on the bus and go to school, their grades will simply tank.  Then when it's time for the child to age up to teenager, you won't be allowed to choose his/her traits.  It's a cute idea for something different to do, but it won't work the same in-game as the children going to school.  And you have to be willing to sacrifice choosing that teenage trait, as well as the young adult trait if you continue the homeschooling for the teenagers.

[Asleep]

Then what's the point of tutoring?

[Asleep]

Oh, and by the way, Pam:
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Logic#Abilities
The Sims Wiki says it does increase their school performance.

[Jonna]

What a funny idea!  Yes, tutoring a child will increase school performance (something that I had to do for the Baby Boomer II challenge to get the kids on the honor roll in time for their birthdays).  The question is, does it improve performance enough to offset the decrease in performance that the kid gets from not being in school?

[maddyclyde9]

I've done homeschooling. You can raise skills AND their performance.

[Pam]

I would think that to raise their school performance, they would have to go to school.  Maybe I'm wrong.

[Branr]

I would think that to raise their school performance, they would have to go to school.  Maybe I'm wrong.

When my twins first grew to children (on a Saturday), both parents had Logic high enough to tutor, and I wanted to get the Honor Roll wish out of the way as fast as possible, so the parents tutored both kids that weekend until they had A's for school when they went to their first day of school, and one made the honor roll on the first day easily (the other is a slacker and barely missed it).  With the exception of homework, I would say homeschooling was feasible.

[maddyclyde9]

I would think that to raise their school performance, they would have to go to school.  Maybe I'm wrong.

I have a kid who has never been to school. Happiest kid I've ever had

[Asleep]

I have a kid who has never been to school. Happiest kid I've ever had

That would sure make ME happy! 

[Joria]

That would sure make ME happy! 

Ummm, only until Mom says, "Get off of Sims and do your school work!  You have (fill in the number) pages to do today and I WILL be checking it with a red pencil in hand!"  Or, "No!  The latest book by Tamora Pierce is NOT on the required reading list!  Go get "Huckleberry Finn".  Or..." I paid a small fortune for that language set you'd best be practicing your (fill in name of foreign or classical language)."  My kid is sooooo happy she's going to high school next year!  (She doesn't realize 8 hours in school and 3 more at home for homework is not half as much fun as homeschool for 4 hours was.)