As we prepare to enter our fifth year as a homeschooling family, I
wanted to share publicly some of the reasons we homeschool. Over the
years I have had several friends ask why we homeschool, what an average
day looks like, and what curriculum we use.
This shall be part one of my homeschool series: 5 Reasons Why We Homeschool
The
two years before our oldest daughter was ready for Kindergarten were
years full of conversation regarding schooling. We continually
vacillated between public school, private school, and home school. Like
most people, Trent and I drew from our personal experiences to help aid
in our decision making. I went to public school K-6, then Christian
school 7-12, then public university. Trent was in Christian school K-12
and public university.
After looking into the cost of
Christian schools and knowing we already had three children (at that
time) close together and hoped for more, we quickly ruled out the
feasibility of affording Christian school.
I'm a
list-person so I wrote list after list of pros and cons of public school
versus home school. I wracked my brain of all the negative things about
public school, and all the positive things about it. I didn't have many
friends that I knew of that had been home schooled and, to be frank,
had a negative impression of what home school kids were like (you know,
weird.). I also didn't have a single mom-friend (at that time) who home
schooled her children, which was extremely intimidating.
In
the end, Anne made the decision rather easy for us. She started reading
a year before she was old enough to enter Kindergarten. By the
following year she was reading at a 6th grade level. I couldn't see
sending her to Kindergarten because I was sure she would be bored. Anne
has been blessed (or cursed, depending on how you look at it) with a
very similar personality to my own. Knowing how we react to boredom
(getting into trouble) home school quickly won the debate. We decided to
take it a year at a time, not knowing how it would go and what it would
look like.
If I'm totally honest with myself, Anne's
reading level was a cop-out. It was easier for me to explain that Anne
is a gifted reader so we decided to home school than to tell people my
deeper opinions on it. And many of these opinions and ideas were shaped
by the experience gained from living the home school life.
What
I have to say next is in no way a reflection on the decisions of other
families. All of us moms are just trying to do the best we can,
attempting to make the best choices for our children, and our families.
I do not believe that homeschooling is the best choice for all
families, but it is the best choice for my family at this time.
Five Reasons Why We Homeschool (in no particular order)
1.
Flexibility: I have found that we can have as fluid or as rigid a class
schedule as I desire. We often start school in August while most kids
are still on vacation, to take our family vacation during times when the
beaches are empty and rentals are cheaper. My girls can enjoy playing
in the snow all morning, then still get their lessons done in the
afternoon. We can sleep in as late as we need or want to in the
mornings. This past school year the girls took a very short Christmas
holiday because we knew we were going to be heading to China and wanted
the school year to be finished before we left. Our family trips often
count as field trip school days. I am not a morning person so I am
thankful not to have to rush around getting papers signed, lunches made,
backpacks prepared, trying to remember when gym day is for several
little people, etc. I believe our home is a very peaceful (albeit messy)
place to be.
2. Close Relationships: Looking back
to the few people I know who were home schooled for some portion of
their schooling, this may have been one of the things I found "weird". I
saw pre-teens who had very close relationships with their parents and
siblings. If this is a side effect of homeschool, I definitely see this
as a positive thing. My daughters feel very comfortable coming to Trent
or me with their problems. While the girls don't get along every moment
of every day, at the end of the day, they are still friends. I often
remind the girls that, while it's great for them to have friends who
aren't their sisters, those friendships often come and go. Sisters are
forever. I wish that I would have had closer friendships with my own
sisters growing up. Homeschooling often allows us to feel a bit of the
simplicity and closeness you garner when reading the
Little House books. While Trent doesn't play a fiddle (yet) he sure tells great bedtime stories and is a fantastic Mad Dog and Tickle Man.
3.
Inter-Age Comfort: I don't have a good title for this one. Basically my
girls are comfortable with all ages. Schools are so "grade focused"
that it unwittingly pits older/stronger kids against smaller/weaker
ones. Whether or not a child is ever bullied in a school (I was not),
there was always a bit of fear toward the upper grades. Right now the
girls are 9, 8, almost 7, 3, and 2. They are just as happy to play with
each other as they are visiting our neighbors daily who are 84, 68, 65,
and 8. They can have meaningful conversations with people of all ages
(or happily bounce a baby on their knee). I know when I was 9 years old
there wasn't much chance of me wanting to have a conversation with a
friend's parent. Yet our girls will happily interact with adults as
easily as they do with children. (Also, this may make them seem weird.)
4.
Love of Learning: I really wanted my girls to love learning and be life
long learners. I see many parents complain and vent about the amount of
testing their children have to go through. It saddens me to see very
young children with such heavy burdens of stress due to their
(elementary!) education. My girls are well-read in a wide range of
subjects. I find that I am learning right along with them. Admittedly
there are some subjects (cough, cough, Science) that are not personal
favorites, but this in no way hinders their Science Education. This past
school year (when Anne and Abbey were doing 3rd grade) they took on the
majority of their own science education. It was so beautiful to watch
them not only take on the responsibility, but to do so independently and
with consistency. I'll have a whole post dedicated to my curriculum
choice at a later date. *Their love of books may make them seem weird.*
5.
Influence: While some may disagree or not like this one; I have found
it to be one of the most important reasons why we home school. I want to
be the major influence in my child's life; not their peers, not their
teachers, not the things they hear on the bus, not the misinformation
they gather in school. Me. I feel personally convicted to provide my
children with a solid foundation of what we believe and why before
sending them out on their own for 8-9 hours a day. Granted, this means
my children get to see me fail. Every. Day. It means sometimes I lose my
patience and raise my voice. But it also means I get to show them what
repentance looks like. It means I get to show them, first hand, how to
restore a relationship that was hurt by careless words. It means they
get to help me to be a better mom, a better person. Together, we get to
explore how Jesus lived. We get to see how He is still active in the
world, and in our home. They have deep, first hand knowledge of what it
means to love people who are different from us. They have the
opportunity to build the character traits of godly women who may someday
be godly wives and mothers and home makers and whatever else they
choose. I want them to have faith in their roots, and not be swayed by
every passing trend. This also means that I am the one who explains
about their bodies, how babies are made, why we do or don't wear certain
clothing, why we wear deodorant, that it's rude to burp and fart at the
table (with sometimes little success). But again, I'm so glad that I'm
the one giving them accurate information that aligns with our spiritual
beliefs.
While there are certainly more reasons
and more stories I could share, I think these five pretty well sum up
what I love about homeschooling.
I welcome your
questions! I had lots of questions before I got started so I am happy to
share what I have learned to help others on their way or to sate a
curious mind.
