Have you been wrestling with the question about if you should homeschool or not? Here are a few reasons why I believe homeschool is such a blessing and some tips to help you get started.
Homeschooling has really become a talked about subject. Ten to twenty years ago, homeschool was not as well known, but now it is becoming a main-stream topic.
Homeschooling is not just for big religious families. There is such a greater community of us homeschooling families than many even realize. I knew the movement was growing but the deeper we get into our homeschooling journey, I’m so amazed at how large the homeschool community is right here in our own small little town.
More and more parents, just like you are researching and reading about homeschooling and see homeschooling as a viable and superior education option for your children. If you should choose to go down this path and choose to homeschool your children, you will be faced with the question “Why Homeschool?” Not that it is anyone’s business besides you and your spouses but sometimes you yourself may be trying to justify to yourself or even your spouse why you feel homeschooling is the best option.
Why Homeschool? Gosh, Let Me Count the Reasons!
When I met my husband and we talked about our future, I can distinctly remember saying that I would always work, as he wanted me to be a stay at home mom. I loved my job. I was a teacher. I had worked hard in school all the way up to my Master’s Degree in Classroom Education. I was certified in many areas and I was good at my job. I took a lot of pride in teaching. I had some very influential teachers growing up and I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. I just knew we’d get married, live in a small town. I’d teach in that town and our kids would go to the school where I taught. I’d get to know all their teachers because they’d be my colleagues, they’d grow up spending time in my classroom before and after school and be the “teacher’s kid”.
Well fast forward a few years later. My husband and I started a chiropractic business from the ground up, got married and got pregnant all in the same year. We like to work at warp speed 😂. When we had our daughter, I got so much anxiety to leave her with a sitter and go back to work. It wasn’t that I didn’t love my job, I just wanted to spend all of my time with our daughter. I felt so pulled to give it my all in every area of my life. It was hard. We weren’t quite ready with the new business for me to stay home yet, we really relied on my income. So I worked a couple more years. We ended up pregnant with our second daughter and I could not go through the anxiety again of leaving my babies in the care of someone else and trying to give everything I had at my job but feel exhausted coming home to my world. So it was time for me to take a step back from the career I had worked so hard to achieve and was so proud of. When that school year ended, I had a two and a half year old and seven month old. It was bittersweet to leave, but I knew I’d never regret more time home with my girls and getting to witness their milestones.
Everyone has different reasons to homeschool and different ideas of what homeschooling looks like. This my friend is the beauty in homeschooling itself. It doesn’t have to fit a mold like public education. It doesn’t have to match what the government lays out in front of you dictating your every move. You have FREEDOM!
At the time when we only had two children and I was just beginning to stay home, I didn’t have strong reasons to homeschool. I just knew we wanted more kids in the future and I didn’t want to give up my time with my kids for someone else to practically raise them. I had a terrible vision of the rushed mornings having to get kids ready along with myself, not eat a proper breakfast and be rushed out of the house unreasonably early to rush off to school. Let alone do this five days a week only to live for two days off to try and enjoy as a family. It just sounded like we would be sacrificing so much of our family values and not getting quality family time.
All of these thoughts consumed me and my husband when our oldest daughter was a baby. She is now seven and we have worked through preschool years and started her elementary years. I now have so many reasons why I believe homeschool is such a great opportunity and the best educational choice, especially for us!
Our reasons for choosing to homeschool are now so strong that we have no intentions of our children ever attending public education.
So, Why Homeschool?: The Most Compelling Reasons Why
Homeschooling might be the best option for you if…
1. You want to really know your kids. Their likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses and what they truly love to do. You also want your kids to know and understand themselves even better than you do.
So why homeschool to achieve this? Because knowing your kids at a deeper level and your kids really finding themselves without peer pressure and outside influences takes time, and the more time you have, the better you are at achieving this goal at a deeper level.
Do you know when you choose to homeschool you are gaining over 18,000 extra hours with your kids that they would normally be in school. This doesn’t include before and after school care, extracurricular, or college. This is just based on K-12 education. I mean think about that. That is so much time that you are missing away from your child that someone else gets to influence them.
I feel like most high school graduates go through thirteen years of education and still come out so unsure what they want to do with the rest of their lives. This is a normal expression to most “Oh you have time to decide”. Isn’t it crazy though that after all that time most are still so unsure about what they are passionate about and what they want the rest of their lives to look like? So we send them off to college to keep figuring things out. Some, even after years of college still don’t know the direction they want to take their life in.
A child needs time and space to explore their interests. They need to try different activities to explore if they love it or want to try something different.
The parent needs time with their children. And not (when they get older) focused conversations like interrogations fit into a tiny time slot to check it off the list that the future was discussed and a solution was reached to take the next path towards in life. Chances are, it was a rushed decision and college majors will change frequently.
The key to you and your child figuring out what they love to do and what they are good at is to spend a lot of unstructured time with them and give them tons of unstructured play time.
Play is critical for learning and our society does not give our kids nearly enough time to play. An outside recess at school is usually twice a day for 15-20 minutes at a time. The kids are then expected to come sit at a table or desk for six plus hours and learn, take in information. It’s no wonder that children experience ADHD and behavior problems. Kids are not meant to sit inside at a desk all day. We spend hours outside at play because kids need to be able to explore, burn their energy and discover the world around them.
Societal norms right now, strip kids of having an actual childhood. Too much emphasis on kids growing up too soon, placing tablets and phones at their disposal, inappropriate content in movies and shows geared to entertain and mold young minds. Kids grow up way too fast and miss crucial learning opportunities as a result. Homeschooling allows us as parents to guard childhood with all that we have because our kids deserve that!
2. You want your kids to love learning and be life long learners.
Why homeschool? Because your children are born ready to learn!
A lot of times, what holds a parent back from making the jump to homeschool is that they don’t feel qualified to teach their child or that their child may fall behind. Think about it though, babies learn to crawl, walk, talk and more within the first one to two years of their life without much help from adults. Sure we guide and encourage them, just like we will do with homeschooling them, but they accomplish all of these skills as babies by simply exploring and discovering.
They observe, they try new things, and they figure it out. But do all babies learn to crawl at the same age? Do they learn to walk at the same age? How about talk at the same age? The answer is NO. So why do we compare them and have such strong expectations at school for them all be able to read at the same time? Do the exact same skills at the same time? And when they don’t there is something wrong with them. They need to be tested, need extra tutoring, again more time devoted to skills that particular child may not be developmentally ready for. It’s a rat race for our kids to see who can reach the finish line first and out of childhood the fastest.
Kids are naturally curious. They ask a lot of questions. I can attest to this personally 😜. In all reality though I love how curious my girls are and how they are always questioning how things work. This kind of curiosity feeds on freedom and lives in the moment to grow and foster the questions and thoughts they are developing. When there isn’t time and or space to ask and answer questions, love of learning can easily be fizzled out. When a child is shut down so many times, sooner or later they will learn to stop being curious.
Now as stated previously in this article, I was an educator. There are some kids who are eager to learn at school and lap up the information that good teachers set forth for them. There are some teachers who put their heart and soul into educating and trying to take that scope and sequence and present it to their students and still try to make it as fun and child driven as possible. They just have fewer opportunities than a parent who homeschools.
However, not all kids are this way. They want to ask their own questions and want their answers right then and there. They don’t care if it is in the scope and sequence or on the agenda for the day. When they don’t get their questions answered, they choose a few different paths.
- they get bored… and cause problems
- they check out… and fall behind
- they conform… and exchange their own curiosity for the school’s or governments’ (if being honest) agenda
Teachers have on average 25 kids in their classroom. They cannot stop to answer every question every student asks and still accomplish what is on the agenda each day.
So, I am here to say that if you want to really foster a love of learning and promoting curiosity for your child or children, consider homeschooling. The whole world is at their fingertips to be curious about. Not four walls and a desk.
3. You want to be in charge of your own schedule and live your life on your own terms.
Why homeschool? Because you want to be in charge of your own schedule and not follow anyone else’s schedule planned for you.
Raising a family is the hardest most rewarding job. You have to juggle multiple schedules. If you have more than one child, these schedules can be very complex to make sure to are managing and scheduling correctly. Then enter school that wants you to conform to its schedule.
I have always been a rule follower and people pleaser. When I was in school I rarely missed days unless I was sick. We weren’t just pulled out to go on trips. I got all the perfect attendance awards. I was that model student. So writing this from a mother’s perspective as I watch my girls who have the energy of their father is another story. Most schools frown upon pulling your child out because they are missing instruction for the day and of course the school is not paid when attendance gets so low. So it is definitely important to make good attendance a hight priority.
Trying to get multiple kids up, ready, fed, and out the door to be at school by a certain time can be a stressful situation. I know from experience that when we are trying to get somewhere by a specific time, I become cranky and stressed trying to get us all ready and there on time. I could not imagine doing this everyday. I much prefer our slow mornings, staying in our pajamas awhile, reading stories, making healthy breakfast together, focusing on our devotional time and playtime.
It is also so nice to be able to plan vacations in off seasons when school is in session. You hit lower crowds and you are able to take your learning on the go. Better yet, homeschool absolutely does not have to look like traditional school. You don’t have to enforce worksheets daily in order for your kids to be learning. So take the trip, make the memories and add enriching learning in while on the trip.
4. You want your kids to be able to function in the real world and school doesn’t teach real world experiences and knowledge
Why homeschool? Traditional school teaches kids how to do well in an environment, an academic environment, not the real world.
I can remember sitting in math class my freshman year of high school legitimately asking my teacher when I would use that math lesson in my lifetime. Guess what? I’m 34 years old and still have never used that lesson in my life. Not to say you don’t teach math, literacy, science, history when you homeschool, but you are able to add so many more enriching lessons to your child’s learning.
Think about this, children sadly spend the majority of their childhood in the school setting. They are stuck in a room with kids all of their age. They don’t learn how to “socialize” with kids older or younger than them or how to have conversations with adults. My girls can talk to anyone. They are so good with kids younger than them, are not afraid to talk and answer questions when someone talks to them and know how to carry on a conversation. This is a rarity nowadays for many high schoolers. They are so glued to their phones or simply answer yes/no question format. It is a struggle to carry on meaningful conversations.
In school, children are in an environment where they are given breaks for the restroom and drinks, lunch breaks and specific snack time breaks. Even as adults if you are hungry, you grab a snack. If you have to use the restroom, you go. Nap times are taken away at kindergarten. My seven almost eight year old still lays down and takes a midday break/rest. In school, kids’ every move is planned out for them.
Some kids are able to learn in this environment, know what their teachers want and learn to do exactly what is expected of them. ( I was one of these students all through school). A whole lot of school is learning the expectations of how to behave at school and not what is awaiting us outside of those four walls.
I want to teach my kids meaningful life skills. How to build relationships with their siblings and not focus on the friendships that will come and go in different phases of their lives. I want to teach them the value of a strong family, how to work hard and get their hands dirty, help keep a tidy house, grow a garden, sew an article of clothing, make a home cooked meal, take care of a baby, pay their bills and so much more.
Can kids still learn these skills if they go to traditional school. Sure. But there would be a lot less time to teach them these skills. Again you would be taking away from free playtime they only get opportunities to learn on the weekends because again evenings are full of homework, extracurricular, dinner, bath and bed to do it all over again the next day.
If you want to break the norm and fill your kid’s lives with enriching lessons that focus around family values and real life scenarios, give homeschool some thought.
5. Keeping Jesus a focus in your child’s learning
Why homeschool? Because you can choose not to push the agenda on your children.
You get to decide what curriculum to teach your kids. You get to choose to keep Jesus and the Bible a focus in your curriculum. God is being pushed right out of traditional school unless you choose private school which cost thousands of dollars.
You get to decide when you introduce your children to specific topics and not have to answer questions about said topics because the school deemed it appropriate to talk about sex education earlier than you planned on. In today’s society there are all kinds of problems popping up in school that is deemed appropriate that you as the parent can choose to teach your children otherwise and what the Bible says is appropriate.
When you keep Jesus the focus and center of your education, you teach your kids about faith in the context of everyday life. You don’t have to worry about them being teased for not sporting the latest trend like stanley cups, playing the most up to date video game or wearing the best name brand clothes. None of this means anything to your child when homeschool because you are cultivating the environment and what is important and not.
The Best Way to Start Homeschooling
Ok, you are convinced. You want to homeschool, but now where do you start?
Many parents who choose to start homeschooling today are products of traditional school themselves, so it’s very hard for them to not make homeschool look like traditional school at the kitchen table. I get it. I was a public school educator. I have had to really unschool myself in order to not stress my girls out and give them so much more to our homeschool journey. Bless my oldest child for literally being my guinea pig of parenting and that includes homeschooling. We have learned so much together, but I am thankful that I chose to follow her lead and if she didn’t show interest in something I believed was important at a certain time, I chose to not push it and let her pick up concepts in her own time.
If you choose to homeschool and try to mimic what traditional school looks like, I truly feel like you are going to miss out on the amazing benefits and opportunities homeschooling has to offer you.
You have so much freedom even in strict states when it comes to homeschooling. We are in Missouri and our homeschool laws are pretty relaxed.
The first step you need to take is finding out what your homeschool laws are. You need to know what you are required to do, if you have an amount of hours to reach, or anything to show proof to the state. Follow your states homeschool laws.
Next, join some homeschool groups on social media, follow other homeschool families on instagram and ask questions. The homeschool community has really grown the past few years especially the all the crap that is being allowed in traditional school. Now I say to follow these groups on social media, but don’t get hung up on thinking your homeschool has to look like someone else’s. Social media can paint pictures of things to look amazing but not always be that way in real life. Do what works for you and your kids.
Check out different types of curriculum. Don’t feel like you have to use the same source for all of your subjects. Don’t be afraid to look at mini units and have fun with learning. Find your kids learning styles and interests and follow those in planning out your year. My girls really thrive with hands on learning, outside exploring, reading, crafts, and small mini units. We love doing thematic units. Their bookwork is quick. Their books take roughly 30-45 minutes of lesson and bookwork before they are given a break and then we move on to the thematic units. It is usually not a struggle because they love the thematic units so much.
I suggest the book Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp as a kind of guide to see some topics you could incorporate each school year. I also suggest a planner to keep everything planned out and minutes kept if that is part of your documentation requirements. I really love this Homeschool Planner by Emily Ley. It is great to organize all of my girls’ curriculum and lessons in.
A few other tips when starting out. Give yourself grace and your kids grace. Not everyday is going to be a walk in the park. You are going to have hard days and so are they. If a curriculum isn’t working, don’t be afraid to change it up and try something new. There are tons of options out there. Work on piecing together what works best for you and your family. Have fun! Really lean into the beauty of witnessing your child live and explore the childhood you are creating for them. Count your blessings on the days that are hard, don’t be afraid to take breaks and get out and explore. Like I said, the world is at your fingertips to learn and explore!
I hope you find this post encouraging and have so much fun on your homeschool journey! 💕