Why Did You Decide to Homeschool?
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This is a question every homeschooler gets
asked at least once. I sat down a really thought about it a
while back. These are not in any order of importance or
anything, but the list does grow as the years go by. We began
our homeschooling experience in 2004.
Why we Homeschool: - Olivia's obvious exhaustion at the end of a school week (actually the day before) and she didn't recover until almost the end of the weekend. - Natasha's high energy and restlessness. - High cost of private school compared to homeschooling. - We didn't like our local government/public school and would never send them there. - Freedom from the school timetable. - Having your children with you, sharing their discoveries, hopes and fears. - Teaching them what you believe is important in a way that they will understand. - Individually tailored curriculum to compliment their learning style, speed of learning and interests. - 1:2 teacher student ratio instead of 1:30+ - Don't have to drive them to school and pick them up daily. Which includes mindless chatter to people you usually wouldn't associate with. - Kids can learn about life from living it instead of hearing about it in theory. - You have direct control and information about behaviour, not second hand through the teacher or principal or worse third or fourth hand through other parents because the school never contacted you over something you may feel is important but they don't. - Stronger family unit. - Seeing and keeping the best of them. - You can add so much more variety into their days instead of sitting in school all day. - You can reinforce good morals and values. - They can play with whichever toys they enjoy without fear of being picked on because it may be intended for a different age group. - They can wear clothes we say are suitable without "fashion indoctrination". They don't have to be with the "in" crowd or feel like they need to rebel against the "in" crowd. - They learn how to interact with and converse with people from all backgrounds and ages as we go about our usual days. - We can watch them and learn and nurture their strengths and dreams and encourage them to grow their weaknesses. - They can't fall through the cracks, we'll follow them down and help them out. - No fear of getting a "bad" teacher or one whose personality clashes with your childs. - You can visit family or friends through the week. - If their sick you know what work is done, you don't need to get notes from class. - You can teach sex education when and how you want. - No drugs, peer pressure, rebellion or anarchy. - You've got time to make home-made food from scratch. - They understand the value of things because they are with you so much. They know where the food comes from, that cleaning needs to be done and how to look after their rooms and belongings. (For me I would be tempted to do all that while they were at school if we didn't homeschool and they would see none of it.) - I can study at home with them seeing how it is done (or hubby as the case actually is.) - They are free to play much earlier than their institutionalised counterparts because homeschooling takes up so much less time. (We usually do 1-2 hours of formal bookwork and the rest is living and enjoying life.) |
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