Why We Homeschool

I’ve been asked numerous times why we chose to homeschool. I wish I could give a simple reason and answer but it is so much more than one thing.

One of the first reasons why we decided to homeschool was the cost. I have my degree in Early Childhood Education and was a preschool teacher for 7 years before I had my oldest daughter Emma. I decided to become a stay at home mom after she was born. I couldn’t really justify going back to work teaching other children and then paying for my daughter to go to the same school and have someone else teach her.

We also homeschool for the flexibility. My husband travels a lot for his job. Sometimes he’s gone all week long. But sometimes he’s home throughout the week. The flexibility of homeschooling helps my girls to see their daddy more than if they were in school. We also sometimes travel with him when he works. We make it like a mini vacation. It just works for us.

I very strongly believe young children need more than anything to play. Most schools now have longer days, shorter recess and lunch times, and less arts and music classes. Children barely have any time to develop good social skills, empathy, or problem solving. They spend most of their days doing school work and then have to take even more work home. It takes us about 2-3 hours to finish our school work each day. Then we play! Sometimes we play games, sometimes the girls play with their dolls, sometimes we go outside and build fairy houses with natural materials, sometimes the girls just make something up. I also allow for plenty of creativity and imagination during our days. Every day I offer my girls some type of arts or crafts to work on. Today it was needle felting. I didn’t give them directions or step by step instructions on creating with it. I just let them create. Yesterday my youngest daughter was cutting out a number three. After she cut it out she turned her scraps into a bunny. I recently saw a sign in a kindergarten room that said, “Color inside the lines, color completely filling each object, and only use correct colors.” So no purple suns, no free flowing art. It must all look the same. That broke my heart. I just wonder if Olivia’s bunny would have been tossed aside if she would have been in school.

A huge reason we homeschool is I don’t agree with the curriculum the public school system uses. I went to public school my whole life. I had many wonderful teachers and I learned a lot. That being said, some of the things I learned are no longer being taught or they’re being taught in a completely different way. I just don’t agree with most of the curriculum and requirements anymore.

Another big reason we homeschool is the one on one teaching I can provide for my daughters. I believe teaching is one of the hardest jobs. To have 20-30 students in a class all with different learning styles and personalities is so difficult to get everyone on the same page. It’s hard to cater to each student and have one on one time with them. When I was learning my multiplication tables my teacher had each student get in front of the class on Fridays and recite the times table we had learned that week. You couldn’t move forward to the next until you got them right. I was and still am incredibly shy. It is so uncomfortable to me to talk in front of people. Having to get up in front of my peers and talk scarred me for life! I still to this day don’t know all of my multiplication facts. Ever since that class I have hated math. I never wanted to try because I thought I just couldn’t learn it. I never tried and never cared to. I don’t want this for my daughters! I know them better than anyone. I know what works best for them, how they learn, and how they think and process things. Being able to have so much one on one time with them and helping them to love learning is priceless.

When I was in middle school I was bullied quite a bit by some mean girls. I never understood why. I was so quiet and never even talked to many people. But for some reason I was singled out and picked on. It was awful. I hated going to school. I already didn’t enjoy learning. And all I wanted to do was leave. This was all in the 90s. They just called me names. Today kids are telling others to commit suicide just because. No reason at all. That frightens me to my core.

I would say the main reason we homeschool is because of our beliefs. I want my daughters’ learning to be centered around Jesus. We start our days with prayer and a Bible study. Since we have started homeschooling two years ago we have gone through all of the major stories in the Bible. My oldest daughter has learned a new proverb every week. We learn and sing hymns together. We listen to worship music while we school. And most importantly both of my girls have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. Whenever they get hurt, are sad, or need help in any way they pray. They know who they are in Christ and walk with Him daily. This is reason enough to homeschool for me.