Each home school experience is different, that’s the beauty of it! We can adapt it to our family. We decided that homeschooling would be the best option for us because we can make school fit into what is important in our family. A are a few points that we took into consideration when deciding whether to home school or not. Before anything else, we saw that we could homeschool. It is a possibility for our family because of the very simple life that we lead.
There are a lot of people who I have met who say that they would love to homeschool their children, but they cannot because of their current life circumstances. I will never look down upon someone who does not homeschool their child because often times they can’t do it for financial reasons or something else. I hope that they also get to eventually try homeschooling out because it’s been such a pleasant experience for us.
Here are some some factors we took in to consideration and aspects we’ve come to love about homeschooling:
1. We want to spend as much time as possible together as a family
And we do, we spend almost all of our time together. Yes, despite our imperfections we still prefer to be together. Who else is going to teach my child with as much love and patience as me? We love each other and our bond is closer than ever.
2. We want freedom
Oh, to be weightless and free… picture me right now with eyes closed, my arms spread like wings, imaginary wind whipping my hair into my face. Who doesn’t want to feel free? Homeschooling allows us the freedom to choose when and where to do classes and how much time we spend on subjects. We spend part of our year in Canada and another part in Peru and homeschool allows this.
3. We want teach our child our family values
We want our son’s little sponge brain to absorb what is kind, good and wholesome.
Another thing that definitely contributed to the decision to home school my child is my own recollection of school. I don’t mean to be negative, I know that there are many people who have fond memories of school and there are teachers who do the best they can to make school a pleasant academic experience. In my case, I remember spending so much time waiting for other kids to quiet down and listen to the teacher each day, even as a kid I felt like those were hours of my life wasted. I recall bullying being a real problem, as many people do. I was so scared of bullies I tried to make myself invisible. It made me sad to see other kids getting picked on. There are many unsavory memories of iniquitous things being said and done, even in the classroom. I realize that I won’t be able to shield my child from all bad things and that being over-protective will not help him in the long run, but my husband and I are working hard to instill important values in him before he has to face the world on his own.
4. We can focus more time on what my child enjoys
Its unbelievable but it’s true, my son absolutely loves math. I say this because math was never my forte- the words “I hate math” may have come out of my mouth more than once when I was a teenager. Now, we spend more time on math than any other subject. I feel proud that my son loves math; it never ceases to amaze how different our son can be from my husband and I. I mean, he looks just like my husband with my eyes, but his personality and preferences are quite different from ours. We’ve been able to skip him a few years ahead in math because he is so advanced. We focus on all core subjects; however, interest lead learning is a wonderful benefit of homeschooling.
5. We have a more relaxed schedule
Thank goodness for no morning rush. That was always the worst part of the day for me. There is no fixed time to get started. My son can eat breakfast while I do a read-aloud or we can listen to music. There’s no hard fast rules about our school day. Our relaxed schedule fits our slow living lifestyle perfectly. We can even go on spur of the moment field trips when we want… in fact, we often do so that we don’t catch a case of cabin fever during these long Canadian winters. An added bonus is that a lot of field trip venues don’t have many people in them during weekdays, woohoo!
Do you homeschool your children? What do you love about it? What challenges have you faced? Please comment below
