As a homeschooling mom, you get used to surprised looks and questions. Lots of questions. In response to one of the most frequently asked questions, “why do you homeschool“, I’m sharing below my
Best Bits of Homeschooling
(1) FamilyTime
There’s nothing better than family time! Unfortunately, between rushing the kids out the door in the morning, piles of homework, play practice, music lessons, sports drills, and every club imaginable in the evening, the typical family schedule doesn’t allow for much time to simply be together. We felt like we were missing the benefits of just being a family; of relaxing, playing, and having a conversation around the dinner table. Movie nights, building forts, baking cookies – there was not time for any of it! We were too scheduled and too frantic. Homeschooling allows us time to be together, learn at our own pace, enjoy nature, and be creative.
(2) Life Skills
I’m not raising my kids to be fantastic test-takers (waste of time) or champion memorizers (thank goodness for Google). I’m teaching them to be contributing citizens of the world. Thinkers, problem-solvers, adventure seekers, risk takers, inventors. The world needs confident and compassionate leaders. I care that they LOVE to learn, that they ASK questions, that they’re curious and independent, that they can communicate and empathize, and help others. A letter grade doesn’t do that — experiences do.
(3) Freedom
Don’t you just love that word? Freedom. Homeschooling gives us freedom in our daily schedule, freedom to learn about what we are interested in and freedom to travel the world. We have the freedom to explore a museum on a Tuesday afternoon. We have the freedom to take our school lessons outside on beautiful days (yes, they even happen in England!). In my opinion, a good book discussion is greatly enhanced on a trail or at the beach or the neighborhood park. We have the freedom to spend 3 hours or 3 weeks on a subject. We have the freedom to travel in the off-season, which means cheap prices and less crowds. We have the freedom to be active all day instead of sitting behind a desk. We have the freedom of actually teaching our children according to how THEY learn. We have the freedom to encourage and inspire our family in every aspect of their life. Homeschooling is freedom.
