The Why

We have several families we're close friends with here in town.  We watch each other's kids, play Euchre, visit each other in the hospital, go on trips together...  As much as we're similar and enjoy each other's families, all of them would never consider educating their children at home.  No way!

"We don't want our kids to be all weird with no social skills!"  

Seriously?  Someone tell me that Peter is weird and has no social skills.

Is he?  Does he?  Tell me.  I don't want to raise freaky kids.  

Just well-educated, kind, interested-in-life kids who love their God, their family, and others.

Paul and I think homeschooling is the best option for educating our children.  And so we do it.  Here's why.

*When it was time for Peter to go to Kindergarten, he had already learned everything there was to learn at that level.  We did not want to put him up a grade to First for a mountain of reasons (mostly specific to our school at that time).  But, if I schooled him at home, I could teach him at his level.

*We want to be the main influencers in his life.  We want to shape his values and ideas of what is right/wrong.  We don't want his peers or public school staff laying his spiritual and moral foundation.  We want to do that.  We're not going to keep him secluded from the world.  We're just "training him in the way he should go" before we let him loose into the world.

*Our schedule is so flexible.  This is Peter's main reason for wanting to stay at home.  Paul's day off is Monday, so we do not have formal lessons on Mondays.  That's our family day.  We also like that when the weather is gorgeous, we can scoot off to Turkey Run State Park to hike and climb and explore and have a picnic.  (Science and P.E.)

Being flexible also means if Peter is super interested in a particular history or science topic, we study it more indepth.  We study in the treehouse out back, on the couch in the living room, and at the Children's Museum.  There is so much freedom.   (We can go to Chuck E. Cheese's on a weekday.  That's got to count for something.)  Part of the flexibility, too, is the curriculum we choose.  We're going the Classical route, which is pretty different from the public school's methods.

*It's personalized for Peter.  I know what he knows and what he still needs to work on.  I know his learning style and can teach to that. You know why homeschoolers always seem to have a 4.0?  Because they study and practice until they learn the concept.

Those are the main four.  There are oodles more reasons why we love it and why it works for our family.  Even so, about every 8 weeks, I seriously contemplate enrolling Peter in public school.  Homeschooling is not perfect.  I'm far from perfect.  My kids aren't perfect.  Therefore, there will be days when we struggle.

We may homeschool through high school.  But, maybe we'll stop sooner.  We have a good local school with quality teachers.  We may move overseas and put the boys in an international school.  We are flexible with life and what our family needs.

I read a blog of another homeschool Mama who wrote out her Whys of Homeschooling a while back.  She expounds on her 11 Whys at this link.

From her, I was introduced to Classical Education and have been inspired by her creativity with her 3 boys.

When doing the homeschool thing is hard, I come back to these lists of Whys.  I suck it up and thank God for this opportunity to teach and love and grow with my children.

And I pray for patience on an hourly basis.