Why Did You Decide to Home School?

The main reason we decided to home school our children is because we felt inspired that it was the right thing for our family at this time. We made a Pros and Cons list as we made this decision, and it had about 25 Pros and 6 Cons. Here are some of those specific reasons and key factors that also played into our decision.

Last year, Derek had two teachers--one for Math/Science/Social Studies, one for English and Language Arts. Both of those teachers have a deserved reputation for being tough, especially on boys. Rather than diving into all the details about his experiences last year, I will sum it up by saying that overall, he wasn't as happy as is typical for him, and I could see his love for learning begin to dwindle. There was some good to be taken from his experiences last year--I think he became more responsible, and he progressed academically, but aside from those benefits, we were disappointed.

We want our children to have more time and freedom to learn about things they are interested in and do things they'd like to do. We can go on field trips. We can can provide appropriate academic challenges for them.

More time came up again and again on our Pros list. School requires 7-8 hours away from the house each day. So being at home each day leaves more time for all kinds of things in addition to academics, such as: reading, fun crafts and projects, learning fun and valuable things (including homemaking skills--cooking, cleaning, sewing, etc.), Scouting achievement, Gospel study, serving, strengthening family relationships, discovering and developing talents/strengths/abilities, etc.

Home schooling is also appealing to us because we can minimize the outside influences of the world and negative social influences (which also became more apparent during Derek's last school year). These facts did not weigh as heavily in our decision as keeping alive and fostering our children's love for learning did. However, we do appreciate the fact that we are a more direct influence in our children's lives now and that we are there for each other, encouraging and supporting each other daily in all that we do. It is exciting to get to know our children better and in a different light than we did before.

Perhaps I've presented some rather persuasive reasons to home school, although the intent of this post is absolutely not to persuade anyone else to home school. Rather, it was a way to answer the spoken or unspoken question that comes up for everyone who finds out we are home schooling this year. I wholeheartedly support every parent as they do what they feel is best for their child, and if that was home schooling, I'd support you in that just as I do the majority of mothers I know and respect who take their children to school each morning.

We've been on the public school side of things, and now we're on the home schooling side. I do not know how long we will home school our children. Maybe it's just for this year, maybe we'll do it through high school. Right now, we're taking it one year at a time. And, we are taking this year one day at a time, and so far enjoying every "pro" listed above.

If you have any other questions for me about home schooling, feel free to leave them in a comment. I'm happy to receive and answer any questions you have.