Why are we choosing to homeschool?

That is the first question people usually ask – after the audible gasp has escaped and the look of bewilderment stares back at me. The answer is not a simple one and not the same for any family

For us, homeschooling was a decision that we came to after much thinking and discussion over a 2-year period. First, let me say that our local public elementary school is FABULOUS! I have nothing but good things to say about the teachers/staff and community that continue to work hard to provide opportunities for our kids. My kids have benefitted from a quality education that will give us a great start to homeschooling.

If I had to sum it up, the reason we are homeschooling is EFFICIENCY. I don’t think that I can necessarily provide a BETTER traditional education for my children vs. teachers, but I think I can do it faster! There’s only 2 of them (not 30+) and they are smart! My goal is to open up our days to include the things that are AS important as math and language arts that we couldn’t do before, like foreign language, community service and religious studies and to ADD more music, art and science than a public school can provide. We are also striving to give our kids the downtime that they were telling us that they needed! Between homework, swim, football, martial arts, etc., they just wanted to play outside, build with blocks or read a book for fun!

So, what tipped the scale? After 2 years of careful internal consideration, I felt like I needed to talk to a “professional”! I ran my crazy idea by the kids’ teacher, who I respected and felt like she best knew my kids academically, and fully expected her to tell me I was crazy. Her immediate support and excitement for us was the validation I needed to move forward.

Now, I know how lucky I am. There have to be so many things that come together for homeschooling to work: a parent with the time and dedication to devote to it, kids who are willing to try, personalities that are suited to each other… everything has to align just right to even make this a consideration for most families.

I also know that this could be a short-term experiment, but I hope that it’s not. We will constantly re-evaluate our situation and adapt it, if needed, to provide the best learning environment for our kids. So, at the end of this year, we will discuss as a family how we should proceed – keep at the homeschooling or go back to public school. And as the kids get older, they will have more of a say in the decision to continue or not.

For me, the nail in the coffin to any decision always comes down to – would I regret it if I didn’t try. This was a total YES! This is something that I always would’ve looked back on and wondered if I could’ve initiated it for ALL of our benefit. The time that we get to spend with the kids and the bonds that we will share will be proof that this was the right decision for our family, regardless of what the future holds.  For now, we hope that you enjoy reading about the ups and downs of our new adventures of homeschooling and freelancing (and we hope we all survive the next year under one roof!)