Why do you homeschool?

[mhg]

Yesterday I posted a question asking for what advice you could offer me as I begin my homeschooling journey. I got some GREAT advice and one idea echoed by many was for me to KNOW your own reasons for homeschooling and to clearly delineate/articulate them FOR MYSELF(verbalize them, write them down, etc.) for the purpose of reviewing them later when tempted to doubt/despair/fret. May I ask you to share some of your / your family's personal reasons for homeschooling? (not "to defend" them) -- just curious as to how my own are alike/different from other members of the HIVE.

[Just Robyn]

I want my children to have the freedom to explore their interests.

 

I want my children to have an education that is molded to their needs rather than trying to mold them to the needs of the public education system.

 

The language arts instruction in the public schools in my area is not up to my standards.

[patchfire]

01. Academic rigor

02. Less cost than private schooling, financially, socially, and in terms of lost opportunities. Similarly, less cost socially and in terms of lost opportunities than public schooling.

03. Sibling relationships

 

All of it could really boil down to TIME. We've given ourselves back a huge amount of time by homeschooling, time that we use for family activities, time for the kids to just play, time for enrichment, time to travel... you get the idea.

 

Ultimately, though, we came to homeschooling as a way for our kids to get an education equivalent to that of a high-priced, very rigorous prep school (much of our academics and activities are modeled on that) at less cost to relationships and our wallets. ;)

[Crimson Wife]

We started out HS by default. The local school for which we were zoned at the time wasn't very good and it wasn't in our budget to move or pay for private school tuition. Even if I resumed full-time employment, my net income after taxes & other expenses would've barely covered the cost of private school for two kids. And that's assuming that they even got accepted to a school we liked (this was in '06 during the boom).

 

Very quickly after we started, I became a convert to the HS lifestyle. I love the flexibility to tailor the curriculum to the individual child's needs. I like how there is no artificial separation between teaching academics and teaching our family's values. I like how HS has fostered family togetherness. I like how they have time to just be kids instead of coming home after 6 hours in the classroom to an hour or more of homework even in the primary grades. I like how they are sheltered from a lot of the negative peer influences (it's not 100% of course but I've observed a lot fewer problems among the HS kids than among similar aged PS kids).

 

There's more, but my toddler just woke up from her nap.

[Diviya]

1. Individualized curriculum

2. Simpler lifestyle, with more time to pursue interests and passions

3. More time together as a family, especially for the siblings

[In2why]

Standards of Learning. If I boil it down that is what it comes down to. I understand that when you are turning out a product there needs to be a way to measure whether the product performs, but I also understand that children aren't products and that an education means more than teaching to a test, or how to perform well on mulitple choice exams.

The best thing is that even though this was my first and strongest reason, once our journey began I discovered the real reward is the relationship I have with our children, and the way it has changed every aspect of our family for the better.

[MissKNG]

1. I can teach the Bible.

2. My girls can learn at their own level.

3. We can branch off and concentrate on interests.

4. I believe it's my job to raise and teach my children.

5. :lol: = being with my kiddos!

[mrs.m]

Many of the reasons listed above. But also because my DH travels and we can go with him or take time off whenever he has it available.

[Night Elf]

1. I like having my kids at home instead of being gone for the majority of their waking hours.

2. I like helping them study and choosing what I want them to study.

3. I don't like the arrogance I encountered at the schools.

4. I don't like how peers influence one another more than adults influence the kids.

5. I don't like how mean kids are to one another.

6. I hate being on a particular schedule and homeschooling lets us stay up late and sleep in late.

7. I homeschool because I can.

[Julie Kirkwood]

Standards of Learning. If I boil it down that is what it comes down to. I understand that when you are turning out a product there needs to be a way to measure whether the product performs, but I also understand that children aren't products and that an education means more than teaching to a test, or how to perform well on mulitple choice exams.

The best thing is that even though this was my first and strongest reason, once our journey began I discovered the real reward is the relationship I have with our children, and the way it has changed every aspect of our family for the better.

 

:iagree:

 

Also, to spend more time together, to travel when we want to and so that my children can learn at their own pace, in a learning style that is comfortable to them and can pursue learning about things that interest them.

[....]

We did public school for a couple of years...

 

One of my kids was identified as gifted and another one of my kids had huge problems for the one year he was in school. :biggrinjester: (that's exactly what he looks like)

 

The school system couldn't meet neither of their needs....

 

I have a third kid who is very eccentric and intelligent. She's similar to Kid #1 and probably would not do so well in ps either...:glare:

 

So far, I'd say that homeschooling is awesome for us. Kid #1 can spend 4 hours playing the piano :tongue_smilie:, analyzing Der Erlkoenig and reading herpetology guidebooks. Kid #2 can get the one-on-one tutoring he needs in anything involving right-brained activities, eat constantly (he's like 0% body fat) and fly his spaceships all over the living room. :D

[Hedgehogs4]

i don't know if you homeschool for religious reasons or not, but this is why i homeschool. stack on the superior education that my kids are getting, why would i NOT homeschool? i am so convicted of my resolve for homeschooling that i have applied for religious exemption from public schooling or state oversight of any kind. VA is the only state that offers this.

[Pata]

1. Continuity in her education (we move so much and we live overseas that my dd would have gone to 4 different schools by now and she's just starting 3rd grade)

2. Tailored education (I can move ahead when my dd is capable of moving on)

3. Because I just love it! (Now that we've been homeschooling for awhile, I realize that I love the extra time with dd, the planning, the sharing of good books and so much more)

 

Best of luck on you homeschool journey!

[Farrar]

I can think of hundreds of reasons, really, but I'll boil it down to...

 

1. I believe education is a process, not a product.

 

2. I believe people excel and become their best selves when they're allowed to be individuals, not when they're part of an institution.

[SnegurochkaL]

Our reasons for homeschooling are:

1. To give an exellent education compatible to education of exclusive private schools( our emphasis is on foreign languages, science and math) ;

2. To avoid negative learning environment and peers pressure;

3. To be time flexible for my daughter's skating lessons;

4. To teach our kids thinking on their own instead of being told what to think;

5. To meet our children needs;

and many others.

[Rosie_0801]

Mainly because I like to have a large portion of power along with my responsibility. Then, as others have said, it seems too weird to birth some kids and pack them off to someone else to raise.

 

Rosie

[charmama4]

We did public school for a couple of years...

 

One of my kids was identified as gifted and another one of my kids had huge problems for the one year he was in school. :biggrinjester: (that's exactly what he looks like)

 

The school system couldn't meet neither of their needs....

 

I have a third kid who is very eccentric and intelligent. She's similar to Kid #1 and probably would not do so well in ps either...:glare:

 

So far, I'd say that homeschooling is awesome for us. Kid #1 can spend 4 hours playing the piano :tongue_smilie:, analyzing Der Erlkoenig and reading herpetology guidebooks. Kid #2 can get the one-on-one tutoring he needs in anything involving right-brained activities, eat constantly (he's like 0% body fat) and fly his spaceships all over the living room. :D

 

Ha, I homeschool because my kids were neither *gifted* or had *learning disabilities*. I felt my kids were slipping through the cracks because the school they were at seemed to have turned their energy (and money) to the gifted and IEP students. Not to talk badly about those programs or anything, it just didn't help my kids unfortunately. I was already very involved in their education. I was even working at their school at the end!! Heck, I just took the middle man out and started to educate them myself.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

First I should say that I'm not *completely* against public or private schooling, but that at THIS time and for THIS child, homeschooling has been decided to be the best choice.

 

My daughter is at least slightly advanced in most subjects, and even more advanced in others, and at grade level for things like motor skills. So when it came time to start looking at preschools... I did, because you know, that's what you do. But I quickly found that nowhere would really serve her best. Nowhere would look at advancing her, because apparently that isn't done anymore, but only ONE school in my area (private) had a gifted program for anyone younger than 3rd grade. This "gifted program" involves a once a week pull out program. So.. the rest of the time she'll be... bored??

 

Homeschooling reason number 1: Better academics.

 

This is where I started investigating homeschooling and really bought into it. I realized I can provide not only a better academic experience, more tailored to her specific needs, strengths and weaknesses, but I can also provide;

2. a safe environment

3. the chance to spend lots of time with Mommy, strengthening our bond and allowing me to model acceptable behaviors

4. more time to explore outside interests like dance and soccer. If she was in school 8 hours a day, plus had homework, it would be hard to justify 3-4 hours a week spent in these activities, plus others as she grows. Since we can finish school up in 2 hours a day, and spend plenty of family time together, I'm okay with that huge chunk of time taken away.

5. more time to explore interests like dogs, patriotism, writing stories and foreign languages. These are her big interests right now, and she has all the time in the world to explore them.

6. the chance to travel. As a PhD student in European history, I'll be traveling to various other countries for research. Since we are homeschooling, it will be no problem to pull up roots and bring her with me for a week, two weeks, or 6 months!

7. a continuous education. I'm currently an undergrad student, and in 2 years we'll be moving for my graduate program. After I get my masters, we'll be moving again for the PhD program. Then we'll be moving AGAIN for a job, and may move a number of times before finding a permanant job. I like that with homeschooling I can provide the SAME education no matter where we are.

 

Wow.. long post, and I'm not even finished! Haven't even gotten to the whole, I went to public school and it did horrible things to me argument! :D

[charmama4]

Mainly because I like to have a large portion of power along with my responsibility. Then, as others have said, it seems too weird to birth some kids and pack them off to someone else to raise.

 

Rosie

 

Yea, I'm a control freak too. :lol::lol: That's what my dh calls me anyways, Gods love him.

[Dmmetler]

Because my daughter is too asynchronous to fit well into any public or private school in our area. Homeschooling lets her be 5 and have a 5 yr old's schedule, but with material that is challenging and interesting to her, and lets us choose social and physical outlets that meet her needs instead of having to take a compromise in one or more areas.

[Skadi]

1. We want to raise our kids. It seems like most people these days let public institutions and television raise their kids for them, but we just don't agree with those perspectives and we don't want our children to be inculcated into those doctrines from such a young age.

 

2. We want to teach our children to think in a critical and objective way. Even the elite private schools don't place very much emphasis on logic, and we believe that this is the ultimately the most important skill that we can engender in our children.

 

3. Independence is very important to us. Our goals are to live off the grid, educate ourselves at home, teach our children skills they can use to run their own businesses, visit medical doctors as seldom as possible, raise or hunt as much of our own food as we can, and live without debt. Homeschooling is just one of the ways in which our independent lifestyle manifests itself.

[....]

Mainly because I like to have a large portion of power along with my responsibility. Then, as others have said, it seems too weird to birth some kids and pack them off to someone else to raise.

 

Rosie

 

Rosie...isn't it "with great power comes great responsibility"? Or does that just apply to Spiderman. :coolgleamA:

[kalanamak]

Saving $20,000 pre-tax dollars per year in tuition (and not having to deal with fairly high snob rating in the students)

 

Wanting my kid to "have it better" than I did

 

An adventure and a challenge to "stretch the mind on the rack of thought"

 

It just seems to suit us

[4besitos]

My first reason is religious. I want my children to be raised solidly in their faith. I want to insulate (not isolate) them from many of the influences that are considered normal today in our culture. I want them to be children for as long as they can. We do not have cable or satellite, my children do not have cell phones, we (myself included) do not text, etc. We keep an eye on what movies they watch...no top 10 radio. We have a WII; we live in a neighborhood.:001_smile:

 

Secondly, comes the education piece. We do blended Charlotte Mason (classical), Montessori, Catholic program. Getting each child into college is not my educational goal. Raising young adults who know what path they want to take in their life and having a solid foundation to follow that path is my education goal.

 

My children play on sports team, are in Boy Scouts and American Heritage Girls. They take swimming lessons and music lessons. We are involved with a HS group and a Co-Op (both Catholic) where there are many opportunities to "be with" other children being raised the same way and field trips galore.

 

I believe and feel strongly in my heart, that it is more important for me to raise children with good character, strong morals and kind hearts than it is to say I finished every math book. :001_smile:

[duckens]

1) I had cousins who were among the first "legal" batch of kids to be homeschooled all the way from K through 12th. Although I did well academically, I was always picked on or rejected by my peers in school. Looking back, it was an abusive "Lord of the Flies" environment, and my parents were clueless about how bad it was the entire time. As an adult, I wondered about homeschooling my own kids (if I had them).

 

2) Homeschooling also offers personalized education and the potential for a very good education.

 

But mostly:

 

3) The winter dd was born, I considered that we would send dd to public K when she was old enough. We live in a small university-town, and the schools are EXCELLENT.

 

I also babysat for the 1st grader downstairs that winter. We'll call her M. I would walk M to the bus stop and meet her at the end of the day. Then we learned that M was being SPIT ON on the bus. Her mom was working crazy hours of a new job (before school opened and lasting until after school got out), so the mom gave me permission to handle this.

 

First, the public school was miffed/put out that I would actually advocate for a child that was not mine. How dare I do that?!?

 

Then, in spite of the fact that both children involved in the incident (M and the other child involved) were under their roof, they weren't interested at all. Didn't want to hear it. Not their problem. It didn't happen "on school property," so they didn't want to hear about it and refused to do anything to protect M from potential situations with this child.

 

Next stop was the bus company (contracted by the district). They too were put out that I was advocating for a child that was not my own. I'm sure they wished I would just go away. They assured me that they would take care of the situation, but could not tell me if, when, or how it was handled.

 

Oh, and a week later, M was being called names on the bus by another kid.

 

I am NOT entrusting my 5yo to these people!!!!

[guateangel]

This is our first year.

 

1. DD was falling through the cracks and I understand what she needs better than any teacher/specialist.

2. We can achieve 3-4 hours of school and then have free time to do what we love together as a family.

3. I can accommodate her special learning style (auditory), whereas the ps couldn't.

 

 

Who is going to provide your child with the very best? MOM! :)

[DivaMommy]

I am brand new to HS, and I have 2 kids...one is about to graduate high school in PS, and she is very happy there. She is highly social and would never want to be HS (she told me this, in fact). My DS12 was diagnosed with Asperger's and Sensory Processing Disorder, and he has struggled mightily in PS his whole life (socially and behaviorally). While he was doing well in school academically, he was not doing well socially, emotionally, etc. So, I made the decision to take him out and homeschool him this past spring (after a particularly upsetting incident in school where he was suspended).

 

I think that my job as a parent is to respond to my children's needs. I have also learned that every child has different needs, and what works for one may not work for the other. I am hoping that HS will work for our family and for my son, and I am excited to try it out!

 

So, that's why I am HSing my son this next year--to provide a customized, less-anxious space for him to learn and grow.

[JenniferB]

Asking yourself why you homeschool is an excellent way to start your homeschool journey, however, keep in mind that your reasons might change over the years, or every year - LOL!

 

I recently did a re-evaluation of why I homeschool. I was very discouraged at the time I did this. I wanted some concrete reasons why, not just fluff, or lovey-dovey stuff, "solid as a rock" reasons! Well, in my search I found one excellent reason, and I'm hanging onto it for this next year, and who knows, maybe for the rest of our homeschool journey.

 

My one rock-solid, hard-core reason that I homeschool is: quality of education.

 

Now, I'll go on to explain how I found out that I can provide a much higher quality education than what my local b&m public school can provide. I visited our district website, and I went subject by subject, text by text, and I dug into the resources used by our local school district. What I found was that there isn't just a slight difference in what they use, and what I use here at home, there is a world of difference, in almost every subject! For math, my district uses what I think is called "new math," which teaches alternative algorithms. I believe in drilling traditional algorithms until they are natural and automatic (like how I learned as a child.) Reading in my district is dumbed down (40 page books in 5th grade - yikes!) and heavily focused on social studies (community helpers, community workers, etc.) I believe in using real literature, "living books," for reading. History (Social Studies) in my district in grades K-4 focuses on things like "all about me," "families in their neighborhoods," "main street," and believe it or not, "parades." I believe in teaching chronological history from the beginning, starting at grade 1, starting in the ancients, and working forward until modern times is studied in 4th grade. Those are the biggest differences. I could go on and on, but basically it's like night and day from what is taught in my local district b&m school, and what I teach at home.

 

I think it's important to have reasons like, "I enjoy my kids," "We have more family togetherness," "I can teach the Bible during school time," and other such reasons, because those are important things. Those are my reasons some of the time. But, I'll be frank, sometimes I don't enjoy my kids, I don't think I'm fostering more family togetherness, and I skip Bible study time (for weeks and weeks). In times like this it is good for me to have at least one solid, really practical reason why I homeschool. For our family it's to give a higher quality education to our children.

[Snowfall]

1. I am 100% positive we can do a better job than the public schools.

2. I don't really feel we can afford a good private school, but even if we could, (see 3)

3. I don't think a young child should have to be away from home for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.

4. Continuity - we are a military family and move every couple years. I don't want my children's education to be disrupted every single time.

5. The schools where we live right now still SPANK students!!!

6. We enjoy it (most of the time). lol

7. My DD probably would wither away in school. She's extremely shy, and would probably never ask for help if she didn't understand anything. This is an inborn personality trait of hers. She's not that way because we homeschool - she's always been that way. We can work on helping her overcome that without essentially "throwing her to the wolves" of other kids who tease shy kids and teachers who may not notice the quiet girl isn't understanding a concept.

8. My DD is advanced in certain things, but not at all advanced in others. How would that fit into a one-size-fits-all classroom? It just wouldn't.

9. Public schools generally do a mediocre (at best) job of teaching the most basic things: math and reading. If a kid doesn't have a solid foundation in those, nothing else academic will come easily.

10. The aforementioned belief that it makes no sense to hand my kids over for someone else to raise.

11. More free time.

12. Flexibility. I think it would be cruddy to be tied to a school schedule while my kids are still young and still want to do things with me. lol

Edited July 27, 2010 by Snowfall

[MeganW]

My triplets were born prematurely, and have some developmental delays in some areas. But their skills are extremely "splintered", as their therapists (PT & OT) like to say.

 

My son, at age 4, looked at rolling cart in Sam's and said "that cart has 10 drawers Mommy". "Yes James." "Mommy if you buy one cart for each kid, we will have 40 drawers." Yeah. The kid didn't have time to add, and we hadn't talked about skip counting or multiplying yet (obviously) and somehow he figured it out. I would have thought it was a fluke if it was an isolated incident, but comments like that are normal for him. Same kid who is just now becoming a decent runner, can't skip yet, and doesn't understand the concept of letters going together to make words. But tell him something ONE TIME, and he remembers it for life. I was complaining about not having a comb in the car the other day and he reminded me that there was one in inside pocket of the diaper bag in the trunk. The diaper bag that hasn't been used in 2 years.

 

So what would a public school do with a kid like that? Put him in a class where he fits physically (with kids a year younger)? Or where his reading skills are like the other kids? Or in the (much higher) class where his math skills are like the other kids? And then he's got this weird memory thing that is going to make history, geography, etc. very easy for him. I just don't know how a public school classroom is going to be able to challenge him in all subjects without frustrating him.

 

And then there is the fact that he is a triplet, so I have two other kids the same age. Both of whom also have similarly splintered skills, though in different areas. Way above average in some areas, way below in others. It would be devastating to one to be in a lower grade than the other two. So how could I ever pick one grade that would be most suitable for all 3? Given all that, how could I put them in public school??

Edited July 27, 2010 by MeganW

[Rosie_0801]

Yea, I'm a control freak too. :lol::lol: That's what my dh calls me anyways, Gods love him.

 

:D It's not so much about being a control freak, as sending them to school means I hand over the power to educate them, but retain the responsibility for having them educated.

 

Ok, I am a bit of a control freak. So what? :lol:

 

Rosie...isn't it "with great power comes great responsibility"? Or does that just apply to Spiderman. :coolgleamA:

 

I think you're asking the wrong person. I guess the "No Child Left Behind" people would agree with you. ;) Maybe?

 

Rosie

Edited July 27, 2010 by Rosie_0801

[Jen+4dc]

All of it could really boil down to TIME. We've given ourselves back a huge amount of time by homeschooling, time that we use for family activities, time for the kids to just play, time for enrichment, time to travel... you get the idea.

 

:iagree:

 

Very quickly after we started, I became a convert to the HS lifestyle. I love the flexibility to tailor the curriculum to the individual child's needs. I like how there is no artificial separation between teaching academics and teaching our family's values. I like how HS has fostered family togetherness. I like how they have time to just be kids instead of coming home after 6 hours in the classroom to an hour or more of homework even in the primary grades. I like how they are sheltered from a lot of the negative peer influences (it's not 100% of course but I've observed a lot fewer problems among the HS kids than among similar aged PS kids).

:iagree:

 

1. We want to raise our kids. It seems like most people these days let public institutions and television raise their kids for them, but we just don't agree with those perspectives and we don't want our children to be inculcated into those doctrines from such a young age.

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

keep in mind that your reasons might change over the years, or every year - LOL!

 

I think it's important to have reasons like, "I enjoy my kids," "We have more family togetherness," "I can teach the Bible during school time," and other such reasons, because those are important things. Those are my reasons some of the time. But, I'll be frank, sometimes I don't enjoy my kids, I don't think I'm fostering more family togetherness, and I skip Bible study time (for weeks and weeks). In times like this it is good for me to have at least one solid, really practical reason why I homeschool. For our family it's to give a higher quality education to our children.

:iagree:

 

3. I don't think a young child should have to be away from home for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.

4. Continuity - we are a military family and move every couple years. I don't want my children's education to be disrupted every single time.

5. The schools where we live right now still SPANK students!!! Seriously?:confused: Where do you live?

6. We enjoy it (most of the time). lol

7. My DD probably would wither away in school. She's extremely shy, and would probably never ask for help if she didn't understand anything. This is an inborn personality trait of hers. She's not that way because we homeschool - she's always been that way. We can work on helping her overcome that without essentially "throwing her to the wolves" of other kids who tease shy kids and teachers who may not notice the quiet girl isn't understanding a concept.

...

10. The aforementioned belief that it makes no sense to hand my kids over for someone else to raise.

11. More free time.

12. Flexibility. I think it would be cruddy to be tied to a school schedule while my kids are still young and still want to do things with me. lol

:iagree:

 

All emphasis is mine:D and are reasons I homeschool. I want my kids to have time to be kids. At the same time, I want them to actually learn something and be accountable for their educations. I don't want them to slip through the cracks, be bullied, be "held back" and bored academically, or be pushed harder than they can handle. In short, I want individually tailored educations for them and a childhood at the same time.

 

The longer I hs, the more I believe in it (and the harder it gets!).

[Diana B]

To allow my son to explore what he wants on his schedule. To allow him more time to be a kid! I don't want him growing up 'too fast' by exposing him to some of the things public/private school kids are exposed to. To be able to spend extra time with him, exploring and learning together! To have the opportunity to instill our faith in him through every day life, not just on Sabbath.

[Jennefer@SSA]

I just blogged about this last week! Part One really just tells our story and part 2 lists our specific reasons.

 

Why We Homeschool - Part 1

 

Why We Homeschool - Part 2

[TXMary2]

1. Because I don't want my kids indoctrinated with the humanist viewpoint that is pervasive in the public school system.

2. Religion.

3. Academic rigor.

4. Family time together and the general lifestyle we get to live because of hs.

5.To provide an environment where my children can develop a thirst for learning and to be inspired to follow their passions.

[Snowfall]

I live in Tennessee (to Jen+4dc, not in answer to the OP, lol). I'm from St. Louis, and while it's still legal to use corporal punishment in Missouri schools, it's been banned in every school district in the St. Louis area since before I was in school, so the fact that the schools here spank seems pretty barbaric to me. (Please don't anyone misinterpret that as a comment on parental use of corporal punishment. I'm not commenting on that, as it's very controversial. I'm strictly talking about the idea of some school official parents probably don't even know taking a paddle to their child's bottom. It's horrifying.)

 

Gosh, I had so many reasons I even forgot to add the "following the child's interests" one. That one is another reason we homeschool. DD is so, so interested in so many things that wouldn't get covered in public school in the depth she wants - not until middle or high school anyway.

[Homeschooling6]

 

• We can teach the children using the Bible
  
• I want the children to be home with me. They are only children for a short time. I love having them home.
  
• We can cover so much more here at home (life skills, nature etc.)
  
• I can't imagine my children enclosed in a big building.
  

 

[Jen+4dc]

I live in Tennessee (to Jen+4dc, not in answer to the OP, lol). I'm from St. Louis, and while it's still legal to use corporal punishment in Missouri schools, it's been banned in every school district in the St. Louis area since before I was in school, so the fact that the schools here spank seems pretty barbaric to me. .

 

That's horrifying to me! I was expecting you to say overseas somewhere remote.:tongue_smilie: I would consider it assault if an adult "took a paddle to my child's bottom" and would expect to see them in jail!! Seriously, it's not that I have never spanked my kids, but for another adult, wow, just wow!:confused::confused::confused:

[MerryAtHope]

Here are my reasons.

 

Merry :-)

[mhg]

Thanks All! Good thing I bought new ink for my printer as I've printed ALL this out to read and re-read. I really appreciate your sharing your hearts with me! GROUP HUG :grouphug: TO MY NEWFOUND HIVE!

[FO4UR]

1. Socialization - that includes everything from how to get along with peers in a POSITIVE manner to how to be discerning in relationships to thinking for ones' self rather than simply accepting group-think or assumptions from an authority figure to how to assert yourself respectfully.

 

2. Academics - Neither of my school-age dc "fit" into a grade level across the board. Even if they did, I don't like the way the local ps teaches math, phonics or writing...not to mention the other subjects. I think much of the illiteracy and stupidity in the USA is directly related to stinky pedagogy in the ps system (and the fact that parents blindly trust a faulty system).

 

 

3. Child Development - I think there is a serious need to look into how beneficial it is to take a young child out of the home and away from Mommy & Daddy for the best part of the day. What effect does it have on a child to be expected to perform to a "standard" level in skills that are based upon maturity, which is never "standard?" What effect does it have on a child to be constantly in competition with 24 other children for the attention of one teacher? What effect does typical "classroom management" have on individual children?

 

4. Tapping the potential of MY individual children!!! No one cares about my 3 little ones' educations like I do!!! I sacrifice on a level only a mother can so that my dc not only pass an end of year test, but thrive and develop skills and interests.

 

Finally - an experience at the park today sums it up well...I took my 3 out for some playtime on swings and slides, and there was a group there. It was a daycamp kind of thing for school-age kids whose parents work kwim. We witnessed a nasty scene. One of the teachers was SCREAMING at a few children "YOU DON'T GET TO CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO!!!!" Here they were at a park for children, and they are stuck in the world of the itinerary of the teacher. What are they learning from being a part of this class? Certainly, not to think and choose...or ask with respect and receive a respectful answer in return...or trust an adult to care about *their* needs and wishes...which all goes back to the last half of my #3.

[charmama4]

:D It's not so much about being a control freak, as sending them to school means I hand over the power to educate them, but retain the responsibility for having them educated.

 

Ok, I am a bit of a control freak. So what? :lol:

 

 

 

 

Rosie

 

control freaks unite!!!

[m0mmaBuck]

We started to HS because the PS would/could not accomodate DS (Their answer for the "smart" kids who got through their worksheets quickly was to sit them in a corner with a book or extra worksheets. He spent about 20 minutes out of each hour in the corner and would still come home with 1-2 hrs of homework because they wouldn't let him work on that during school time...).

 

We are continuing to HS because DS is so much happier, the kids have a better relationship, we have more time as a family, it gives us more flexibility for travel and activites, we can choose what information is covered and when, we can teach to their learning styles, and we can follow their interests.

[VBoulden]

Our reasons for homeschooling change daily. ;) I wrote about this on my blog. Here's a link to the post. You're invited to take a look. :001_smile:

 

http://www.veronicaboulden.com/2010/06/why-do-you-home-school-im-asked-that.html

[Murmer]

My daughter has a spark that is special but will be totally squashed in a classroom that demands sitting still, shutting up and doing exactly what is demanded at all times. I saw it happen this last week and it killed me to watch a bit of my daughter disappear and it was only swimming lessons.

 

I also want the many side advantages of time, flexibilities, I choose what to teach including religion, I determine when my children learn about things like our morals.

 

But it really is so that I can nurture the special spark in my daughter that a public school teacher will squash.

[Amy713]

Very thought-provoking post. I've really enjoyed reading the various reasons for homeschooling.

 

I was a homeschool skeptic, but something kept drawing me to THAT section of the library with all of THOSE books about homeschoolers. When I finally stumbled across WTM, I read it and thought "I could do that." I also thought about what opportunities might have opened up for me had I been educated so rigorously. Basically, I wanted my daughter to have the best possible education and I knew our PS system could not provide that for her. I want her to grow and learn at her own pace and I just love the flexibility that hsing provides. I can't imagine living our life around the vagaries of the school system. Plus I just really enjoy being with my daughter. I just wish we could retire DH! I suppose I could always buy lottery tix...

[Closeacademy]

Why do we homeschool?

 

1. They wanted to tag my oldest with a label before she turned 3.

2. freedom

3. freedom

4. freedom

5. We can set our own hours and don't have to live by someone else's schedule.

6. happy childhood

7. learn at their own pace

8. limited peer pressure

9. one-on-one learning

10. personalized education

 

And the list goes on. Basically, the biggie is freedom. :001_smile:

[JMDRAD]

My reasons listed are in no particular order:

 

1. I can teach Bible.

2. My children retain their innocence longer.

3. My husband works odd hours and gets random days off; because we homeschool we can enjoy being together.

4. My kids can learn about the north/south poles without having to fret about global warming.:tongue_smilie:

5. I actually enjoy being with my kids.:D

6. I know when to push my kids and when to take a little more time to practice a certain subject.

7. My kids are not learning in order to score high on a test. They are learning HOW to learn for life.

 

There's more but I gotta run for now.:001_smile:

[CalicoKat]

To teach my kids to think.

[SamanthaBea]

My son was in PS until midway through 4th grade. He is very bright, but also has extreme sensory issues (seams in socks, tags in clothes, tastes, textures, sounds, etc.) He spent most of his days miserable because he couldn't block out the sensory problems. He was also terrified that he might not be able to hold it all in and he would "act crazy" in front of his peers.

 

He was crying and having melt downs every single day. I also had to spend every night sitting right beside him doing stacks of homework--just what he wanted and needed to do after dealing with school all day, right? He was almost always late getting to school (he was supposed to be at his desk no later than 7:45 a.m.) due to the lack of sleep from anxiety, meltdowns, crying, fits, stress, etc.

 

I was at the absolute end of my rope. I tried talking to his teacher, the office staff, the school counselor, but no one really understood. Then I got a letter and call from the truancy social worker. Truancy? Seriously? I had a child who was falling apart at the seams and all they cared about was that he was frequently a few minutes late for school? Wow.

 

I didn't know what to do or where to turn. I thought about homeschooling, but didn't know if I could do it. A good friend of mine pointed out to me that I was already homeschooling him. She was right. If I could get my son through hours of homework every night after spending a long, stressful day at school, homeschooling would be cake.

 

So I took the plunge. And I can honestly say it is one of the best things I ever did for him. I was also finally able to find a good child psychiatrist who could help with his sensory issues.

 

Since we were thrown into it last semester, I didn't have time to really plan out what I wanted to do. I don't think that it would have mattered though. We both needed a full semester to transition.

 

Now I am so excited about starting school in a few weeks. I'm able to tailor the curriculum to his academic level, interests, and learning style. I wish I would have done this years ago.

 

Why do I homeschool? Because I love my son.