Commence Home School -- Why We Choose Home Education

When my daughter was born, I vaguely thought about her education; it was so far away... right?

When she was three, I was like, "Kindergarten is still two years away... I got time."

Suddenly she's four and some months, and I'm all, "how did this happen?! I have to decide on her schooling. I thought I had so much time!"

Little brother just couldn't be left out!

I think deep down, I always knew I was going to home school, but I really didn't tell many people I was even thinking about it until the last couple of months. Why? Because I have this tendency to fear what others think of me.

There. I said it.

While most people are completely supportive, some people just can not comprehend why anyone would choose such a path. There are many people that assume all home school families are the same... secluded, socially awkward, and sheltered. Or there is assumption that all home school families are anti-public school. (I will address these myths in another post).

Not only do I fear what people think of me, I also fear that people with think I am judging THEM on their schooling choices, as if I think that home school is the best way for every child to be educated. Or that only the best parents home school.

All of this. So. Not. True.

So, why are we home schooling? Because, it's what Mike and I feel is best for our family.

Our circumstances are such that home schooling works for us.

More specifically:

Financially, we are able to sustain ourselves with my husband's job and both of our free lance incomes. That means, I am able to be home with my kids full time. Not everyone has that or even wants that.

It's actually our free lance lifestyle that tipped the scales for us. Since becoming so, Mike and I have relished in the flexibility of our schedules. We have become quite used to being very choosy about how we spend our time, and the thought of having someone else (a public school system) telling us how we should spend or time is totally unappealing.

That's not to say, we don't respect being timely and responsible about meetings and appointments. Our schedule is loose, but we still have things to do and places to be.

Also, I am a learner and a teacher at heart. These are gifts that God has given me and that have been nurtured in me all my life. I'm not diluting myself, I know there will be times of utter frustration while teaching my children, but I feel I have the ability to teach and the patience to endure home schooling.

If our circumstances were any different... if I had to or wanted to work more, or my gifting was, say engineering or cooking or calculating rather than learning and teaching, my kids would be going to public school.

We started school officially on July 11. I know. I know it seems cruel to make kids do school during "summer vacation," but my kids don't know what it means to have summer vacation! Summer lends itself to SO MANY learning opportunities that I don't want to miss out on. So, I am going to take full advantage of them not knowing what they are "missing out" on.

Starting in Summer to do a year round schooling schedule will allow us a four day school week with plenty of vacation opportunity as well. Many smaller breaks with a more relaxed weekly schedule suits me better than a few longer breaks. I'm hoping it will cut review time too, because, really, kids forget a lot of what they learned during the summer break.

This is definitely NOT going to become a home school blog, but I do look forward to sharing some fun projects with you as well as some joys and struggles of this lifestyle.

Did you (or do you) struggle with decisions about your kids' education? Share and support each other in the comments : )