Why Do I Home School? (Part 1)

This week, I have been thinking a lot about educational choices...the good, the bad, and the ugly for all the options out there. 

I then started zeroing in on the choice we made to homeschool 7 years ago. Wow! Has it been that long already?!? I started thinking about my reasons for homeschooling our kids and they have changed quite a bit over the years.

First and foremost, the desire or calling God placed in my heart to home school my children has been there from the very beginning and that desire is still going strong. Don't get me wrong, we do have rough days...days where we are all getting on each others nerves, days when nothing goes right according to the plan/schedule, days when I wonder what it would be like to have some time all to myself while my kids were away at school in order to clean, organize, work out, I don't know, just anything. All. By. Myself.

 My son was a very "eager beaver" when he was younger. He wanted to learn his ABC'S, learn to read, learn to write and more pretty much when he started talking. Having been an early childhood teacher before he was born, I had tons of supplies and curriculum stored in my cabinets at home. So, we started doing a few fun educational things at the house. He was doing a pre-K program by the time he was 3 and pretty much a Kinder program when he was 4. By the time his 5th birthday rolled around, we just could not see putting him in public school. He was already so far ahead and I knew he would have been bored. So, we started him on into 1st grade at the age of 5 and he is still going strong and will be entering the 7th grade this coming school year.

My daughter is just 16 months younger than her brother. Things were a little different for her. Oh, she loved to "do school" with her brother, but she was not as eager about it...lol! I started a pre-K program with her when she was about 4 and she moved right on into Kinder at age 5. She struggled some with the letters of the alphabet. She kept writing certain letters and numbers backwards and she'd even spell and read things out of order just enough to get me to start reading everything I could about dyslexia. One book in particular, The Gift of Dyslexia, really helped me to help her through those struggles. My daughter did not end up being dyslexic or anything, but the things I learned from this book were very helpful for her. She is doing very well and will be entering the 5th grade this coming school year.

As I look back, I remember being very thankful that I was able to home school my kids...my son, because we could move at a faster pace to meet his needs, and my daughter, because we could move at a slower pace to meet her needs. Because of this, I am happy to report that both of my children are very much ahead of where they should be age/grade wise :-D

Public school is one size fits all. I remember teaching in the classroom and feeling like there was never enough time to get to all 22 students each day. There was no slowing down for those kids that needed just a little extra time nor was there any speeding up for the others that needed a faster pace. You had a schedule to stick to and there was no wavering from it. Sure, you could ask the parents to work on the things they were behind in at home, but that was rarely ever done. You could sneak in a few extra minutes here and there to work one on one with certain kids, but there was never enough time. I am thankful that I didn't feel backed into a corner with my kids as I did with the kids I taught in public school. 

Somewhere along the line, things started to change for me; my reasons for homeschooling began to change...


***Now, if you do not homeschool your children, please do not get offended with what I have posted above. This is about my life and what God has shown me that I needed to be doing. I am in no way trying to tell you what you should or should not be doing with your own children, only God can do that. He has a plan for each of our lives and His plans are not always the same for each person.***