Why We Chose Homeschooling

But, why?

This is a question that I am asked quite frequently when people have discovered that we have chosen to homeschool our children. It is unfortunately usually in a tone of complete disbelief, as if we have chosen to lock our kids in a dark room isolated from the rest of the world until they are old enough to move out and take the world by storm on their own. Occasionally, we do get a rather positive response, which is always encouraging even if it is few and far between. No matter the public opinion of our choice, I am so thrilled that we made it, and I’ve decided to share with you our main reasons behind our decision.

1. I have never been a fan of standardized testing, even when I partook of them in school myself. The idea that you have to cram X amount of information into Y amount of time, and will leave students behind who are struggling in order to meet that state determined criteria is frustrating to me in the least. In a classroom with 20 or more students in it, there is no possible way to ensure that every student is absorbing the information properly. Learning becomes forced and a chore. Pressure mounts. Students generally only memorize the information they need for the upcoming test, only to forget it as soon as it isn’t relevant to their current grade. We believe learning should be enjoyed, savored even, and with homeschooling, there is no pressure to fit into a premade mold. We can learn at our own pace, the way we learn best and can expand on subjects that grab our interest whether it is in the lesson plan or not. There is one on one attention, and as their mother, I know best how to fit their lessons with their learning personalities, which can only benefit their educations.
2. We are not a fan of public schools for many reasons; although that does not mean that we think parents who send their children to them are bad parents or making a poor decision. The education of your children is a decision to be made on what is best for your individual family. We would love to send our children to a private Christian school, but financially, that is not an option for us, so the best decision for our family is for our children to be schooled at home.
3. We believe that children are more likely to pick up the value system of the people with whom they spend the most of their time. We want those people to be us. Granted, we are far from perfect, but we will know without a shadow of a doubt that our children will be raised with firm Christian values intertwined with and not aside from their educations. Sure, we will teach them that some people believe in things such as evolution, etc., but we will teach them science and all subjects from a biblical perspective, not a worldly one.

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up.” Deuteronomy 6:5-7

There are some other reasons that we have, that are minor in nature, but these are the main reasons why we believe this to be the best choice for our family. Before we had children, we both assumed that our children would attend regular public schools just like we did. It wasn’t until about two years ago that the subject even came up. I had randomly come across some blogs of homeschooling families and became extremely intrigued. The more I learned, the more I felt drawn to the idea. When Sweetpea got close to three years old, I felt that God was very clearly leading me towards this decision because of a variety of things that occurred. I discussed it with Hubs, who was initially against the whole thing. Some time passed and he approached me, slightly interested and after more discussion, we decided that we would go ahead and purchase our choice in preschool curriculum. Since Sweetpea would not be ready to enter a public school system for two more years, we thought this would be a good time to have a test-run, if you will. I was thoroughly excited and when the books came, I couldn’t wait to begin! Only a few months into it, Hubs was very impressed with how much Sweetpea was learning. He loved that every lesson was tied in with a Bible story and that Sweetpea would wake up excited to have her school lesson for the day. Not long after that, he was more on the bandwagon then I was! At first, he thought he’d only want to homeschool our children until they reached middle or high school aged, but now, even without me doing any more prompting, he believes that Lord willing, we should homeschool them all the way through to college! This only further cemented in my mind that God was leading me in this direction, and although we are only about to finish our first year, I already am so excited to see where this road leads us.