Why We Homeschool
Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose.--C. Wright Mills
What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.--Leo Buscaglia
This page is about the freedom of choice. These stories, commentary & vignettes offer a view into how and why we live life without school.
A few Questions we hope to address:
- Why do you homeschool?
- What are the benefits of homeschooling?
- How do your children learn?
- Do your children miss school or ever feel like they are missing out?
Stories & Commentary
Posts by Guest Authors
Why We Chose To Homeschool, byJennifer
Before my kids were born, I was an elementary school teacher. I absolutely loved teaching. I felt that school was a magical, fun place to be.
Had I been asked about homeschooling while still teaching, I would have said that only people who want to isolate their kids would homeschool and that it would ruin the kids socially. I felt that “school” was a must for learning the ways of the world, how to get along with others and how to problem-solve....
Posts by Featured Authors
Why We Homeschool, by Marsha
“Why We Homeschool” has changed during the sixteen years we have been doing it. We began to homeschool with the idea that we would provide an educational environment and learning experience that would help our son, who was having difficulties in the institutional school setting....
Homeschooling Apologetics, by Marjorie
When people ask me questions about homeschooling, I always find it a helpful exercise is articulating my views. Of course, depending on the questions and tone, I'm sometimes offended, but the questions always give me an opportunity to think through my reasoning. I'm pretty new to homeschooling, maybe years of hearing the same questions will grate on me, but they haven't yet....
Redefining Our Agenda, by Missy
I keep reading these very disturbing opinion pieces, these misinformed diatribes loudly asserting with all confidence why I and the apparent vast majority of all homeschoolers have chosen to step away from the public school system....
Vignettes
The years have flown by quicker than I'd like, but I clearly recall why we chose to homeschool. We believe learning takes place all the time and we wanted our children to maintain their wonderful creativity, curiosity and exuberance for life that they entered the world with.
It didn't take long for us to realize how beneficial home schooling has been for us as parents as well. It has been delightful to live with our sons and get to know them over the years. It has been rewarding to discover and live along with them and to enjoy following our own passions as individuals and as a family. We homeschool because it is a place where love grows and adults as well as children thrive.
~Mary Nix
I began seriously looking into homeschooling after I registered my eldest, then 5, for kindergarten. I had heard about homeschooling from other moms at a LLL meeting and filed the idea away in my head. I didn’t plan to homeschool and to live our lives without school. It seemed a vague option. I was supposed to send my children to school. But, once we walked through the doors of the school, and I filed the proper paperwork to officially enroll, I began to have doubts. I didn’t doubt the school system or public school. I doubted if this choice to send my children to school was right for them, me as her mom and our family. I did not comprehend the alternative to life in school concretely. I was only aware that there was another life path that we could choose to take. It took filing the papers for real to make me seek to make the vague option a real life possibility. Three years hence that decision, I can say that we are living life without school because it is the right path for us all-- my children, me as a mom and our family. We have created our own unique family culture and lifestyle with our friends and within in our community that pleases us. My children are happy, growing, living and learning in a way that I feel good about.
~Robin
While attending public schools, our family life suffered. We were tied to the school’s schedule and desires. School was the main focus in our life, not the family and having fun anymore. Learning was a chore.
Withdrawing from public school to begin homeschooling enabled us to regain quality family time, the freedom to choose what we learn and how we learn it, time to relax and enjoy life and each other, and the motivation to enjoy learning again.
Now we are living a terrific life! The rushing, the stress, the busy work, the report cards, the parent teacher conferences and the PTA are gone. We do what we want when we want and love it!
~Jennifer
My husband & I decided to homeschool our three children about a year and a half after we adopted them. At the time of our adoption, they were 5, 8 & 11. We adopted three children, siblings that had been in foster care for fours years.. After about a year, I started to feel as if we had hit a plateau in terms of bonding as a family. Sure, we knew which of us was not a morning person (Shawna & I), which of us didn't like eggs (Cimion & Jacqueline) and who could be counted on for remembering directions (Billy & Cimion), but I wanted more for us. I felt that we needed to start bonding on a deeper, emotional level. There were emotional issues that needed more private family time in which to be addressed. I knew we couldn't accomplish that with them being away from us for 35 hours a week at school.
And it didn't end there. After school hours, there was homework that needed to be done and tests to be studied for and teachers to meet with and over priced candy to sell. School seemed to have a way of creeping into our personal lives and stealing our family time.
So, over a four month period, we removed them, one at a time.
It's been a year since we removed our first child and the benefits of homeschooling (and also being free of the school system) continue to have a tremendous positive impact on our family. We would never have come as far as we have if our children were still in school.
~Joanne
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Back to REAL STORIES: REAL LIVES
The reason we started homeschooling was because the public school system horribly failed my daughter. I vowed that I would never again put her in a position where someone she trusted (like a teacher) could harrass, humiliate, and scorn her.
It has honestly been the best decision I ever made and I know homeschool all three of our children. We have all learned so much together and now it honestly pains me to think of all we missed out on while they were in public school.
~Jolene
My name is Shawna Mathis and I've been homeschooling for 3 years. We started out a little less structured than school-at-home; but for the past year and a half, we have been unschooling. I don't really like the term "unschooling", as it makes it seem like we're lazy and don't educate our children. In fact, my children are learning a great deal, just not in the same order or structure that those in schools do. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing in the right way. But then I look at my children, who are not sleep-deprived, not stressed about homework, whose best friends are each other; and I know that I am doing what's right for MY children.
Unschooling is a kind of blanket word as the opposite of school-at-home. While there are tons of curriculum out there for families to do school-at-home; there are at least that many ways to "unschool." I see myself as more of a facilitator, giving suggestions, asking my children questions, to see where their interests are. We utilize the library extensively, saving money and space in our home. Also, the library is a great home away from home for yucky days when playing outside is out of the question. What's great about unschooling, for me, is learning right along with my kids, in their time. There's no scope and sequence, no testing, and no battle over what they MUST learn WHEN...
I love that we can take vacations when we want, we can visit museums and zoos, even trips to the grocery store are filled with learning opportunities. Unschooling, to me, is a great way to de-stress the family. We are not pressed for time to complete certain things in a certain time frame. Unschooling is really about giving my children the skills to learn how to learn. I don't think MY way is the only way, as that really goes against the greatness of homeschooling. We do what's best for our kids, as I'm sure many families who choose the school-at-home approach are doing what's best for their kids. All in all, I feel like when we chose to keep our children home from school, we were joining a great band of people who felt the same way I did, we just carry that out in different ways.
~Shawna
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