Why should you homeschool?

From Our House to Yours

Why should you homeschool?… A Series on Reasons to Homeschool

My family was recently sitting around the kitchen table when we began discussing why we love to homeschool.  What began as just an informal discussion over lunch ended with an all day brainstorming session! I set out a piece of paper on the kitchen counter and told everyone to add to it as they thought of ideas. Five pages later, reasons why we love to homeschool filled each paper!  Reasons that made it on the list range from obvious to less obvious, from big to small.  But, as the day wore on and the list grew longer, it occurred to us that many of the reasons have revealed themselves to us gradually over the past 17 years we’ve been homeschooling.

The reasons we felt we should homeschool at the start of our journey are still reasons we feel we should homeschool now. However, as we have moved through different stages of life with different blessings and challenges, we have discovered new reasons we never even could have foreseen! It also occurred to us other families might be trying to answer this same question.  Why SHOULD you homeschool?

To whom is this blog series dedicated?

This blog series is dedicated to all of you wonderful moms out there who are wondering why you should homeschool!  You may be excited – but somewhat overwhelmed – at the possibility of homeschooling for the very first time.  Your first little one may be on the brink of entering public or private school, or you might be pondering pulling your children out of a school they are already attending. Either way, if you are wondering why you should homeschool, this blog series is dedicated to you!

Before you choose to homeschool, it helps to have a target in mind!

To hit a target, we need to know what it is, don’t we?  Imagine a hunter drawing his bow to aim at… nothing.  The chances of hitting the target if you don’t know what it is are minimal.  Homeschooling can be like that. If you don’t have a clear picture of the target, it will be hard to know if you hit it.  Knowing why you should homeschool is the target, and having that bullseye in mind lets you know when you’ve hit it!

So, what’s your story?

Talk to any homeschool mom that has happily homeschooled her children, and you will find she has a story.  Something led her to homeschool, and whatever it was became a part of her ‘target.’ We’ll call it the first ring of the ‘bullseye.’ For me, it was the day I dropped my 2 year old son off at daycare to go to my teaching job. He stood at the door crying, and as I got into my car, I was crying too.  But then a very sad thing happened.  I went to my teaching job, and I completely forgot about him.  It wasn’t until I picked him up from daycare that I realized I hadn’t thought of him once.

That broke my heart. I also realized the only way I’d know what his day had been like was by what his daycare provider told me. Furthermore, I realized when he began attending school every day, I’d see him even less, as at the time I was  teaching part-time and only had daycare a 2-3 days a week. That bothered me deeply. To be able to spend more time with my children became the first ‘ring’ in my ‘why should you homeschool’ bullseye target.

#1 – You have more time to spend with your children!

For many moms, this is the first reason they begin to entertain the idea of homeschooling. In this crazy, busy life we as moms lead, sometimes there is really very little time we get to spend with our children. Maybe you are a mom like I was, and while you work your children attend daycare.  You miss them, and you are a little jealous of the daycare provider because she is the one that gets to spend time with your children while you work.

Or, maybe you are a mom of little ones who does not work and who has loved staying home with your little ones. But now, kindergarten is looming, and you can see that time you have cherished with your child is on the precipice of slipping away.

Or, finally, maybe you are a mom who has children attending public or private school, and you are weary of your only time with your children being at night and on weekends. You find yourself being the homework helper, and you find your child is less enthused about schoolwork at night or on the weekends after having done schoolwork at school all day and all week.  

The Bible supports this longing you have to spend more time with your children!

When you feel that tug at your heart to spend more time with your children, know that longing is supported by the Bible!  Deuteronomy 6:5-9 says:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

So, your longing to spend more time with your children is a WONDERFUL reason for why you should homeschool!  In my next From Our House to Yours posts I will be sharing many more reasons why you should homeschool.  In keeping with the list we made as a family, they will be in no particular order of time or of importance. I hope you enjoy this and find some answers that encourage you to either consider homeschooling or keep homeschooling – God bless!

In Christ,

Julie

P.S. To find out more about homeschooling with Heart of Dakota, click here or here!