There has always been the saying, “never say never”, and this was one situation in my life where that could not have been more true. I grew up as the oldest of six kids and we all attended and graduated from the Public School system. From there, we have all gone on to get careers and do just fine for ourselves. The ironic part of this is that I loved school so much, that in second grade I decided I wanted to become a teacher and that is exactly what I did! I am currently in my 12th year of teaching and have taught grades 2-5 in both charter and public schools. The even more ironic part is that I currently teach in the district that I grew up in and fought extremely hard to get into because the original plan was to school-of-choice my own children into the district.
You are probably wondering why I would have so much of my life invested into the Public School System and then go in the complete opposite direction with my own children. The truth is, I love teaching, I love where I work, and I love who I work with. Some of the most talented educators I have met are in my building. I never in a million years would have thought we would be a homeschool family, but…. never say never!
These are 10 reasons why even as a public school teacher, I chose to homeschool.
1: VALUES
Our biggest reason for homeschooling is to honor our family values. As a teacher, I know how this is impossible to do in the classroom. You have a class of 30+ students who all have different values whether personal, cultural, or religious. It is impossible to meet them all. I also know that young children need to be immersed into values in order for them to stick. When they are in school for about 8 hours a day, that is only leaving us evenings and weekends to teach them our values.
Things like entitlement, ownership of mistakes, handling (and being motivated by) losses, and patriotism are just a few of the values that we want to be strongly engrained into our children as they grow up. Having them do their schooling at home allows us to emphasize these things all day long while also eliminating the influences of others that may differ from us.
Since we want our children to be socialized, they will definitely be with others which is another great part of homeschooling! When it comes to the extra curricular activities, cohorts, and experiences, they are all selected by us so in a way, we get to “filter” who and what we expose our children to.
Our hope with this is not to shelter our children from the world, but to have more time as a family instilling these values in them so that when they are out in the world, they have a stronger foundation that is less likely to be swayed.
2: FLEXIBILITY
One of my favorite reasons for homeschooling is the flexibility it offers. If we have appointments, they do not miss instruction, it just shifts. If we have a vacation, the lessons can come with us or they get postponed until we are back. This was EXTREMELY helpful this year as I was due to have a baby the same week that a typical public school was set to start. With a newborn and c-section recovery, we were able to postpone the start of our school year until the middle of September and will go later into June.
With this being said, we have found that a schedule is a good thing to have as we do not want school to seem like a past time activity or unimportant. Yes, there are exceptions to the schedule at times, but for the most part, we find what works for our family and that school year and we stick to it.
3: INDIVIDUALIZATION
It is common knowledge that every child learns differently and has different needs. With all of my siblings, my parents would tell us that fair is not always equal and it wasn’t until I was older that I could really understand what they meant by that. When you have a class of 30+ students, accommodations do occur, but its not individualized instruction like it can be in a homeschool situation.
I look at how drastically different my son and daughter are in everything they do and learning is no exception. My daughter is in kindergarten and has no problem working quietly and snuggling up with me to read her books. My son on the other hand has not yet started school, but I can tell you that never in a million years would he thrive in that type of setting. He is just as bright of a learner as her, but he needs to be moving and talking instead of everything being quiet and still. Both can receive the same education, but I can adapt it to their needs.
On top of that, it is much easier to accommodate a gifted or struggling learner in a homeschool setting rather than trying to meet those needs with many other students that are not at those levels.
4: INTERACTIONS
When we were contemplating the idea of homeschool, I read something that I had never really thought about before. It was talking about how when a child is in a public school classroom, their friends, enemies, and acquaintances are all the same age as them. Looking at my life and the life of most people I know, that is not reality as we grow older. Having our children do lessons with their siblings, join cohorts, and participate in extracurricular activities, they are getting to know people outside of just their age range and build a variety of different relationships. This is so much more beneficial for them to spend 8 hours a day (everyday) with the same students in the same age range.
We worried initially that homeschooling would not allow the proper socialization, but we quickly realized that is actually allows for more and better interactions with others.
5: INVOLVEMENT
As a teacher, I am always encouraging families to be as involved as possible with their child’s education. The more the pares are bought in, the more invested their child becomes. Being a working parent, however, I know that this is not always the easiest thing to do. I am at work during school hours, so unless I use a sick day, field trips, class parties, and during the day performances are not happening for me. It is also hard to come home from work, learn how my child learned to do something in class just to help with homework.
It is so much easier for me to be involved when we are homeschooling. I can do things around my work schedule which eliminates me missing out on them and I am the one selecting and teaching the lessons, so I am involved in every aspect of their education.
6: RELIGION
Something that is personally very important to our family is that our children grow up with a strong religious foundation. In the public school system, this is obviously not allowed. We could have enrolled our children into the local private schools, but with the salaries of a teacher and a mechanic, that was not in the cards for us.
By homeschooling, I have been able to purchase curriculum for reading and math that have religious undertones to them as well as include religious lessons and activities to our schedule each day. These lessons have quickly become some of my favorite parts of homeschooling because they have started great conversations that even carry over into dinner or weekend breakfast talks.
7: PRACTICAL LEARNING
This is probably the most controversial parts of being a homeschooling parent/public school teacher. While I love my job, I see so many times where a child’s time is being wasted due to “fluff” material. I have also seen within my family how the education system is not conducive for everyone. While my siblings and I all have done just fine coming out of public schools, I had a brother that struggled the entire time. He was not wired to take tests, memorize things, or sit quietly. There was no point in learning the thing he was being taught because to him, he would never need it.
My husband, Dad, and two of my brothers make a living within the skilled trades world. While I have the college degree, all four of them can run circles around me when it comes to math, geometry, and technical abilities. They all talk about how school was a struggle for them. They met with tutors, dreaded going to school, and ended up with test anxiety.
Homeschool eliminates so much of this! I can not only remove all of the fluff that they do not need, but starting at young ages, I can make learning practical not only for their future, but for their present. I know my kids inside and out so I know what they like, how they learn, and what stresses them out. By catering my lessons to them and not a district scope and sequence, it allows me to foster a love for learning that they will carry with them for hopefully forever.
Another thing that we are far away from right now, but will benefit from in the future, is that homeschool flexibility will allow them to work jobs in high school easier and possibly get into vocational programs earlier (if that is something they are looking to get into).
8: CHILDHOOD FILTER
This was another HUGE reason that we decided on homeschooling. As a teacher, I see it all. I see the bullying, the attitudes, the “clicks.” I also have seen a shift in recent years to literature that children are exposed to as well as topics that are shared at ages that I feel are too young.
Homeschooling allows my husband and I to give our children a childhood. In our family, we believe that children should only have to worry about learning, playing, and making mistakes. They do not need to be worrying about or be exposed to political topics that they are too young to even comprehend. I love having the ability to expose my children to age appropriate topics as they grow and when I know they are ready for it. I do not have the battle of having to undo comments like “my friend says Santa is not real” or “today we read a book about _____”.
I want my children to grow up with the ability to just be kids!
9: TESTING
This is a hard one for me to break from the “teacher world” to the “homeschooling mom world”. I am a teacher who loves data! I teach upper elementary and I use data to drive my instruction. That being said, however, I know that students are tested way too often and that some of the brightest children will never be able to demonstrate their understanding on a test.
Homeschooling allows me to remove my children from all of the state testing and then gives me the freedom to monitor their learning in other ways. Will they take some tests? absolutely. They just will not be tested out and we can use things like project and even conversations to assess their understanding.
10: CLASS SIZES
I am no stranger when it comes to classes that are so big, I do not have enough desks in my classroom to fit them everyone. It is just the reality that we are living in right now and as a teacher, I know the struggles and sacrifices that come with this reality. Needs cannot physically be met with class sizes that big and things get missed. You can take even the most amazing teacher and giving them an over packed classroom is setting them up for professional burn-out and failure.
We did not want our children to be subject to that. Homeschooling provides them a more intimate learning environment where I can give them the individualized instruction and monitoring that they deserve.
Overall, we know that both public schools and homeschooling have flaws. We did a lot of researching and talking and have just decided that homeschooling best fits our family right now. I love my job as a teacher, but I also love this ability to teach my own children as well!
