Why We Chose to Homeschool

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Classtime on the front porch? Just one of the many perks of homeschooling.

I’m already seeing the “back-to-school” pictures on my Facebook newsfeed as friends across the country send their children off to school, whether public or private.

For the second year in the row, we will take a “back-to-school” picture at our front door and then send my daughter back inside our home, where we will have our lessons at the kitchen counter and on our living room sofa and in the back seat of our SUV as we trek around town to our various activities. Because for the second year in a row, we will be homeschooling our daughter, who is now in first grade.

When people ask me why we chose this for our family, these are the top five reasons why we homeschool. Maybe some of them resonate with you, too.

Faith

Our faith in Jesus is central to everything we do, so it should come to no surprise that it is also central to our decision to homeschool as well. We enjoy being able to incorporate the Scriptures and our beliefs at every turn of the day and in every subject that we teach – even math! Our children are catching the fact that faith is not only important, but it is a lifestyle.

Flexibility

Homeschooling offers us flexibility in many ways. Our timing is flexible – we homeschool in the morning, in the afternoon, sometimes on Saturdays. All of our lessons are usually done in three hours or so, and those hours happen when it is convenient for the other things we do as a family. The pace is also flexible. If my daughter needs more time for something, we camp out there for as long as she needs. If she has already mastered a skill, we may skip a section of a book. We school according to her needs. We also have flexibility with curriculum. We do not use the state standards, but choose a curriculum that we think is the best match for our daughter’s strengths and weaknesses, and the best match for what we believe the goal of education should be. For us, that has meant homeschooling according to the classical model and specifically with Classical Conversations. It’s great to have the freedom to make those choices in the best interest of our children and our family.

Financially Feasible

Homeschooling does not have to be as costly as people think sometimes. There are so many free resources out there, especially through the Internet, and the public library is a great source of reading material for all of the subjects we learn about. If you decide it is important to you, and are willing and able to make some lifestyle changes, there are ways to make it happen.

Fun

Homeschooling is just plain fun. Seeing their “aha” moments, playing learning games together, doing math on a picnic blanket in the back yard. No, it’s not all fun, but a lot of it is.

Family

We chose to homeschool because we want our family to have time together. There are so many things pulling families in different directions these days and the idea of having only a few hours a day with my still-young children before bedtime made me sad. Not only would I lose time with them, and they with me, but they would lose time with each other. Instead, we get to spend lots of time together pursuing our different interests, serving our community together, and learning as a family about the world around us.

If you homeschool, what are your reasons for making that choice? Share them below!

 

Photo credit: ShelahD / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

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Kristi Bothur
Kristi is a pastor’s wife, mother, writer, and former public school teacher for English for Speakers of Other Languages. She grew up all over the United States as an Air Force brat, but moved to Columbia in the 1990s to attend Columbia International University, and has called the Midlands “home” ever since. Her days are kept full with the antics and activities of her children - homeschooling, church activities, American Heritage Girls, and Trail Life - as well as writing and leading her Columbia-based pregnancy loss ministry, Naomi’s Circle. Kristi is a contributing editor for “Rainbows and Redemption: Encouragement for the Journey of Pregnancy After Loss” (www.rainbowsandredemption.weebly.com) and a co-author of “Sunshine After the Storm: A Survival Guide for the Grieving Mother“ (sunshineafterstorm.us). She shares her thoughts about faith, family, and femininity on her blog, This Side of Heaven (www.thissideofheavenblog.com).

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