Joyfully Homeschooling A Houseful

Looking Outward, Inward, and Ahead: Making the Decision to Homeschool

“It takes an extraordinary amount of time and dedication to homeschool.  It is easier to send them to public school than to take on schooling them at home.  But, the benefits are also extraordinary.  Watching my kids grow and learn is wonderful and I could not see that in any other way.”  –Rebecca Talley

There are probably as many reasons for homeschooling as there are homeschoolers. A few funny ones were heard September 1, 1994 on the Terry Moore show, QR77 radio in Calgary, Canada.

The top 5 advantages to being homeschooled:

    5. Get to watch TV during recess.

    4. Get to wear jammies all day.

    3. No banging chalk dust from erasers.

    2. Teacher constantly interrupted by telemarketers.

And the number one advantage to being home schooled:

    1. No toting heavy weaponry all the way to the public school.

But seriously, there are news stories almost daily ranging from violent crimes at the public schools, and the politics of trying to remove all religion and values from education, to children who have fallen through the cracks in the system.

“I studied homeschooling and found out everything I could about it. Most people I talked to told me that it was the best choice they had ever made.  I am once again in control of every minute of my family’s day. Ultimately, my husband and I are responsible for what our children learn. We take this responsibility very seriously.” –Larna Eubanks

Why our family chose to homeschool?

I had 3 main frustrations that caused me to pursue homeschooling—lack of quality time together, loss of control of the majority of my sons day, and tedious homework.

It felt like since the moment my son started school, whenever we were together, I was running around like a wild woman. Unfortunately, these were our mornings:  “Hurry up! Where is your backpack? Hurry and eat your breakfast. Get your shoes on—fast!”

When he got home from school, it was time to make dinner, clean the house, and prepare for Dad to get home from work. Again, our time together was not quality time, but hurried and busy. What had happened to all of those dream-filled afternoons where we talked about dinosaurs, cuddled to read on the couch, and tickled on the floor?

Sending my children to school doesn’t make me any less responsible for their education. It simply takes the control away from me for many hours a day. When my son attended Kindergarten, I had several small children at home (some things never seem to change). This made any attempt of attending his school virtually impossible.  After spending 8 hours in school, when asked, “How was your day?” or “What did you do today?” he would give one word answers like “fine,” or “nothing.” This did nothing to comfort my motherly desire for detail.

To add to my growing frustration, his first grade teacher thought home was my job and school was hers. She didn’t share much about what was going on at school. This was definitely a problem. 

For homework, he was assigned to read from some painfully boring books. Plodding through the pages of these books was pure torture, and lucky us, the assignment was to read each book 5 times…each night! So those few precious hours that I did have with my son were spent twisting his arm to read those awful books. 

Homeschooling has been a wild ride—from that first unsure year to now…but I wouldn’t change it for anything! The individual needs and our desire for excellence in education are much easier to achieve at home.

Here are 2 more articles about taking control of your child’s education

“What exactly are the homeschooling advantages? One of the biggest reasons for homeschooling is the amount of control you have over your child’s education.”

“Homeschooling gives us control over our time, one of our most precious and limited resources. ”