Why Do You Homeschool?

This is a question homeschoolers get a lot. What we do is a bit out of the norm and so people are interested in why we do it. When answering this question my husband and I believe that it's important to help them understand that traditional schooling and homeschooling are kind of like the display of the human skull and the ape skull my boys are looking at in the picture below. They are similar but different.

Both have a little something to do with the education of children and that makes them similar but in most other ways they are different. And these differences are what make it so appealing to us. It's not just about getting a great education. It's about a dozen or more other lifestyle choices we're making for our family every day. And so since this question comes up a lot I thought I'd share just a few of the reasons that we homeschool.

• We are free of the restrictions that the typical school year and school obligations put on families. With me being a stay at home mom and my husband owning his own hair salon we enjoy a tremendous amount of freedom to vacation when we want, do school when we want (as long as we do 186 days a year) and spend as much time together as we'd like. There's no wondering about when spring break starts or if it's ok for them to take the day off for their birthday.
• Worry over bullying and school violence is non-existent when you homeschool. Schools are not safe places anymore. Even when I was in school (over 15 years ago) we had a police officer on campus at all times. We've all seen the news.
• There are no D-'s in our homeschool. We don't do grades, instead we just don't move on until the boys "get" whatever it is that they're learning. I passed the majority of my high school math classes with a D- because I quit "getting it" in about 3rd grade. I had some really great teachers but when you have 20 or more kids in a class you can't "camp out" in one spot because a couple of kids don't get it. You have to move on. But when you homeschool you don't (have to move on), you can just keep working on it as long as is necessary.
• We are free to explore the subjects that interest us the most. In our homeschool right now that means Bible, ancient history, Latin, lizards, Chinese, world missions, story writing, birds, ASL, typing, acting and skateboarding. Next semester it may mean something else and that's the beauty of it.
• We don't have to share the joy of raising our children with people we hardly know. This may be the number one reason we homeschool. I remember when I was pregnant with W, at first we assumed I would go back to work part time. But 3 weeks before he was due I told my husband that I didn't want to go back to work because I didn't want to miss out on anything. I wanted to be the one to see his first step, hear his first word and so on. And so I stayed home and didn't miss a thing with either of my boys. It's the same with homeschooling...I'm still enjoying all of their firsts. I taught them to read, to add and subtract. We've shared in art and creative writing. And most importantly we "do life" together and we love every minute of it!

The DNA of homeschooling and traditional schooling are not the same...they are similar, but different.