Can you remember when you first heard that your children’s school would be going virtual?
I certainly can! It was just going to be two weeks, right? We all wondered how in the world we would make it even that long!
It was during those early days of the pandemic as educators tried to adjust to a “new normal” of Zoom calls and P.E. consisting of jumping on the trampoline in the backyard that I began to look at the education of my children very differently.
Although I had always been engaged in my children’s education, I now found myself sitting next to a fourth-grader - solely responsible for all he was learning and asking myself...could there be a better option for their education?
Did they really need to be away from home for 8 hours a day to receive the “best” education?
As this went well beyond two weeks, my husband and I began to seriously consider ways that we could supplement their education at home. Ultimately this led to our decision to choose homeschooling for the next year.
5 Reasons Why We Chose to Homeschool
Uncertainty
We were chugging along...my 4th grader in public school and my 4-year-old coming to our church preschool with me where she was in Pre-K and I was teaching a three-year-old class when we found out schools would be closing.
I continually checked my son’s Google Classroom site to see how his teacher would handle this “virtual schooling” and was shocked to find out that all we would receive was a list of assignments to complete online. No communication...no virtual lessons...no nothing!
We never had any communication or instruction from his teacher again.
This is what initially led my husband and me to even consider homeschooling as we felt that was what we were having to do in the absence of any given instruction from the public school system. And much to our surprise...we were all loving it!
Fast forward to the end of the summer when no one was sure when school would begin or what it would look like. I couldn’t stand the thought of my ten-year-old spending an entire day away from us, in a mask, isolated at a desk or on a computer.
I began researching options for curriculum, state standards, and methods of homeschooling. We decided to unenroll him and tackle this year and see where it would lead. I can honestly say now I feel it leads to homeschooling for the long haul!
I now set the schedule, set the pace, and what makes up our curriculum.
Content Control
We all know that no one, not even the best-intentioned teacher, is going to care for and know your children as you do. I wanted to be able to research and investigate various options for curriculum and methods of instruction that would resonate best with my child’s learning style.
I also know that as our children spend more and more time away from home, they are influenced by world views that do not necessarily align with the Christian beliefs we as a family hold.
By choosing to homeschool, I was able to tailor his learning so that it aligned with these beliefs and no longer had to worry that he was going to be taught something or exposed to something in public school that we didn’t agree with or that he wasn’t yet able to understand.
Religious Instruction
As I began talking to others and examining curriculum options, the thought of beginning our day with devotions and Bible reading was very appealing.
It has allowed us to have deeper level conversations about faith while allowing us to share some very rewarding time together.
I’ve also grown in my understanding of the Bible now reading it as a “teacher” trying to help my son understand and not just reading for my own understanding.
We have also been able to memorize scripture together which has proved challenging and rewarding for us both. This is giving him a knowledge he would never have received in public school.
Reading Exposure
We are a family of avid readers. It’s what we do! I realized I was able to incorporate novels, articles, picture books, and more into our days that enriched our learning in ways that allowed us to bond over this shared love of reading.
Due to our mutual love of reading, we have chosen a reading heavy curriculum that has allowed us to read more widely both together and independently.
He is thriving and we have created many wonderful memories around shared stories. It’s allowed him much more time to read independently as well, noticeably increasing his reading fluency and vocabulary.
(Taking advantage of a SQUILT LIVE! lesson - we are enjoying incorporating things like music appreciation into his education now!)
Impressive Homeschoolers and Parents
I’ll admit I had preconceived notions about homeschool families.
Having grown up as a public school student, I assumed homeschoolers were strange kids from strange families who just didn’t fit in with the norm of school.
More and more, however, over the past few years, I’ve met homeschool moms and students who proved me totally wrong.
They are impressive, they are people I respect and want my child to emulate. They are knowledgeable, thoughtful, well-spoken people who simply chose a different way of educating their children.
( I’m not sure where they’ve been hiding all this time!)
They chose what they felt was best for their family and I can now see the merits of this choice.
The wake of the events of the past year has left a lot of changes in our world. One change that I will forever be thankful for is the opportunity it provided for me to take more direct involvement in my children’s education and to discover the numerous options available for moving my children from traditional public education to an environment of education at home.
I’m curious - what made YOU decide to homeschool?
Let me know in the comments below!
This is post is from Homegrown Learners contributor, Allison. She is a wife and mother with a passion for reading. With a background in Early Childhood Education as well as experience working in Corporate America, the events of the past year exposed her to the rewards of teaching her own children at home. She hopes to encourage anyone who has ever been anxious about taking this leap with her own personal successes and failures of her family's first year homeschooling.
