Why do we homeschool?
Are we one of “those” families? Is it faith? Are we just crazy? Let me give you a little backstory…..
While our dream was never to homeschool, we would never change it for the world! We were living near Denver at the time…there were a lot of kiddos and not a whole lot of funding for education. My older two kiddos did attend public school early on but wasn’t until Madison was in the 3rd grade that our concerns became more urgent. She was coming home with papers with failing grades. When I asked her what was going on….like any good mom….she said she wasn’t ever taught! Not taught??? I did question her teacher and she said she was doing her best. They had 30+ students in her class and Madison wasn’t ahead nor behind so she got to sit and read while the other challenging students were being instructed. She continually came home bored and hating school! This was not my child. Also, they were on year-round schooling to help with the over population and they were looking to transition to a more traditional schedule. What did this mean? They were going to have more students per class. So my mediocre child was going to continue to be bored! Josh was also in kindergarten at this time. When talking with his teacher, she told me I should Homeschool! HOMESCHOOL? Nope! Not me….I barely could get through homework! We prayed and prayed and God led me to some pretty awesome people who supported my every freak out….my questions….my lack of faith….my beautiful messy days! We proceeded to move several times due to loss of a job and the death of John’s brother. Homeschooling was our constant. It gave us a reason to spend time together….be each others friend in the midst of change.
Homeschooling was a blessing in this time and I am sure it kept our kids from falling apart. We have also learned our kids are actually pretty cool people! It seems we live in a society where “kids will be kids” or that generation or (____________) you fill in the phrase. Kids are actually very intelligent, you just need to take time to get to know them. Now I get to see the Ah Ha moments in their learning. It makes the hair-pulling days’ worth it! I never really thought about homeschooling….and would never change it for anything!
Relationships
My kids have an amazing relationship. One of which I am sure wouldn’t have been possible without our time together. Yes they fight but they also have a lot of fun together! I get the question about socialization…..all….the….time! I believe if you can get along with your siblings, you can get along with anyone! Besides our home life and church, our kids are very involved in sports. They know many children their age and they socialize just fine…probably better than most!
Learning at their own pace!
Homeschooling has allowed us to meet our children at their level….what ever that is! My older daughter was very advanced. She graduated early and was very independent in education. Our younger three weren’t like this. Homeschooling has allowed us to not fit them into a mold! We could meet them where they were at, not where a milestone said they should be. We also realized early on that our younger three didn’t learn like other kids. Auditory processing and dyslexia became a very researched topics in our home. Finding out how they learn and how we could change our daily studies to allow them to understand was challenging! And what works with one, doesn’t with the others. They also are in different levels within their grade! Mastering the materials vs just marking off lessons is very important to us. We also can let the kids learn what every they want! Yes, we still do the subjects they hate but we can help point out those subjects’ relationship with in the subjects they do love!
Why do you homeschool?
I would love to hear your story. Drop a comment and let us know.