H is for homeschooling. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?
Homeschooling. Yes! I love it love it love it. I’ve known I wanted to do it since I don’t know when. We’ve always done it; it’s as natural to us as loving and being a family.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of why I do it:
- They are MY babies and I don’t want to lose 8 hours of their day. Mine.
- I disagree with American pedagogy. I’m not sure there is any pedagogy anymore, more like crowd control and test prep.
- I love watching my children learn. I get to see the light dawn all the time.
- I know exactly where my children are in their education. I don’t have to rely on subjective “grades” or report cards. Those don’t tell me anything I need to know.
- My kids have the opportunity to truly be themselves without worrying about peer pressure, and even very young children will pressure each other to conform. No Justin Bieber fans or silly bands around here. Just not interested.
- We have fewer sick days than our schooled counterparts.
- No stupid school projects. Leprechaun catcher anyone?
- No busy work. If we have downtime I say, “go play,” and they scamper off.
- Much less of their life wasted on waiting. I remember the waiting. Everyone in line to file in nice and orderly. Line up for the fountain. Line up for lunch. Everyone get your books out and turn to page 56, is everyone there yet? Marcy dear what is the problem, everyone is waiting on you. You have 30 minutes to read pages 56 to 58. If you finish early please wait quietly at your desk while everyone else finishes…
- We have great visibility over them. We’ve spotted inappropriate behavior and alerted them to passive-aggressive friendship tactics by their playmates. Read, kids are assholes.
- My super active, right-brained children would probably disturb their classes and require medication
- We get to raise them according to our values. We’re tolerant and green, but we don’t go out of our way to push, promote, and pander. We just live it.
- Their “socialization” is much more age appropriate than our schooled counterparts. Crushes and such like are normal parts of growing up, but my girls are not around oversexualized peers. Much.
- They get plenty of sleep, exercise, and lots of dirt time. They are incredibly filthy little beasts.
- They love it. We ask them every once in a while if they want to go to school and they say no.
- We have oodles of free time.
- We get to focus on what we find interesting
Keeping it real, there are downsides:
- The house is usually a mess
- I have very little “me” time
- FlyBoy and I share a car, so we really don’t get to take full advantage of opportunities
- It can be expensive. It can also be practically free, so there you go.
- People think you are weird
- People think you are stupid
- People think you are a religious nut
- We have to work hard to find people to hang out with. In our area, we aren’t “Christian enough.” That’s in quotes for a reason, friend
So there you go. I could come up with lots more to say, but either you do it and you already know it, or you don’t really care to know it anyway. LOL I do welcome any and all questions, comments, and criticisms. I have been doing this for quite a while, so I am more than happy to offer my assistance. 🙂 I also welcome your viewpoint, however it may differ from mine. Namaste.
theincompetenthausfrau 
Fab post my friend!
“Not Christian enough” is such a telling line, in such a sad way. Those are the Christians that give Christianity a black eye. Why, why, why do they have to treat those outside their “flock” as different, less, whatever. I loathe that sense of Christian superiority. “False piety” is what I call it.
I have long concluded that if we, as Christians, can not function in a social setting that has us bumping shoulders with people all along the spiritual spectrum, then we 1) are not good reflections of Christ, and 2) do not have a clear understanding of the gospel.
I love that you are enthusiastic about homeschooling, and embrace it completely. Your kids (and you) will benefit from that in myriad ways, and that is uber cool.
interesting 🙂
aren’t you worried that your kids would grow as outsiders and will have problems with fitting in “normal” working environment?
i put the “” because i don’t say it is necessary to go to work from 8 to 4, to wear a suit, to wait on a queue in the bank , etc. but what if they would like to have that kind of occupation?
i was just checking out randomly blogs from a to z challenge 🙂
greetings
this made me giggle. To answer your question: Nope. Not in the least. Holding a job is a responsibility. Doing your job is work ethic. Self-sufficiency is a hallmark of adulthood. All of these things my children learn, faster than their peers even. Homeschooling is living Montessori. It’s the natural learning environment for the little beasts. My kids can cook, pull their weight around the home, navigate the internet, set goals, and are better than I at meeting group obligations, like team practices. So, all of that taken together, I’m extremely confident they will have no problems when they enter the workforce. Which will likely be at 18 with a bachelor’s degree. ‘Cause that’s how we roll at TIF’s house. 😀