Homeschooling
- This Or That Mom
- Mar 3, 2019
- 18 min read
Updated: Mar 7, 2019
As someone who takes education very seriously and who strives to instill an eagerness to learn in my children, I have always been intrigued by the idea of homeschooling. I have so much respect for parents who put the effort in to do it because it requires a lot of discipline and patience, but I'm sure the reward of seeing your children learn and succeed in front of your eyes in a very personalized setting would make it well worth it.
I think homeschooling often tends to get a bad reputation which is a shame for how beneficial it can be. We all know how the traditional school system can lack in individualized attention. Homeschooling allows parents to have the opportunity to focus on a child’s personal strengths and weaknesses without the constant comparison of others, providing a very safe and comfortable environment for learning. What I always thought would be a downside to homeschooling is the lack of socialization, but a lot of the parents I reached out to said their children still remain social through other homeschooling groups and extracurricular activities. I think it’s also important to point out that homeschooling families aren’t limited to where their classroom is either. One family below said they will go whale watching as part of their lesson plan. Another family stated they were a traditional public school family, but decided to take a year off to travel the world with their children. How amazing is that? The flexibility homeschooling provides is very unique.
I don’t homeschool my children, and I probably never will, but I love to incorporate the idea of learning outside of the classroom. I think it’s important to always be teaching our kids that learning a lesson can be done anywhere and shouldn’t be restricted to the classroom.
I asked some parents who homeschool their children to share the benefits and struggles they face and why homeschooling has been a good fit for their family.
Benefits
‘One size fits all' concept of a traditional public (or even private) schooling does not take into the account child's personal aptitudes, inclinations, strengths and weaknesses. Homeschooling, on the other hand, offers a very personalized approach, allowing flexibility in the curriculum choice and the pace at which the child successfully absorbs the information. Also, low ratio of educator per student (1:1 in my scenario) is invaluable! Individualized attention, constant eye-contact and interaction, simply precludes day-dreaming and lack of focus which are so common in traditional school system settings. Struggles (a) Timing - you have to be extremely organized to take homeschooling seriously and "open the doors" at set time and follow the set schedule. (b) Planning - if you do not follow a set curriculum, there is a lot of planing, researching and preparing of the lessons involved. (c) managing the household as a part of your day can inadvertently be a hurdle to homeschooling. It is very enticing to unload the dishes or do laundry during "school hours" ~ which are the distractions you generally do not have if you are in a school setting outside your home. (d) Lack of social interaction, which however, it can be overcome with extra-curriculum activities and sports. Why is it a good fit for your family?
I am blessed to be able to stay home with my children and I naturally have an affection for education and learning. I am a Juris Doctor by degree but an educator by heart, so I love sharing my love for learning with my children.
Benefits
Our kids aren't just biological machines. They aren't robots. They are individuals. Homeschooling allows me to educate the whole child; body, mind, and spirit. Most schools focus on the mind only. There are SO many benefits but I think this is key! The love I have for my children propels them to reach new heights, develop a deep confidence in their interests and abilities, and ensures they are getting the physical support they need through proper exercise and nutrition; body, mind, spirit!
Struggles
The struggle with homeschooling isn't what you think. Everyone experiences the difficulties of parenthood. The one thing that parents struggle with is comparison and indoctrination. They pull their kids from school and try to recreate that environment at home and scratch their heads when it doesn't work or has them feeling incompetent. It's what they know and so they copy the popular models and methods. Schools aren't working for a reason and copying that model in our curriculum... And our systems is going to bring the same results as the public schools. I do it to myself everyday scrolling IG, "Oh that looks fun! That curriculum looks nice!" I doubt my abilities and what motivates my children in favor of shiny objects, when there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Why is homeschooling a good fit for your family?
I don't think homeschooling is just for my family! I think it is for anyone who wants freedom for their child, Who wants to foster a strong relationship, and build the legacy of a great family. When you send your kids to school, you are playing a game of tug-of-war, battling between your values and that of school and peers. No one can serve 2 masters so someone is going to loose. People who think it isn't for them are over-thinking it. They are recreating school at home in their mind and know they would hate it. Yeah, I would hate that too! lol it's not as hard as people think and if it is, you might be doing it wrong. Don't get me wrong, it's not EASY, but nothing in this life that brings immense joy and amazing results is.
https://instagram.com/trueaimedu?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=r54a34z3x0rq
Benefits
As we are traveling the world, the primary benefit for us is flexibility in location and scheduling. Contrary to many homeschooling families, we are a traditional public school family, we just put our lives on hold for a year to travel. The core curriculum we teach our kids aligns closely with the program they’d receive in their typical school back home. In fact, back home, I am a public school teacher so creating their educational program for this year was relatively straightforward. Our kids use Google Drive to access content previously uploaded before we left home. Of course, seeing the world offers constant opportunities for “social studies”, language, art, and culture. And physical education is easy with the walking, hiking, bicycling, and swimming we do. So homeschooling has given us the ability to maintain an educational program, while traveling the world.
Struggles
Quite simply, the biggest challenge is time. Whatever typical schooling we work on, math, writing, etc., means allocating time that we could allocate to sight seeing or activities. Of course if we were home, our kids would be in school so they wouldn’t be sightseeing anyway! Perhaps the feeling is a bit silly, but since there’s always so much to see and do where we are, we feel that tension. Another struggle we feel is always being “on” as parents. Since we are traveling full time and homeschooling, there is never a time when we have a break from parenting or teaching. Our youngest wakes at 6 am and our oldest is up until 9:30 pm, and we are “on” that whole time. This can be tiring, or at least leave us wanting some me or us time. Don’t get me wrong, our kids are wonderful, agreeable people, and flexible travelers. But our lives back home had a separation between adult/work time, and family time.
Why is it a good fit for your family?
In addition to the flexibility it offers us mentioned above, our work lives back home made homeschooling a good fit. Erica works as a early intervention age speech pathologist, and I have either taught my younger daughter’s age group or my older daughter’s age group for 15 years. So Erica has tons of experience with children Sawyer’s age, and I have experience working with students my daughters’ ages. Our children are also suited for homeschooling, as our oldest is interested in working independently, and our younger daughter appreciates the 1:1 time homeschooling can offer.
Benefits
Homeschooling produces life-long lovers of learning. It sheds arbitrary drills and hierarchy in favour of an environment where intellectual development, moral purpose and personal relationships are nurtured together naturally.
Struggles
It has been more demanding than any other job I've had, but it is a most wonderful vocation to spend the first years of my children's life with them, apprenticing them and curating a beautiful world of ideas.
Benefits
I have two main reasons for loving homeschooling. One is all of the extra family time it allows- I get to spend more time with my daughters, and they get to spend more time with each other. I love the beautiful relationships that form because of that! The second benefit is that I get to choose what and how my children learn! I love that I can give my daughters shirt lessons (rather than long ones where they will lose interest and passion), and that I can teach them many subjects they wouldn’t get in school, such as artist study, poetry time, folk songs, and outdoor nature time. Struggles
The hardest part about homeschooling is that it is all-consuming. We are together every day, which can be hard on all of us! It requires a lot of grace and patience. And it requires work on my part as the mother to be prepared to give my girls a good education, which sometimes means giving up other passions and interests I’d enjoy pursuing.
Why is it a good fit for your family?
Homeschooling is a good fit for our family because it’s something I love and feel called to. We have a great community of homeschoolers that we enjoy getting together with a few times a month, and that keeps us encouraged! We love the freedom that homeschooling provides! There truly are so many ways to homeschool, so the way I am doing it isn’t the way another family has to do it.
Benefits
I think the benefits of homeschooling are so great and many it is hard to pin just one or two. However I think the greatest benefit is that your child gets to learn in a loving and caring environment, they don't get lost in large classes and so if they struggle with understanding something you can change the way you're teaching it to a way that makes it connect for them. Which is hard for teachers to be able to do for students in schools because classes are so large.
Struggles
I think the biggest struggle for us was finding our village, but this was only at the very beginning. When you first start its very daunting and you hear so often "what about socializing?" but we live in a wonderful time with the internet where people and communities can find each other. In our area we initially couldn't find any other home educators so we created a group on Facebook hoping perhaps we would find one or two, now there are over 100 families that have joined and we connect regularly so our kids can play and we can support each other.
Why is it a good fit for your family?
For us homeschooling is a perfect fit. We love the flexibility that comes with it, being able to do interest based learning as well as the basics so our kids can discover who they are at their core and what makes them happy is one of the reasons we initially wanted to take this journey and we are seeing so many benefits every day from it.
It [homeschooling] really does get a bad reputation. I feel like a lot of it comes from people who feel attacked by their choices, the homeschoolers feel like people who send their kids to school think they are making the wrong decision and vice versa but in the end it's so important for us all to remember how intrinsically unique we are. What is best for my kids isn't necessarily best for others and so we need to remember as parents we are all just doing our best and to stop all the judgement and defense and meet in the middle to support the differences.
Benefits
Homeschooling has been an incredible blessing to our family for so many reasons! We thoroughly enjoy the freedom and flexibility that homeschooling provides. My husband and I believe in a whole-child educational approach for our children that considers their specific interests and needs, and includes academic learning, and regular, enriching social and cultural experiences. We love to travel and enjoy planning trips throughout the year without the confines of a school schedule! Many of our children's lessons are child-led and are either held at our home, during weekly field trips, or in private classes with other homeschoolers. As such, our children regularly enjoy individual instruction, group lessons and projects, and real-world, hands-on exploration. Struggles Perhaps the biggest struggle for me has been carving out precious "me time." Homeschooling is fun and rewarding, but being with my young children all day is not without challenges. I manage to enjoy some personal time on a few weekday evenings and am working on adding personal weekend time. We are having so much fun homeschooling! I couldn't imagine life any other way!
Benefits
We homeschool because ultimately we believe that education is about your whole life and your entire atmosphere. Education is about so much more than just going to school learning facts and passing tests. Learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Learning happens every day, in everything you do, if you’re open to it you’re always learning. We want to give our kids and opportunity to really learn about the world and have true hands-on life experiences. It’s a beautiful thing, seeing your child make connections and to watch their eyes light up when they learn something new. Also, it’s important to us to be together as a family. So homeschooling allows us to spend that time together and learn and grow together as we go along. Homeschooling gives us the freedom to travel and see things on our own pace, to make our own schedule and allow the kids to learn on their own time. It’s amazing how a child can flourish when they are given the freedom to learn and grow at their own pace. Children naturally want to know about their world and will always thrive when we release the pressure to do it “our way”.
Struggles
For the most part, homeschooling has been a blessing for our family. It does come with its struggles. As a homeschooling parent you often question yourself am I doing it right? Am I doing enough? Are they getting everything they need? It is also hard sometimes because as wonderful and as it is to always be together, it’s also hard to always be together. We all have to make sure that we’re getting our own time and space to breathe.
Why is it a good fit for your family?
At the end of the day, we love being able to learn this way. We wouldn’t change a thing and we are looking forward to the future with anticipation.
Benefits
We benefit from homeschooling because the time is our own...we choose what and where to learn and how to learn it. Next week we get to go whale watching! So I will be focusing a whole unit on “under the sea” animals. Then we get to actually go and see them in their natural habitat all thanks to our charter school. How amazing is that?
Struggles
The struggles... there are some. For me it’s teaching my eldest daughter math. I never excelled in math in school so it been hard for me. Thankfully I have a grandfather who helps me ALOT! He has started tutoring her and because he was a college professor, we feel like we can fully trust in his teaching abilities... and guess what? Now she’s excelling!
Why is it a good fit for your family?
Homeschooling has been a great fit for our family for many, many reasons. First and foremost...our children are simply, HAPPIER. There is no more struggling to finish homework after a long day at a brick and mortar. No more telling my girls that we don’t have time to join extra curricular activities because we just don’t have enough time in the day. We now have the time and resources to do soo many things.... and we are beyond thankful for every opportunity we get because we homeschool.
Benefits
It’s incredible to see all three of my children together, everyday. They’re learning and growing alongside each other and I feel so grateful to be able to see that each day.
Struggles
It’s so easy to feel like you aren’t doing enough. If math doesn’t get done, it’s like “they’ll never learn to divide”. Which is so silly! But, I think every parent has their own set of worries based on their parenting styles. We’re all in this together, at the end of the day. Our current struggle is the fact that our almost 2 year old is a wild child, ha! So “lessons” only get done when she’s asleep (“lessons” in terms of hard facts or sit down things - because truly, they’re learning all the time).
Why is it a good fit for your family?
It feels right. I think it’s hard to determine what’s a good fit and what isn’t because so many things can change. Moving, new baby, etc. So much affects parenting and our lifestyle. But, it’s a great fit for us because it allows us to travel, spend so much time outdoors, and just be together.
Benefits I believe that the biggest benefit of homeschooling is growing together as a family. When you are alongside each other for most of the day, you are gifted with the opportunity to practice forgiveness, patience, love, kindness, holding back from anger, serving one another, and many other life situations that you will encounter in the world outside your home. Homeschooling provides the training ground that the children need to be able to grow into healthy adults that can deal with whatever the world throws at them. When they make mistakes, they can be treated with love, even if it includes discipline. The children know that they are in a safe place where mistakes and learning can happen all at the same time. Secondly, homeschooling gives each child a tailored education, if there’s a subject where they show struggle, we can slow down and meet them at their level, if they are exceeding, we don’t need to wait for anyone else to catch up. Here in our home classroom, we can work at the pace of the child. Thirdly, the children can be raised in a home where our values, not the world’s, can be instilled in them. They do not have to face shame or bullying for what they believe in. They can be raised to be strong and humble at the same time. They can learn to be victorious, yet always lend a helping hand without pride. Our family enjoys homeschooling for many more reasons, but this is a great place to start.
Struggles Biggest struggles of our homeschool are me, the teacher. This is my training ground as well. These are my children. I have to daily be renewed with patience, kindness, and love that they need. Being a mother is so much already, as all you mamas know, and taking on an additional role of an educator requires lots of patience and grace! Grace for the days that they can’t read those tricky words, Grace for the days they can’t spell a word you’ve reviewed hundreds of times, Grace for the math problems that don’t seem to click, or for the music notes that don’t seem to make sense. Therefore I believe the biggest struggles of homeschooling are having patience and grace.
Why is it a good fit for your family?
It’s a good fit for our family because we believe in living our life raw. We hold each other accountable. We have tears and laughter. We make mistakes and ask forgiveness. We have moments when we all need a time out. And in the midst of all the lessons, we can see beauty in life together. Beauty through nature, art, poetry, music, math, and all the literary works out there. We are a family, and we are meant to live life together.
Benefits
There are so many wonderful benefits to teaching your children at home. We can teach wherever, whenever and however we want. I have found my children all learn in different ways and I am able to really help them succeed and be confident in their abilities by catering to their specific needs.
Struggles
Homeschool has really blessed our family but it doesn’t come without its challenges. Being a Mother is hard enough- I feel the challenges of homeschooling are small compared to the rewards. My greatest challenge is keeping a clean and orderly home. I live in a small house and with homeschool if I don’t stay on top of things they can really get out of control. I mean homeschool is challenging but in the same sense as motherhood is challenging. It is sometimes an overwhelming task but I have found so much joy in teaching my children. I love the freedom that comes with homeschooling but what appealed most to our own family is that I can teach my kids things that they aren’t being taught in schools. We believe that centering our home and learning in Jesus Christ is vital for our families success and happiness. My greatest desire is to teach my young, “wild sunflowers” to follow the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The world has different views on what should be taught in schools, but in our home we “Follow the Son.”
Benefits Homeschooling has a multitude of benefits. The main one being the ability to teach ‘one on one’ all the time. This is something that kids rarely get in a normal classroom setting, and it means they grasp concepts much faster and feel more comfortable questioning aspects of learning. Another major benefit of homeschooling is that schooling is not confined to just the classroom. Our kids are developing a strong ability to absorb information from their environment and apply it in their school sessions. Struggles
The biggest struggle is developing patience as a teacher. Understanding that children learn at different rates and may need different prompts to help them grasp something. It can also be difficult setting aside the time for homeschool sessions. We live and travel on the road, there are always new adventures to be had so making sure our homeschool responsibilities are met can be a struggle.
Why is it a good fit for your family? Homeschooling is such a good fit for our family. Our oldest completed 3 years of school and our youngest 1 year and we always resented sending them away 5 days a week. We felt it wrong that at such a young age they were away from us for the majority of the week. Homeschooling gives us so much more time together as a family. It is also a fantastic way for our youngest to learn as she tends to ‘fade into the background’ in a classroom setting. Our oldest is very much a self motivator, so having his schooling in his control has done wonders for his confidence.
Benefits
Oh, so many to even talk about! So I’ll just give you my top one. The bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. We believe that when God gave us our children, that he also knew that we were the best fit for raising our children in all ways, including education. We have had the privilege of bringing them up the way God would want us to. We also have the liberty to give counsel to them at any given moment, shelter, encourage, love, spend time together, and to choose unique ways of educating them in the things that are a good fit for our lifestyle & for them. We feel it is a privilege to teach them, and we take that high calling seriously. Struggles Honestly, we haven’t had any as a family of 8. Our 4 oldest children weren’t always homeschooled, but when we made the decision to homeschool, it was such an easy transition. None of the kid’s even wanted to go back to public school again! I guess the only struggle that perhaps I had as a mom, was in my first year. I had to switch my brain from “traditional school at home,” to “hey, I don’t have to teach like the public school system.” So I had to throw out every idea of what traditional school looked like and prayerfully find my own way. So in the first year, I felt overwhelmed with knowing what I should teach, how much they should be learning, and oh my…the 1000’s of curriculum out there had my head spinning. But I realized very quickly that the best way to teach, is to just keep things very simple and to also allow my children to take the reins in their own education. I went from being a “teacher” standing at the front of the room, to being a facilitator giving hands on help when needed. Of course I set up their learning schedule each term, and we would discuss as a family what we would learn, but learning had to be self motivated. Instagram has been such a huge help in the homeschooling department and I have met so many wonderful mom’s who have inspired me as well. Why is it a good fit for your family?
Homeschooling has always been a good fit for us. We are currently living off grid 1.25 hours from the nearest gas station and post office box, and 2.5 hours from grocery shopping. Since we have basically started from scratch demolishing part of and renovating a dilapidated cabin in the wilderness, our last 10 months have been more about life skills than book work and all of it incorporates some form of traditional studies without actual books! We are together as a family 24/7, working towards a family ministry & setting up a small homestead. Our children are each other’s best friends, we get to have 2 family devotionals a day together, we get to love each other, cook for each other, support each other, help each other at a moment’s notice when someone is having a heart problem, and we get to learn from each other. We are a very close family and we thank God every day, for giving us the opportunity of not only raising, but educating our children. https://instagram.com/thefieldsarewhite?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=165fkkbvqwhuv
Benefits
Motherhood is already a frustrating, hilarious, exhausting, and unimaginably sacred job. So what about homeschooling? It would just be one more thing to juggle. But to spend our days, hand in hand with our littles chasing after curiosity and igniting their spark to learn, is priceless. I love the flexibility it offers; we spend a bulk of our time reading stories, exploring nature, and cultivating imaginative free play. Homeschooling gives me the ability to tailor their education based on each individual child. If one is struggling in math, we can slow down until they grasp the concept, or try another method. We are able dive deep into topics of interest. I have the privilege of tending their hearts + minds, we work on character traits right alongside language arts. They have grown a special bond as siblings learning alongside each other. And we socialize with all sorts of people in all age ranges.
Struggles
There are certainly some challenges. It takes creativity to balance being around each other all.the.time, making it difficult to carve out personal time to fill your cup. There is a vast array of homeschooling methods and curriculum, so it can take some time to find your rhythm and what works best for your littles. Also, each child has their own learning style, so figuring out how to present topics in a way they learn best can try your patience. Why is it a good fit for your family?
Homeschooling has been the very best thing for our little tribe. If I were to give you any piece of unsolicited advice, it’s find what works best for your child. It can be public, private, homeschool, anything. Children are unique and the way they learn is unique. So, if things aren’t working, don’t be afraid to swim against the normal in the pursuit of your child’s education.
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