Why We Are Homeschooling — Amanda Conquers

I think I was pregnant with my daughter when my husband and I had our first conversation as parents about our kids’ education.

Public school? Private school? Or the strange and mysterious-to-us option of homeschool?

I had been raised in private school and then later taught a 5^th/6^thgrade class in a small private school. Michael had been raised in public schools. I later was a substitute teacher in a local public school district. We both had positive and negative experiences to draw from. We seriously loved some parts of private and public education… but we also seriously hated some parts as well.

We began to look at homeschool seriously. I had never been homeschooled. Michael did some independent study as a teenager, but also had never been homeschooled. We didn’t really know anyone who homeschooled. I think in our heads we pictured homeschoolers as these people isolated from society living on a farm and wearing overalls.

I began doing a little research. I asked other parents how they came to their decision. I read blog posts much like this one from other bloggers. Since Mike and I had a very good idea of what public and private school would look like for our kids and little idea what homeschool would look like, I began to “wear” the homeschool decision until we made our final decision. When Addy was three, I started loosely doing a little home-preschool with her. I joined up with 3 other moms and we did monthly preschool play dates. When Addy was 4, we joined up with a local homeschool co-op and she went to a preschool class once a week.

{By the way, in case you are as clueless as I was, a homeschool co-op is a group of homeschoolers who come together to support each other. In the case of my local co-op, they provide mom’s nights out, craft days, “class” field trips, and they put on socials for the high-school age students. They provide support no matter how you homeschool. Once a week, they do classes, not as a part of core curriculum, but more to supplement the curriculum and give kids the chance to learn in a class with peers. We pay a very minimal yearly fee and class fee and then must be available to help during the class days at least two-thirds of the time my kids are there.}

My husband and I had some serious reservations about homeschool. Especially the part where I had to do it. I am not the best at consistency, being disciplined or scheduled. I have this fear I am going to royally mess my kids up. I want some time to myself and the hope that one day I can grocery shop in peace. I want to write consistently and bring in a little income to this house. Speaking of houses, I’d like to keep mine clean. I once followed a blog where the mom in almost every post mentioned how they did homeschool the easy way today or how they took a break and would just have to make it up later. I saw the exhaustion and how difficult it could be to do homeschool daily with excellence.

Ultimately, we decided to homeschool. The most freeing moment came when I realized that I wasn’t making a decision from now until kingdom come. I was only making a decision for this year. For me, it made it really easy to see where God would have us place our next step because when I think off into the future and try to figure out how long I would be a homeschool teacher and if I could teach calculus and if my kids would be too sheltered… the decision was overwhelming.

So here’s our list of reasons why we are homeschooling (this year):

The deciding factors:

I see my daughter’s gifts and talents as well as her short-comings. I can custom fit our curriculum to the way she learns and the things she loves. I can work with the way my daughter is easily distracted and the way she can be fully present and not hear you no matter how loud you shout. I can nurture the way she is creative and spontaneous. We can go at her pace.
Class-size. My daughter does not learn well in large groups. Maybe as she matures, this will change, but right now it is near impossible to hold her attention and get her to absorb information in a room full of social opportunities.
I love that I get to be my daughter’s first teacher. Kindergarten is full of milestones: learning to read, write, count to 100, count by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, tie your shoes, your address and phone number, the calendar… I get all of these with my daughter. The memories of her ah-ha moments and first-time triumphs will be my treasures.
I get to keep filling my daughter up with all kinds of God-truth for a whole other year with little to contradict me.I get to keep pointing in the way she should go without another voice to point at her and say she’s not good enough or smart enough or pretty enough. She’s in that question-asking phase right now, and I get to be the one to answer her questions in a way that reflects our values and beliefs.
It fits us.

o With Michael working strange hours, homeschool gives us the flexibility to work with his schedule.

o It’s not just that I used to be a teacher, teaching is a part of who I am. I take every opportunity to point out God’s creation or explain how something works.

o The culture of homeschool also seems to fit with our own family’s culture. Strange as this may seem, I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to find that homeschoolers rarely “rush,” are often late to the homeschool events, and are very in touch with how human they are. I get the feeling most of their lives are a bit messy and that they live clinging to Jesus, walking WITH Him, surrendering their pride. There are no super moms. But the opportunity to need Jesus to transform… and being transformed… that is constantly there. And as hard as all that is, I so want to be that kind of mom. Not put together. Not putting appearances above hearts. Me. And Me being transformed by the (constant) renewing of my mind to be more like Jesus.

I really can’t mess this up. I know my child better than anyone else. I am giving her one-on-one attention in the most comfortable and nurturing environment she has. After doing next to no formal preschool with Addy this past year, I see how much she has still learned just by living life. Even if we realize this isn’t a good fit, we got this year. We can do this.

Some other factors:

Money. Even if we wanted to send Addy to private school, the funds simply are not there this year.
Time. Kindergarten only takes a half-day to complete in a classroom and even less from home.
Family field trips.
Financial perks of charter schools. Because we are going through a charter school, we are given money for school supplies, field trips, AND physical education (which could include things like dance, gymnastics or even horse-back riding… things we could never afford on our own).
An awesome support system. In addition to the local co-op and charter school, one of my best friends is starting home school with her kindergarten-age son. I am already looking forward to field trips and crafts with her. I look forward to the we’re-in-this-together, we-can-do-this encouragement.
I will know exactly what my kid is learning. I can incorporate what she is learning at school into life very easily because I am the one planning her school lessons.
Jed will benefit too. Because Addy’s learning right where he lives, he is going to learn some too. He’ll probably be eager to participate too.

I offer this simply because the blog posts of so many others helped me arrive at my decision. They also gave me a respect for decisions different than my own. Truly, I don’t believe homeschool is best. I believe it’s where God is leading this family for this next school year.

So how does your family (plan to) do education? What was the main reason you made that decision?

By Grace,

Amanda Conquers