“What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children’s growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the schools, but that it isn’t a school at all.”
― John Holt
Homeschooling can be the most exhilerating, yet exhausting thing a parent can do. It’s not for everyone, but those who are brave enough to homeschool can build tremendous strides with their children.
I always ask parents why they chose to homeschool. For me, after a lot of prayer and discussion with my husband, we chose to homeschool because of the following reasons:
- I wanted my daughter to receive the individual attention she needed. My daughter was very shy and quiet and I knew she would not speak up for herself. I had been a Kindergarten teacher and I knew that the teacher would have to split herself into 28 parts and that the children with the loudest voices got the majority of her attention.
- My son was a baby when my daughter was ready to head off to Kindergarten and I did not want to split up our family. That may sound strange to some, but I wanted my children to bond and they couldn’t bond if my daughter was at a different location.
- And my final reason for homeschooling was academic continuance. At that time, my husband was in a job that was transient. I knew how difficult it was for children to change schools, especially in the middle of the school year and I didn’t want my quiet child to have to re-learn the way a teacher ran her classroom. It was easier for us to move and take a week or two off to get settled and then to resume her studies.
As I continued homeschooling, religious teaching, peer influences, and social mores began to play an influence into our decision to carry on with the homeschooling lifestyle.
When I began, I never thought I’d homeschool both of my children all the way through. But the lifestyle kind of grew on us and we continued. And you know what, if I had to do it all again, I’d homeschool.
Remember Joshua 1:9
Be strong and courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you/ do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
What about you? Why are you homeschooling? Why are you considering homeschooling? And if you are a retired homeschooler like me, why did you homeschool ?