Skip to main content

Why We Chose Home Education for Our Kids

Today we had one of those perfect mornings where I'm reminded of all the reasons we homeschool and why it's the right choice for our family. My husband, who usually spends his days on roofs or in the dirt building solar arrays, was called off work for the day because of bad weather. With the rain pounding down on our roof, we all snuggled back in bed and I quietly gave thanks that we didn't have any reason to rush out of bed.


Later, as we took our time getting dressed for the day and I cooked potatoes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast burritos, I again was so thankful that we didn't have to rush out the door in the rain to the bustop, that we could stay in and take the time to cook and eat a real breakfast. We could enjoy this rare weekday morning that my husband was home. I love that we can set our own schedule and be flexible.

I love the freedom that homeschooling gives my family.

There are so many reasons we choose to homeschool and so many reasons why I love it. In addition to no cold wet morning walks to the bus stop, I love that my kids get to have a say in what and how they learn. They can pursue their own individual interests and work at their own pace. Like this year my 7 year old wanted to learn about germs and bacteria, so we ordered The World of Germs kit from the Young Scientists Club's Magic School Bus Series (we had previously used their dinosaur kit and really enjoyed it.  You can check out this and their other kits here: http://www.theyoungscientistsclub.com/retailstore/retail-magicschoolbus.html)  It was great and came with several experiments where she got to grow bacteria on agar in petri dishes. She loved it and wanted to try some experiments of her own, so I searched Amazon and ordered some pre filled agar petri dishes and steril swabs ( you can purchase them here ). Then I helped her design several of her own experiments. One tested which of our household cleaning products killed germs best (but that's a story for another post).



I love the freedom homeschooling gives my children to pursue their individual interests.

I love that they aren't trapped doing work for just one particular grade level either. My 7 year old currently reads and writes at about a first grade level. Is doing 2nd and 3rd grade math. And as far as science and social studies go, we just help her follow her interests, so she's not working at any particular grade level.

Another reason we chose to homeschool is the amount of time kids spend in traditional school.

Six hours a day, five days a week, plus homework is overkill in my opinion. Kids need time to play and be creative. We are able to get everything done in two hours (sometimes less) each day (though I'm sure this time will increase a bit as my kids get older and go on to more difficult subjects). This leaves us lots of time for crafts, playing outside, nature walks, playdates at the park, etc... Kids need time to be kids.



Something else that's important to me is free thinking.

Public schools too often, just teach kids to do as they're told. I don't want my kids to just do what they're told. I want to raise free thinkers who question and research everything. I want my kids to think outside the box. I want them to have time to be creative. I want them to have plenty of chances to do things wrong, so they have to figure out why it didn't work and try something new. It's learning how to obtain information and the drive for learning that's important about school, not the memorized facts that most people forget by adulthood anyway.

A child who loves to learn and knows how to obtain knowledge will grow up to be a lifetime student, continuously seeking knowledge.

I could probably go on all day about this subject. There are just so many reasons homeschooling is the right choice for us. I love getting to spend my days watching our kids learn. I am truly blessed!




What are your biggest reasons for homeschooling?



Follow me on:
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Water Relay Races For Kids

I don't know about your kids, but mine absolutely love games involving water and getting wet in the summer time. In  this post I share 5 of our favorite water relay races to play with friends. These are perfect for birthday parties, homeschool get togethers, and other group events. Sponge Relay: For this relay you will need: - 2 teams of several kids each -2 large sponges -4 small buckets or containers of some sort Divide your participants into 2 teams and have each team line up single file at a predetermined starting place.  Hand out a sponge to the first participant in each line. Set a bucket of water by each team. Set an empty bucket about 20 ft away from each team.  The two empty buckets should be the same size and should have a "fill line" marked half way up. On a count of 3 (or ready set go) the first participant in each line should dip their sponge in the bucket of water, run to the empty bucket, squeeze the water from their spo

Make Your Own Mineral Identification Kit

One of my family's favorite hobbies is rock hounding. We love collecting and trying to identify neat rock and mineral specimens that we come across. You can put together your own simple kit for identifying rocks and minerals with materials you likely already have around your home. In this post I will explain how to put together your own mineral identification kit and how to use it to identify rocks and minerals you find on your adventures. Making a Rock and Mineral ID Kit Grab yourself a printable Rock and Mineral Journal for recording your observations here:  Printable Rock and Mineral Journal ,  and then gather the following supplies: -A pencil -A coin -An iron nail -A piece of glass (an old pocket mirror works well) -A ceramic tile -A small watertight bottle or container -Some vinegar -A magnet  -A magnifying glass -A dropper (optional)  -Rock and mineral guide (optional)  -A small container or bag to keep it all in Fill the small watertight

STEM Art: 21 STEAM Project Ideas

My kids love STEM projects and we're always looking for ways to add more art to our homeschool days, so I decided I am going to try to dedicate one morning a week this year to STEM art activities. In this post I share some of the ideas we're planning to try, plus a few favorites we've done in the past. What is STEM Education? STEM education is a blended and often hands on approach to teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which are some of today's fastest growing industries. STEM education offers students the opportunity to problem solve and work on real world problems and questions. Sometimes the acronym STEAM is used, to include the arts. Adding art to STEM education encourages creative thinking and problem solving skills. It can also help make the other included subjects more appealing to some students. STEM Art Projects  Penny Spinners-   Learn about centrifugal force and make your own spinning tops with this fun post from Teach Beside Me. Explo

40 Things To Look At Under A Microscope

Microscopes are a scientific instrument that all kids should get a chance to learn how to use. There are so many everyday things that look really amazing up-close. Under a microscope you can see that objects and even plants and animals are made of tiny intricate parts. The microscopic world is amazing! In this post I share 40 things to try looking at up-close under a microscope. 40 Things To Look At Under A Microscope: 1. A feather  2. Soil 3. An insect wing 4. A human hair 5. An animal hair 6. Pond water 7. Diatomacious earth-  diatomacious earth looks SO cool magnified! 8. Cheek swab 9. An insect leg 10. A drop of blood 11. Mold 12. Sand 13. A shaving from a chicken bone- try both a piece of hard bone from the outside and some spongy bone from inside a bone. 14. Kombucha 15. Snake or lizard skin after they shed  16. A flower petal 17. A sliver of wood 18. Sugar 19. Salt- try different types 20. Thread 21. Saliva 22. A s

Learning About The Human Body Part 1: The Skeletal And Muscular Systems

At the end of each school year, I sit down with my daughter to discuss what topics she wants to learn about the next year. One of her science topics she picked to study this year was the human body. Instead of ordering a boxed curriculum set, I decided to put together my own human body unit. In this post I share some of the resources we used for learning about the human skeletal and muscular systems, plus instructions for a couple hands on learning activities. You can find my post about the human respiratory and circulatory systems  here , and my post about the human digestive and nervous systems  here . The Human Skeletal System Our skeletons are the frame of our body. They give us structure, without them our bodies would be limp like noodles. They also provide places for muscles to attach so our bodies can move. Why Does Your Body Need Calcium? Experiment: This is a simple experiment you can do to explore why calcium is important for our bones. You will need: -several clean