Why We Decided to Homeschool

Marigold-the-inattentive (in her words, not mine) asks what made us decide to homeschool. I figured answering it is worthy of it's own post. So here goes...in bullet points:

--because we can.

--because we wanted to. I'd always thought the idea of home schooling was nice.

--so that I have time to do morning prayers with my kids.

--so that I have time to read the Scriptures to my kids when I'm not too tired to think.

--because I want to have more influence on them than I would if I did not homeschool. In other words, I want to very actively raise them as Orthodox Christians.

--so that there's no conflict with taking my kids to mid-week liturgy for the feasts of the Church.

--because I want my children to remain chaste and modest and shocked by evil as long as possible in their lives.

--to keep them innocent.

--so that I and my husband are the ones teaching them about sex. (And yes, they have been informed of the facts of life.)

--so that nasty kids won't torture them on the bus.

--because they were being bullied.

--because of their autism spectrum issues.

--because B is chronically ill and "would be toast" (her words, not mine) at school.

--because it's heroic and hard.

--because I want my kids to get a GOOD education and I do not believe that many of the public schools are offering that these days.

--because I want my kids to have time to play.

--because if I have to spend time helping kids with their homework, I'd rather do it in the a.m. when I have energy, than late in the afternoon after they get home.

--in order to avoid busywork and homework.

--so that they can explore their interests.

--so we can have more family time.

--because we are weird and are OK with that.

--I homeschool because sending a kid with autism issues to school in order to learn social skills is akin to throwing a child who is afraid of the water into a lake without a life jacket in order to teach them how to swim.

--because my children were depressed and wiped out in public school.

--I home-school because I think it's my calling to do so.

--I home-school because of the parable of the stewards with the talents.

Is it easy? No. It's hard. Very hard. Do I get discouraged? Yes, sometimes I do. Overwhelmed? Every year. Panicked? For sure, sometimes.

But I'm learning the ropes, and the rhythm of each year. This will be the fourth year of homeschooling since we started again. (My older two were homschooled a bit in their younger grades and then for about three years all were in Public School). Is life better with them at home? Yes. Am I happy with their character development? Very much so. Do we all get along from day to day? YES! Do they obey me? YES, thanks be to God!

I am extremely blessed, and I like spending time with my kids.

Comments

elizabeth said…
I really enjoyed reading this!

It is good to stategize for tiredness issues.

My love to you this day!
Anonymous said…
I don't have children, but I love hearing about adventures in homeschooling and the reasons for doing so. :)

Many years!
Janelle
Anonymous said…
Hmmm.... This was really intersting to read. It opened up some new perspectives I hadn't thought about before.

In my hypothetical, way-off-in-the-future family of many rosy children, I wonder whether I will homeschool. When I remember the horrors of some classes in secondary (high) school - R.E. and Science particularly spring to mind - I feel like running a hundred miles in the opposite direction. But on the other hand, looking back on it with a few years' distance, I'm also convinced that the rough and tumble, the intense atmosphere and the (non-physical, mostly) scratches and bruises did me GOOD in the long run. I mean it sucked a lot of the time, but I would probably do it again, given the chance. Is that weird?

Thanks for the great post!

x M.
Anonymous said…
*interesting, that should be, obviously.
Martha said…
I agree with you on all these aspects...we are so lucky to be able to homeschool...but I truly fear that under this current socialist-like government, they'll try to tell us how to educate our children!
Alana said…
I know what you mean, Marfa. I worry too. God have mercy.