Saturday, September 13, 2008

Why I like homeschooling.

I'm a smidge addicted to blogging. Can one be a smidge addicted? Hmmm...that philosophical question will have to wait for another day. Right now I'm going to try to remind myself why I like homeschool.

1-Field trips - museums, farms, nature walks, picnics at the park... its all school.

2-Great books - I feel like I'm learning so much for the first time as I teach my kids. Did you know that the East coast of South America is heavily influenced by African culture because of colonization and the slave trade? Me either.

3- Pancakes for Breakfast, because we don't have to hustle out the door in the morning.

4 - More time for creative play for my kids

5 - OPTIONS (our 1 day a week, publicly funded school program) M's taking art, piano and dance, and Spanish, and she loves it all. E's in science, and history and piano, and all sorts of fun classes with great teachers and great friends.

6 - Watching my kids "get it". It's fascinating watching a kid learn to read, or discover the pattern that makes math facts work.

7 - My kids HAVE to be good friends - it's survival.

8 - I've met fabulous women because of our homeschooling connection. They are smart, and dedicated and fun - and they don't wear denim jumpers.

9- Watching my kids faith grow.

10 - Those special moments - few and far between - when I know I would have missed out had my kids been in school.

Homeschool is a good thing, and it has been good for our family. Last year I really struggled with whether I should homeschool or not. It's never an easy choice for me. But having my kids home last year ended up being a huge blessing for our family. My older kids had to help care for their baby sister. They saw adoption first hand, and learned to love selflessly. They have such a sweet bond, and got to participate fully in that part of our family's journey. I don't look back with regrets.

1 comment:

Henry Cate said...

"My kids HAVE to be good friends - it's survival."

This is a great reason.

When we are at the hospital, the day after our second daughter was born, one of the nurses go real serious and told us that we needed to make sure our children knew that we loved each of them, that there were no favorites. She made the point that for most of us our longest lasting relationship was with our siblings. Our parents tend to die before us. We die before our children. We don't normally meet our spouse until we are teenagers or adults. The people we know through out our life are our brothers and sisters.

Public schools teach children to only socialize with other kids their age, it weakens the bond between siblings.