Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Why did you decide to homeschool?

click button to go to the Blog Cruise
I really like this week's Blog Cruise topic, especially in light of my current re-evaluation of our homeschool.  It's always helpful to remember why we started down this road in the first place!
Here's why we originally decided to homeschool.

1.  My husband had two brothers who had homeschooled their kids, so he was always interested in the idea.

2.  Our oldest son didn't seem to "fit" too well in first grade, so we pulled him out, even though I was working full-time.  He went to school with me and sat across from me at my desk two days a week.  I was able to be home most Fridays and his dad was off on Mondays.  It wasn't ideal, but he learned a LOT that year, mostly on his own.

3.  The year I graduated with my PhD and started my "career", several people I knew died unexpectedly and I began asking myself if I would change anything about my life if I knew I had one year to live.  The answer was "yes".

4.  I read America Alone by Mark Steyn and started thinking globally, not just locally.  I realized that if every believer welcomed children and then made discipling their children their top priority, the world would be a different place.

5.  Teaching in a local university, I was apalled at the "academic quality" in the students I was teaching.  I taught one class to education majors and just for kicks I would begin the class by asking what books they read over the break.  Maybe one out of every 30 would-be teachers were readers.  That scared me.

6.  Most of the students I was teaching were unable to think for themselves.  To do well on exams they had to know the questions and answers ahead of time (they called this review) and the tests had to be in multiple choice format.  This also scared me.

Our Students

Look, Calvin's already interested in books!
If I'm honest, I think I decided to homeschool as much for myself as for my children.  I only have them with me for a little while and I enjoy their company.  Some days I question our approach.  Some days I question our curriculum.  Many days I question my management skills, or lack thereof!  But, I never question our decision to homeschool.  It was one of the best decisions we ever made!

Why did you decide to homeschool?

1 comment:

  1. Very well-said!! My answer is a long one, so maybe it will be a good topic for me to blog about in the future. 5 years ago I didn't expect to be homeschooling my kids, but I realize now that the dreams I had when I was a little girl have come true.

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I'm an on-the-run mom to 6 kids who studied and taught exercise science in a previous life. I love all things running, nutrition, and health-related. I usually run at zero dark thirty in the morning and am often quite hungry before, during, and after my run, but I live a rich, full, blessed life with my children, family, and friends. My faith in God is my anchor, and looking to Him and His promises allows me to live fully even when life circumstances are difficult. While running gives me an appetite, my desire is to hunger and thirst for righteousness more than for physical food.