Why home school?

"Wow. I could never do that!"

I assume from this statement that strangers, acquaintances and friends believe I am Super Mom with an endless supply of patience, creativity, and energy. After all, how else could I home school a 3rd grader, 1st grader, Preschool 5 year old and a Preschool (almost) 3 year old?

Let me dispel the myth right now.

Home school moms are not Super Moms. We are not endowed with super-patience, super-creativity or super-energy. We are ordinary moms who yell at our child when he calls his sister a derogatory nickname (It's unfortunate that smelly rhymes with Ellie.) and use a DVD to babysit our children while we sneak in an afternoon nap. Maybe that last one is just me.

If we're just regular run-off-the-mill moms, why do we choose to home school? Why do we postpone careers, give up lunch dates with other moms, and add lesson planning to our mom workload?

I won't presume to speak for other home school moms but I'll share with you why I made this choice.*

First, I believe home schooling is the best way for my children to learn my values. My children are with me almost 24/7 which allows for countless opportunities to instruct and model my beliefs. Also, I don't have to compete with differing attitudes and ideas of a classroom teacher.

Please don't misunderstand me. I am not anti-teachers. My mom worked as an elementary teacher for years and I trained to be a high school social studies teacher. Also, I am NOT saying that parents can't pass on their values to publicly/privately schooled children. I am saying it is harder and requires a great deal of intentionality.

Next I enjoy the home school lifestyle. I determine what time we start our day, not a bus schedule. I plan our school calendar to include breaks when it's convenient for us. And, best of all, we take frequent field trips to nearly deserted museums and aquariums!

Finally, I believe homeschooling makes it easier to shelter my children from information and attitudes that they are not prepared to handle. As my children grow and mature I equip them to handle the situations of life that they will face. That's my job as their mom. It's also my job to shelter them from situations that they are not mature enough to understand or respond to correctly.

Homeschooling doesn't mean I control every conversation, every relationship or every interaction my children have. Instead, it reduces the list of unknowns to a manageable size. Instead of a school day's worth of interactions to discuss with my child I only have a Cub Scout's meeting (2 hours) worth to talk about. Like I said before, I'm NOT saying it isn't possible to shelter a publicly/privately schooled child. I am saying is that it is harder and requires a great deal of intentionality.

So, why do I home school? Because it makes teaching and training my children easier for me. Not to mention homeschooling allows me to stay in pajamas until noon avoid crazy pick-up/drop-off school lines.

Disclaimer: I understand that some of the above is controversial and you may have strong or negative thoughts and feelings about what I've shared. Please understand you are not going to change my mind. However, we can agree to disagree and have a friendly discussion in the comments. Unfriendly or unkind comments against homeschooling or against schools/teachers will not be published.


*I did not make the educational choice for my children alone. My husband and I decided together to home school. We both agree on the above reasons, well, maybe not the pajama one. :)