Just like I became the accidental stay-at-home mom, I’m starting to see the title of accidental homeschooling mom might not be that far-fetched.
| This is a guest post by Christine St.Vil. As a coach and trainer, Christine helps moms across the country feel good and have self-care without the guilt. Through her blog she is helping women fulfill the most exciting position of all: being a Mom ‘N Charge! Christine is a proud wife and mother of three, ages 20 months, 3 and 5. Find Christine on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @MomsNCharge. If you want to guest post on my blog, check out the guidelines here. |
Just like I laughed when my husband told me I should stay home with the kids full-time, I laughed (& maybe even gave him a triple stank face) when he brought up the idea of homeschooling to me almost two years ago. Seriously, that word just terrified me (and still does to a certain extent).
It’s hard enough being a SAHM, but to throw Homeschooler on top of that? It definitely makes me uneasy. But once I got over the fear of this huge responsibility, I started to really evaluate the advantages that we would have as a family.
Freedom
This school year, we took a stab at preparing our 5-year-old for Kindergarten. Since he has a “late” birthday (September), he had to wait until this year to start.
So instead of keeping in pre-K for half a day, we (mostly me) decided to have him do two half-day programs. I figured this would get him accustomed to a full-day schedule come fall.
It’s actually proven to be somewhat of a grueling schedule, especially when my husband has to work until 10am. This means that I have to get all three kids up, dressed, fed and out the door to get our son to school by 8:50am. Throw in frigid temperatures or nasty weather and most times, he would end up missing his morning class.
Homeschooling would give us the freedom to make our own schedules, while staying warm and dry in the comfort of our own home. We would also have the freedom to take vacations at our own pace and on our own schedules (without being harassed about unexcused absences). This would also mean spending more quality time together.
Knowing where my children are & what they are doing at all times
I admit that the growing number of cases concerning bullying, harassment and school shootings terrifies me. When news broke out about Sandy Hook, it took everything in me not to keep my kids home from school the following day.
I just couldn’t fathom what those parents were going through, and I just couldn’t help but feel that much more over-protected over my own children.
Homeschooling would give me direct access to what goes on in my children’s learning environment on a daily basis. I wouldn’t have to worry if they are okay. I wouldn’t have to worry about them getting hurt and not being able to get to them fast enough.
Being able to make our own rules
There is so much paperwork and so many rules and guidelines to follow when you register your child for school. I find it ludicrous that they actually sent someone to our house to discuss the absences of our 5-year-old pre-schooler.
Yes, he’s missed a lot of days (23 to be exact); a third due to a vacation and attendance of my brother’s out-of-town wedding, another third—probably closer to two thirds—due to sickness (wheezing, coughing, cold) and a fraction due to reasons mentioned above with my husband working late. Seriously?
He’s in pre-school, even though according to his teacher that’s been with him the last two years, he should actually be in Kindergarten. But we didn’t make these rules so we don’t have any control over them.
Homeschooling would allow us to take care of our sick children without fear of being harassed and intimidated with possible jail time due to these ridiculous truancy laws. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
We are definitely still in the very preliminary stages of making any final decision. But this is a subject that we will be greatly engrossed in over the coming months, as we determine whether or not to keep our son home and test the homeschooling waters for his Kindergarten year.
Question: Are you considering homeschooling? If you already homeschool, what was the driving force behind your decision?
photo credit: kellyhogaboom via photopin cc
I have not started homeschooling yet, but I’m planning on beginning this summer. My husband and I decided this would be the best option for our first grade son after having attention issues in public school. He is currently finishing up the school year, and we’re planning on keeping all of our kids home through elementary school. Our kids are 7,4,2 and one on the way. Rather than medicate him for his attention issues like his teacher suggested, we’ll give him a better, less distracting learning environment where he can learn at his own pace instead of learning how to take state mandated tests. We’ll also have the opportunity to help him with his attention deficit by helping him develop techniques that he can use when he gets off track to help himself get refocused.
April, that is awesome! I am glad you chose to say no to medicating him. it seems that is the suggested “solution” to everything today. Recently, our son was prescribed a daily medicine to be taken twice per day for asthma. We declined!
I am rooting for your family in your switch to a homeschooling lifestyle and in taking 100% responsibility of your kids’ education.
Keep in touch here and please share your experiences. I would love to hear how things progress.
This is our 6th year of homeschooling and our girls are 11,9,7, and 2. The driving force behind our decision to homeschool is that our children’s spiritual and character development are most important to us and our values are not taught in school. We have the privilege of “socializing’ our children in environments of our choosing. The ‘real world’ will be better navigated because they were nurtured and disciplined by people who love them and they were able to make mistakes and learn in a safe environment. To tell the truth, the ‘real world’ is not the only thing we are preparing our children to handle, we are shepherding souls and eternity is our destination.
Love that! Thanks for sharing Dawn. We are in our 4th year of homeschooling: ages 12 (only her 2nd year), 7, and 3.
I absolutely love that Dawn and completely agree! Thanks so much for sharing
At first, I was totally against homeschooling. I don’t think a parent can provide the same quality education as a certified teacher, however, with advances in technology, the same curriculum offered at your neighborhood school is just a click away on cyber charter school sites.
Hi Heather, I completely and totally relate because that is exactly how I felt for so long. But the more I look into it, the more I see how much support is truly out there, and like you said, the advances in technology have been tremendous as well. Thanks so much for your comment!
I think everyone feels that way at first. It can be a daunting task…and I will be honest, it doesn’t necessarily get easier, but just like everything else you work at it to give your family the best.
Hey Heather! Thx for stopping by! I have a different view on that…in our experience, and of other homeschoolers we know of, most of them get a better education at home than in reg school. Many homeschoolers graduate as early as age 16, while a lot of traditional school students are struggling to pass placement tests. Tech helps, but I think it is more about the parents who choose homeschooling being intentional, and having the opportunity to truly teach and engage versus following state mandates to move students thru. The Henderson family (fam w/7 homeschoolers) is a great example.
I love that Jackie and quite honestly, I’ve never been a fan of these state mandated placement tests (amongst other things). There are definitely a lot of great examples of homeschoolers out there and the Henderson’s story was really inspirational.
I have never seriously considered home schooling for my children. I do provide enrichment educational activities throughout the school year and full time during the summer. Your reasons for homeschooling are interesting. I wish you the best with your decision.
Hi Janeane, as I mentioned in the article I had definitely never gave it any serious thought myself. I do the same things with my children as well through the school year and over the summer. These were definitely not all-inclusive reasons as there were a lot more but not a lot more space to write/share
Thanks for your good wishes and for taking the time to comment!
All interesting points. We are talking about this in our own home. Our oldest is 2.5, so we have some time to figure it out. Our greatest concern is replacing the social development aspects of school. Plus, the adult world is full of bullies. School is where kids learn and practice the skills to deal with life as an adult. So, those lessons need included. School is more then just the class work. Thanks for the food for thought.
Hi Eric! I agree with the concern for the social development as that was always one of my biggest concerns. We’ve had our son in private school for the third year now, and it would be less money for us to enroll him in classes like karate, tumbling classes, basketball, etc. So I’m definitely looking at what their “social development” activities will look like as well. I agree the world is full of bullies – adult and children alike, and I definitely agree that school is more than just the class work as well. So IF we decide to go this route, we would definitely have to ensure that we would not sacrifice that aspect for them as they both love school. Thanks so much for taking time out to share your thoughts — all valid concerns/points
Great post Christine!
Hey Eric! Thx for sharing! Social development was a concern for us initially. Now, I realize they don’t miss a thing, and are actually better off. Our children interact with kids their age, older, younger, adults, professionals, etc. on a regular basis. Traditional school is the only place/time in life where 90% or more of the people you interact with are your age.
Once you leave school your co-workers, peers, church members, etc are ages. So the social development traditional students get is how their peers act…much of what is developed (learned) are bad habits. Ever heard a parent say, “where did you learn that, we don’t talk like that (or do that).”
I think those skills to deal with life are learned by modeling what you see, and actually being in real life situations.
Now, have I converted you to homeschooling?
lol
Thanks Jackie! OMG I was JUST having that conversation with a friend today! We were talking about a phrase that both of our sons started saying out of the blue and we knew neither of us taught it to them. So it was obviously something they learned in school. And if it bothers me now, I can only imagine the stuff they’ll be influenced by as they get older…