As was said in my previous post, I began homeschooling my daughter when she turned 3. We did preschool at home 2 or 3 days a week, as she showed interest. I enjoyed teaching her, and she enjoyed her school time, so we decided to just keep going as long as we were both thriving and doing well.
This was not the only reason, however, that I chose to homeschool my children. I used to be a teacher. As I mentioned before, I worked as a Pre-K teacher for 4 years in both public and private school. In the public school setting (where my kids would be if I was not homeschooling) there were 20 kids in a classroom. There is no way one teacher can give that much attention to any single student, especially one who needs extra help, or one who is excelling and far above their peers. It is impossible to make an individualized plan for 20 individual students, so teachers must lump similar skilled students together and hope for the best. It is hard. Homeschooling, I have 4. I can individualize plans for each one. I can change the curriculum to meet the exact need for each of my children.
Children are not made from cookie cutters, and you can’t mold them all to be the same shape. They all learn differently and enjoy different things. A horse themed lesson may enthrall one child but sent another into boredom. A game where students speak and repeat may be lost on a child who needs movement and action. With homeschooling, I can use what my kids already enjoy, combine it with their best learning style and be able to teach the skill needed more effectively.
Not only can I create lessons to how my child learns best, I can also move at a pace where my child preforms at their optimum. I can speed up or slow down as needed for each of my kids. I have the freedom to teach 3rd grade reading to my 5th grader because that is where she is at. I can pull out the next grade math book if my 2nd grader already knows all his second grade math. I don’t have to push my oldest forward when she isn’t ready to stay on schedule. I don’t have to hold my second child back because everyone isn’t ready to move on yet. This is one of the best things about homeschooling.
We also like the flexibility we have with homeschooling. We can school when we want and take breaks when we want. We school year round so we can have short school weeks on occasion. We can decided to have a fun day when we begin to get stressed out or frustrated with our lessons.
Homeschooling our children is a choice we made with the best interest of our children in mind. I want them to excel in learning. I want them to enjoy learning. I want them to look back on these days with fondness. Some days are rough, with tears, anger and frustration, but that just means we need a break. We can start anew the next day.
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