Quote From: winterwarmthWell, there are a myriad of reasons...
First of all, I had wanted to homeschool, because I liked the idea of families staying together, since I found out I was pregnant with my first child.
When one is noticeably pregnant, seemingly one is free to receive well-wishing "advice" from strangers (wink). One that stuck with me, was, "Better enjoy them while you can, because when they turn 5, you don't get much time with them, anymore, and they grow up
so quickly!..." It didn't stick with me then. I just smiled and moved on.
.
Time went on, I remarried and had more children. I had my children in school for a time. Then, while unpacking a box, I saw all the literature I had before about homeschooling, the pros and cons, "how to" do it, etc... and a flood of memories came back to me, including that kind "better enjoy them while you can" woman. Reading those books re-awakened my dormant goals. Also, there were other personal circumstances which seemed to fit. So we made the decision 5 years ago, and haven't looked back.
I started questioning things that we take for granted. Things such as the default of families not being together during "school hours". We take that for granted. We wake up, one or both parents head to work, and kids spend their best and most energetic hours with someone else. When a parent is seen in public with their child during "school hours", the question is "Oh, do you have a day off school?". It's perceived as
odd or unusual, that at certain hours of the day, children over a certain age are with
their own parents, or with other children but not in a school. The epiphany hit me like a ton of bricks.
I also felt retroactively gypped, given that as parents, we "get them" during the most physically exhausting times (for parents) of their lives, the diaper years, the chasing toddler years, the times when their physical abilities are not quite aligned with their sense of reason (grin). Then, precisely at the age when they turn more "fun", and require no more babying, but still are young and relate-able, they're sent off to someone else!
So now we don't deal with that anymore. Many people who don't understand homeschooling perceive homeschoolers as people who tend to isolate their children. Well, for me the opposite is true.
When I think about it, they were more isolated when they were
in school. They came home from school, and the first thing was, "Mom, can I go over and play at (name of friend's) house?". Sometimes I would allow them but other times I'd resent that here they spent all day somewhere else, and STILL didn't get "time with their friends?" (And school is supposed to be this social Utopia). When do we as parents get to see them? Bedtime? Supper time? When it's time to nag them to finish their homework?. Yeah, evenings (if I'm lucky) and weekends. Gee, Thanks.
How can a parent be "so involved" when it's largely remotely? Get in line while the teacher deals with the other parents who just want "5 seconds" of the teacher's time? Write a note? Don't teachers get a break off school hours for their lives or do they have to spend all their time after hours reading notes and responding to them?
Well, now that they are home, I'm
more inclined to let them go visit friends, do other things and be gone for sleepovers, because my time with them is not ripped off. We get quality time, interactive learning time, and the time I spend with them is not when they're tired from being in school all day, but when they're open and receptive. So yeah, when you look at it that way, they're less "isolated". They interact with not only me, but with a myriad of people through their lives.
Anyway, this post is already long, but yet it only covers
a fraction of the reasons we homeschool. But I thought the family thing is a big one, which is not often addressed. More often it's the "socialization" and "university readiness", and I don't want to reinvent the wheel.
Hi. I have two children, one is 4 and the other is 18 mos.. I have been giving very serious thought to homeschooling my children.. The town I live in apparently has a large number of homeschooled children. I know there are networks in town but finding them is a different story. I was wondering where you found the literature about it. I tried to find things online but the amount of information is overwhelming. My 4 year old is supposed to start Kindergarten in '07. I'm in Indiana so the law does not require children to start until first grade. I'm very concerned about putting him in school. He could read his ABC's at 2 on top of knowing 1-10 by sight, knew his colors and shapes. By the time he was 3 he could read words, now at 4 1/2 he can read whole books with large words like "professional" and such. He can tell time, he knows tons of other things, too numerous to list. I'm afraid that putting him in school will only hinder him. He'll get bored and be disruptive then fall behind. I need help to find the information before it gets too close to school time. I also wonder how can you convince others that you are doing what is best for your child. I'm not getting much support from my family. I would appreciate any help you or anyone reading this can give me.
