Why??

We have been homeschooling for three years. Goob has actually never seen the inside of the local elementary school. I am ok with that! Yet, even before we had him, we knew we wanted to home school. I am asked why a lot, so I thought I’d get the explanation out of the way before we get too far. :)

Why…well, honestly there are several reasons. No, I am not a “religious freak who brainwashes her children.” Yes, I get told that a lot. Religion does have something to do with it though. I do not agree with what the school system in our area teaches, not only about Science, but also about moral issues that I take opposite stands on. Yes, I teach these stands and beliefs to my children, but I also work very hard to teach them about love and acceptance of others, even if we don’t agree with them. I have learned the hard way, we are ALL sinners, and I am NO better than anyone else! We all have our downfalls, and as children of God, we need to show grace and LOVE to everyone…no matter who they are or what they believe.

Also, I honestly don’t think my kids would get a good education in the school system. Goob is a very active 7 year old, and he would probably drive his poor teacher up the wall. At school, he wouldn’t be able to do his work standing up, which he does here. He wouldn’t be able to read sitting upside down, which he also does. I understand why these actions wouldn’t be possible because the poor teachers have a large amount of students they are trying to teach and there needs to be order, for her sanity as well as the rest of the class! There are a lot more reasons on the education issues, but I am not going to get into them, because I don’t wish to put the school district down. They try their hardest, and I do understand that!

For us, having our children in school was totally opposite of how both my husband and I were raised. I was pulled out of the public school system when I was in third grade; my husband was pulled out in sixth. It’s normal for us to have our kids around.

I will admit there are days it would be nice to send them off to school…we all have those days, but in the end, I love having them here. Seeing the light in their eyes when they finally grasp a topic they were struggling with is worth it to me!

People also ask about socialization, and they ask about it a lot! My kids have a lot of friends. There are kids in the neighborhood they play with, and they do to a Wednesday night program, as well as Sunday school. They also have a very large extended family that we spend a huge amount of time with. This may not seem like a lot, but it works for our family very well. And honestly, when in life are children only going to be around people their age? School is the only time that will happen, and I don’t see that as a good way to prepare them for real life. In real life, you deal with people of all ages, usually at the same time.