According to most reports, we live near a great school. My daughter may eventually attend that school, but I’m hoping to avoid it for a while. This has been a great topic of debate in our family, both immediate and extended. I come from a family of teachers and they value the school system.
While many people think of homeschoolers as either hippies or devoutly religious, we do not really fit into either category. Why do I want to homeschool?
I like spending time with my daughter and she likes spending time with me. She’s likely going to be my only child, and I have qualms about sending her somewhere away from her family for hours on end. She’s always been a very attachment-oriented child, from a baby who demanded to be held 24 hours a day to a toddler who wouldn’t let me out of the room. While we certainly engage in school-like activities, I think that hours and hours in a classroom is a lot of time for a little person to be away from her family.
I believe that children need more play time than they often get after they are placed in school, especially if they try to balance school and extracurricular activities. It is easy to run around all day from one activity to another, and it’s just too much. On the other hand, I want my daughter to be able to pursue her interests, and some of those interests lie in the extracurricular category. Homeschooling gives us time to do this without compromising her amount of downtime and play time.
I value learning that happens outside the school system. As someone who works at a place that is a field trip location, I realize that it is challenging for teachers to take thirty students on a field trip, to conduct community volunteer projects, to go outside for long periods of time. Some things are just easier to do with a few children, and we want to take advantage of these.
Socially, I alternately struggled and flourished in school. My daughter has plenty of playmates around here, but I have the ability to generally supervise their interactions. Now, I don’t micromanage – they are way off in the playground or the bushes. But if I notice bullying or exclusion happening, I can debrief with my daughter. That’s important to me, and it doesn’t necessarily happen when a child is on the playground at school.
I also have a sweet, bright and somewhat introverted child. I was a sweet, bright and very introverted child. I was the good kid in school, and it wasn’t until nearly a decade after I finished high school that I realized what an incredible amount of stress I’d been under for all those years. I want my daughter to have more time stress-free, simply enjoying learning without expectations.
All of this is said without judgment of anyone else’s family. I believe that families make the choices that work for them, and this choice works for us. Why do you homeschool?
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