Whenever you search for benefits of homeschooling you get all the usual suspects. Homeschooling is better for individualised education, life skills, higher test scores, more independent learners etc. However rarely do you see all the unspoken benefits to homeschool. These are those things that you realise are actually awesome but never really thought about until you are homeschooling yourself. The benefits to homeschooling go far beyond the norm and are some really fantastic perks that every parent would jump for joy about.
Late Starts
Do you know the real reason I homeschool? It’s because I am too lazy to get my kids to school on time. Just kidding but I do really love that we have a slower pace to our mornings. This is so incredibly helpful when there is a new baby in the house who hasn’t worked out how awesome sleep is just yet.
I love that every morning my kids can take their time to get ready, we can enjoy breakfast together and actually wake up before heading out the door. We have a morning routine that involves family scripture reading and our own personal scripture study. These are incredibly important aspects of our family and being able to take our time and really immerse ourselves is really one of our favourite parts of the day.
That is not to say that we can not get anywhere on time, we are actually really good at being on time and out the door in record time for a family with four kids. I just like that it doesn’t have to be an every day thing.
No School On Birthdays!
Nobody wants to do school work on their birthday. I was lucky as a child that my birthday actually fell on a public holiday. I always felt sorry for all those people having to do math on their birthdays. Now when it is someone’s special day we take the day off to celebrate with them. Everyone looks forward to the break in routine. It’s always good to keep things interesting.
Cheap Holidays
Did you know it is insanely cheaper to go on holiday during the school year!? If you want to book a cruise (highly recommend), fly anywhere, stay in hotels, or Airbnb’s it will be at least 30% cheaper when the rest of the school population is not on vacation too.
When I plan out our school year I intentionally schedule our breaks to fall outside of the public school vacation dates. If you want to read exactly how I plan out a school year go read this post.
We have visited some really amazing places, beat the crowds and paid a lot less just because we were able to go either side of the standard school breaks.
No Crowds
Have you ever been to the local recreation centre, zoo or museum during the weekend or school vacation? It is like kid soup, especially those swimming pools. Well as a homeschooler you can take advantage of going to all these types of places and not having to fight your way through crowds and crowds of people or wait in long lines.
One of the other benefits that comes with visiting these places at quieter times is that the staff are much more accomodating. I can not tell you how many times my children have been privileged to get a hands on or behind the scenes experience just because there was no one else around. When we were last at the zoo the keeper was cleaning out the lizards tank and let the kids hold the lizard and help with the cleaning.
Mental Health Days
We all have those days when we just need to take a break. These days happen when everything is starting to get on top of us, we are run down and exhausted. When these moments occur you don’t just have to push on and suck it up, you can actually take a break. It teaches your children that caring for their mental health is important and they can take control of it.
Just as an adult we need to take breaks to reassess and reset children need these too. When we all need a break we usually go out and get a bit of fresh air at the beach or on a hike.
You are there for Everything
I like my kids, and I love seeing them succeed. I was there for their first steps and rocked them all through the night as babies. I kissed their bruises and sung them lullabies to fall asleep. I didn’t want to just send them off to someone else to get to experience a whole set of new firsts. I am just selfish like that I guess. I wanted to see them learn to read and to discover passions. I wanted to work alongside them as they learnt about the world and really, truly discover who they are as people.
Homeschooled Kids are Confident
On a whole homeschooled kids know who they are and what they want. They are strong willed and will stand firm in what they feel is right.
We need kids who will be strong and not afraid to step out from the crowd. These are the types of children who will shape the world we will live in.
I have found that homeschooled children are articulate in how they speak and are unafraid to speak to adults and engage in intelligent and insightful conversations.
People Will Think You are Supermom
Now this one is kind of funny because ask any homeschooling mom and they will adamantly deny this. However it is kind of nice that people think you are awesome.
Homeschooling moms aren’t supermoms, we are struggling just as much as the next mom. I saw on a Facebook post today a mom reaching for help because she felt like she was failing. What followed was a thread of other moms sharing how they also fail on a daily basis. Moms like me who feed their kids cereal or toast for dinner far too often or moms who stay in their PJs all day. We still leave the laundry in the washer for days at a time (and wash it three times before it makes it to the dryer). We still lose out temper with our kids and get frustrated.
You Will Really KNOW your Children
This is by far one of my favourite reasons for homeschooling. When you are with your children for such long periods of time you really get to know them on a deep and intimate level just like you did when they were little. You learn what makes them tick, and what makes them do those big deep belly laughs.
You continue to keep that close relationship going that you had when they were preschoolers who adored you. As they grow you learn how best to teach them and how they learn. It is through this knowledge that you can advocate for them for services they may need. You can easily identify where they may need help and give them the dedicated help that they need.
It is much harder for a child to slip through the cracks when you know them so intimately and so intertwined in their learning and education.
Your Kids are Hilarious
Homeschooling will never ever be boring. I can guarantee you that. The kids will keep you on your toes with funny outbursts and really funny jokes and stories. All those fun things that teachers love about their job. I have taught children in a classroom setting for years and the best part is hearing some of the hilarious stories and honest truths that the kids blurt out. Now you get to experience that on a daily basis.
As your children get older it only gets more and more fun as their sense of humour develops.
Family Unity
Homeschooled children really do enjoy spending time with each other. They have friends outside of the family but they will still say their their siblings are their best friends. Each day they get to create memories together. Friends come and go but your family are yours forever so it only makes sense to nurture those relationships.
Relationships are built on memories and homeschooling allows for so many more opportunities to make those memories.
As you can see there are so many more benefits to homeschooling other that just the obvious ones. Homeschooling can and will change your family, it will change you and it will change your children. I love all the well known homeschooling benefits but honestly these ones here tend to be the ones I continue to homeschool and push through the hard days.
