The number of families who are choosing to homeschool is rising everyday. There are many reasons for this and each family is often unique in the reasons. Some families start out homeschooling for one reason and then realise that they are continuing to do it for many reasons. It is usually the case that there are a number of reasons why a family would decide to homeschool their children.
I want to go over a few of the most common ones today.
1. Freedom
Do you know how much freedom you have with homeschooling?! You can pick when to do your school work, how to do school and even what to teach. There is so much more freedom when you don’t have to be in a regulated classroom or be responsible for 30 other kids….unless you actually have 30 kids, in that case you are just crazy.
Freedom is probably the number one reason people homeschool. This is because it encompasses almost every other reason under it. When you enter a school system you lose part of the control you have over your child. For a certain number of hours each day they under someone else’s charge and watch. Homeschooling brings that charge back to you, to be able to use those hours how you see fit and not how a school sees fit.
2. Travel
The are families that love to travel. We are one of those families. There is something about being able to touch and see with our own eyes what we are learning about. History in particular is wonderful when you can go to the places where it happened. It really makes it come alive and be more that just an incredible story in a text book.
Some families choose to travel full time. Which is totally on my bucket list. 12 months full time travelling. This is sometimes called road schooling. If you are interested in how you might be able to do this go and read this post, I promise it will get you all kinds of inspired.
Even if you don’t want to travel full time and homeschool, travel is a lot cheaper when you aren’t restricted to just school breaks. Even going on vacation a week either side of spring break is going to save you a tonne of cash.
One of the biggest benefits for us when it comes to traveling is that we can pack up and go at a moments notice. This has been particularly wonderful when we had to go overseas to care for my grandma in her last few weeks. We spent a full two months away but we were able to keep up with school the whole time as well as spend those precious moments together as a family.
3. Faith
A person’s faith is a huge part of who they are as a person and how their family functions. In many school systems today there is a great separation from education and faith.
This is a big deal breaker for a lot of families. They want to be able to include their faith as a part of their child’s education and not have it be negated in the school system.
There are many faith based private schools but unfortunately these can sometimes not be the right fit, are too expensive or are just too far away.
Homeschooling allows parents and children to practice their faith, intertwining it seamlessly with their child’s schooling.
4. Special Needs
Children with special needs can regularly find the typical school environment difficult and unsupportive. The school system is designed to cater to the most typical of children. If you fall either side of the typical bell curve you can easily fall through cracks or not receive the education that you deserve.
Special needs can vary from learning disabilities, mental health needs, or high intellectual needs among many others.
Homeschool allows the child to learn how is best suited to them. They are able to experience learning in a more real life situation and go at their own pace. Their learning pace is not determined by what is on the classroom schedule but how long it takes them to master a task.
Many special needs children can become easy targets for bullying, which I will discuss in the next point. Homeschooled children are far less likely to suffer from bullying. It is there trust me it can happen but it is a lot less common. My experience and the experience of most other homeschool parents is that special needs children in homeschool make better, stronger and more meaningful friendships than was possible in the school system. They can develop friendships with those of similar interests regardless of age. Homeschooled kids in general seem to be a lot more accepting of “weird” behaviours and embrace it rather than fear it.
When homeschooled kids get together a lot of the time it is for social fun. No one is bothered about what each other is scoring on tests or who can do advanced algebra. They just want to have fun together.
5. Bullying
Oh the bullies. If you are wondering if you should pull your bullied child out of school to homeschool them PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read this post.
Bully is at an epidemic level. I can not believe the horrendous levels some children will go to, in order to hurt another child. When you have bullying you also have mental health and suicides. Young children are now resorting to this kind of measure and it is just not okay. Something needs to change.
One of the ways many parents are tackling the problem is by removing their child from the situation. Many will say that you are just teaching them to run away. In a way you are doing just that. However, if your child was in a relationship where they were being abused, hurt and degraded would you tell them to stay or would you tell them to run as fast as they can and not look back? It is all about perspective. Teaching a child to stay and be abused is not okay.
Children who are brought home to homeschool after being bullied are able to rebuild their confidence, discover who they are again and fall in love with learning. A child who is bullied at school is not going to learn the best that they can. They will be able to go on to make closer friends in a safer and more relaxed environment where they can have the support of their parents if needed.
It does not have to be a forever thing. You can always send them back when they feel ready and willing to go.
6. Location
School can sometimes be a long way to go. There are families here, that live hours away from the closest school. For some families it just isn’t feasible to attend a traditional school.
For these families they will often homeschool their children for the early years and then send them to boarding school once they are in high school.
7. More Time as a Family
Family time is so precious. These days more than ever families seem to be spending less and less time together. Family togetherness is one of the reasons families choose to homeschool.
Relationships between parents and children and between siblings are fundamental parts of any family. If these relationships aren’t nurtured and nourished it is easy for them to become weak.
Nurturing these relationships comes though making memories and spending time together. Finding this time is a lot easier when you homeschool. Your children’s best friends are their siblings. They are the ones that they have the most day to day memories with and do the fun field trips and activities with. That is not to say they don’t have friends outside the family, it is just that their siblings come first.
9. Personal Convictions
This is also a big one that covers many areas. There are families who have deep convictions about how a child should learn. Homeschooling has so many different learning styles and philosophies that it really does allow parents to have a lot more control over their child’s education.
There are families who have convictions regarding vaccines. Many schools are very hesitant to allow unvaccinated children to be enrolled. The only alternative is to homeschool them.
One of the biggest held convictions is that parents are primarily responsible for their own children. The state or government should not have as much say in how our children are raised and what they are taught. Many feeling that some subjects such and sexual health and religion should be taught in the home and not in schools. Many feeling that schools have over stepped their mark on what influence is appropriate.
10. They Don’t Like the School System
Many families just don’t like the school system and how it works, or doesn’t work. There are parts of schools that are wonderful and work so well but there are definitely parts that need some attention to be the best they can be.
Schools can not, no matter how hard they try, cater to every child. There will always be some one that gets the raw end of the deal. When a family decides to homeschool they can take the good and leave the parts that they don’t like.
11. Bad School District
A lot of families would love to send their children to the local public school but the schools they are zoned for are just not up to the standards that they would like.
They many not be able to get into another school or afford private education so they opt to homeschool instead. Many of these families continue to homeschool even when they eventually move to a better district.
12. Better Socialisation
The biggest myth surrounding homeschooling is that children are not appropriately socialised. Can I just say that we socialise dogs not children.
Children are natural socialisers. If you give them the opportunities to socialise and make connections with others they will do so without much effort.
Socialisation does not have to happen in a school. The world is a big place with a lot of interesting people. Homeschooled children are able to be a part of that bigger community earlier than their public schooled counterparts.
Contrary to popular belief homeschooled children aren’t kept locked inside all day long. They get out and meet with friends, they take field trips, participate in classes, go on camps, are scouts, volunteer in the community and so much more.
Homeschooled kids generally engage in friendships based on common interests not age or gender, or coolness status. They are not as swayed by peer pressure and are able to really discover who they are without all the social politics that goes on in schools.
As you can see there are so many reasons families choose to homeschool. There are probably a lot more that can be added to this list also. Homeschooling has been a wonderful fit for our family. I can honestly say it has been one of the biggest blessings for us. It is incredibly hard some days but the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
