I am writing this post for myself, to be reminded of why I am choosing the less-traveled path of homeschooling when we’re in the throes of it. I know it will stretch all of us, and yet I feel very passionate that this is right for our family. Which means if you’re reading this, some of my reasoning may not resonate with you or homeschooling in general will not work for you. Feel free to skim through if you are considering keeping your kids home as well or are curious about our choices.

First and foremost, I know that the ability to stay home and able to homeschool is an absolute gift. Many people are not able to, due to the fact that they need to provide for their families to just survive, and I am grateful I can dedicate all my time and energy just towards raising my children. I take this job very seriously and I will continue to do so ’til the end of time I think. Since homeschooling is essentially an extension of parenting — I also am doing intentional research, training, and attention towards the preparation of my children’s education.

Another important note I would like to make is that each homeschooling mother has very different personalities and gifts unique to you. God gave His child(ren) you as their mom, not somebody else, so let them benefit from your gifts! Do not forget who God made you to be and homeschool with your God-given gifts and passions in mind.

I think homeschool has this powerful potential to introduce children to learning as something they do rather than something that is done to them. Active vs. passive. I hope to invoke this active dynamic for kids, an exploration, provoke curiosity, allow interest to run in directions that their curiosity is pulling them.

In no particular order (although the first three are probably my top 3), the following heading titles are reasons why our family is keeping our oldest daughter home in the prospects of homeschooling. I am taking it one year at a time but even just one year has made me really dive deep into the why and I want to make sure I write out all my thoughts so buckle up or skim through!

To summarize, we are homeschooling to provide our family more time, freedom, flexibility, relationships & family bonds, opportunity to learn together and create a life-long love of learning, playing outside, more experiences, skill practice, childhood protection, slower pace, familial influence, and establishing a faith foundation.

TIME

Time is our most important currency. The time our children spend in our care is very short compared to the time they spend outside of it. I honestly can’t bear the thought of missing out on that.

• Unhurried time with family.
• Time to learn at each child’s own pace.
• More time with them while they are little.
• Time to work until concepts are learned, not just graded.
• Time to read as many books as we want.
• Time to go down rabbit trails of interest.
• Time to learn lots of life skills.
• Time to pursue interests, hobbies, and passions.
• Time to wake up slowly and be well-rested (which facilitates better learning).
• Time to be bored.
• More time outside.
• Time to explore something that intrigues them.
• Time together that isn’t limited to only homework, dinner, bedtime routines, and weekend errands.

Time is precious and those early years are so important! I am passionate about keeping lessons short and using my time efficiently. Because our family only needs one parent in the workforce and does not require daycare, there is no need for my children to use up the majority of their day away from home at school. The time it takes to teach a concept does not take 6-8 hours every Monday-Friday. I have already noticed that if I keep my lessons short, I can help them concentrate and absorb the lesson rather than them zoning out entirely. It will help them enjoy learning rather than dread it.

If you homeschool your kids up through high school, you gain an extra 16,000+ hours with them! That time is priceless. I want them to have loads of time to explore our beautiful world, have conversations with the checkout clerk, try new hobbies and find out if they have a passion or not. I want to be there when they struggle, persist, and achieve. I want to see the joy in their eyes when they light up in that eureka moment! I want to witness that and be there. Time is everything.

FREEDOM

I know I will love the freedom homeschooling will give our family. The ability to decide how and what we will learn, choosing where and when they learn too.

• Freedom to make our own schedule.
• Freedom to teach what I believe is best for my child to know at that particular time in their life.
• Freedom to meet each child’s learning styles and needs, not what the government or state assigns.
• Freedom to learn together instead of being separated by age or grade.
• Freedom to sleep in, take lots of field trips, do school on the couch or outside or while cuddling a kitty.
• Freedom to have snacks while we learn, go to the bathroom when they need, and can draw during read alouds.
• Freedom to choose more outside activities because they won’t have to be squished between the time of after school and bedtime. We can use any day any time.

We will have to freedom to chase the sparks, follow the long paths down into a subject area, and immerse ourselves in the wonder of a new idea! We won’t be trying to “keep up” or “slow down” for anyone in any specific curriculum. We have the freedom to go at exactly our pace.

FLEXIBILITY

Similar to freedom, you have the flexibility to pivot and shift while a teacher is limited to set guidelines and regulations they need to follow.

Having a flexible schedule that can adapt with the rest of the family is ideal. For example, my husband often doesn’t work Friday or Monday and that opens up opportunities for extended camping trips, visiting museums while avoiding crowds, going to the beach on a non-busy day, spending it together, going on parent-child day dates, and more.

RELATIONSHIPS / LEARNING TOGETHER / FAMILY BONDS

I have always been passionate about spending life together. That togetheredness is how I have always envisioned our family since the beginning. I want to cultivate connection and relationships within our family that is a strengthened bond throughout their entire lifetime.

Connections between siblings are made and bonds are formed as we read the same books, learn the same content, and practice conflict resolution skills with one another. Those sibling relationships are the foundation of friendship that will last a lifetime. As much as I loved my friends growing up in elementary and high school, my family members are the ones that have continued to be a part of my life for much longer than those friends.

I want to foster a love for our family. I want to spend more time together where they will value and enjoy their friendship. Yes, of course that means bickering and fighting, but at least we all know we have one another’s backs at the end of the day and have unconditional love.

I enjoy learning and growing as a family instead of being separated all day. Building trust within our relationship as their parents is the first step towards preparing our children to listen and follow instructions from us. Trust takes time and space to establish, and that is through shared experiences.

I am excited to start every day with time together, reading aloud together. I definitely see myself having a homeschool style where we will gather our learning for as many subjects as possible. I absolutely love the multi-age, family-style learning mentality. Older children learn to inspire and assist younger children. Younger children learning through the example of older children and teaching them that sense of wonder that has sometimes plateaued in an older child’s heart momentarily.

We all need each other. They need me to help them become better and I need them to help me become better. In this world of confusion, I want their parents and siblings to be the ones walking beside them, helping them, and lifting them when they fall. They will receive adult guidance from outside the home in many other ways: church, coaches, co-op adults, aunts and uncles.

LIFE-LONG LOVE OF LEARNING

This is another aspect of homeschool I am so passionate about! I want to teach my children to learn so they will never stop learning. I am so invested in developing a love of learning in my children so they will be life long learners. I think this is a skill my husband and I have nurtured in our own lives, so I am confident we will instill that in our family culture.

I want them to LOVE learning and see learning as a daily pursuit that’s not confined to set hours or a set curriculum. With homeschooling, I will have the ability to customize their education and give them the ability to learn about what interests them most. Because:

“Those things you learn without joy you will easily forget.”

With homeschooling, you aren’t learning with the end result of a generic standardized test. You are learning with the end result of the insatiable desire to continue learning!

Another point I like about homeschooling is there is an efficiency in learning versus the time that is inevitably wasted in traditional education because of the class-size, regulations, policies, etc. Things won’t be dragged on and on where there is potential to have desire snuffed out in a child. I think there are teachers who do a great job of making learning magical and exciting, but they are few and far in-between.

I want my kids to understand that living life is more than just finishing a worksheet and checking off lists and then getting a job doing the same thing that we despise. That may sound silly coming from parents with a bachelors and doctorate. But what I ended up doing for my business, a web developer, I learned completely outside of college. I went to school for graphic design and then my curiosity and desire to reach the market of design that is online is what motivated me to learn how to code and my business became much more profitable afterwards. For my husband, he partnered with his brother’s business and they innovate and think outside the box consistently as orthodontists that make them far more successful in their business than others who follow exactly what they were taught in school. We will continue to teach that tenacity for growing and expanding knowledge to our children as they progress academically.

OUTSIDE & LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

I am excited that homeschooling provides the chance to go outdoors anytime we need it. I will be making outdoor time a priority.

I am passionate about not taking our amazing Californian backyard for granted and curating a beautiful oasis of spots for learning with shaded swings, gardens, animals and a trampoline. A lot of kids, especially boys, are kinesthetic learners and need that movement to engage their minds. That is my husband to a T so I can only assume a few of my children will enjoy swinging or climbing a tree while listening to a book or me explaining a concept.

I know that learning through play is better than desk work in the younger years. Which is why I didn’t put my child into preschool and I am excited to continue allowing a splendor of time for play in kindergarten.

EXPERIENCES

Giving my children real-world experiences is an important reason. There are so many experiences to be had in this life. Experiences of joy, sadness, excitement, grief, confusion, frustration. I think homeschool gives us the freedom to walk through those experiences together as a family unit. It gives us the opportunity to be present for the character building and attitude re-focusing moments. The conflict resolution and kingdom building moments.

I think homeschooling allows this ability for real-world experiences by just going out and doing things. There are few if any moments, where you are put into a room with a dozen other people the exact same age as you. During homeschool, we will join co-ops and my children can experience socializing with children but it will be with a variety of ages since that is how the real-world works.

SKILL WORK

I love the fact that working on skills that are usually not practiced at this age: gardening, writing stories, art, cooking, journaling, pretend play, handicrafts, coding, baking, caring for animals, etc.

I think real-life experiences facilitates better learning. A kid who bakes, does woodwork or quilting have a better grasp of what fractions are about than a child who encounters them on a worksheet. Giving them that time and space to work on a skillset that they’re passionate about in the moment is something I will do no matter what because it is what both my husband and I enjoy: learning new things and skillsets.

PROTECT THEIR CHILDHOOD

I want to protect my children’s childhood for as long as possible. It is about respecting their childhood, enjoying their childhood. I want to let them be little. I want to, as the adult, cherish their childhood.

That sounds easier said than done. Childhood 24/7 in your home is chaotic, stressful, noisy, and exhausting. But to be able to see past all that and see the magic in the mess is a characteristic trait I want to practice. And one I want my kids to learn as well. I don’t need less time with them in order to enjoy them more.

In order to protect their childhood, I will need to trust my motherly instincts. There is no place safer, healthier, happier, more full of love, joy, life, and potential than my home.

I love the sacredness that is learning at home. I want their childhood to be quiet of the outside world. Not in a bubbled “sheltered life” kind of way, but in a way that protects them from being exposed to things that forces them to grow up faster than is necessary.

SLOWER INTENTIONAL PACE

As part of cherishing their childhood comes that slower pace of life. Having the opportunity for discovery and adventure requires empty space. I have never been interested in the rushing, in the rat race. We want to provide the gift of a slow and peaceful childhood instead of a harried, packed schedule. My husband and I are over the hustle culture.

It is about slowing down enough to enjoy their childhood (and my adulthood too).

When you slow down, you can be more present in their lives. When your children are in school the majority of daylight time, you’re only with them during the demanding times of the day (rushing to school, rushing to extra-curricular or evening activities, rushing to dinner, rushing to bed). It is go-go-go, sleep, and then start all over again.

Having a slower, more intentional pace as part of our family culture will facilitate better learning. Fostering the habit of attention IS slowing down their thoughts and bodies enough to focus on the task at hand, the story being read to them, or the details in life.

INFLUENCE

I think if a good mother is the number one influence in a child’s life then that child is set for a wonderful, successful life. I think our society leans too heavily on peer-connection rather than parent-connection and I think young children are the most at risk. They are learning how the world works; their minds are impressionable. In public school where they would possibly spend more hours under peer’s and teacher’s influences rather than mine is not in my family’s interest.

GROWING FOUNDATION OF FAITH

Honestly, I want my kids to learn more about God, His word, and His Church than useless facts and trivia. Our ultimate destination is Heaven, not this earth, so we should be preparing our minds and hearts for that life! This life is temporary. The next one is forever. The things we learn about this life and during this life are incredibly important but knowing facts for a multiple-choice test is not necessarily something we can use in the next life. Of course we can’t get through this life without progressing academically and that is just as high on my priority list as is faith-building. With homeschooling, we can dedicate a generous amount of time for both.

Homeschool provides me more time to help our children have a grounded and growing faith. Teaching my children about who God is and show them who God is in our life and home. We will make a lot of mistakes, but that is what gospel-living is. Making mistakes, forgiving one another, and becoming in the process of it all.

“We go to the temple to make covenants, but we go home to keep the covenants that we have made. The home is the testing ground. The home is the place where we learn to be more Christlike. The home is the place where we learn to overcome selfishness and give ourselves in service to others.”

While we Christians do have a worldview of our own, I will not keep from sharing other viewpoints, experiences, and backgrounds from other rich cultures and differing belief systems around the world in my home.

I want to raise critical thinkers, independent people, free thinkers, entrepreneurs, and strong Christians who aren’t afraid to rock the boat to stand up for what is true and right.

CONCLUSION

The main challenge for homeschool will honestly be me. I will be humbled again and again to become a better mom. To learn more patience, how to better handle my emotions and how to more fully rely on the Lord for strength. The Lord is challenging and forming me into the mother and person He wants me to become and homeschooling gives us all the opportunity to do that. I know the time I will have with my children learning together is a time I will never regret.

I think homeschooling can provide a truly magical childhood and a slower, more intentional lifestyle. It will push me and in times and seasons stretch me (and my children), but those moments will strengthen us just like a gluten being worked to form the sturdy bread (*yes I just used a sourdough metaphor, I’m truly a homeschool momma ha).

One exciting thing about homeschooling at this time and age is there is a plethora of resources available to us. We are in a time of feasting on a generous education. Homeschooling is generous in its depth and breadth, in its space to sit with something as long as it takes or is desired. Generous in its myriad of personal experiences to be gleaned from.

Teaching your own children takes resolve, determination, self-discipline. Easier isn’t always best. The reward is in the long term vision and the days and weeks and months to that vision.

Family Style, Fascination-Focused, Faith-Centered, Fantastic Fun!

Sermons, Scriptures, & Quotes about Raising Children I Love

I will continually add to this section of videos and articles that stir my heart and inspire me during our homeschool journey, however long it might be.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Prov. 22:6

“We know the happiest people center their lives on relationships and family. They practice gratitude daily, are motivated by intrinsic personal growth, approach challenges with optimism, and see setbacks and failures as growth and learning opportunities. They make time everyday to move their bodies, and prioritize being in nature often.” – Is the current education model instilling these qualities in our children or can we foster them more at home?

CONCLUSION

This homeschool journey is not for the faint of heart. It is beautiful and life-giving at its best, and terrifying and overwhelming at its worst. There is so much at stake.

I think what it really comes down to for me personally is that I cannot ignore that God has so strongly put this on my heart for our family. In our partnership, my husband and I feel comfortable and confident moving forward together, and in some aspects, I feel like I was made for this. If you are questioning our choice to homeschool, realize that it is our family’s decision to make together that we do not take lightly, respect our decision, and trust we are being prayerful and intentional about everything within family.

If you are interested in homeschooling but don’t have the strong support or you are questioning your qualifications, I think with a prayerful heart God will answer what is best for your family!

Best of luck fellow mama!