In this post: I would never push homeschooling on anyone. It’s a personal choice. But if you’re considering it for your family, here are 5 really good reasons to homeschool.
I could easily come up with plenty more reasons to homeschool than just these five, but these are the foundational reasons that we chose to homeschool. And they encompass many of the other reasons within them.
If you’re considering homeschooling or you need some motivation to keep at it, read through these reasons.
Homeschooling may not be for everyone, but if these reasons speak to your heart, there’s a good chance homeschooling is for you.
5 Reasons WE Homeschool
01. Family Relationships
From the moment your sweet babe is born, the countdown is on until it’s time to send him off to school. Most of us dread the day, and for good reason! When the average school day is 7 hours long, not including the rushed mornings getting ready for school, or the packed evenings full of homework and extracurriculars, it can feel a little like your child is no longer yours.
Homeschooling not only allows you more time with your children, it allows your children more time with each other. When your kids are off in different classrooms all day, they don’t have a whole lot of time to even get to know each other. It also limits their ability to interact well with each other as they’re used to spending most of their time with kids their own age.
Your family is God’s chosen gift for you. Personally, I want to cultivate those relationships the best way that I know how – through homeschooling.
02. Biblical foundation
Raising our kids with a healthy and sturdy understanding of Scripture is absolutely vital in our home. This can be done whether you homeschool or not, but the beauty of homeschooling is being able to integrate God’s truth into every aspect of their lives, including their basic education. You’ll also have significantly more time to teach them about Jesus when they’re home with you all day.
Let me be clear: we don’t want to hide our kids away from the world.
On the contrary, we want to prepare them for the world by building up a biblical foundation under them. Because I’m with my kids every day, I’m much more available to help them work through life with a biblical mindset.
When they move on from our home, the prayer is that they’ll be equipped with truth and godliness to face the world without being swayed or tossed about. It’s a high calling, but wow what a privilege!
03. Practicality
Homeschooling allows more freedom to pursue some very practical education.
My kids know all about how to do the dishes, wash their own laundry, scrub the toilets, and even make meals.
There have been days when organizing the closets was the agenda for school.
Mowing the lawn, gardening, making grocery lists, babysitting the neighbor’s dog… the list goes on.
Since homeschool doesn’t typically take the amount of hours traditional school does, there’s all sorts of extra time to invest in the practical.
04. Experiences
There is so much your family can experience when you’re not tied to the school schedule. Vacations can be taken during the off seasons. When Dad gets a random day off, we all get to spend that extra time with him. The playgrounds and museums and stores are all much less crowded during the day!
There’s also opportunity to get some real world training. Sometimes one of my kids will tag along to work with their dad. They get a firsthand look at hard work. They get to see the work that I do, and even be a part of that. They can spend time tinkering under the hood of the car or working with wood. There’s opportunity to learn entrepreneurship through making and selling crafts or babysitting.
And don’t forget about the opportunity to get out into the community and serve. They can volunteer at the library, visit church members in a nursing home, rake the neighbor’s yard, or make a meal for a hurting friend.
05. Freedom
I love the freedom there is in homeschool to allow my children to pursue their passions. We get to linger on a subject that peaks their interests, and fly through others that none of us are all that excited about. We can plan field trips, read books, and do activities that surround whatever that passion is. And my kids can take the time to seek out more knowledge on their own without a rigid school schedule pulling them away.
And not only that, I can cater to the learning needs of my child. I have one particular child who simply does better work when standing up or sitting in some awkward way. And another who listens so much better when he’s able to do something with his hands while I read. And then there’s the one who doesn’t do mornings!
Homeschooling is freedom. It’s freedom to:
- raise my kids how I believe is best
- spend time together
- experience life and to pursue passions
It’s a freedom for which I’m eternally grateful.
More Homeschooling Resources & Ideas
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Why We Homeschool and How We Made the Decision, to Begin With
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What About Socialization? Why This is a Silly Question and How to Answer it
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Encouragement for the Weary Homeschool Mom (We’ve All Been There)
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Homeschool Record Keeping: How to Create a Portfolio in 5 Easy Steps
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How to Successfully Homeschool and Run a Home-Based Business
Now that we’re on the other end of homeschooling – one kiddo in college, one starting a business and pursuing her dreams and the baby finishing up homeschool high school – Dean and I are SO thankful we had the option to homeschool.
P.S. If you want to know more specifics about why we chose to homeschool read this post.
