We homeschool, in the first place, because we had clear spiritual confirmation that it was the right thing for our family (before we even had kids). I had ZERO desire to do it before that, and basically that inspiration came without my seeking it. AFTERWARDS I began seeing the possibilities, and when we finally had school age children the reasons started piling up. There are innumerable things I love about this homeschooling journey now. There are a few aspects of it that really challenge me. For fun, I've decided to list some of our joys and some of my personal challenges.
Top 10 Things I Love About Homeschooling
(That come to mind at the moment.)
1.
Time with my children. (You'll notice this is also #1 on my top challenges list...ha ha!) I love that we have plenty of time together everyday. I love the chance for quality experiences. I love that we can cuddle at our leisure and have all the story time we want. I love that we can constantly build these relationships. I feel like it is so easier to develop these relationships because we have this time together.
2.
Time in general. We have time for so much. Academics require very little time when each child is allowed to work at their own pace. We have time for field trips, for LONG library trips, for socializing, for learning to work, for developing relationships, and for LOTS of free play. I love that they have time to be kids. I love that they have time to run outdoors. I'm grateful that we have time to work as a family everyday; I think it would be more difficult for me to teach my children work if they were gone most of the day.
3.
No rush. Once a week, we use an alarm to wake up and have a mad morning rush to make it to church on time. It's NOT my favorite thing (the rush that is). I do NOT love rushing my kids to groom and eat, and then not having time for morning chores. I'm so grateful that I don't have to do this every morning. Instead everyone can wake up when they are fully rested. We can eat breakfast together AND enjoy morning conversation while we're at it. We can cuddle if we want to. We have
time to complete our morning chores and start the day organized and fresh. During the day, we don't need to rush through our studies and activities. Our evenings aren't (usually) rushed because we're already home and there is no homework to complete before we can move onto evening activities.
4.
Watching them LOVE learning. Because each child is able to learn at his/her own pace, they love to learn. They aren't stressed; they aren't bored. They are engaged and they feel good. They love to discover, and it is so fun being part of that. They have plenty of
time to learn about the things they are interested in, and they DO. After I'd stepped away from kidschool today, it was awesome to hear my 8 year old excitedly commenting about the interesting things he was learning as he devoured a book about the US presidents and states. I loved listening to my 7 year old giggle about the poor spelling example (which was intended to be funny) in a book she was reading the other day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they devour books, haul them everywhere with us, and get distracted by them ALL DAY LONG.
5.
Being able to incorporate our core beliefs into all of our learning. This is so important to me. I want my kids to gain strong testimonies and have strong moral values more than anything else. If I had to choose between an honest child or one who could read, I would choose honesty hands down. If the choice was between having personal knowledge that they are children of God or the ability to perform mathematical computations, the former would win out every time. Thankfully, we can have both, but I LOVE that I can focus on the first every time. I LOVE that we can incorporate a Gospel perspective into everything that we study. I LOVE that we have
time to address core values all day long if it's what is really needed (like when being kind to your siblings REALLY needs to come into focus).
6.
Taking breaks whenever we want or need them/ creating our own schedule. On the first snow day of the year we ALWAYS spend the day playing in the snow. The first week that it actually feels like spring, we usually take a full week off of school to enjoy the sunshine. When we have time for a family vacation, we take one. When everyone is sick (especially if Mom is pregnant sick AND viral sick) we can have a free day. When our school rhythm is off, we can take a step back for a few days and then start again with better attitudes and motivation. On the inverse, when we want to have school on an actual 'snow day' we can; when we're ready to learn in the summertime we do.
7.
Learning in a variety of ways. Our family's favorite method to learn is books and discussions; we all love to read and talk. However, we also love science projects, art projects, outdoor exploration, field trips, games, and other fun hands on activities. I feel so privileged to do these things with my kids.
8.
Flexibility. I love having the flexibility to rearrange our time, add things into our schedule, and drop things when we aren't ready for them (or realize they aren't worth our time). I love that we're able to spend all day learning about 'x' when everyone is too interested to stop. I love that we can say 'nevermind' when another book is boring everyone to tears. When my child grasps a math concept like she was born knowing it, we're able to move forward right then (or backwards in the opposite case). We can let evening activities take us past bedtime when we feel the need (like when Dad works late and we decide to stay up for some family time), and then let the kids wake up when they're rested the next morning.
9.
The freedom to be themselves and thrive. My two boys battle anxiety in a big way. Their anxieties often create barriers in their ability to learn and progress. If they feel pressured, huge walls come up. Even when they want to tear those walls down, they have big struggles doing so. I'm sure that Heavenly Father knew this would be one our special challenges when He helped us see that we should homeschool. I can see how being sent away to a school environment would have been too much for these little guys of mine, and how their walls would have immobilized them. On the other hand, I think my older daughter would have been completely bored with her school work and thus have missed out on the enjoyment of learning. I'm also grateful that she isn't in an environment that will feed her naturally competitive nature so much; she's competitive to a fault, and we are constantly working with her to tone it down to a healthy and kind level.
10.
Individualized learning. I've already mentioned a few times how wonderful it is that they get to learn at their own speeds. This removes so much of the stress of education. Not only are they able to work at an appropriate pace, but they are able to learn about the things they are interested in and develop their unique talents. No one can learn everything in a lifetime, and certainly no child can learn everything in a childhood, so I love being able to focus on what is best for each child. Very little of their learning time is wasted on things they aren't paying attention to or that they can't understand. They have the opportunity to develop their individual genius in whatever area(s) that may be. It's awesome.
My Personal Top 5 Homeschooling Challenges
1.
Time with my children...AKA few breaks. While I would sincerely miss my kids if they were gone for hours every day, there are times that I feel pretty worn out with parenting. The school part isn't difficult for me, but the parenting part often is. I'm grateful for a husband who is willing to let me have a break anytime he is available.
2.
Towing kids for errands, shopping, and appointments. If you want to see our family at our worst, just follow us into Wal-mart or listen outside the teeny tiny room they put us in for my OB appointments. Yesterday, my doctor was running quite behind so we had a full hour in that itty bitty room. At one point, a nurse came in and very kindly offered the kids suckers because she said she could hear we were having a hard time. Through the door I'm sure she could hear Abby squealing at her brother and me saying things like, "Stop touching the computer. Leave the stirrups alone. That garbage can is yucky. That makes your sister cry. Etc.." Whenever we go shopping, I receive the comment, "You sure have your hands full," more times than I can count. Public errands are by far the most difficult thing I do with all of my kids in tow. Hands down, this is the one thing I would love to do with fewer kids! Ha!
3.
Worrying that I'll mess things up. This is probably the #1 challenge for the homeschooling population in general. Thankfully, it's not often a huge problem for me...most of the time. At times, I worry about it though. I worry that my patience is running out because I need a break and I'm going to ruin my kids with bad parenting (see #1); this is the biggest way I worry. I also sometimes worry that I'm not teaching them what they really need to know or that I'm doing it the wrong way.
4.
Using the wrong approach. We've been caught in this trap a few times. Mostly it comes from those moments when I'm worrying about what the world thinks my kids should be doing/ learning, and then I try to do it. On occasion it's just a matter of finding out an approach is wrong while in the midst of it, and stubbornly sticking to it for too long. There is so much freedom in being able to recognize when things are going this way and then switching directions, and so much misery in sticking to something that isn't working.
5.
Worrying about what other people think. This catches me more often than it should and the result is that I sometimes lose trust in the inspiration I've received for my family. Things go awry when I'm worrying about others' opinions, and they go well when I simply trust the things I know are right for us.
