The Cons of Homeschool

 Today we're going to conquer the dark side of homeschooling. I am going to list five disadvantages, and give a brief summary of my experience with each. Again, I am one parent, who is using her own experiences to share, so this may be different for every homeschooling family. 

1. NO ALONE TIME

As a mom with kids that are of school age, I could have the luxury of dropping my kids off at school, and then spending several hours cleaning my house, running errands, doing my own schoolwork, or leisurely reading a book curled up on my couch. I could also meet up with friends for lunch dates, etc. 

But as a homeschooling mom, until recently, I was with my kids...ALL. OF. THE. TIME. 

They would come with me to doctor's appointments, dentist appointments (I would find somewhere for them to be when I went to the gynecologist appointments, because...boundaries), but you get my point. They were my little shadows, and it was chaos. 

Now that they're older and can stay home alone without me for some time, I do get some alone time to get the things done that I need and want to do. But when you're homeschooling little kids, plan on fighting for alone time (and you should).

2. WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?

I don't know what it is, but I had such a hard time making lunch for my kids. They're older now so they make their own, but for years, it was the least favorite meal of the day for me, because my daily conversations with my children would go something like this...

Me: "What do you want to eat for lunch?"

Kids: "I don't know, what do we have?"

Me (eyes rolling as I sigh heavily): "What we always have...sandwiches, smoothies, quesadillas, etc. What do you want?"

Kids (naming off something we don't have)

Me: "We don't have that."

Kids: "We NEVER have what we want to eat! NEVER!"

Me: (goes into another room and meditates for five minutes)

Five minutes later...

Me: "What do you want to eat for lunch?"

Kids: "What do we have?"

It's a dumb cycle. 

In my house, breakfast and dinner are decided by me (though I do take requests), since I'm the one buying the groceries and doing the prep work. So lunch has become this gray area, where kids don't have any idea of what they want to eat, but they get hangry fast, and then I'm stressed out about what I should make, while I'm in the middle of helping them with lessons, etc. It's quite the phenomenon, but I have been told by other homeschooling parents that they have the same struggle, so it's a real thing. 

3. SICK DAYS (for Mom)

When Mom is sick, she doesn't just get to curl up in bed and watch television all day. Though I do a light school day for the kids when I'm feeling under the weather, nothing is worse to a sick mom with healthy kids bouncing off the walls needing something productive to do. And then, to top it off, reason #2 still comes into play, and it just adds further insult to injury. 

But to be fair, a sick mom with healthy kids is always a struggle, no matter what school looks like. Mom shouldn't be allowed to get sick:)

4. GETTING CREATIVE WITH CREATIVITY

The beauty of the public school system, is you have access to several instructors and resources that support learning musical instruments, getting involved in various sports and art or dance, and those resources are free, or easily available and structured to just...happen. 

Though there are so many community resources out there, homeschooling parents have to do the research and lay some groundwork in order to get their kids involved with extracurricular activities. These also happen outside of school hours, whereas some of those same activities are factored into a public school kid's school schedule. 

It also can get expensive. If a child wants to learn a musical instrument, the parents usually need to foot the bill, as public schools have access to instruments that children can either use freely, or for small rental fees. If a child wants to be involved in community theater, for example, that usually cuts into evening times during the week, and mom or dad or both, are playing taxi driver getting the kids to or from places throughout the day. 

5. BEHAVIORAL ISSUES

This one is a hard pill to swallow. In my experience, there is a level of blindness that comes to me as a parent, when I don't see (or choose not to see), if my child has a learning disability or behavioral issue. Maybe I just write it off as part of their character or whatever, but when it starts to impede on schoolwork, parents can feel lost in knowing what to do next. 

In public school, there is a network of teachers, counselors, etc., that are trained to know if certain behaviors in a child could indicate an issue, such as dyslexia, ADHD, etc. 

In my personal experience, I myself have ADHD, and recently, one of my daughter's was also diagnosed. Though I have struggled with focus and concentration issues my entire life (incidentally, I was only recently diagnosed, mere months after my daughter was...it's been fun), now I have to help my inattentive daughter create her own systems to learn how to focus and concentrate on her schoolwork. 

We have had to outsource resources to assist us in this. Fortunately, our church offers free counseling services, so we were able to have help there, but in the public school system, there is a network in place to help assist children that struggle with behavior or learning disabilities. 

Though, I do have to say, for my daughter, having a more flexible school schedule at home, helps her immensely with her math anxiety and other learning issues. Since we're not limited to timeframes like school classrooms, we are able to get through school subjects without having multiple meltdowns. 

Those are most of my disadvantages. To be honest with you, in my opinion, the advantages of homeschool far outweigh the disadvantages of homeschool. I had to really think to come up with this list, whereas my list of advantages seemed to come with ease. I hope these lists help those of you who are considering a homeschool journey!