The Pros of Homeschool

 Today I want to talk about the benefits that come with choosing to homeschool your kids. Since I can only glean from my own experience for this post, I will be sharing what my favorite perks are, but I know they can vary from family to family. 

1. TIME

This one is my very favorite reasons for homeschooling. I have time with my kids. 

Now, on some days, I admit, I would rather have some alone time than have a lot of time with my kids, but honestly, my girls are pretty great, and I enjoy being around them for the most part. The benefit of time comes with the fact that we aren't WASTING time. For me, that means that I'm not spending time getting my girls up extra early every morning to race them to the car or to a bus stop, where they (or I), will sit in a drop off line or on a bus for at least 30-45 minutes before actually arriving at school. Then, my girls spend several hours in school, only to sit on a bus again for a long period of time before being dropped off at home, or I have to wait for a long period of time in a pickup line, when I could be doing something with my girls. 

It's also important to mention that most of a child's day in school is spent with others. Teachers, peers, etc. Not that this is a bad thing, but it means that the child spends LESS time with family, and MORE time with others who aren't as emotionally invested in their well-being. 

2. FLEXIBILITY

This is my second favorite reason to homeschool. Being someone who doesn't like big crowds or long lines, I enjoy the fact that I can take my girls on day trips, doctor's appointments, shopping, etc., during a weekday, when everyone else is either in school or at work. I love that I can get my errands done (relatively faster), than when others are running their errands after school and work. It also helps to avoid crowds when both of my girls experience anxiety with being around lots of people and lots of noise. We avoid a lot of triggers and meltdowns that way. 

Also, it's a heck of a lot cheaper to travel off season when others are in school, and my husband can request vacation time from work that's not as hard to get with co-workers and their children's' rigid school schedules. 

3. COST

I am cheap. I admit it freely. We save a lot of money when we don't have to do big beginning of school year purchases like new clothes, shoes, and school supplies all at once. Of course, we still purchase clothing and supplies for homeschooling, but most supplies aren't required or particular, and that money goes into family outings or other family needs. For homeschooling parents, it may seem like we are shelling out money at the beginning of a school year, because we're purchasing curriculums or signing our kids up for tutorials or whatever. But adding up the cost of paying for school lunches, extra doctor's appointments because our kids are catching every bug that spreads around school, and other incidentals, really add up over the school year. I'd do a breakdown of cost, but I'm too lazy to do it.

4. INFLUENCE

This one is #4 on my list, but lately, this reason for homeschooling seems to be higher in priority to other parents. There are things going on in the world and in schools, that parents just don't want their children to experience. Bullying, indoctrination, physical violence, drugs, etc., the list goes on and on. 

Believe me, these are all great reasons to yank your kids out of school to protect them from these things, but if you refer back to my post from yesterday, most of the time, parents reacting in fear is not a good reason to make big changes in your child's life. 

I remember when I was having doubts about homeschooling my daughter. I was worried that I was sheltering her too much, and she wouldn't build up a healthy resilience to the things of the world. I called a dear friend who had successfully homeschooled her three children, who are now adults, and confided in her my feelings of overindulgence. 

She immediately told me that it didn't matter if I kept my child at home, or in school. The way the world works, evil and bad things can always reach our children. She made her point by illustrating that even if we tied up our children in their rooms and never let them leave, they would still experience opposition and evil influence, because the devil is not limited to just classrooms and hallways. 

She was right. I am in the midst of raising a teenager, and she works just as hard to avoid bad and pursue good, as her peers do when they leave home to go to school. We want to shield and protect our children, but believing they won't face bad influences while under our tutelage, is short-sighted. 

And just to be fully transparent-I started homeschooling my girls before things got really weird in today's world (and pre-COVID pandemic), so this wasn't really in mind when I opted to homeschool my kids. 

5. TIME FOR SELF DISCOVERY

I know this is listed as #5 on my advantages for homeschooling, but in reality, this is my favorite reason for doing what I do. 

I grew up going to public school, from Kindergarten through 12th grade. When it was time to graduate and make decisions about college and what next steps I was supposed to take, I blindly followed in the footsteps of those before me (and along with my peers), not really knowing very much about myself, or what I wanted to do in the world. 

Fast forward 25 years, and here I am, finally getting a bachelor's degree as an adult, because it took two lazy and party-filled years at a junior college, a soul-searching 18-month proselyting mission for my church, and years of working blue collar jobs to support a husband through his education, before I realized that I wanted to study Communications, and become a writer. Now, here I am in my mid-forties, trying to balance teaching my children, raising my children, and struggling to do schoolwork. 

If I just had known earlier what I wanted to do, maybe things wouldn't be so crazy at this stage in my life. 

My husband also is an educational "late bloomer". In his defense, he was born and raised in Brazil, where it's not really encouraged to delve outside of family's occupations to pursue new paths (according to him), so he didn't really have much inspiration as a young child to pursue his dreams.

 My husband spent years in and out of colleges in the U.S., and then took a break for a number of years to work and start a family. He finally, in his very late 30's, realized what he wanted to do, and three semesters later, he graduated with his degree in 2017, at the age of 37. 

Both my husband and I agreed that we wanted our girls to learn more about themselves and their interests before they are old enough to leave home. That way, if they choose college, a trade school, or the hard knocks of life, they will have already learned some things about themselves, and will use that knowledge to make their choices at a much younger age. 

We let our children play. We let our children use their imaginations, and we let them research more about what's out there, so they can get a head start on their dreams.

Those are my top five benefits for homeschooling! I would list more, but I'm too busy...homeschooling. 

Check in tomorrow to read my list of homeschool disadvantages.