Are you still on the fence about homeschooling? Are you terrified to make that jump?
Even if you have already decided to start homeschooling, it can still be really scary to make that jump. Sometimes it can help to read other people's reasons for homeschooling. So in no particular order, here are my top reasons why I homeschool.
My Top 10 Reasons that I Homeschool
Best Education Possible
I want to give my kids the best education possible. Our world is changing so fast that the jobs we have today will largely be gone in the future. I want my kids to be as prepared as possible for future opportunities.
Every Opportunity
I want my children to have every opportunity available to them. In order to accomplish this I am going to expose them to as many different things as possible. I want them to learn as many skills as we can teach them and to try as many activities as they can. You never know where life will lead you, so being able to adapt and having lots of skills in their tool belt will let them do and try things that they may not have otherwise had the chance to do.
Confidence
I want my children to be confident. If they can develop confidence in many different areas, it will give them the courage to take advantage of opportunities throughout their life. From my own experiences, this would not be possible to do in a public school environment.
Challenge
I want to challenge my children. In public school the class usually moves at the pace of the medium to slower students. I want my children to be constantly challenged so they are continually increasing their intelligence. I also want to be able to slow down to thoroughly cover concepts if they need extra help.
Good Environment
I want my children to be in a good environment as much as possible. My mom is an elementary school counselor and the stories she tells me about the things the kids talk about and do at school and on the playground are horrifying.
I want my kids to be around good influences during their most impressionable years. I want our Heavenly Father and our Savior to be a daily part of their lives. I don't want them to succumb to peer pressure to fit into the crowd, only to lose themselves in the process.
Sleep
I want my kids to get enough sleep. Sleep is so essential for brain development and learning. Homeschooling gives you the adaptability to adjust school around sleep schedules, and to have your children take naps when they need them.
Play
I want my kids to have the afternoons to play. Even though I am going to have a rigorous homeschooling program, I do want my kids to have time to explore and get dirty. We live in the Pacific Northwest, and for a lot of the year it stays dark in the morning and gets dark really early. If my kids were going to public school they would come home in the dark for months every year.
No Homework in the Early Grades
I don't want my kids to be bogged down with homework every night. I understand that they should have homework as they get older so that college isn't a complete shock to them, but elementary school seems too early.
Quality Time
I want to spend quality time with my kids. Snuggling, tickling, reading stories on the couch are all things I really love about being a mom. If they were at school all day I would miss most of their life. They get big so fast.
Curriculum
I want to be able to choose the curriculum that will work best for my kids. In public school kids learn out of textbooks. These are often very dry. I want to choose interesting curriculum and use living books as much as possible so that the knowledge comes alive in their minds. There are so many amazing curriculum choices out there. It can be really overwhelming to choose, but I would rather have that choice, overwhelming though it may be.
So those are just 10 of the reasons that I homeschool my kids. What are some of the reasons that you homeschool?