My husband and I knew that we would homeschool long before we had children. It was a decision we made together, and have never wavered from that choice for our family.
Over the years, we have had a lot of people question why we do it, with comments like: How will they be socialized? Are you really qualified to do that? Are you sure that’s legal? If people are kind and have a genuine question, I am more than happy to talk about homeschooling because I love it!
If you are considering homeschool for your future educational options, then I offer up our reasons for homeschooling.
- We believe that no one knows our kids better than we do and therefore we can tailor their education to the learning style that suits them best. We have three girls; and if that means they need to learn to read using three different programs, then we will.
- On that note we can go as fast or slow as necessary on any given subject based on the ability of each child.
- We can also accomplish a lot more learning in a much shorter time, which allows our girls more time to play together, explore, and create to their hearts content.
- Our Christian faith is important to us and homeschooling allows us to incorporate that into our learning without being constrained by the separation of church and state rules.
- We can focus on the topics that most interest our children. Our oldest wants to learn everything she can on scientific topics. In the last month, we have learned about the human body, horses, and whales. Next up, we are going to study the science of camouflage. In that way, I like to call what we do “interest lead learning.”
- We have the flexibility to really pursue a subject for as long as our children want since we aren’t on a strict timeline.
- Our girls get to spend time with a lot of amazing people of all ages.
- Our girls are adopted, and we missed so much of their early life. We like being available for them and being with them.
There are a few unexpected perks we have realized since becoming a homeschool family.
- We school year round so that we can take days off when the weather is nice or take spontaneous field trips.
- We can travel in the off season and save a lot of money and avoid massive crowds.
- The children have a lot of fun because it doesn’t feel like busy-work.
- We can learn from the entire world. Not being tied to a desk has allowed us to have “school” in so many unique places.
- Our girls get as much sleep as they need.
We love homeschooling our girls, but have always had them involved in outside classes. Since we are choosing and paying for the classes, we have greater knowledge/control over what is being taught to our children. Additionally it’s impossible to have things like wild animals in your home for kids to observe and learn from. In the past, we have participated in music classes, art classes, Chinese language classes, Museum School, gymnastics, and swim. Living in the Fort Worth area with so many options and programs for homeschoolers is a wonderful perk.
I think it’s also good to mention that technology has really changed the face of homeschooling just like everything else in our daily life. Twenty years ago families didn’t have access to so many online resources or a way to connect so easily with other homeschool families. Now you can find a program or curriculum for virtually any learning style and find plenty of honest reviews to see if it’s a good fit for your family. There are also webinars and computer based programs for advanced topics and more in depth research. This has made teaching our children at home so much easier and encouraging. Homeschooling is a great fit for our family and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What questions about homeschooling do you want to ask Louanne?
Louanne jokes that she isn’t from anywhere because her parents moved her so many times while opening restaurants around the southwestern U.S. Louanne moved to Fort Worth in 1993 and was hooked on life here, especially when she met and married her husband in 1995. They have three girls adopted from China: Nadia in 2007, Amelie in 2011, and Danielle in 2014. Louanne loves Jesus, reading, cookies, queso, guacamole, crafting, and sleeping in. She blogs at www.dwimble.com about her family adventures, adoption, and homeschooling.
