Homeschooling was always on my heart, but the pandemic kicked my butt into gear. This is often the line I start with when someone asks me how I decided to homeschool, but the truth is I have always wanted to homeschool my kids. Do I think my reasons for homeschooling have changed over the years? Yes, 1000%! And I know they will continue to evolve as my kids (and myself) grow.
I absolutely love sharing our homeschooling journey with anyone who asks because I feel like we need to talk about it more as an option. As parents, retraining our minds from what we thought education was to what we believe it to be today was the hardest part for me. After that, everything fell into place. This is not to say that homeschooling is easy or always a possibility for families, and it has come with a lot of sacrifice on our part as parents, but it has been so worth it.
Today my goal is to debunk homeschooling myths and share why I think homeschooling is a great option for educating the next generation:
“I can’t teach my kid.”
Or my favorite, “I can’t be around my children all day.” When parents are curious about homeschooling and start to ask questions they often tell me that they could never do what I do (for whatever reason) or that they are not teachers and they will fail their kids. The first thing I tell parents is – YOU are the BEST teacher for YOUR kids! You know your kids the best, you know their strengths and their weaknesses, and you know what brings them joy, and also what brings them anxiety.
Yes, your alone time goes from decent to non-existent, but the time with your kids – you can’t get that back. With homeschooling, you don’t miss the moments of success or the opportunities to support your child. You can do it, and you don’t have to be around them all the time, there are so many opportunities to get out of the house, drop-off programs, co-ops, activities…you name it.
“I can’t teach more than 1 kid at a time.”
Debunking this homeschooling myth is easy since I am proof it isn’t true. I have twins, but they are very different learners. I have taught them together since the beginning. One is a lot stronger in Math than the other and vice versa with Language Arts. This year I have all four of my kids doing their own curriculum. Granted the little one will still be playing most of the time, but a lot of our curriculum is family-centered. Besides the core LA and Math, a lot of other subjects can be taught as a family around the dining room table. It saves time and creates so many opportunities for the littles to learn from their siblings. Science, history, and even health can be taught together and when the bigger kids need more in-depth learning on a particular subject you set the littles up with their independent activity.
“Learning can only happen at a school taught by a teacher.”
Learning is everywhere. It’s at the grocery store, museum, the lake, and camping trips. The doctor’s office, the gym, the playground, the library, and the backyard are all places where our kids can learn. It doesn’t need to be bookwork for 6 hours a day at a desk with peers of the same age. I love learning like absolutely love it, and I don’t think we should ever stop learning even as adults (but most of the time we do). I also believe we shouldn’t place limits on education because of income, cost, time, requirements, and testing…I could go on and on. Also, just because we were educated one way doesn’t mean we need to continue to educate the next generation that way – the world is drastically different from when I was a kid. Now, we have learning at our fingertips thanks to technology.
With homeschooling, there are endless opportunities to learn about anything and everything. The other amazing thing about homeschooling is our kids aren’t constantly compared to their peers. So, they never feel like they are “behind” or feel like they aren’t “fitting in” because they are learning at a different pace. Testing is also not a requirement in this state so our kids don’t have anxiety when we do test them (for our own knowledge).
“Your kids won’t get enough socialization.”
I laugh often with this one because I wish we were home MORE! We are always out and about which gives us so many opportunities to socialize. The biggest perk of homeschooling is that kids learn and play with kids of all ages. They also interact with adults more often and in a very different manner than in a traditional school setting. There are more opportunities to go to the park, do recreational sports/activities during the day, co-ops, and even drop-off programs. This is one of the biggest homeschooling myths there is.
“Once I pull my children, I am tied to homeschooling forever”
The beauty of homeschooling is that if it doesn’t end up working out for whatever reason…you have options. You are not tied to a curriculum, the programs you signed up for, or the co-op that didn’t work out. You can also re-enroll back to public school or try private school. When high school rolls around, our family might want our kids to go to a trade high school. We may not homeschool for their entire education, and that is okay. At the end of the day, there are so many options. Every year can be different. Some years, like when we have a new baby in the house or a toddler, we have had to do less bookwork. But the learning has never stopped. We just did it differently. The beauty of homeschooling is it isn’t one-size-fits-all…it’s curated to your family.
Now, homeschooling isn’t going to work for every family for a variety of reasons. I know many of you have zero interest in pursuing homeschooling. But there are families out there that question if this is the right path for their family. I know many families are fearful of disappointing extended family by “going against the grain” and some are nervous because it comes with lots of change and sacrifice of time, and even employment, to make it work.
By debunking homeschooling myths it will help guide families if homeschooling is what they want for your family. You can do it, you will make it work, and you won’t regret that extra time with your children.
Ah thank you! This is definitely something I am interested in doing at least until my kids are a little older and can make more informed choices about school. I appreciate this so much because we are one of those families who are on the fence about public school and can’t afford private school, but when my husband first brought the idea of homeschooling up to my mother-in-law, it was an ugly reaction to say the least.