We are considering the choice to homeschool.
Thinking about it is taking up a lot of my Mama Headspace these days. My older son, Judah, has just turned 3! I'm realizing all too quickly that soon we'll have big decisions to make about his experience in education. Their little years fly by so quickly. Won't it be no time at all before we are there making real, actual decisions?
Many of our friends have school-aged children, and we've seen them choose between private and public education. Not many home schooling families . . . yet, anyway. I am a product of public education. My husband, John, attended private school. I can't say either put us at an advantage or disadvantage, but our learning experiences were (as expected) very different.
Taking time to reflect on my desires for Judah's (and Abram's, when he is older) education has revealed a strong desire to homeschool, even though we have very little personal experience with it. At first, I couldn't explain why I felt drawn to homeschooling. After a lot of soul searching, I've come up with a list of reasons why this is worth our heavy consideration:
1) We live in a small city and the public education is good. However, the classes are mostly large, and the school in our district has had some controversial incidents in the last few years that make me hesitant to place my child there.
Also, the Mama Bear in me wants to preserve my child's innocence as long as possible, which is hard to do these days in a public school setting. Some of my friends have already had The Dreaded Sex Talk with their very young kids because of misinformation overheard in public school. I'm okay with putting off some topics until my husband and I decide our kids are ready for them.
2) Private school (both faith-based and not) is crazy expensive in our area. To our family, anything more than $0 tuition is expensive. ;)
My husband and I are Christians, but we're not legalistic or particularly "religious." (When I use "religious" I mean practicing faith-based rituals to check them off a cosmic score card. We do practice our faith in a way that is rich and meaningful to us.) We prefer our children to live out their faith in a grace-filled, loving way that is not bound by rules for the sake of rules. My exposure to several faith-based schools in our area lead me to believe I would struggle with rigidity.
3) Recess/play is dwindling and homework is plentiful. I'm not opposed to children working hard and learning responsibility through homework, but student workload just seems excessive.
4) Judah is an interesting toddler. He has what I like to joke is "high-brow interests" for his age. He loves Classical music, and is constantly conducting his own, imaginary orchestra. He is fiercely independent and already is revealing himself to be an outside-the-box individual. I certainly think he would do well in a formal classroom, but I don't know if he will thrive the way I hope for him to if he is in a classroom full of children with a teacher who cannot cater to every child's interests and needs.
I know there are a lot of good reasons to send your child to school, and maybe at some point I'll list my reasons school might be an option for us. For now, we're praying, observing Judah, and looking at our options. I'm interested to hear from other homeschooling parents- why did you choose homeschool, what are the advantages and do you identify challenges? This curious mama wants to hear words of wisdom!
1) We live in a small city and the public education is good. However, the classes are mostly large, and the school in our district has had some controversial incidents in the last few years that make me hesitant to place my child there.
Also, the Mama Bear in me wants to preserve my child's innocence as long as possible, which is hard to do these days in a public school setting. Some of my friends have already had The Dreaded Sex Talk with their very young kids because of misinformation overheard in public school. I'm okay with putting off some topics until my husband and I decide our kids are ready for them.
2) Private school (both faith-based and not) is crazy expensive in our area. To our family, anything more than $0 tuition is expensive. ;)
My husband and I are Christians, but we're not legalistic or particularly "religious." (When I use "religious" I mean practicing faith-based rituals to check them off a cosmic score card. We do practice our faith in a way that is rich and meaningful to us.) We prefer our children to live out their faith in a grace-filled, loving way that is not bound by rules for the sake of rules. My exposure to several faith-based schools in our area lead me to believe I would struggle with rigidity.
3) Recess/play is dwindling and homework is plentiful. I'm not opposed to children working hard and learning responsibility through homework, but student workload just seems excessive.
4) Judah is an interesting toddler. He has what I like to joke is "high-brow interests" for his age. He loves Classical music, and is constantly conducting his own, imaginary orchestra. He is fiercely independent and already is revealing himself to be an outside-the-box individual. I certainly think he would do well in a formal classroom, but I don't know if he will thrive the way I hope for him to if he is in a classroom full of children with a teacher who cannot cater to every child's interests and needs.
I know there are a lot of good reasons to send your child to school, and maybe at some point I'll list my reasons school might be an option for us. For now, we're praying, observing Judah, and looking at our options. I'm interested to hear from other homeschooling parents- why did you choose homeschool, what are the advantages and do you identify challenges? This curious mama wants to hear words of wisdom!
I am struggling with the where-to-school conundrum too, and my child's a lot younger than yours! ;) I don't think home school would work for me but I am looking seriously at Waldorf or other "alternative" options for a lot of the reasons you list here. (Side note -- would love to catch up on EVERYTHING!)
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