Here are my reasons to homeschool your kids.
1. No one can love your kids like you – There are few things on earth that exemplify the love God has for us like the love a parent has for a child. All other loves, grow, have a starting point and to some degree are earned. I loved each of my children before they were born. When I first laid eyes on them there was a love that filled my life for them words can’t explain. I work with kids for a living but there is something special about your own children. No one can love your kids like you do. You can send your kids to public school or Christian School and they can have the most caring and loving teachers ever but their love for your child will never compare to the God given love you have for them. There is nothing my kids could do that would make me stop loving them. When my son is at school I miss him our family dynamic is different. I hate not knowing what he does all day. I think about him all the time when he’s at school I wonder how he is treating others and how others are treating him. I wonder what he is learning.
2. You can teach to their strengths – This is huge. I am officially the worst math student ever. I am a creative, English, History, Art and Drama kind of kid. When you are stuck in a school system you learn a little bit of everything. When you are home taught your parents know what your strengths are and can give you the individual treatment where they can teach you everything through the lens of your strengths. Why I love this approach as it teaches kids to be life long lovers of learning
3. You can include spiritual dicipleship as part of the curriculum – This is huge. This is what Deut. 6 is all about teaching your kids all day about who God is and the rescue plan he has for them. You MANY more opportunities for teachable moments. There is no room for Faith in the Public school, and in Christian schools what is taught is generally very basic because so many kids from so many denominations attend a given school. When kids are home taught you can teach them what you believe and live it out in front of them while reinforcing it with those God moments that come along. All three of those things working together is a force to be reckoned with.
4. Flexibility – Home schooling is massively flexible. You can teach about dinosaurs and take your kids to the Museum of natural history the next day. So much of what kids learn in Public and Christian school is 2D. Public/Christian school – Here is a picture of a fish, fish swim in water. When you homeschool you can take your kids to a fish hatchery and they can see, touch and hopefully not taste the water the fish are swimming in. You can also start and maintain traditions that will be with your kids for years because you have the flexibility to celebrate to teach and rest whenever you want. Lastly you can go on vacation whenever you want – You can go to Disney when everyone is in school and avoid long lines and get cheaper rates. Public/Christian School kids can’t go on vacation whenever they want.
If we ever feel that we need to homeschool our kids we will. I think there is a lot of value in it.
4 Reasons you should NOT homeschool your kids.
Series Conclusion
So you really do love homeschoolers? Amazing!
Hey Sam-
These posts about schooling have been great.
I just want to throw a couple of ideas out there. For our kids, we take it year by year and just are open to what God wants us to do. My oldest daughter was in a "brick and mortar" public school for 2 years and loved it. But, my husband and I felt that God was leading us bring her home for a number of reasons a few which were:
1. Our oldest and youngest are 6yrs apart in age. We want them to know each other. We want to guard our family relationships and not be like "ships passing in the night".
2. As a kids' pastor and mommy, I'm so lucky to get to work mostly from home w/ limited office hours, but I do a LOT of work in the evenings. Lots of meetings, prep at the church etc. So, when she was in school, I would see her for dinner and head off to the church. Not ideal for our family.
3. Having her home gives us freedom in our schedule and there's no homework b/c she has time to do everything in the morning. So, evenings are free for her to be present with family- or involved in other activities or play with kids in the neighborhood that do not know Jesus yet.
4. We struggled w/ the best way to go about it and we felt led to enroll her in Minnesota Virtual Academy. It's sort of the best of both worlds for us. <a href="http:// (www.k12.com)” target=”_blank”> <a href="http://(www.k12.com)” target=”_blank”>(www.k12.com).
5. There are a bunch of great things about it.
a. It's great curriculum that is paid for by our taxes! They gave us a free computer, scanner, etc. Really great books. Homeschool curriculum is expensive and I have friends that sometimes feel like they have to pick curriculum that is not "top-notch" b/c of the cost.
b. She has conference calls with classmates 2-3 times per week. Sounds a lot like my life 🙂 My 7yr old already knows how to network!
c. She also has another teacher, so I am accountable to "get it done" and I also have a resource to help me if we get stuck.
d. The virtual school tracks her achievement, sends report cards and takes care of testing dates, etc. SO I don't personally have keep records.
6. Depending on where you live, there can be a TON of opportunities for homeschoolers. So, being "unsocialized" is sort of a choice. I live in the mpls/ st paul area and there are tons of classes that she can do during the day for cheap- pottery, skiing, acting classes at the children's theater, co-ops, etc.
I know that virtual academies are not available everywhere. And I realize that part of the benefit of homeschooling is picking curriculum yourself, etc. However, this might be a good "middle of the road" option for some of your readers.
The biggest thing I enjoy is working through the secular curriculum with her and helping her to see how it compares to a Biblical worldview. We have done this a lot for history. "What does God say about Greek and Roman gods and goddesses? What do we think about the Crusades? Why was the Church important in the Middle Ages? What is the difference between being a Muslim and being a Christian?" etc.) It's the same info she'd be learning at school, I just get be there to help her process it the minute she learns it from a biblical perspective…
Cons- She does spend a couple hours at a computer everyday. But, we limit screen time in other areas to try to make sure that she's not staring at a screen all day. And we try to balance it with playing outside, etc.
It's worked for us this year and has helped us to achieve some of our goals. This is a big change, for the first 2 years, I just dropped her off at school and didn't really have goals for her b/c she was a great student, had lots of friends, etc. Having her home helps me to know what she needs to work on (organization, time management, etc)- stuff I would not see just by looking at her grades from school. We signed up for one more year.
That's how we'll take it. Year-by-year and considering what is best for each kid. When it doesn't work anymore, we'll stop. Or if God has something else for us to do, we'll do it.
It's just good to know that there are so many options and the Holy Spirit will guide us when we ask…
Thanks for covering this topic. It will be a blessing to many parents!
Jenn thanks for the comment and adding you wisdom to this convo.
So you really do love homeschoolers? Amazing!
Hey Sam-
These posts about schooling have been great.
I just want to throw a couple of ideas out there. For our kids, we take it year by year and just are open to what God wants us to do. My oldest daughter was in a "brick and mortar" public school for 2 years and loved it. But, my husband and I felt that God was leading us bring her home for a number of reasons a few which were:
1. Our oldest and youngest are 6yrs apart in age. We want them to know each other. We want to guard our family relationships and not be like "ships passing in the night".
2. As a kids' pastor and mommy, I'm so lucky to get to work mostly from home w/ limited office hours, but I do a LOT of work in the evenings. Lots of meetings, prep at the church etc. So, when she was in school, I would see her for dinner and head off to the church. Not ideal for our family.
3. Having her home gives us freedom in our schedule and there's no homework b/c she has time to do everything in the morning. So, evenings are free for her to be present with family- or involved in other activities or play with kids in the neighborhood that do not know Jesus yet.
4. We struggled w/ the best way to go about it and we felt led to enroll her in Minnesota Virtual Academy. It's sort of the best of both worlds for us. (www.k12.com).
5. There are a bunch of great things about it.
a. It's great curriculum that is paid for by our taxes! They gave us a free computer, scanner, etc. Really great books. Homeschool curriculum is expensive and I have friends that sometimes feel like they have to pick curriculum that is not "top-notch" b/c of the cost.
b. She has conference calls with classmates 2-3 times per week. Sounds a lot like my life 🙂 My 7yr old already knows how to network!
c. She also has another teacher, so I am accountable to "get it done" and I also have a resource to help me if we get stuck.
d. The virtual school tracks her achievement, sends report cards and takes care of testing dates, etc. SO I don't personally have keep records.
6. Depending on where you live, there can be a TON of opportunities for homeschoolers. So, being "unsocialized" is sort of a choice. I live in the mpls/ st paul area and there are tons of classes that she can do during the day for cheap- pottery, skiing, acting classes at the children's theater, co-ops, etc.
I know that virtual academies are not available everywhere. And I realize that part of the benefit of homeschooling is picking curriculum yourself, etc. However, this might be a good "middle of the road" option for some of your readers.
The biggest thing I enjoy is working through the secular curriculum with her and helping her to see how it compares to a Biblical worldview. We have done this a lot for history. "What does God say about Greek and Roman gods and goddesses? What do we think about the Crusades? Why was the Church important in the Middle Ages? What is the difference between being a Muslim and being a Christian?" etc.) It's the same info she'd be learning at school, I just get be there to help her process it the minute she learns it from a biblical perspective…
Cons- She does spend a couple hours at a computer everyday. But, we limit screen time in other areas to try to make sure that she's not staring at a screen all day. And we try to balance it with playing outside, etc.
It's worked for us this year and has helped us to achieve some of our goals. This is a big change, for the first 2 years, I just dropped her off at school and didn't really have goals for her b/c she was a great student, had lots of friends, etc. Having her home helps me to know what she needs to work on (organization, time management, etc)- stuff I would not see just by looking at her grades from school. We signed up for one more year.
That's how we'll take it. Year-by-year and considering what is best for each kid. When it doesn't work anymore, we'll stop. Or if God has something else for us to do, we'll do it.
It's just good to know that there are so many options and the Holy Spirit will guide us when we ask…
Thanks for covering this topic. It will be a blessing to many parents!
Jenn thanks for the comment and adding you wisdom to this convo.
crazy man!! we definately are on the same page! sorry we didn't connect this week, ended up getting crazy! next week for sure.
crazy man!! we definately are on the same page! sorry we didn't connect this week, ended up getting crazy! next week for sure.
I think 2 and 3 are good reasons to homeschool. I'm kinda weird that #1 wouldn't be a reason for me. I want people to experience my kids. I think they are so awesome, and I like to share them with everyone 🙂 When our first son was born, I kept handing him off to people because I wanted them to experience holding him… really 🙂
As for #4, I would caution flexibility as a reason. Depending on what you use for curriculum, you may end up having less flexibility than if you sent your kids to school. Also, you need to make sure that you read up on the educational requirements for your state when it comes to homeschooling. All states have some sort of required record keeping and even application to homeschool. It's easy enough to find all that info on Google, though.
If you've never homeschooled, I would recommend K12. That's what we've used… and most states have public charter schools that are virtual academies. And since they're public charters, everything is paid for!
I think 2 and 3 are good reasons to homeschool. I'm kinda weird that #1 wouldn't be a reason for me. I want people to experience my kids. I think they are so awesome, and I like to share them with everyone 🙂 When our first son was born, I kept handing him off to people because I wanted them to experience holding him… really 🙂
As for #4, I would caution flexibility as a reason. Depending on what you use for curriculum, you may end up having less flexibility than if you sent your kids to school. Also, you need to make sure that you read up on the educational requirements for your state when it comes to homeschooling. All states have some sort of required record keeping and even application to homeschool. It's easy enough to find all that info on Google, though.
If you've never homeschooled, I would recommend K12. That's what we've used… and most states have public charter schools that are virtual academies. And since they're public charters, everything is paid for!
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