10 Reasons to homeschool your kids

First off, I need to say this. There are FAR more important things you need to do for your kids than give them an education. Like developing their character and confidence, as well as, showing them that you love them unconditionally. In my opinion those few things alone will ensure that your kid succeeds, NOT an education. Of course, an education is important to give your kids. So with my wife and I on the cusp of needing to decide how our kids will be educated, we’ve decided to Homeschool. It’s a little scary, but as I sit here I can think of a lot of good reasons to do it and I want to share them with you in case you too are worried about homeschooling your kids. (I should also mention that my family and I are living abroad, in China). So here’s my list of 10 reasons to homeschool your kids.

Time with your kids - Again, going back to what I said when I opened up this post, showing your child you love them is far more important than their education. Not that you can’t show your love to a kid that’s in the public school system, it’s just that, well, kids spell love T-I-M-E, and what better way to spend time with your kids, than when you’re educating them.

Trust the government or yourself to teach your kids? - This to me is obvious. Do I really want a clumsy government be in charge of educating my kids? No. I would rather be the one who decides what to teach my kids, when and in what way. But that’s just me.

Teacher ratio - What makes more sense to you, your child sharing one teacher’s time with 25 students or your student having their very own teacher? Again, in my opinion, I will be able to give far more attention to my child and their needs in a one-on-one setting than a teacher could who’s trying to manage 25 (or more) students.

Specific curriculum - I alluded to this earlier, but here it is in its own category. I would rather be able to help my child with areas they specifically struggle with, instead of, having my child just thrust into a general course that’s outlined by the government. What happens in a public school when your child needs extra help? Nothing. The class moves on to their next subject.

Can focus on their likes - I think that even more important than giving your child an education, you want to give them a desire to learn. As a teacher, you want to make yourself obsolete, not make the student dependent on you. How can you do that? Well when you’re in control of your child’s education you can give extra time to focus on topics that they enjoy. In a public school, it seems like the students are totally dependent on the teacher. Not only that, but if your child has a desire to study, say, geography, they only have a small little time to do that during the school day.

Good memories with your kids - Again, more important than your child’s education is your bond with them. That will mean more and go much further than an education. Homeschooling seems to be a great way to build that bond and fun memories.

Start later in the day, when your kid is awake - One thing that the public school system is lacking is the ability to have a specific schedule for your unique child. How much better would your kid do if they had the ability to start a little later, when they were awake? I would bet that they would do a lot better. So it’s nice to be able to control that with your own schedule and start at 10am or even in the afternoon.

Safety - As a parent one of your jobs is to protect your child. And although you can’t always control that, you can ensure their safety at home as opposed to being in a public school. Your child is in a delicate time of their life, where their views of themselves are being shaped. Do you want that image to be formed by bullies and negative teachers? Or do you think you could do a better job? I bet you could.

Just teach them to read - I think that being overwhelmed is an easy thing when you think of being in charge of your child’s education. But really, what did you learn in school? What did you learn in College? I can’t remember a single lesson or thing that I learned in school. Most of my education has come from my own study pursuits. This leads me to this point, the most important thing you can do for your child is to teach them to read and give them the desire to study. Give them the tools to learn, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Character and Values - I opened with this, but I think that if you can develop your child’s character, you’re already WAY ahead of where the public school system is. In a world where people don’t value things like; honesty, sacrificial love, integrity, sharing, and instead value only selfish pursuits, I think we can do a great service to our kids by teaching them these values. Of course, you can do this while your kid is in public school, but you can also do it as you’re homeschooling your child as well.

So anyways, these are a sample of my thoughts on homeschooling. I know it will be hard and it’s not as easy as just deciding to do it, you need to work at it. But really, everything in life that’s worth something needs to be worked at. Let’s love and teach our kids to be great spouses, parents, friends and contributors to the community and world around them.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

Save to delicious Saved by 0 users