A Year Done and Why We Do It

Last Thursday was our last day of school! We went out for a celebratory dinner and ice cream (I actually started writing this post that same day, which gives you some idea of how I never get writing done anymore!).

We had a really good year. First, third, and fourth grades are officially done, and it feels pretty awesome to be heading into summer.

For a short time this year I had some struggles with our choice to homeschool in terms of how it was affecting my girls (and somewhat me) socially. Not that there has ever been any lack of the dreaded socialization. That has never been a problem (really, it’s not a problem). But we have good friends who do not homeschool, and during the first half of the year a couple of my kids had a hard time with feeling left out of the school world of their friends. And if I’m honest, I sometimes struggled with feeling left out of the school-mom-world of my friends too.

It turned out okay. We kept open communication about it. We have great homeschooling friends too, and we made more time to spend with them. I had many conversations with my girls and with my husband. I never had any doubts about our choice, it just sometimes felt extra hard this year. In many ways I think these struggles actually strengthened my conviction that homeschooling is the best thing for our family. My kids sometimes don’t understand why we homeschool, so we talked a lot about it, and I think it really helped them to understand our reasoning.

As I’m closing out this school year, I thought I’d just jot down here why we do homeschool. I’ve been fortunate to have pretty consistent support for our choice to homeschool from the people in my life, but I know there are a lot of people who do not understand homeschooling, who think it is weird or wrong or even dangerous. I also know that there are many, many reasons for homeschooling and the reasons we do it are not the same as for others.

But in case you’re curious (and in case I need a shot-in-the-arm reminder in November of next year), here’s why we do it:

1. First and foremost, I know that God has called me to homeschool my kids.
2. I don’t like what I have seen and heard about what is being taught in schools. Textbooks are terribly biased, gender is confused, and schools teach to the test or to the demands of the loudest voices rather than focusing on filling childrens’ hearts with the true, good, and beautiful things of this world.
3. I want my kids to learn primarily from books, with a little bit of time on screens. That seems to be reversed in many schools.
4. I also want the books they read to be worth reading, with positive values and powerful messages that will help them engage with the world through well-written stories. I don’t want them to just be handed the current pop culture best-seller, or the books that are horrid but prevalent in classrooms because they supposedly “get kids to read.”
5. I don’t believe in homework for elementary-aged children.
6. I want my kids to have more time to play and to eat lunch at a leisurely pace than what they are allowed in schools.
7. I like having my kids home with me all day.
8. I cannot imagine having to get my kids up and out the door by 7:30am five days a week. Just the thought makes me shudder.
9. I want our Faith to be the most important thing they are learning every day and for their education to be faithful to true Catholic teaching.
10. I like that my kids are each others’ best friends.
11. I want the primary influences in their lives to come from my husband and me and our family, not peers or teachers.
12. I like being able to take time off whenever I want if something comes up that is worth taking time off for.

13. Finally, I’m confident that I’m the best teacher for my kids. I am far from perfect, but I know them better and am more invested in the education of both their minds and their hearts than anyone else could ever possibly be. No question.

There are many more reasons, but those are the main ones that come to mind right away.

We have our occasional struggles, and this year was no exception. Homeschooling is sometimes hard work, but it is so, so worth it.

Happy summer!!