Homeschooling Pros and Benefits

Tomorrow I’ll finish my first semester as a homeschooling mama.  This is part 1 of a 2 part post on what I’ve seen are the benefits and challenges.  Today we are talking about benefits--and there are MANY!

First a pre-cursor:

I was a reluctant homeschooler. In fact, I did NOT want to homeschool. But I felt like God was so very clearly wanting us to give it a try. And I wanted to be open.

Second, some specifics:

My kiddos are technically students at a K-12 homeschool hybrid called Spirit Academy. The children attend classes two days a week (8:30-3) at school (Wednesday and Thursday), learning from a teacher in a classroom environment and using Spirit Academy curriculum (which is Abeka, Bob Jones, Singapore Math, and some others--none of these are cush curriculi). They are schooled at home the other 3 days a week.

Spirit is accredited by WASC, CITA, and is a member of ACSI. (Our last school (which was private and super expensive) was not accredited and we learned it matters (to us) to have these accreditations. (Public schools are required by law to follow State standards.  Not so with private schools.  They can do whatever they want, however they want.  Accredidations keep private schools accountable.)

At Spirit the kids enjoy class interaction, socialization, science projects, sports, clubs, book reports, recess, chapel, field trips, individual and group presentations and projects—basically all the benefits a school provides. Also, (and this might not matter to everyone), but should my children transfer, my children's transcripts would come from Spirit Academy, not from "The Yates Family School" or whatever it might be called. 

So here’s how it works.

On Thursdays I pick up the children from school, and I receive from their teacher the lesson plan for the week. It says what subject to do, what concepts and pages in our worktext, and I have at home the Teacher’s Editions and Instructor’s Guide to help me as I teach them Friday, Monday, and Tuesday.

We learn at home from 9-2, usually taking two breaks. Little Bean is in preschool MWF so we take advantage of this and school diligently on Friday and Monday, even working ahead so that we can have light Tuesdays. (We are often finished by 10:30 on Tuesdays and then have a field trip or park time or lunch out).

And now the benefits:

My children are truly happy. And that makes me happy! They LOVE staying at home with each other and having me as their teacher. I only have a few more years (probably) where my kids will enjoy my company and ask for it. And right now, we are really having a great time together! Lots of laughter throughout the day, lots of sibling affection, lots of mommy quality time.

We also have more energy for extra curricular activities—WAY more than we used to. In the old days, I’d pick the nuggets up from school and we’d go to an activity, and they would beg not to go. ‘Let’s go home!’ they’d plead. Now, at 1:30 for piano lessons or 3:30 for baseball or 4:30 for soccer, they are super excited and ready to try their hardest, play their best, exert 100%.

We aren’t so desperate for time together. In the old days, I’d pick the kids up from school, we’d head to baseball, and then by the time we got home (at 5:30 or 6:00), we’d try to squish the evening and make it something special. Only it often was actually the opposite. Evenings were stressful and disappointing because everyone was tired, hungry, and didn’t have much extra juice left over.

Financially, this is a huge relief for us too. Our old private school was quite pricey and having this option saves us a significant chunk of change each month.

Flexibility.  This is something we are just starting to enjoy, and something we've been needing for a long while for our school choice.  Because the school is small (there are two third grade classes with 12 kids in each) and one first grade class with 12, the teachers know my children. Already they have recognized and proved flexible with adjusting curriculum slightly for my children.  For example, my son excels in Math, and so we are in conversations with the school about how to accomodate him, and because he is at home on the 3 days, I'm able to stimulate him in this subject to his heart's delight.  My daughter is a great reader, so instead of being required to follow the reading curriculum at the school's pace, I do our own read alouds with her at her level, and I've been using Explore the Code as a supplement.  As a tax-paying citizen, public schools are required to accomodate special learning needs of students.  But private schools are not, and some of them choose not to bend and/or do not have the resources (without hiking up tuition) to flex.  I do appreciate the challenge it is on teachers with 25 children in a classroom how to meet the unique needs of each child.  But I have found the homeschool environment and culture is far more open and comfortable with flexibility in (and outside) of the classroom.

And lastly, NO HOMEWORK. We finish schooling by 2:00 at the latest. And then we’re catching lizards in the backyard, prepping dinner, going for a bike ride, playing games, having dance parties, running errands, etc.

Tomorrow I’ll share about the challenges …