articles

I Homeschool for One Reason

by Rhonda Hopper

September 3, 2015

About 16 years ago, a friend of mine told me that she was going to homeschool her 2 children.  I thought to myself, “Why in the world would anyone want to do that?”  Now that I have been homeschooling my 3 girls since birth (the twins are about to turn 13), I asked myself that very question!  The answer is simple.  I homeschool for one reason and one reason only:  Freedom!

You have never known freedom until you homeschool.  I’ll try to share a few examples, but I probably take so many freedoms for granted that I can’t think of them all.  My favorite freedom is to go on vacation whenever I want.  We have often gone to the beach in May and September when the weather is really nice and the beaches have a few retired people and some preschoolers.  We made the mistake of going to the beach in June one year and we could hardly find a place on the sand to lay our towel.  We never made that mistake again.

There is educational freedom! I have freedom to choose curriculum and methods that will best fit my teaching personality and my children’s learning styles.  We can change textbooks, workbooks, internet courses, or classes that are not working and find something that does work.  If the first grammar workbook that we try is super boring and contains too much repetition, we have been known to look for a DVD curriculum or an online class.  The educational resources available are mind blowing. 

We have the freedom to do school at the time of day that suits my schedule, which just so happens to be from 8:30 am – 3 pm!  We do school in our pajamas.  We skip school to actually celebrate birthdays to the fullest!  If there is a concert or musical that we really want to see, we can stay out late to see it on a school night!  We always go to school when it is snowing and freezing outside, while we drink some hot chocolate!

There is the freedom to explore P.E. class by taking ski lessons or going to yoga class.  One year our homeschool co-op played quidditch.  Just Dance is fun on the Wii!  My girls have participated in recreation sports sponsored by our county.  I have several exercise DVDs.  We take walks in the park and use all of the awesome bike trails in the area.  We just recently trained for and ran a 5K!  My kids beat me in the race!  This winter we are taking snowboarding lessons.  It’s a constant adventure.

We are free from bullying.  We are free from peer pressure.  We are free from waiting in line.  We are free from school buses.  We are free to go to the bathroom whenever we want.  We are free from cafeteria food.  We are free to chew gum.  We are free from most of the “drama” that I hear about from my friends who go to public and private school.  My kids are free from grades.  If they don’t do well, they get to try again.  They are not compared to anyone else.  They are only encouraged to improve and do their best.

We are free to learn anything we want to learn whenever we want to study it!  We studied Native Americans for an entire month by making pottery, making Indian clothes, going to Cherokee, NC for a Pow Wow/museum experience and sleeping in a tipi.  I think we read a book, but I can’t remember.  We are free to grow together as a family.  We are free to pray whenever we want. We are free to learn how to cook and clean and organize our home.  We are constantly asking ourselves what we have learned in different situations that enter our lives.  We are free to take a chocolate break after the math hour.

We have the freedom to go to our local library every week!  Everyone who works at the library knows us.  The youth librarian knows when we will be there and has books picked out and ready to recommend to the kids.  We attend classes and programs put on at the local library.  We enjoy that awesome resource!

We are free to attend a homeschool co-op one day a week.  There are preschoolers thru high schoolers.  The kids are free to be friends with younger and older kids.  Sometimes the kids actually teach the classes!  Children ages 6 thru 12 were in the history class that I taught.  Somehow we all got along and had fun learning about the Middle Ages.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow-up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”

   

Sometimes I feel the pressure of this freedom and the required responsibility. I wonder if I am doing it right. But then I see my children finding their passions and doing the work that is needed to grow and learn and I know I’ve made the right decision to homeschool. I see my children learning responsibility.  This might be the greatest lesson that they learn.