“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. -Deuteronomy 6:4-7
All families have different reasons they made the decision to home school. They range from medical issues, bullying, spirituality, and so on. We went back and forth for years on our decision before we finally decided to do it. Everyone has their different opinions on this particular subject, such as how to home school, the pros and cons of homeschooling,and if they can financially do it. Everyone’s list is different as to why they decide to home school.
1. Prayer
When our oldest was at the age to start school we had a decision to make. We had thought about it since he was a baby if we were going to do public school or home school, so this was a big decision to make for our family and our children. So we did the only thing that we knew to do, we PRAYED. When we knew this is what the Lord wanted us to do, the decision was easy. Even though homeschooling can have a lot of rough days you feel better at the end knowing you did what the Lord wanted you to do and it makes it 100% better.
2. Big Emotions
Homeschooling is easier for our children because of the big emotions they have. Our oldest is very introverted and always wants to be home. We sent him to private school for one year and everyday when we picked him up he was sitting at a lunch table by himself not playing with the other kids. I would ask him why he wasn’t playing and he said when he is done with school he waits for us because he missed us. It just broke my heart.
3. Thriving
Kids thrive in different situations for school. Our kids thrive more in our home for school. Yes we take field trips and go on outings but they do most of them in our home. We have a small bedroom that we have turned into an office/schoolroom. Our kids love it and they are able to concentrate on their school and succeed. We also chose a curriculum that best fits our kids. They are very visual learners so we chose the curriculum Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool. It is a completely FREE curriculum, they take donations that help them to grow. This curriculum currently only goes to seventh grade but they are looking to add more grades. It teaches through games, videos, book work, and activities. Here is a link for Easy Peasy if you are interested in looking into it for your children https://allinonehomeschool.com/. We have gone through many curriculum’s this one works best for our kids. Do not forget that if what you are doing is not working for your kids then you can still change it. Do not give up, like I said we have been homeschooling for about nine years and it took us this long to find the right one for us. Find what they thrive in and go with it.
4. Closeness
Our kids always want to be together which blesses our hearts for them to be so bonded. When they are apart there is a lot of crying or wanting to be with the other. I know this will most likely change as they get older but for now it works terrific with our home school.
5. Life School
Everything we do in life can be used in school. Even though we use a curriculum to teach our kids the basics our children learn through everyday life. This is where teaching your children life skills comes in. Our kids sometimes cook with us, help build and maintain a garden, and care for animals. In these skills they learn measuring, safety and responsibility.
6. Field Trips
We get to take field trips anytime we want. We take different trips and learn with everything around us. During the summertime we go camping a lot and our kids get to learn while we are having fun.
7. Spirituality
One of the biggest reasons we made this decision is the bible. In public schools there is no prayer or scripture taught. We want our children to focus on the Lord. Want them to be able to pray together and to take turns reading their bible. Allowing this shows them that as long as God is the center of everything in your life including school, it will prosper.
Making a list of reasons will help you get through the day to day of your home school. Teaching your kids at home is not easy at all. Your kids will fight, whine, not settle down, and you will have days where you just don’t feel like doing it. You will feel overwhelmed and will get upset, but you got this. My number one advice is never compare your kids to other kids. It’s not fair to them and it will make you doubt yourself. No child is the same, they all learn at different paces. Include them into decisions for your home school like coming up with a name for your home school like our kids did. They came up with the name Adventure Kids Academy all on their own and because they named it they love it even more because it is all their own. Always encourage your child in school. Tell them how good they are doing with their work. There are many forms of homeschooling. If what you are doing is not working for your kids then just change it. Never give up, You got this!