Monday, November 24, 2014

Why We Homeschool

About four-five years ago, long before we knew how our child was wired, I came across this little video.... and it floored me. Stopped me in my tracks. Not because of what  Sir Ken Robinson said, not because of the entertaining illustrations.... but what God told me the moment it was over.



"You will be a homeschooling family."



See, I had no choice in the matter. He said it, and even though some days it scares the snot out of me, most of the time it is truly the most rewarding part of being a parent. Watching her learn to read and write and do number sentences and about the world around her is like watching her be born all over again a hundred times a day.



So yes. We homeschool so we can instill our values in our child. We homeschool because of the way our child learns. We homeschool because a 1:1 teacher/child ratio is much better than a 1:25-30. We homeschool because we want to build up her strengths and shore up her weaknesses. We homeschool because we want to educate the whole child, not just the parts that can be measured by standardized testing. We homeschool because she is an amazingly intelligent, creative, articulate, eager to learn child and we did not want to give that gift to anyone who may choose to crush it to fit their mold of what she should be instead of loving her for who she is.



But the number one reason we homeschool is that the system is broken and we can't sit around waiting for it to be fixed.









*- As you can see the problem is with the system, not the teachers. I love me some teachers. Some of my greatest homeschooling resources come from teachers. A good portion of teachers are handcuffed as to what they can do. I see that, we all see that. Please don't send your union rep after me.



**- If you can you should totally watch "Waiting for Superman" and "Class Dismissed". Both are required watching for those who are homeschooling or thinking of homeschooling.



***- If you choose not to homeschool please, please, please don't feel guilty reading this. I very rarely get on my homeschooling soapbox. Mostly because I don't want anyone to feel like they "should" homeschool. It's not for every family. That's fine. It's not a mark of a good mother or a promise of a smarter child.... You do what is best for your family because that's who God gave you.