When my husband and I discussed sending them back to public school, we actually agreed to send them back. However, we kept changing our minds, and ultimately couldn't decide one way or the other.
I decided to go over the original reasons we decided to homeschool in the first place. Here are our reasons for homeschooling:
- Quality of Education
- The Safety of My Children
- Quality Time with My Children
- Less Wasted Time
Unfortunately, with the "No Child Left Behind" Act, the public school system can only go as fast as the slowest learner in the classroom. This means that the children who learn quicker are left to be bored, and are not reaching their full potential. By taking their education into my own hands, I can ensure that they are learning at the appropriate level, and I can also teach them what I want them to learn.
In today's schools, children are bringing guns to school, selling drugs, performing sexual acts in school, getting in vicious fights with knives and gangs...there are so many more dangers at school today than there ever was 20 years ago. To keep my children safe, I choose to keep them at home.
I enjoy learning, and I want my children to enjoy to learn as well. By spending time learning together, we strengthen our relationships, and get quality time together. My children can feel good asking questions, they get 1-on-1 attention, and no one is going to ridicule them for not knowing the answer to something.
When children are in public school, how much time is actually spent learning? They have time in between classes to go to their locker and prepare for the next class. Kids arrive in their next class, spend time talking, passing notes, getting things ready for class...by the time the teacher finally gets the kids settled down enough to listen, 10 of the 40 class minutes are used up. Distractions, and the nearing end of class take another 10-15 minutes, which leaves only 15-20 minutes of learning time. Take out the time for answering students' questions, and the students are only learning new material for approximately 5 minutes per day.
All in all, we have decided that homeschooling is the better option for our children. My husband and I agree that the quality of education our children will receive at home is much higher than that of the public school system's education.
