This is the first in my Getting Started Homeschooling Series. Check out the rest of the articles in this series:
- Getting Started
- Why Should I Homeschool?
- What Do I Do First?
- Homeschooling Laws
- The Different Homeschooling Methods
- What is Deschooling?
- What is Unschooling?
- What is the Charlotte Mason Method?
- Homeschool Distance Learning
- Choosing Homeschool Curriculum
- Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum
- Abeka Homeschool Curriculum
- Creating Your Own Curriculum
- Homeschool Planning
- Homeschool Support
- Homeschool Socialization
You've heard a lot about homeschooling lately. Maybe you met someone at the grocery store who home schools. Or your sister, your best friend, your neighbor home schools. If you ask any of them why they home school, you'll probably get a wide variety of reasons.
Reasons to Home School
If you want to know the reasons we chose to home school, click here.
| There are so many reasons parents choose homeschooling for their children. I couldn't possibly touch on them all, but I will list a few different reasons here. |
Religious Reasons
Many parents choose to home school due to religious beliefs. I don't know very much about this reason to home school, so I won't even try to explain the details; I just know that some people choose to home school so their religious beliefs are not compromised.
What Children Learn
Today, the public school system is teaching our children what we, as parents, should be; sex education, drugs and child abuse are all being taught early. In my opinion, WAY too early!
To have control over what our children are being taught, many people choose to home school.
It's not only the classroom education you have to worry about, either. My friend's daughter (she's 7) came home the other day asking about sexual terms that she shouldn't even HEAR until she's much older. She heard them from a friend at school! Let's face it, many parents do not censor what their children hear or see, so this kind of "street" (for lack of a better term) knowledge is being spread around at school.
Safety
We've all heard of the incidents where children are bringing guns to school; there are so many issues that we need to protect our children from! Bomb threats, guns, drugs...is it any wonder that so many of us are choosing to pull our children out of that environment?
The school officials are charged with the care of our children while they're there. Unfortunately, they aren't doing a very good job. I'm sure we've all heard of the cases where children have been caught doing sexual acts in school bathrooms; I won't go off on this tangent though...LOL
Besides all the dramatic dangers like kids bringing guns and other weapons to school, you have to worry about the every day safety of your child. The final clincher for when I decided to begin homeschooling was when my daughter broke her wrist at school.
Without going into all the gory details, she broke her wrist around 10:30 am, the "nurse" said it was only bruised, so they sent her back to class. ALL DAY they left her with this broken wrist, punishing her when she couldn't write. I never received a single phone call!
Anyway, my point is, that ultimately, we have to protect our children, even from the little injuries that could happen. No one else is going to do it.
Learning Styles
The public school system is set up in one uncompromising standard. There isn't any room for adjustments. All kids learn differently; some may learn best by reading the material, still others will learn best hands-on. There are many different learning styles.
| To the right is a book that will help you determine your child's learning style. This will help you later on. Knowing your child's learning style, and tailoring your curriculum to it, will help make learning fun! |
Problem with Local Schools
As I told you above, I had a problem with the local school, and that's why I ultimately pulled my children out of school and started homeschooling.
I know many people who are considering homeschooling because of problems they are having with the local schools. One of my friend's daughter is too advanced for her class; the teacher repeatedly punishes her for "acting out" in class, but she is bored! This happens a lot, unfortunately. Think how far she could go with her learning if she wasn't boxed in by the mold the public school system uses!
The principal is constantly harassing another of my friend's children. They have gotten into a lot of arguments, and fruitless meetings trying to resolve the issue, to no avail.
There are so many reasons to home school; I have only named a few. I am very interesting in hearing about what reasons prompted you to home school, or consider homeschooling! Leave me a comment!
