Why We Decided to Homeschool Our Kids

A homeschool mom? Me??? Pfft! Kids go to school and school is a necessary tool for learning. Homeschoolers have at least a dozen kids anyway, that’s more than I could ever handle.

To show my commitment to institutionalized schooling, the first house we bought was at the back of an elementary school. Our firstborn was almost 2, so still years away from being of school age, but being able to walk to school was one of the qualities that sold the house for us.

But then, years later when my daughter’s 5th birthday was approaching and it was time to actually send her to that school around the corner, suddenly I wasn’t so sure anymore. The more I learned about the school system, the less I wanted my kids to be part of it.

I guess, maybe…

If the school days weren’t so long…?

When I was growing up, school days were much shorter and our free time much broader. I couldn’t bear the thought of having my curious, energetic, 5-YEAR-OLD spending close to 7 HOURS a day at school, 5 days a week. That sounded like prison. For 5-year-olds.

Where was time for other activities? For family? For herself?! It seemed unnecessary and downright unhealthy to be confined to a classroom for the vast majority of the waking hours at that age.

Other issues kept emerging…

I didn’t like what I was hearing from other parents at the playground. Such as the increasingly common SILENT LUNCH. Or the widespread dissatisfaction over how short thus stressful lunch breaks were for little kids. And then there was the brand spanking new COMMON CORE.

Digging deep and researching, I had a hard time believing that the Common Core was implemented to benefit the children. 

My children.

All children.

Our future.

I would have loved for my daughter to experience more play-based learning at her age.

Not the “drill and kill” Common Core style I kept hearing about.

Early childhood is a crucial developmental stage in a child’s life where rapid changes in cognitive ability play their part. But we’re not all exactly the same, right?

Just as humans don’t grow in the exact same physiological pattern, individual cognitive and social-emotional development varies as well. Yet, we’re attempting to mold our kids into the exact same shape and at the exact same time.

Could that backfire?

Would this leave some kids frustrated, stressed out, and overwhelmed?

Could that lower their self-esteem or diminish their natural ability and desire to learn?

The more I thought about it, the more I was sure of what I actually wanted for my kids.

It was more freedom and less school.

What I wanted for them was quite simple:

• I wanted them to be able to be kids for as long as they wished. No rushing into the feeling of having to grow up too quickly, no pressure of having to conform to peers.
• I wanted them to stay curious and to keep on asking questions.
• I wanted them to stay playful and creative, spending as much time outdoors as possible. Climbing trees and building forts, playing, learning, discovering and exploring, doing what kids their age should be doing.
• I wanted them to keep on getting lost in their boundless world of imagination where miraculous things happen and extraordinary ideas are created.
• I wanted them to have the freedom to learn and grow at their own pace along with their individual strengths and weaknesses. Conveyor belt education doesn’t support that.
• I didn’t want to shield them from the real world. Instead, I wanted to make them aware and show them the real world that they might otherwise miss out on while spending long hours in the classroom.

Deep down I knew that homeschooling was probably the answer to the environment I desired for my kids.

But how does one actually do it? Is there a homeschool manual out there??? 

Related: 11 Most Popular Homeschool Questions Answered

I questioned myself if I could really do it. If I was good enough. If my kids would really benefit from being homeschooled or if I was being delusional and setting us all on a path to failure. 

How would I actually teach my children? Me? It’s not like I’m a teacher!?

What if I mess up? I’m certainly not perfect?!? 

So I went back in time and paid attention to my own experiences. 

I aced through school. I’ve always had good grades (with the exception of German language. Sorry, Germans, I’m not meant to speak your language. I tried.). I was able to memorize easily and consequently made good grades. But I didn’t always understand the concept.

In reality, I was taught to MEMORIZE, not learn. And I was rewarded for just that. My grades weren’t relative to what I really knew.

In the end I only retained the content of the subjects I’d been passionate about (or at least certain areas of subjects) while the rest was rerouted to the black hole of my brain, never to be found again. (There must be so much in there.)

For the first time, I seriously considered homeschooling.

Even though I knew nothing about it.

I decided to go with my gut feeling and against all odds and social norms.

(Everybody said no.)

(I didn’t care.)

It felt right.

And, luckily, at least my husband was on board.

PS: It STILL feels right, years later (here are all the reasons why we continue to homeschool). Even though I’ll be the first to admit that homeschooling can get really hard sometimes – hey, keeping it honest!)