I've always wondered, since it seems to be an assumption 2 most that a high percentage of parents that choose to homeschool do it for reasons associated with religion....Is there a statistic anyone knows of? Of course you don't have to answer...but for any that would like to add input...
My reasons for hsing have nothing at all to do with religion. I'm not even religious, though my dh is. My kids both have certain special educational needs that I don't feel the public schools can meet. So, we chose to educate them at home where their needs can met & they can get the education that they deserve.
I put some. If we were not homeschooling, we would not have our kids in public school, we would have them in a local Christian School. In that sense, then, that is where religion comes in. However, our initial reason to start homeschooling didn't have to do with religion at all. The teacher was not what we was best for our oldest son (we pulled him out after first grade), and since it was a small Christian school with multi-grade classrooms, he would have had the same teacher for the next 2 years! Since we wouldn't send him to ps, our only real option was homeschooling. I hadn't really even heard of it, and never planned to hs, but, I'm sooo glad we were led that way and have been able to homeschool going on to 12 years now!
I voted some. It was not the reason I decided to homeschool but it kind of enforced the decision in my mind. Our religion is such a part of our lives I can't do anything without it affecting it.
None. We homeschool because we can't bare the idea of putting our children into the same ps system that failed DH and I. By that I mean that DH was in the gifted program for exceptional students until high school when he started to get bored from the lack of stimulating education. He went from a gifted student to barely graduating student. Seriously, .1 away from not getting his diploma.
I put MOST. Though through the years I've decided that even if we weren't a Christian family, there's plenty of other reasons to homeschool. Any one of these could be just as compelling for me!
I put main, like squarepeg and jackie! if it wasnt for my faith, i wouldnt have had any worries about the ps, and my kids would have gone there for their educatioin. but bc i am a christian, i want my children to see and learn something different than i did, and i believe hs ing will help us get that.
The original reason had nothing to do with our religious beliefs (so I chose NONE). However, since we've been homeschooling I'd say that our religious beliefs have a great deal to do with why they won't go back (unless there is a drastic issue or something)....or maybe I should have picked SOME...lol.
Rhonda, you sound like me. No wonder we get along. However, I chose some. I have very strong faith and I know God put it on my dh heart. I went to ps to the first month of my junior yr of highschool. Then my parents pulled us out. I did so much better hsing and so did my sibblings. I really didn't want to sent my girls through our local school system.
Some here too, It wasn't the main reason we decided to homeschool but it did have some part in influencing our decision.
It plays a big part in our homeschool lives, but it's not the sole reason we chose to take this path. The schools in our area are horrendous. I wanted them home where they're safe. I wanted them in an environment that is not centered around little ones trying to act 10 years older than they are. I wanted to give them a strong start with their education. I didn't want them to have to compete amongst 30 other students for their teachers attention when they were struggling. Honestly, the list is HUGE! I have yet to encounter a problem that makes me think twice about our decision. Quite the contrary actually. I will say that I believe the Lord placed it in my heart. It was all him. I woke up one day with this desire to investigate this education choice. Something I've NEVER EVER even thought about. I had this overwhelming urge that this is what He wants us to do, especially considering I knew nothing about the homeschool world.
Being a Christian has everything to do with why I homeschool. School politics, a crumbling system, poor academics, the problems that come along with attending a public school, etc...happend to fall under this category. This doesn't mean that I use a strict Christian curriculum because sometimes I use a secular curriculum. But I believe that my family is my main ministry and homeschooling my daughter is part of this ministry. We knew we wanted to homeschool since Ems was born. We struggled with the public system when our older daughters attended. We believed it would be wrong, for our family, to send our daughter to a Godless school, to be taught by Godless teachers, who couldn't teach her or treat her like the individual God created her to be. I wish we knew more about homeschooling when the other two were in public school. We weren't necessarily trying to avoid the problems that come with the public school because I believe they will come around one way or another. But we would like to prepare Ems to handle these problems before they come around. So although we homeschool for many reasons, all these reasons are influenced by our Christian beliefs.
I'm not quite sure where to vote. Although I'm a very strong Christian, religion played absolutely no part in my initial decision to homeschool. It is, however, one of the "perks" of homeschooling, one of the biggest. I was surprised to find myself deciding to HS, but once I explored various reasons behind it, there were a ton of supporting reasons, not just religion. But it wasn't the initial impetus, although it was one of the many reasons that helped convince me to do it. So I just don't know whether to hit 'some' or 'none', LOL. I'm too indecisive.
That is kinda my story. In the beginning religion played no role at all in my decision. It is the reason I continue but not the original reason...not even a consideration actually.
