We started homeschooling after my hubby had been deployed for several years in succession and we were moving to VA. We wanted more family flexibility and knew the local school district wasn't spectacular anyway. The local private schools were all to expensive for 3 kids and used curriculum that I could use MUCH cheaper. Now we continue to homeschool for all the above plus MANY, MANY more reasons...lol.
Too much sex in public school, not enough teachers, but the number one reason is because we want to travel.
my reasons were varied, but one day just added up to enough. dd's both went to private and public schools...and did fine. ds started having troubles in 1st grade...3rd grade was better...5th was awful. We hit that wall where in you are reading to learn, rather than learning to read, and he just wasn't there yet. He was saying things about himself that were heartbreaking. (and not true) He has always been my "more" child. He needs more, of everything I have. So we put him in a christian school for the end of 5th and last year for 6th we hs. Wow. What a great kid. He is reading at grade level now. (for fiction) although the non fiction is still a bit of a struggle. At the time, I told dh...if we have to spend 3 hours every evening in tears over schoolwork, we might as well do it during the day so it doesn't ruin EVERYBODIES evening. But we do not have many tears!! What a blessing, my only regret is not doing it sooner...but I don't know that he would be as appreciative of my effort if he hadn't had the struggle. ds# 2 is going to stay home this year too. No troubles for him in school, but he wants the same attention his brother is getting and has plans to "move ahead" It will be easier, with only the two of them still home, to hs them both, rather than have one in ps and one hs.
well my reason, is long so I will make it simple. Just because I want to be with my girls more and I can.
I love this thread, reading through it made me realize some great reasons to homeschool that I hadn't even thought of. My main reason was because of all of the trouble dd10 had in school since K. I wish it didn't take me this long to "find" homeschooling, but I believe everything happens for a reason, so maybe this is the time that we are supposed to start. My dd has pretty big anxiety issues with pretty much everything, she was struggling in school because of this. Her reading level is below average (at the end of this yr. June 24) But yet she got As and Bs on her report card and they just said how well she did. Ok, where is the reading help! She hated to read and would struggle through homework assignments every night. Now, since school has been out and she knows we are homeschooling she has been reading every day and asking to go right back to the Library to exchange her book for a new one once she's finished. I think now that there is no pressure and anxiety she can read in peace and because of that she is going to become a great reader in no time. Anyway, that was my biggest reason, but after we started thinking about it we thought of so much more. I work nights, so I would have so much more time with my girls. My dd8 has developmental delays and I could work with her one on one so much better than they can do at PS. We can travel whenever we want to We can go to zoos, movies, etc... during the week when the majority of the kids are in school. My kids will learn so much more homeschooling. There is so much that is not taught in school (We just did a lesson on the 4th of July and they had no idea what it was about. And I thought, well, school is not is session in July so that is not something they will do) We do not have to get up early and go out into the COLD in the middle of winter, we can learn right around our dining room table in the heat. When spring and summer hit we can go learn outside in the fresh air, they won't be stuck in a building all day. With my dd, having developmental delays I always fear the day she will be teased. She is such a happy person and thinks she is the smartest little girl in the world. I don't want anyone or anything to change the way she feels about herself. She is GREAT. I think how much fun it is going to be in the fall and winter while we're home baking pies for Thanksgiving together and learning by the Christmas tree. I can't wait!! Just listing all of my reasons makes me so happy to be starting this up!!! I can't say enough to anyone thinking about it. GO FOR IT, I don't think this is something that is ever regretted.
We began homeschooling after our dd (who was 5 at the time) was diagnosed with a life threatening illness. It made us look at our lives and our priorities very closely. Bringing our children home has been a wonderful experience. For the past 4 years, we have had foster children and they have been in public school, as required by law. We recently finalized the adoption of our son and are considering homeschooling him but I am reluctant as he has many delays socially and I have a hard time finding social situations for him. The homeschool groups in our area have not been very welcoming to him. I know eventually he will homeschool just not sure when it will happen.
My dd12 was a very precocious child who was labeled "gifted" from toddlerhood. She was so beyond mainstream schooling and then ultimately bored and indifferent to learning in the gifted school. She would spend her time chatting and fidgeting around and the teachers were sure she had ADHD (she doesn't). When she was 8 I told her about homeschooling and asked her to let me know if it was something she'd like to try. She sat on that for 2 weeks and finally came to me with, "I'm ready". That was more than 4 years ago and she still loves homeschooling. She got to learn about things she was interested in - at her pace. She had more free time and way more friends. Things were going so well, I told my ds he could homeschool also if he wanted to. He did 2 years of preschool and decided he'd like to homeschool once he got to Kindergarten. My oldest dd was in 6th grade at the time and preferred school, but knew she had the choice to homeschool, too. By 8th grade she hated her middle school and came home for that year. This was with every intention of starting high school the following fall. We've never had rebellion issues or ever wanted to throw in the towel. Since the kids know that they have a say in their educational path, they greet every day wanting to get a lot done and do their best. I couldn't ask for a better life.
I had no problems with our public school. I liked it a lot actually and still see the VP every once in awhile. After 4th grade for DS and a repeated 1st grade for DD, I got back his report card and was upset but then got the states required standardized test scored and he tested "genius" level - it didn't add up. Now DD was another issue. She had an IEP for speech and honestly it was a good thing she had it. But they were stopping it as they said she was fine (she still has issues).... and I found out she was having other kids take her tests or at least let her see the answers. So I wasn't happy with the whole situation - and I was seeing them come home around 4 in the afternoon and during the fall that's almost dark. We were arguing and stressing about homework EVERYDAY. So I decided to try out homeschooling. DH was allowing it and would let me go year to year.... do a trial run in the summer and move forward from there. Year 1 was behind us and DH now had comments that he didn't like the LifePacs and thought they needed "more" - but since I had spent 1/2 the year catching DS up I felt this was an OK request. Last year we did Ambleside which I LOVED....but now we are at the level were DS is doing transcripts.... and I can't plan everything and try and do all the stuff I need to with AO. So we enrolled in Seton for the year. If it works - cool, if not we won't do it again next year and we'll figure it out from there. DH's schedule is also part of the issue (this year Thursday/Friday off - and who knows what it will be next year!). It's funny that 7 years ago I wanted to HS and even bought the entire K curriculum from Calvert because that was all I knew....it scared and overwhelmed me so badly I sent it all back and didn't even look for anything else.... sad huh? Of course - enrolling in Seton in VA is good because when we DO foster and adopt kids apparently they are considered a private school in VA and we can enroll them and still homeschool them. Now to find my next kids
Honestly, I think my first, gut instinct reason for considering homeschooling was pure selfishness. I just could not imagine sending my children off to school for the majority of the day, 5 days a week and 10 months of the year. It just felt wrong. We did briefly consider the only local Christian school, but knew that even with me working, we'd never be able to afford it... especially once we'd have 3 kids in school. And again, perhaps selfishly, I just couldn't imagine paying 800+/month to have my kids away from me so much. We just finished our first year, and I'll freely admit that it wasn't all sunshine and roses. There were days when I wanted to pull my hair out. It's been a struggle sometimes getting my ds to make the switch from being able to play all day, to having school responsibilities. We're getting there, though.
