The "Why's" of homeschooling (part 1)

"Why should I homeschool my children when public school is available for free?"


Good question! Let me tell you why I happen to homeschool. First of all, though, remember as you read in this article that public school isn't nearly as "free" as most people think it is. But even if you have a million dollars a year in income, is government school really something you want for your children?

We happen to live less than 3 blocks from the nearest public school. While the last two full academic years saw the school achieve "Torchbearer" status (an award to schools in low-income areas who meet certain academic standards) the years before that were, as far as I know, nothing to sing about. The same year that the Kiddo would have started either Kindergarten or 1st grade, I forget, I checked the state educational system's website and found the schools standardized test scores. 3rd grade was the youngest set available, as the children don't take standardized tests before then. With only one exception, the average percentiles for the entire grade were in the 40's. The only one that went above the 50th percentile was just barely above it. I want more for my children than just "average" and certainly I want more than below average!

In addition, I want more for my children morally. When our generation was in school, morals were bad enough. But nowadays, even in the heart of the "Bible Belt", it's very difficult to be morally upright. Bad language, hypersexuality and rotten attitudes are the menu of the day. I don't want to spend my days de-programming my children from what they learned the previous 8 hours! Of course, just living in the general world, children are going to hear and see bad things - the other day, one of the neighbor children asked the Kiddo if he knew what "F-*-C-K" means. >EEK<

I want my children to love learning and have the freedom to pursue their interests in a way that keeps those passions alive, not squashes them. They can read anything they want (within moral reasonability) at any time without worrying about being "on grade level". They can follow a passion and incorporate a multitude of academic processes in their studies. Homeschooling allows me to direct their studies gently without having to force them to either push ahead when their not ready, or vice versa, make them drag along with the rest of the class when they've mastered a concept.

There are many possible reasons why any one family would choose to take the homeschooling journey rather than the school one. These are a few of my reasons.

posted by Homeschool Help Web at 6:10 PM |