Why We Homeschool

I was asked by Emma’s soccer coach tonight, “Why do you pay thousands of dollars in taxes and then not send your kids to the schools?” I fumbled a bit with my answer. I was caught off guard and didn’t want to offend him with my answer, either. After all, he was just elected to the Board of Education in his town and seemed mystified about why we opt out of the public education arena. I said that there are values in the public school system that don’t line up with ours as a family. I continued on to say that we really appreciate the flexibility that homeschooling offers our family. We enjoy keeping a quieter pace and not running from activity to activity after a long school day. In reality, those are only two reasons why we have chosen homeschooling for our family. I wanted to think it through tonight so that I am more prepared with an answer and don’t trip over my words the next time someone asks.

We are able to accomplish a full first grade program (ABEKA) in 2-2 ½ hours each day. In a traditional school setting our kids would be away from home a minimum of 6hours and this doesn’t include transportation time.

There is no joy like being present in the moment when something “clicks” for your child. I have the opportunity to be with her as she learns new things and I enjoy being the one who teaches her.

While there are private schools that line up with our values, they are cost prohibitive. I don’t want to go back to work teaching someone else’s children to afford for someone different to teach my children. I’d rather be home and teach my own children.

We have the complete freedom to teach Emma at her level. Where she is strong and gifted, she can move quickly and be introduced to more advanced material when she is ready for it. She doesn’t have to be held back by the needs of at least 20 other children who are strong and gifted in different ways. While we haven’t experienced this yet, if she ever shows any signs of struggling, then we have the freedom to slow down and focus on what she needs. We don’t have the pressures of the “system” requiring us to press forward if she isn’t ready. There is no subsititute for a teacher student ratio of 1:2 (this includes Genevieve).

We really enjoy the time we have as a family. Just this week, after we did our “formal” school lessons we had the opportunity for the girls to: make crockpot applesauce, make dinner with a bit of help from me, attend a classical piano performance at a local theater, and go bowling with other homeschool families. We did all of these things while our friends’ children were still in school.

Because I am the teacher and the mom, Emma’s learning isn’t fragmented into “school” and “home”. I know exactly what she is doing in her textbooks and can enhance that easily within our other daily activities.

We are not rushed and pressured before school to get out of the house. We are not harried and exhausted at night trying to do homework. Because of the peaceful pace, our family can take advantage of non- textbook learning more frequently than we would if we were busy rushing from one place to another.

We feel that we should be the primary teachers of our children, after all, they are our children. We can teach them the moral, spiritual, and educational values that are important in our family.

Research proves that homeschooled children out-perform their public school peers by over 30% in all areas of academics (See the Homeschool Report Card).

We enjoy the opportunities that Emma has to interact with people of all ages through our family activities, sports, homeschool co-op, choir, and piano class.

Genevieve has made me laugh SO much today!

I asked her for a birthday kiss- she gave it. I asked for a birthday hug- she gave it. I asked for a birthday nose kiss- she gave it. I asked for a birthday pat and she said, "no, you give me a birthday back scratch." I said, " it's my b-day, you give me a birthday back scratch." She said, "I not big, I not do it. You do it."

She also told me that if I would scratch her back she would be able to poop on the potty. A few minutes of scratching later and still no poop.

I told her to hurry with her dinner b/c she is taking FOREVER. She looked at me funny and said, "Why you say hurry up so much?"

She brought our spanker (rubber spatula) over and said, "you spank me." I said, "No, you didn't do anything naughty." Then she said, " me color on wall, me not clean my toys, me be naughty." She really wanted a spank and was prepared to make up infractions to get one.

Now, she is saying that she wants to go out in her yard... even though it's dark.

She's a sweetheart and always good for a laugh. I love her so much.

Decided to give the blog a fall makeover. Of course it would be even better if I actually took the time to write sometimes. Let's see, what's new? We started homeschool a few weeks ago and it's going quite well. Emma is in first grade. She's a diligent student and enjoys learning. Genevieve is adjusting well to school time- much better than I expected. We began homeschool co-op. Emma is taking art, gym, and honor club. I am teaching show and tell and helping in honor club and state history. Genevieve is loving her time in the nursery b/c she's the big kid and she gets to "take care" of the "little babies".

Emma is busy with activities this fall. Sunday afternoons is Community Christian Choir. Monday is homeschool co-op. Monday nights she and Andy have piano class. Tuesdays she has soccer practice. Her team is the Jaguars. The girls have developed a lot of skill since the spring season. She has games on Friday or Saturday each week. It's all good, but when Wednesday rolls around we are SO glad for two quiet days and nights.

Genevieve is growing and changing each day. She's really a very smart little 2 1/2 year old. Even though her words aren't as clear sometimes, her thoughts and understanding is beyond belief. She's funny too. Most of the time she's smiling and laughing. Being "hilly" she calls it... no s's yet.

Andy is working hard, as usual. It's been particularly busy for him the past few weeks. He just finished a great project for the girls. A rock wall addition to the swingset that he built several years ago. It's great and they'll really enjoy playing on it.

I recently joined a Bible study that my homeschool friend invited me to. It's on Tuesday nights and we are doing an inductive study of Daniel. I really am enjoying it and learning alot too. I did the Beth Moore study on Daniel a few years back, but this is a great refresher and reminder.

I'm celebrating my 37th birthday on Monday. Yes, I'm celebrating, even though 37 is kinda old. I'm so blessed and full of joy when I think of the amazing life that God has given me.

We'll celebrate 10 years of marriage on October 23rd and then Andy's birthday is Nov. 23rd. Did I mention that fall is my favorite time of year? It is.

Crisp leaves, bold colors. cinnamon, apple picking, pumpkin patches, hay rides, candles, caramel apples, cool air, football, harvest parties, s'more's, fires... these are a few of my favorite things.

Genevieve was soooo funny in the car this morning. She had a Dora book and Emma had her Bible. Emma was reading "quietly" in the van, so G decided to do the same. She sat back there with the book and said (in a whispering voice), "reading quietly, reading quietly, reading quietly." She just kept repeating it over and over and smiling. Love that girl!!

Emma had her swimming demonstration this morning. Yay Emma! She really progressed alot this week. Back stroke, floating on her back, breast stroke, jumpin off the block and swimming the length of the pool. All with some help from her teacher, but she's doing SO well. She was loving it too... all smiles until the block time and then she got nervous. She overcame her fear and jumped off the block twice, though. One more week to go. I'll post photos later.

Sweet Genevieve has had a rough summer because her sister has had all kinds of big-kid activities that she's too little to participate in: My Gym camp, swimming lessons, book club at the library. Genevieve gets quite upset when we have to drop Emma off and she can't go with her. To top it all off, about a month ago we went to the boardwalk for the rides. The FIRST thing Genevieve wanted to ride was the helicoptors (sp?). Of course, she was too short and they wouldn't let her on. She was devastated. She still- at least 3 times a week- tells us that she's too little to ride the helicoptors and that next year she'll be bigger. She's not letting that one go. It kind of surprises me that at two years old things impact her so much and that she remembers it for so long. Kinda scary when I think of my impatience with her sometimes. This week has been SO much better with her because I have purposefully kept her by my side more and really interacted with her more. Thanks God, for the wisdom and strength to strive toward the goal of good, godly parenting.

So, we're driving home today and Emma says, "Mama, what do you do for a baby dedication party at your house?" I told her and then asked why she wanted to know. She told me that she was just thinking of when she gets big and gets a baby. She said whe was planning the things she'd do- feed the baby, bathe the baby, change the baby, and play with the baby. I told her she had to get married before having a baby and then she wanted to know how old she needed to be to get married. I said, " Most people finish college first, so around 22-24, probably." We talked a bit about things other than birthdays that we celebrate: births, dedications, baptisms, graduations, baby showers, wedding showers, weddings, and anniversaries. She says that she wants to have one kid and then I told her that the kid would be lonely, so she says, "OK, then I'll have two. A boy and a girl." I explained that God is in charge of what kind of kids we have. She still insisted that she wanted a boy and a girl with the names of Anna (her pick for her little sister's name, but it got out-voted by Mama and Daddy) and Andrew (after Daddy). I assured her that those were very nice names and that Daddy would like that. All of a sudden she says, "Oh no, I don't know who I can marry." I reassured her that she may not even know her future husband yet. Then I told her that I didn't meet Andy until I was 21. She started laughing SO loud. She said, "You were so old. I bet you had gray hair. Maybe you walked with a cane." Then she just kept laughing about how 21 was so old to meet Dadddy... I didn't bother to tell her that I was 27 by the time we got married. She's such a cute and funny girl. I praise the Lord each day for blessing me with such an amazing child. She also was really checking out the training bras in K-Mart today. I asked her why all the interest and she said b/c her cousin, Breanna, wears one. Mind you, Breanna is only 6. I told Emma that she's got a few years before she needs a training bra. We bought some camis instead and she was happy.