Why do you home school?

[mike]

Feel free to vote or give other/additional reasons in a post.

The poll is open for 90 days.

[QuietlyListening]

We were beginning to talk about homeschooling when my oldest asked to go to private school or homeschool so we pulled her out 2nd semester of her first year of high school and thus began our journey. We homeschooled due to spiritual darkness in the schools. We included the sciences, English, maths and tried to have history from a non resistant view point plus able to include different missionary bios as we moved thru time periods and countries.
All 3 learned to cook, clean, use a washing machine, and sew. My son was the button sewer on his floor at college- only one who could sew. My husband also taught some basic car care skills and basic woodworking and use of tools.

Interestingly enough my son often talked about missing things but as he had kids told us he was thankful for what we taught him.
My oldest said she would never homeschool her children- she married in her late 30s and had a child last year and before he was a year old said she was homeschooling him. . We just chuckle to ourselves.

[Neto]

Maybe I shouldn't have responded to the poll, as our children have all been out of school for decades. We did when we were in the village, because there was no school there. (On the mission center they went to the mission school. We could not have done home-schooling in the village if they had been in a Brazilian school, because home schooling was against the law there. Maybe still is, I don't know. I think all of the Brazilian missionaries also had their children in the Wycliffe school, so they could work around that law. Plus, the school system in that city was pretty poor.)

[steve-in-kville]

I am not the biggest fan of home schooling, although that is entirely based on my experiences with people that were home schooled. (so there's my disclosure) That said, I am aware of situations where it is ideal given the circumstances.

[JimFoxvog]

I homeschooled our two sons. Each had his own learning style. Both were smaller than average like I was, and I received a lot of abuse from other kids in public school. I liked spending time with them. We wanted to include Christian values as part of education and avoid indoctrination into the patriotic militarism of our area.

We gave our sons a choice whether to continue homeschool or go to public school for high school. Both chose to continue homeschooling, but one son switched to public school for 11th grade. He still was only able to get a homeschool diploma and GED. Both went on to finish 4 years of college and the son who hadn't been to school before college got an M.A. I guess he didn't get enough formal classroom time earlier.

[RZehr]

I don't homeschool my children, so didn't select any of the poll options. Much prefer church school.
When I was a child, I was homeschooled for two years of elementary. Probably for the reasons of 5 & 6.

[mike]

We homeschooled for the past 13 years, and it was a good experience. This fall, our 7 children who are school age are attending school for the first time. It would have been our first choice to continue home schooling, but as of this spring we are attending a church that strongly discourages home schooling, and we decided that being new to the community, our children will be "odd" enough without being the only family that home schools on top of that.

We are just a couple weeks into the year, but it's a major life change for us, especially my wife, who suddenly has lots of time to spend with the three pre-schoolers while the others are away. There are definitely some perks with sending most of the kids away for a good portion of the day. It also feels like there is some loss. My wife feels very grateful for the years and hours she spent teaching the children, and wonders what will be different with the younger ones who may never be taught at home. It can feel like we are losing some of the close relationship with the children, as their social circle suddenly expands broadly and their teachers take a prominent role in their lives. It's a real trade-off.

So I haven't answered the poll, but I might do that with the reasons why we homeschooled in the past.

[steve-in-kville]

We are just a couple weeks into the year, but it's a major life change for us, especially my wife, who suddenly has lots of time to spend with the three pre-schoolers while the others are away.

This is the first time in many years that my wife is home alone for few hours. The twins started school and it is certainly a big change!