Top 10 Reasons We Love Homeschooling

I thought it would be fun to chime in with all the other bloggers who are writing today about their Top 10 Reasons for Homeschooling.  

Here are the Top Ten Reasons We LOVE Homeschooling:

10.  Work at Your Own Level

Since we do not need to keep up or hold back for a class full of other students, the test subjects move at their own pace in each academic area.  If one is great at math, he can move more quickly through the lessons or skip them all together in favor of more challenging math material.  If language arts is tripping one up, we can put the curriculum aside and spend some time developing concepts or basic skills.

9.  Work at Your Own Pace

There is very little fluff or down time in a typical homeschool day.  After dropping RA off at school, the test subjects work until about 10:30 a.m.  Unless one is particularly unmotivated on a given day, a good bulk of the core academics can get accomplished in that two hour block of time.  After snack and a short break, another 90 minutes of work will often cover all the core academics leaving the afternoon for lighter activities such as read-alouds, piano practice, leisure reading, etc.  

8.  Flexibility

As homeschoolers, we have the freedom to decide what is important each day and what can wait.  Our schedule of work and activities can and does vary depending on our goals for each day or for the week.  If an impromptu but fun and enriching field trip arises, we are often able to seize the opportunity by simply rearranging our schedule and workload for the day.  

If my parents call to see if they can stop by for a quick visit, we can switch up our breaks and meals to take advantage of their time.  And yes, there are times we have to say no to something else in favor of hitting the books, but that is a choice not a mandate for us.   

7.  More Free Time

Minimizing down time maximizes free time.  Assuming the test subjects are focused, formal school work is usually done by the time we pick up RA from school.  That means they have all afternoon free to pursue their interests.  (We make sure they are engaged in healthy activities by limiting screen time.)  Play dates have become the norm not the exception, as we have time for socializing with friends now.  TS 1 is able to play baseball and attend all the practices and clinics he wants as he has the time in his schedule.  My children have time to be children and we all love this aspect of homeschooling.

6.  No Homework

This was the bane of our existence in previous years.  Homework was at least an hour each afternoon (factoring in the whining and dawdling) and could reach upwards of two hours depending on the work load and attitudes.  It was a misery for all involved and the elimination of homework has surely made this home a happier place!

5.  Fostering a Love of Learning

Not two days ago, TS 1 spontaneously told me how he loves history and science this year.  On numerous occasions last year, he told me how he hated these two subjects.  I am convinced that forgoing uninspiring textbooks and workbooks for living books, maps and journaling has brought joy back into the process of learning.

4.  Delving Deeper

As a result of having more time and using living books in our curriculum, we often have the opportunity to delve deeper into areas of interest in subjects like history and science.  Recently, for example, we have all enjoyed learning about and reading Shakespeare.  We have read together about him in The Story of the World.  We have read his famous works in Children's Shakespeare.  Both test subjects are reading their own in depth history and literature books about him as part of their TOG studies.  TS 2 even decided to read Who Was Shakespeare? on his own.  

History and science are interesting, engaging, alive and applicable to our lives because we can delve deeper into each.  

3.  Being Together

I'll be honest here, one of the main reasons I never seriously considered homeschooling before is that I didn't think I could handle being on duty 24/7/365.  Don't get me wrong, I love my kids.  I enjoy my kids.  However, truth  be told, I'm a bit lacking in the patience department.  Not to mention the fact that I am sure I have sensory integration disorder, which means I crave peace, quiet and alone time each day.  So, I have been excited to see how God has equipped me to do this homeschooling thing!  Am I still lacking in patience and craving quiet at times?  Yes!  But I am also truly enjoying our time together as a family and looking forward to bringing RA into the mix.  On the really bad days, when I am worn out and the test subjects seem to have added whining and bickering to their daily assignment sheet, I fantasize about dropping them off on carline.  But those days have been few and far between and I am truly grateful for the gift of time together we have now as a homeschooling family!

2.  The Comforts of Home

There is just something so appealing about pulling a tray table up to your comfy couch and getting to work.  

Snack and lunch become a natural part of the day, taking place just a few steps from where we work.  "Recess" is right outside our back door.  If someone is unusually tired or under the weather, a short flight of stairs and a quick rest or nap will often do the trick.  We don't have to lose an entire day of learning as we would if one had to stay home from school.   

1.  Discipleship and Character

Because we are together 24/7/365 I have more opportunities to teach the test subjects what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  They each have Bible curriculum they are working through and most mornings before we get RA off to school, we read a short selection from a children's Bible together.  Even more important that those things though, I believe, is that we chose their entire curriculum based on how each subject fit into a Biblical world view.  We don't want God to be something they think about on Sundays.  We want Him to be a living, active person in their lives.  We want our children to make decisions as adults based on God's will for their lives and out of a desire to please Him.  

Of course being together so much also means there will be more opportunities to rub one another the wrong way.  This can be a drain on my own attitude and energy at times.  This process is not always fun, but is certainly most important.  I am seeing some changes and growth in the test subjects, especially recently since we instituted the practice of a peacemaking couch, and I am expecting more fruit over time.

How about you?  What are your Top 10 Reasons for Homeschooling?  Feel free to share them or a link to your own post in the comments!

Weekly Wrap Up: The One without a Witty Title

Joining the Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Homegrown Learners and The Homeschool Chick...

Well, I wish I could say that things have improved on the bickering front, but alas they have not.  The only difference I can see from last week to this is that they have decided to throw a measure of complaining into the mix this week.  So, we have spent plenty of time on character development (mine and theirs!) again this week.  And I am trying not to grow weary in this.

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."  Galatians 6:9

Monday morning was a typical homeschool morning.  At noon, we packed a lunch and ate in the car on the way to a writing class offered through our homeschool group for TS 1.  He literally just completed his writing curriculum for this year last week when I noticed that there were still openings in the class.  The teacher is a college senior, who was also homeschooled, and has a passion for writing.  TS1 loved the class and is looking forward to the next ten weeks!  The class is held on the beautiful grounds of an economic "think tank."  TS 2 and I sat outside and finished up his afternoon work during the class.  It was lovely.

Papa arrived on our doorstep Tuesday morning to stay with TS 2 for an hour while I took TS 1 to a dentist appointment.  He had to have one of his baby teeth pulled.  While I know TS 1 was nervous (and so was I, honestly), it turned out to be a low stress/low pain experience.  Neither of us even knew when the tooth came out, actually!  I love our dentist- he is just so fantastic with kids.

On Tuesday evening, I went to our homeschool group's monthly mother's meeting.  This month's meeting was actually a homeschool information night aimed at prospective homeschoolers.  I brought a close friend who is considering homeschooling next year.  Although we are almost three-quarters through our first year of homeschooling, I still learned a lot at the meeting and was excited to encourage prospective homeschoolers.  If I can homeschool, anyone who wants to do it, can!  


Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our homeschool group?  I am convinced that our group and its associated activities, classes, field trips and co-op have been instrumental in our experiment's success.  Through the group, I have learned so much about homeschooling, state requirements, curriculum, etc.  The test subjects have been able to have frequent outings with other children.  They have been exposed to fun and enriching instruction I would not have covered at home this year.  If you are not already a part of a homeschooling group in your area, I highly recommend finding one!


The weather has been gorgeous most of the week- unseasonably warm and sunny!  We spent three hours outside on Thursday getting our school work done and enjoying the warmth and fresh air.  

Friday brought co-op and I am ever so happy it did!  We wrapped up our Friday with our weekly playdate with friends from church.  


Our third quarter ends next week and I can hardly believe it!  We are really in the homestretch now.  

Weekly Wrap Up: A Fool Insists on Quarreling

Joining the Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers  once again...

Last week, I mentioned how I've been struggling with my patience of late.  I'm not the only one!  The kids have been short-tempered, slow to respond to instructions and argumentative, too.  After a phone call with a friend, who mentioned her own struggles with her child's attitude, I decided to get serious about addressing these issues in our family.  I did a quick search on this parenting website I trust, and found a brief article and a handout to use to begin a discussion with the kids on attitudes.  I also remembered this book I had purchased last year and never used.  It's divided into sections listing all the types of negative behaviors and sins we need to address at some point in our kids (and ourselves!)  We have been spending time each afternoon when RA gets home from school, discussing what the Bible has to say about good attitudes, bad attitudes, an argumentative versus a peaceful spirit, etc.  The discussions have been good and even funny.  I won't list all the verses we studied so far, but here are a few of the the ones we looked at this week.  The verse in bold has become our theme verse of sorts thus far, reminding us that it is honorable to be a peacemaker.  The last two, new to the kids, offered comic relief :)

Proverbs 29: 22  "An angry person starts fights; a hot-tempered one commits all kinds of sin."

Proverbs 15:18 "A hot-tempered person starts fights, a cool-tempered person stops them." 

Proverbs 18: 6 "Fool's words get them into constant quarrels; they are asking for a beating."

Proverbs 20:3 "Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor, only fools insist on quarreling." 

Proverbs 21: 9 "It is better to live alone in the corner of  an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home."

Proverbs 21:19 "It is better to live alone in the desert than with a quarrelsome, complaining wife."

Unfortunately, co-op was cancelled again for this Friday due to ongoing construction at the church where co-op takes place.  On the bright side, it offered us yet another week to stretch out our assignments over five days rather than four, making each day just a little bit easier.  


Wednesday marked the 90th day of school for us, the halfway mark in our year!  It was exciting to reflect on that.  As much as I always admired homeschooling, I never thought it would be a fit for our family yet here we are, halfway through our "experiment!"  I am thankful that we have had a fun and productive year so far, and look forward to the adventures God has in store for us for the rest of the year.  Monday is also a benchmark for us as it marks the end of our second quarter.  Once again, I was busy writing up our quarterly reports this week, and taking stock of what has been working and not working in our homeschool.   If you're interested in what we have read so far, check out my post from earlier in the week.  And please comment if you have some suggestions for books, we are always on the hunt for a good book :)


We are looking forward to a slow paced weekend, and hoping to finish up some projects around the house we have been working on recently.  We have a playdate this evening with some friends from church, the boys have baseball clinics this weekend and Sunday is church.  I wish you a wonderful weekend full of family, friends and love!