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Why we homeschool our kids

Why we homeschool our kids.  This is the story of how we chose,  fell into,  were nudged into,  were forced to,  tried not to,  accidentally started homeschooling our kids. 

The short version: We did "nothing" and it was better than school.

Let me explain with the long version:  We never planned to homeschool.
There are schools; kids go to them; we simply never thought beyond that.
So when it was suggested that it would be helpful to homeschool Lizzy for adoption-related reasons, we said Um, no.
She did need time with just Mom because she never got that, in her past, or now, being in school all day and with her siblings all night.  Still, no.
Both boys had time with just Mom to attach and do all the things moms and babies do naturally.  Matt was 3 and Josh was 2, and they learned to love and trust doing those things. Oh, dear.
The suggestion was right, Lizzy needed that.  How could we not?  Um, okay.
We decided to give her one year.  Ideally, she just needed mom time, not education.

So in 2008, Lizzy started grade 3 at home. We went to the pool, went shopping, ran errands, cooked, baked, cleaned, read, played with dolls, played computer games, played inside, played outside, and played some more.  
That's it. All year.  
And while she began the year far behind Josh (same grade), she ended the year far ahead of him. What?!
We didn't teach.  She didn't learn.  But somehow we did, and she did, on accident.
Obviously, that personal attention helped her esteem and confidence.  Obviously, she picked up some math skills playing with the calculator in the grocery store.  Obviously, she was absorbing history and science from her games and books.  Obviously, we couldn't send her back to school.  Oh, dear.

Obviously, if her year of "nothing" was better than their year of school, we couldn't send the boys back either.  Oh, dear.

So, while we planned to spend a year attaching (which was effective), we accidentally spent a year learning.  And then another...
And another...
Most people have goals, plans, ideals, convictions, and strong feelings about why they want to homeschool.  We simply couldn't not do it after seeing the results of doing nothing, at home, together.   

Years later, we're still accidentally learning, but of course now we're roadschooling. Read about our transition to unschooling.

Comments

Unknown said…
I was never going to homeschool. I thought homeschoolers were crazy! It's funny how we ended up doing what we were supposed to be doing. Thanks for sharing your story.