TT: Why do you HS?

Today I’m writing for Top Ten Tuesdays on Manylittleblessings.com.

The top ten (TT) questions I’m asked about homeschooling.

 

Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings

  1. Are those ALL your kids?  I only have 4 kids–but I had them in 5 years!  When I began homeschooling my kids were 7, 5, 3 and 1.  It was easy then compared to now.  It looks very impressive when you have a bunch of little kids hanging all over you and less impressive when everyone is out of diapers and feeding themselves.
  2. Are you a teacher?  “I am now”.  When I explain that I’m not teaching my kids I’m creating an environment for them to learn . . . usually eyes glaze over and they just back away.  Or, they try to explain to me that I’m minimizing the teaching profession–in which case, my eyes glaze over and I just back away.
  3. Do your kids have any friends?  I love the quote “in homeschooling friends are based on friendship not on zip codes” and I find that to be true–my kids have lots of different friends that they are able to choose who they want to spend their time with.
  4. Won’t you be glad when school starts?  This comes from store clerks a lot.  The kids usually answer by saying that they are homeschooled and school never starts and never ends.
  5. Will you homeschool me?  When kids find out all the cool things that we do and the freedom that the kids have to schedule their days . . . who wouldn’t want to be homeschooled?
  6. Don’t you get bored?  I was bored for almost 35 years and then I had kids!  Now my days are filled to the brim each day.  I had a VERY full life before my babies and now I take my vocation as a mother very seriously–I consider myself a professional Mother.
  7. What about Art? Math? Gym?  I love to knit, quilt, cook, garden, sew and fill my home with colorful handmade items–I think that art is creating beautiful things, and I have that covered.  In all of those just mentioned art projects that the kids are working on use tons of practical math.  Our family enjoys being outside–riding our bikes to the library, a water balloon fight or the kids participation in travel soccer–all the boxes are checked.
  8. Do your kids take tests?  Yes.  I will give them a test at the end of a unit study or at the end of a chapter.  All of the kids were in traditional school this year and did awesome on all of their standardized tests.  It was a concern of mine that they would not “get it” but they did and all of my worry was for nothing.  Should have listened to Padre Pio–pray, hope, and don’t worry.
  9. Why do you homeschool when we have such great resources? I often want to answer this question with “why do you want to send your kids to school”.  Every family homeschools for a different reason and the reasons may even be different for each kid.  When we have homeschooled it was because it was the best fit for that child and for our family.  As the family unit grows and changes we will grow and change to meet the needs of our family and our kids.   Sometimes I do get snippy–when curiosity crosses over to judgement.
  10. Do you ever get time to yourself?  I do.  I have more time to myself, my family and my passions when we are in control of our calendar and not the school system.  We can take vacations when we want, I can make appointments for the kids during the day and that frees up our evenings.  Our life is our own to live simply without excessive external input.  Do I get to spend hours at the gym or hang out at Starbucks?  No, but I did that in the first part of my life and I don’t miss it.
5 replies
  1. Melinda
    Melinda says:

    I really enjoyed your last comment about the school system being in control of your lives. This was one of the factors in why we chose to home school our second two kids. After being at the mercy of the school system for years with our older kids, we knew we wanted a different option for the little ones.

    Reply
  2. Melinda
    Melinda says:

    I really understand your comments about your lives not being ruled by the school system. After being at the mercy of public schools for our first two kids, we knew we wanted something better for the younger ones.

    Reply
    • renee
      renee says:

      Thanks for understanding! I do like the idea of going places when they are “off season” or just less crowded because it is Wednesday morning at 10 am. I was at the zoo with my daughter for school and by the time we arrived, unloaded, found our groups we had a very short time at the zoo–on the way home she reminded me of when we homeschooled we were able to spend a much longer time at the zoo.

      Reply

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