Homeschooling

Why Our Family Chose Homeschooling

On January 31, 2021 by

Thirteen years ago, when I first started out homeschooling, I honestly didn’t think it would last. My husband had known some homeschoolers in Montana who had great homeschool experiences and challenged me to try it out for a while — to which, I reluctantly agreed. So, in 2007 when our oldest daughter was between three and four years old, we began gathering preschool educational materials consisting of The Mailbox Teacher resource books (love them!), manipulatives for counting, phonics games, and a big preschool workbook from Costco. I also scoured the internet for free worksheets and ideas. Finding all these resources was so fun for me and I loved choosing what I thought was best for my child. And she really enjoyed learning! Our 2 year old would join in the fun every once in awhile for picture books and art, and our youngest was just a baby at the time.

This is one of the products we loved early on!

Although researching and gathering materials was exciting for me (still is), I soon found out how difficult it was to maintain a home and a positive teaching environment as a young mom of essentially 3 babies. They were all still in diapers or pull-ups at the time, and our oldest had regressed in potty training almost as soon as our third child was born. (Difficulties in parenting are made even more vivid when you throw homeschooling into the mix!) I doubted my abilities as a parent, and even more so as a homeschool mom. And looking back now, I realize that I lacked support from other moms, and that as a family, we simply lacked community. We started looking into the option of public school in Montana; but eventually, the idea of moving the kids closer to their grandparents won out, and we decided to make the move back to my hometown in Oklahoma that next year.

I say “closer to the Grandparents,” but what I really mean is, we moved in with them. Trying to homeschool while living with my parents proved to be much harder than I ever imagined. Things were not working out as planned. Money was tight, tensions were up, and teaching my children in someone else’s home just added an extra stress. (Not to mention, a family of five takes up a lot of space…) That big yellow bus drove by each day and taunted me! It could be easier than this. The school I grew up in was great. The area was widely conservative and Christian. And to top it off, I knew a lot of the teachers. “Real school” seemed like the best option, even though our daughter balked at every mention of it. So when she was old enough for Kindergarten, I took her for a tour of my old K-8 school, hoping to God that she would come to love the idea of going to public school. She liked the big colorful room she would be in, the psycho-motor room full of jungle gym equipment, the music room, and the outdoor playground. She was excited about the huge indoor pool our school was blessed with. But all of that disappeared as we walked back out to the car.

“Look at all the fun things you can do at school!” I said. And I went on and on about the different activities and rooms she seemed to like.

Then, to my surprise, I heard these little words: “I still want you to homeschool me, Mommy.”

I rebutted, “But homeschooling is hard! I have your sisters to take care of, and taking care of a toddler takes a lot of my attention. Plus, it’s hard living with Nana and Papa and trying to homeschool! I don’t know if I can do it.” (All pretty good reasons, I thought…)

Her big hazel eyes looked up at mine and she smiled, “I know you can do it, Mommy!”

Those words have kept me going for 13 years now. I can still see that beautiful, unrestrained hope on her face as if to say, I believe in you.

Though we’ve had our hard seasons; and in the early years, each new school year would be an assessment of whether I had it in me to continue; I stuck with it because my kids loved me as their teacher. They simply loved homeschooling. And very soon, I would fall in love with it too.

Who can resist these sweet princess faces?

If my daughter’s encouragement wasn’t enough, that same year, our family found something we never had before: truly the sweetest friends we’ve ever known. The local librarian directed me to a homeschool group in town, and we attended our first activity not knowing that this is where we would find lifelong friends. To this day, these people are more like family to us! Their support and friendship was exactly what I needed to keep saying “yes” to homeschool in the doubtful beginning years.

We love Singapore Math 🙂

Another thing that has helped us in our homeschool journey is our wonderful curriculum. For the first four years, I picked out my children’s homework from many different sources. And it was great for a season! We had lots of fun units like Johnny Appleseed, oceans, mammals, and weather. Worksheets and library books were my go-to for just about everything! But as the kids grew and time became even more of a precious commodity, I turned to Sonlight Curriculum, which became our foundational curriculum from then on. (I explain more in detail as to why I love Sonlight in this post.) The stability and confidence that a complete course of study provided for me was paramount.

Some parents choose homeschooling out of fear, some out of necessity. Some truly feel called to it from the get-go. Obviously, that wasn’t my story. But after 13 years, I can say without a doubt that this is the best way for our family to live and thrive. We continue to choose homeschooling simply because we love it! There is no other way for us. It has become a lifestyle and has caused our family to grow closer to each other and to the Lord with each passing year. Getting to watch my children interact with the stories we read, learn from history’s mistakes, and apply their knowledge to everyday life is priceless for me. But the best gift of all that homeschooling has given us is time. Time spent together is never wasted. We love to learn and we truly love each other.

Are you a homeschool parent? What are your reasons for homeschooling? I would love to hear them! Be sure and leave a comment below! 🙂

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