We are neither commune-dwelling hippies nor religious fundamentalists. The public schools in our area generally fall between fine and great. We aren’t trying to completely shelter the kids from the world. And as those are — warning: sarcasm ahead — most definitely the primary reasons that people homeschool, why did we decide to go that route?
It all started in my sister-in-law’s living room. Chloe Poppins had started homeschooling her two oldest children, and I was intrigued. The kids were learning at their own pace, in their own place, and sometimes even in their pajamas. It looked like a relaxed, comfortable way to learn. I wanted to know more. I started my research with the Poppins family’s copy of “The Well-Trained Mind: a Guide to Classical Education at Home.”
“The Well-Trained Mind” was written by Jessie Wise and her daughter, Susan Wise Bauer. It’s a very thorough guide to a classical approach to education, which appealed to me, and it talks a lot about the fact that homeschooling allows you to teach to your child’s level rather than to the average intelligence of a class full of kids. If your child is a math whiz, for example, you might breeze through addition and subtraction and get straight to tackling fractions. Or maybe your child is having trouble spelling and you need to slow things down a little. Being able to take advantage of either option sounded like a terrific way to approach school.
By the time I’d finished the book, I was convinced. Rockford and I talked it over and agreed: Should we ever have children, we’d give homeschooling a shot. Poppy came along five or so years later, and her education started as soon as she was able to listen to us read to her. (Pro tip! If you’re reading to your kids and talking to them about history or politics or the way the moon influences the tides? You’re doing a little homeschooling already!)
We’ve been at this formally for about seven years now, and unless our circumstances change I’m planning to homeschool all the way through twelfth grade. Having the ability to sleep ’til 9 and then do science in our jammies is wonderful (although we can’t do that as often as we used to, due to early-morning outsourced classes), but the factor that has made and continues to make homeschooling a great fit for our family is the freedom to pick up our school and take it on the road. Rockford travels frequently for work, and we’re often able to go along with him. I think that’s gone far to help us maintain a close relationship both as a couple and as a family.
So we aren’t homeschoolers for religious or even ideological reasons. We started homeschooling because I was inspired and idealistic, and we’re still homeschooling because the freedom to travel and the ability to customize our curricula to our children mean it works beautifully for our family.
Have you ever considered homeschooling? I’m happy to try to answer any questions you have about it! Just leave ’em in the comments.
