From Necessity to a Way of Life: Homeschooling

Two years ago, right at about this time, Dawson started begging me to homeschool him. You can read all about that HERE.

I'll be honest, homeschooling had been something that had been weighing on my heart in the months before that, but I had never mentioned it to anyone ... not Rick, not the kids, not friends, no one. It was just a stirring.

So that next school year, when Dawson started 8th grade, we began homeschooling him. Within a couple of months, we brought Brynne home from public school kindergarten. You can read about that decision HERE. And, with Eli, we have always known that homeschooling will be in his future, but we take it year-by-year based on his needs for his probable Asperger's (we have chosen to not have him diagnosed).

Rick and I have made the decision to bring Eli home starting next year, his 3rd grade year. Of course we receive much opposition from the school, and I am certain family members are concerned about that decision. But even Eli's teacher this year, someone we love and trust, called us in for a Parent Teacher Conference this week. It was not to discuss his schoolwork, because it is just fine. It was to tell us that she completely supports our decision to homeschool Eli next year. She said she has prayed about it, talked to her husband about it, and looked at it from both the perspective of being a teacher and a parent. Next to us, she knows him best, so I trust her immensely.

We started homeschooling out of necessity. But, not for one second have I regretted our decision to do so. In fact, I wish that I would have started homeschooling all of my children from the very start.

Educating our children is now a Way of Life. We do it all day long, every single day. Sure, we have "school" where we hit the books for about 5-6 hours a day. But the rest of the hours we are awake include learning, as well.

Things just spontaneously happen, because we have the time and the energy. Like a week or so ago ... Dawson asked Brynne if she wanted to play a game of Jenga. Within a few minutes, they had decided that they were going to build towers out of the Jenga blocks. They set up rules, including height, number of blocks, etc., and even gave me a grading checklist. I looked up and Dawson had a ruler, asking Brynne if certain heights of blocks would meet the criteria. They built for about 15 minutes and then moved on. But in that time they had done some learning. These types of things go on all the time. They have learned how to learn without having to be taught.

We go on multiple field trips, spend time learning with people of all ages (both very young and much older). We have volunteer opportunities and service projects. Both kids' writing skills have increased tremendously. They are both reading complicated (for them) literature. Their knowledge of the United States, it's geography and history, astounds me. They have fun learning the science behind topics that interest them. (And when we find something of interest, we dig in and exhaust it before moving on.) We read, watch educational videos, and have lots of discussions. Each day they diligently work on their assignments. They produce some great art.

All of these things have been benefits of homeschooling.

But the thing that is most important to me are the PEOPLE they are becoming. I never, ever go somewhere with them that someone does not comment on how sweet, polite, helpful, kind my kids are. I overheard a mom talking to another mom at our Homeschool Moms Night Out a couple of weeks ago. She was talking about Dawson and how great he is and how she hopes that her daughters meet someone like him when they are older. Brynne and I went to a birthday party recently and the behaviors of some of the kids just drove me insane! I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Brynne would never act like that. It's partly because she is a good kid at heart, but I know that it is also because she has the constant involvement of her parent.

These are just a couple of small examples. But I know, with all that I have, that by spending daily time with my kids, I am helping them become amazing young people. And it's not because I am an amazing person. It's just that I am able to see and hear everything they do and guide them through the whole day, instead of letting an ugly world do it. The changes I have seen in Dawson in the past couple of years is evidence enough. I cannot imagine how he would be right now had we kept him in public school. I know that we would not be very close, and he would be a completely different person.

But what about socialization? Good grief I get sick of hearing that question! My kids get loads of socialization! The difference is that they are socializing with those we want them to socialize with. Honestly, I don't want my 15 year old son spending the majority of his time with the teenagers in public school. Have you walked into your local public high school lately? SCARY!! Yeah, yeah, someday he is going to have to learn how to be around unsavory people. Sure he will. But once he has a good foundation, he will be able to handle those situations in his future with little problem. And he will be handling those situations as a mature 18 year old, instead of as a scared and clueless 15 year old. And it's not like at 18 we are going to send our kids out into the world and say, "Good luck!" No, I am hopeful that by having this experience with them that we will be close enough that they will want us to help guide them through those situations.

Dawson has three best friends, all who go to public school, who he spends as much time with as possible. He has another couple of friends that he sees regularly. He talks to friends every single day on Xbox Live when they are playing games together. He has even got to where he sets my iPad up so that he can Facetime with some of them while they are playing their video games. To him it's just like having them right there on the futon next to him. All of Dawson's friends are good kids. I know them. I know their parents. I know their parents' values and morals and what they expect of their kids. So, he gets socialization and I don't have to worry. For Brynne, it's the same. And, she has Eli. He is her best friend. And when Eli leaves public school, he will not miss the kids. He will miss the teachers, but he is a loner and he will get as much socialization as he wants with our homeschool activities.

So, I just felt really led to write about this topic this morning. Not a moment goes by that I don't thank God for the opportunity to stay home and educate my children. I know that we are ALL better for it. I can't wait for Eli to come home next year so we can begin the journey with him. I love my kids. I love to spend time with them. I love to get to actually see them have "aha" moments when they learn something. I realize that homeschooling would not work for many people, but it works for our family.

Homeschooling is no longer a necessity for us. It is our chosen way of life. And it is awesome!