Why We Homeschool

The night before our first day of homeschool, I posted my first entry to this blog, where I described our reasons for doing this crazy, crazy thing.  This was the entirety of my explanation:

But the boys started swearing a lot last year – even more than I do.  And Ezra vowed he would become a lifelong smoker.  And Zach was growing up so fast.  And I was working in the afternoons and I missed the boys.  And my kindergartner kept telling me that he was stupid.  And my first grader kept saying that school was too easy.  And I wanted them to spend more time getting dirty and less time standing in line.  And did I mention that I missed them?

Are you kidding me?  That was it?  No wonder my friends were taking bets on how long it would be before we recognized how silly an idea this was.

Luckily for us, there were reasons to homeschool that I had no idea about.  And the longer we do this, the harder it is for me to imagine doing it any other way.  So here’s a list, in no particular order, of my current reasons for homeschooling:

1. We have time to do all of things I thought we should be doing when the boys were in school.  Things like: chores, and prayer, and brushing their teeth twice a day, and learning to do their own laundry, and practicing piano for fifteen minutes on most weekdays, and visiting all of the wonderful museums and parks and trails and people who live in our very cool city.  Things we could never seem to pull off when the boys were in school.
2. Coming face-to-face with my own shortcomings.  Which I hear is the first step in recovery.
3. I experience my kids in more intimate ways as we spend more time together and do new things together. This allows us to see some incredible strengths I didn’t know were there.  And some significant weaknesses.  Either way, I know them more deeply.
4. They are getting the childhood I rushed them through (and they didn’t quite know what to do with) the first time.  Now we have time for, and interest in, forts, and crayons, and pretend play, and hours and hours playing outside.
5. I get to buy school supplies.  And think about appropriate curriculum. And plan interesting projects.  All for my own kids.  In my pajamas.
6. The boys love each other.  They always have.  But in the same way that Jeff and I have learned more about them this year, they have learned more about each other.  And they are enjoying it.
7. Our kids think we are brilliant and interesting.
8. We don’t have to rush from thing to thing.  (We don’t have to, but I still do.  Still, I’m hopeful that someday we’ll take advantage of this great homeschooling advantage.)
9. No more packing lunches.  I hated making lunch at 7:30 in the morning. Eventually we just gave up and let them eat at school, where they chose peanut butter and fluff on white bread, making me feel like a big loser.
10. The bees. Learning about, preparing for, and caring for those bees is going to be a defining experience of their childhood.  It’s already beginning to shape our family.  And without the wide open spaces of homeschool, it wouldn’t be possible.
11. The joy of learning all kinds of stuff I never learned.  Stuff like history, and geography, and nature studies, and art.  And sharing that joy with my sons.
12. Having our friends help us teach.  Andy teaches piano.  Wendy leads acting exercises.  Guo Rui coaches badminton.  My kids are growing up surrounded by adults who love them, and who can share what they love most with the boys.
13. The absolutely hilarious things the boys say about the world.  I laugh loudly several times a day at their observations, misunderstandings, and innocent questions.  I don’t want to miss those moments.
14. We can go to Costa Rica for two weeks when there is no one there and things are cheap.  And we can call it school.
15. We can teach and play and learn and assess on our own timetable.  Algebra and oral reports in third grade.  Tying shoes and story sequencing in fourth. Math “tests” in the car on the way to the dentist, and four-hour bike rides on the first warm day of spring.

When you smoosh all of these reasons together, you get this.  I like being around my kids. I don’t care any more about where they will get a “better education.”  I care about where we will get to spend the most time together doing things we love to do, or aspire to do.  I love when our whole family is together working on something.  (I hate it too.  But that’s for another post later this week called “Why We Shouldn’t Homeschool.”)

I waited a long time for these precious sons.  So did Jeff.  Zach is going to be nine this year, a fact which means we are halfway through our primary time with him.  As much as people tell me I’ll be ready when it happens, I don’t believe it.  I know it’s going to hurt.

Right now, the boys want nothing more than to be with us.  But that won’t last.  While it does, and maybe after it doesn’t, we homeschool.