If you’re taking that giant leap of faith to pull your children out of school and homeschool them this year, you’re not alone. Between the eye-opening experience of distance learning, to the measures being considered to combat virus spread in schools next year, many parents are taking the leap to homeschool.
As you plan and prepare for this significant lifestyle change, you may have a picture in your mind of what homeschool will look like for your family. Some aspects of homeschooling, however, may surprise you.
You Have More Time
You’d think that when you send your children elsewhere for schooling, you’d feel like you have more time. Somehow, though, and I can’t exactly put my finger on why, it’s homeschooling—even the most ambitious sort—that seems to harmonize better with the other aspects of life. Perhaps it’s simply that you’re spending more of your time in alignment with your highest priorities. Your days may be full of lessons, read-alouds, field trips, and extracurriculars, but they feel less like obligations imposed upon you and more like the good stuff of life.
You Learn So Much
You might refer to the kids as students, but you’ll be learning right alongside them. Approaching each subject and each endeavor with a curious mind and the heart of an explorer will allow you to appreciate the wonders of nature, science, the arts, and even math and grammar. Homeschooling is an educational adventure for all.
You Find It Easy
OK, easy may be overstating it, but you’ll likely be surprised at how natural and fun homeschooling is for you and your family. It’s very common to feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of providing your children with their education. If we’re being honest, perhaps it was convenient to have something else—like school—to blame for any challenges or perceived shortcomings. You’ll soon find, however, that just as your children learned to walk and talk on your watch, they’ll learn reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic with you as their guide, and it’ll be great.
Your Kids Love Learning
While you’ll likely need a period of transition from a “school” mindset to a homeschool mindset, your children will eventually rekindle their natural curiosity and their innate desire to learn when given the space and freedom to explore new ideas. You’ll know it when you see it, and it’ll be magical.
You Realize You Never Needed School
You’ll know homeschool is working when you look back at the experience your children had in school and you wonder why you ever thought it was necessary to begin with.
You Enjoy Newfound Freedom
There’s something about taking responsibility and living life on your own terms that allows you to appreciate new levels of freedom with your family. You may have started along this journey because you didn’t want your children stuck in a mask all day or you were disappointed with what you witnessed in their school’s academics, but the real benefits of homeschool may just surprise you.
