Why I am Homeschooling and Why it's Temporary

I mentioned a sort of devotional book in my previous post's review of the Tapestry of Grace curriculum I ordered. The book is called Love the Journey: Homeschooling Principles to Practices.

I am stil in the first chapter, but I love that is such an interactive book that helps the reader work through his/her own motivations. This post is in response to some questions asked in the first chapter which encourages writing down the answers to the following questions. I imagine my answers are very different from those of most who choose homeschooling, but that's something we all accept as moms: that whatever road we take, no road is identical to another.

Question 1: Why do *I* want to homeschool?

This question focuses on me more than the following questions and asks why I personally am making the decision that I would be the one to homeschool. I will not deny that I have loved the opportunities to travel and the field trips I can take with Audrey when our schedule is not overrun or controlled by the hours of a school day. I love my time with Audrey and the fact that I desire to take advantage of the moments I have with her combined with my hope that she will go to a good quality public school in the future meant that I would continue to use these less structured years to continue to travel and teach by interacting with the world, its cultures and the various opportunities given to us by our location in Kansas City. The part of this question that is about me is very much wrapped in my desires for Audrey's world to grow and friends to be varied, as well as with my own desire to capture a few more unique family memories before the more rigorous school years where I hope to be challenged with her in our interactions with the public school system.

Question 2: WHY do I want to homeschool?

I answered this to a point in the previous question, but the WHY behind homeschooling is situational-- we are in the position in our lives where we have opportunities to go to Brazil, to think about other vacations, and to visit family and friends who each live in unique places filled with learning opportunities. We wanted to take advantage of these formative years to visit those places. I still hope that we will go to Brazil this year and be able to visit some indigenous tribes. We enjoy visiting Washington D.C. and Baltimore when visiting my parents. And next week we will be spending time in Chicago and then Indianapolis where we will see where I went to college (Chicago area), be with Audrey's BFF and "tia" Simone and perhaps visit one of the museums in the area, and visit the Children's Museum in Indy. This in addition to having picked blueberries, sweet cherries and blackberries here in Kansas City, seeing Saturn through the telescope at the Powell Observatory and trips to the Arboretum. Audrey's new and latest passion is the summer sky. These opportunities, of course, won't end with public school, but they will be more challenging to plan and certainly won't happen as frequently.

Question 3: Why do I want to HOMESCHOOL?

Why homeschooling and not private school or public school? The answer to this is included in the above explanations, but the why homeschool comes out the strongest in in this third answer which I did not mention above. I do not claim that my child is extremelly intelligent (though, of course, I like to believe that). But socially, most of her friends are years older than she is. In her swimming lessons and her growth from the time she was born, she has been best challenged and most happy when she was one of the youngest. Most schools have strict age requirements to enter school and my plan has always been to put her one grade ahead of where they would place her according to her birthday. I don't believe that to be an arrogant request-- many in the grade I am teaching her are only 2 months old than she and her level of curiosity has provoked learning to read and add and ask scientific questions that relate more to a child 2 or 3 months old than her than to a child 6 months younger. I realize the paradox of wanting more time with my daughter (a reason listed in Question 1) and wanting her to be a year ahead of where schools would place here, but I truly believe that socially she would thrive more in the earlier year. I plan on being heavily involved in her education independently of the turns our lives may take, so many arguments against my reasoning I do not find to be sufficient to sway me. I believe as my grandparents taught me-- that learning is constant and that parents (or grandparents) who offer constant guidance and opportunities for learning shape their child's life and allow for critical thinking.

A final note and reason that I am homeschooling now is that I would like Audrey to start off her school experience in a school district I like and admire. I have heard okay things about the district we currently live in, but I woud prefer that her education be in the hands of something better, and so we are currently househunting for something in the school district I am confident she will be attending next year.

#teaching #affordingschool #homeschool