I get this question often.  It comes from all types of people.  Close friends and family.  Acquaintances.  Random grandmothers at target.  Most people are generally curious and respond with “You must have so much patience.  I could never do it!”  (That’s not true btw but I’ll discuss that at another time).  To which I laugh, “Hardly!  I am most likely ruining their lives but hopefully it’s nothing a little therapy won’t fix.”  To the random people I meet when we are out and about I do not feel the need to go into any type of explanation as to why I choose to keep my four children with me during the day when I could send them off on that beautiful yellow bus every morning and have some time to myself (not really….my husband would eventually insist that I get a J. O. B. that actually pays in real dollars and cents and not kisses and hugs).  But every once in a while I feel the need to explain the real reason and help people I care about understand why we started this homeschooling journey. 

First, let’s get one thing straight.  I have no issues with public school.  It’s not perfect but neither is homeschooling.  I am a former teacher and taught first, third, fifth and was a reading specialist for grades K through 5.  Most people make the assumption that if I am keeping my kids at home that I must think public school is the devil and you don’t really love your children if you send them to that dreaded place.  False.  I am a product of public school and before having children I felt personally victimized by anyone who chose to homeschool their kids (my sister included!)  The truth is public school offers kids a lot of opportunities that homeschooling does not.  When my oldest was approaching kindergarten I started to really think about homeschooling as an option.  I had a few close friends and my own sister who were all choosing to homeschool their kids.  Plus I had the benefit of being a former teacher!  If I can teach 27 first graders I can surely teach my one child at home right?  This is not how it works btw and I appreciate all my friends who let me live in ignorance for a few short months before I realized that somehow teaching your ONE child is harder than teaching 27.  No the math does not add up but it’s true.  I promise.

The only reason I actually chose homeschooling at all is because when my then 5 year old would have started Kindergarten we happened to be house hunting.  We knew we were not going to buy a house in the school district we were currently living in and rather than have my son start in one school and have to be pulled out and moved it was easier at the time to just homeschool him.  This was a probationary period for my husband really.  He was skeptical and wanted to see how it went before really being on board with the idea. 

So why did I ultimately choose to try homeschooling?  Because I had a rambuxous little boy at home who had a hard time sitting still and focusing.  Because that little boy had already been demonstrating some characteristics of ADHD.  Because I knew from personal experience that teachers are overworked and class sizes are always too big and private school was not an option for us.  Because even if I could get my son a diagnosis and an IEP I knew that if he struggled for a few years he might start to resent school and learning.  But mostly because I could.  I had the option to try.  And that is all I have been doing for the last 7 years.  This does not mean we will homeschool forever.  This means I take it one year at a time and try to truly decide what is best for each of my kids.  So far it has been working (I think anyway…I probably really am ruining their lives because I don’t know what I am doing).  If I felt like one or all of them would do better in public school then I would send them.  If financially I needed to go to work full time and homeschooling was no longer an option then I would send them.  If my daughter cries again because I asked her to spell her name L O N D O N and not L O O N N D then I will send her…I mean them. 

If you have the option and the desire to try homeschooling get more information and talk to people who have done it.  It doesn’t have to be scary or seem impossible.  And you don’t have to have a lot of patience.  Just a lot of wine…