Why do you homeschool your kids?

Question

Why? Best explanation and reasons gets best answer.

Answer 1

There are alot of reasons to homeschool. Most people do it to at least some extent because of the condition of the public schools. Alot of people do it for religeous reasons, and others do it because they feel their children will get a better education.

Answer 2

In our case, our eyes where open to the lacking public school system soon after my daughter went to 6th grade. In a nutshell, my child had come from a very disciplined private school and was having a hard time with the fact that none of the kids at her new school would even listen to the teacher. The final straw was when she was "propositioned" (to put it nicely) by a boy in her class who had been held back a couple of times. The solution that the principal thought was appropriate (after I threatened to call the cops due to NO returned phone calls) was to bring my child AND the boy into the same room and ask them together what happened. I pulled her out the next day. I looked into home school and did a lot of research- finding that kids who do this work at their own pace, follow their interests and usually end up with better test scores. We have found all that to be true and have benefited in having a closer family, happier kids who have great friends and many interests.

Answer 3

The public schools pushed us to medicate our child for what basically turned out to be boredom. Since we've been home, she's made much more progress and had more fun.

Answer 4

i dont, cuz i dont have kids, but i think they do because:

1) they want their family to have a good relationship, because if they family is always together, they have to get along

2) they are overprotective, and want their child to stay safe

3) love their child(ren) and want them to always be with them

--hope you like this answer!!

Answer 5

I have one child, and I homeschool him for the following reasons:

1) He complained of boredom while he was a student at one of the better public "magnet schools."

2) He is "cognitively gifted," along with some challenges, and homeschooling is the best way to meet his educational needs. (I discovered the giftedness and challenges after I began homeschooling him.)

3) I want to strengthen family bonds and the relationship I have with my child.

4) I want to teach my child Christian principles, morals, and character, not just academics.

5) I want my child receive the best education possible.

6) The public schools in my city are not the best.

7) I don't want my child to be taught the religion of "secular humanism" that is taught at public schools.

Answer 6

I homeschool because public schools are an unnatural means of raising children. Whether you believe in evolution or design, either way kids are meant to be in small multiaged support groups that will understand and nurture THEM, not huge groups of peers who are as uneducated, immature and developing as the child is.

I homeschool because I want my children to"exercise their right to think for themselves" (bumper sticker #1 on my truck), and I think that choices should start NOW, rather than a magical age of 18. Public schools teach obedience and following the rules, and not all the rules are healthy or acceptable. I want a kid who questions everything, and does what he does because it's reasonable. Our founding fathers never would have fought the revolution if they'd been publicly schooled.

I homeschool because "grades are for meat" (bumper sticker #2), and "schools are for fish" (bumper sticker #3). Not only to grades destroy the innate willingness to learn, but they teach children mediocrity, that you can stop at 70% understanding because it's 'good enough' Even those children who get straight A's, a great number of them only do so because they are jumping hoops to get into college to jump more hoops, to get out of college and jump more hoops for a career. I want my kids to do what they love, rather than be show dogs for the almighty dollar.

I homeschool because my kids love it, and they don't want to go to public school. "It's a small world, but a big life" (bumper sticker #4) The world is so gigantic, the kids can learn so much if they are actually in it when they choose, rather than being limited by school hours of 7am til 3pm, and on the weekends of course. Not to mention, even after 3pm, they can't just pick up and explore the next state over, because they have to be home for bedtime. My kids can stay up all night to watch the stars rotate. We can go hiking in another state if we want, without waiting for an approved school vacation. When we visit the museum, or the zoo, they don't have to have the checklist that all the school kids have, proving that they saw x,y and z because this is 'an educational trip'. All things are educational, and we can come back every day that week if we want. We can learn things when they are appropriate to our interests, rather than being forcefed without an association.

I could go on and on, but this is long enough. If the schools were minimized, reduced to just a few for specialized instruction, all that money spent on education (not just per student, but teacher salary, all the administration, the actually facility utilities) there would be more than enough for those parents who say they must work and therefore cannot homeschool. Parents who wanted to work could afford individualized tutors, or enroll them in those specialized schools. The classes would be smaller, and more could be accomplished. Of course, I'm a dreamer. We have too many generations who have been raised to think that they can't spend time with their kids, they can't teach their kids, and that kids need exactly what is provided in public schools.

Answer 7

I home-schooled my son because he has A.D.D and was having a difficult time in school. I felt I knew him better than anyone and knew his strengths and weaknesses. I home-schooled him for 1 year. It went okay. He was able to focus more and got better grades. I returned him to school the following year because he was missing out on school functions that his siblings were doing. He still struggles a bit, but we have fond memories of our adventure.

Answer 8

I homeschool because...

1. I can have a great relationship with my kids

2. My kids can be themselves

3. No peer pressure

        - They only have to compete with themselves

        - They don't have to measure up to someone elses                                                                    

standards

4. They can have freedom

        - There needs are met when they need to be

        - homeschooling doesn't take as long as school so they have more time to be a kid and play.

5. Real life lessons are taught

6. They grow up knowing who they are, they are full of confidence.

7. It is fun to homeschool, I get to have every moment with my children and get lots of good memories

8. I get take my kids on many field trips

9. I can teach my kids what I believe in (Christian Values)

10. I can teach my kids at their own speed and then move on when they are ready.

11. I am really "into" my kids

12. It was on my heart.

There are so many reasons on my heart I can't think of them all.

Answer 9

Well I am not a parent, though I am home-schooled and I know where my mom's head is. I am home-schooled because I was getting in so so so much trouble at public school and my greats were dropping tremendously. I went from straight A's and B's to all F's except for one B in Health. My mom thinks that I will get in a lot less trouble and my grades will rise. I disagree though. But some other parents have told me that it is a better environment for children. They can be comfortable, and not have to deal with all of that drama at school.

Answer 10

One word- FREEDOM. There are no real freedoms when you are in a government controlled school.

Besides I homeschool because I can and it is a great fit for our family. My Daughter also loves it.

Answer 11

i have 5 being homeschooled...this way i'll know where they are should aliens land  in NY

Answer 12

I think reasons that people would want to homeschool their kids would be, they know kids can't get into trouble with other kids at school and make friends that arent healthy for them, they wouldn't learn as many bad things that kids teach other kids at school, and they wouldn't be pressured into things.

Also, their kids wouldn't have to compete with other kids.

:)

Answer 13

I did it b/c my dau. had severe allergys that often made her sick. Our home was the safest place as we kept allergens down due to her condition.

Answer 14

My wife and I chose homeschooling because originally our son had a learning disability and was going to what is called content mastery class. We love our kids very much and were very involved with our children and their school work. We could see that with what we were doing at home and what they said they were going to do at school were two different things. The school was too busy to worry about not just our child, but other kids who were having other problems. We saw this because we were volunteers for the school and were there alot of the time. We also talked to teachers and other parents. After alot of prayer and God revealing things to us, we decided to homeschool. We knew of and could see that there were alot of kids that were pushed through the system and falling through the cracks of public schooling. These kids then were going to middle school with alot to catch up with and then continued to struggle. Some kids like my son needed more one on one to help him achieve and not feel defeated. He also was coming home telling us the things he heard from other kids that I know not any 4th grader should now at his age.

My daughter was different. She excelled in school and had great friends. There were some kids though that were really being abusive verbally and physically to her and other kids. Her being in second grade she couldn't understand why other kids said and acted the way they did. We had meetings with Principal and Asst. Principal and things didn't change.

God gave us our kids and we are responsible for them, we are to raise them up in the way they are to go.

We have the opportunity to spend time with our kids like no other. I realize that not everyone can do it, but God opened the door for us and it has been a blessing. We only have them for a short time and we are loving every moment.

They not only are learning better, but learning faster and more in a shorter time. And alot of their friends have the same Christian beliefs we teach our children. And the friends still play with when they come home from public school.

Answer 15

I homeschool my boy's for a lot of reasons.  A few of those reasons include:

1) So my children will for sure get a good educations.  A lot of schools have so many students in them a teacher can not get the one on one teaching a lot of kids need.

2) I want them to experience real life.  They don't have to be friends with only kids their own age.  In fact they can get along with kids younger, their age and older then they are.  One minute they will be having a good discussion with a teenager or adult and then next minute playing tag with the other kids.

3)  I love spending time with my children and family.  Yes, they do their own things and have their own time but I get to enjoy them when we spend time together.

4)  I really love seeing the ah ha moments when they learn a new concept.

5)  They learn at their own pace and learn in the ways they learn best.  Which is wonderful because my oldest learns quickly and can move along faster if we so choose.  On the other hand my youngest learns more hands on.

6)  We can do "school" any where we so choose weather it be at home or on a road trip.

7)  They are learning from everyday life as well as books and not just from a text book.

8)  No bad influences

9)  My children get to be children and not have to worry about hours worth of homework every night

10) They know our foundation being Christians.  Yes I teach them about other religion and they even have a friend that comes from a home that doesn't include religion of any kind.

There are many, many other reason's and these are just 10 of them.

Answer 16

We have several reasons for homeschooling.  While we first decided to homeschool our oldest while living in San Antonio because the public schools there were horrible.   God certainly had a plan, because we also homeschool for religious reasons & we later found out that two of our children have a genetic bone marrow failure syndrome called Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome, which means they are immune compromised-- so yet another reason to homeschool.    We use a Catholic homeschool curriculum.  Seton-- www.setonhome.org

Our final reason for homeschooling?  Because we are living a second childhood and enjoying learning along with our kids, having a blast doing chemistry experiments....and all sorts of cool stuff...and of course...because we love our children and want to spend time with them instead of shipping them off  all day at school.

Yes, we have fun outings....but we get to enjoy our kids!

Pattie

family website: http://www.shwachman.50megs.com

homeschool blog: http://www.catholicmomof3.blogspot.com

Answer 17

did you hear about that kid in florida a few years ago who married his teacher? well, that sort of stuff happens in alabama, and they aint marrying their teachers...

Answer 18

There are really two many reasons for me to name them all here. I could probably write a book about it, LOL!

But the main reasons are that:

I want to shield them from negative socialization.

I want to be with them to teach them our values and provide positive socialization.

I feel I can do a better job of educating them than the public schools can, and according to statistics, that is likely.

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

I want my children to be with us, growing, learning and interacting in the real world.  I don't want to turn them over to strangers every day.

I want to maintain control (yes, control!) over their education and cater to their interests and learning styles.

I believe much time is wasted in public schools and very little true learning takes place.  Here's a comparison of the two methods:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

I have seen many homeschool graduates who are mature, self confident, and adventurous in ways that I have not seen in public school students.  I want that for my children.

Here are the 3 main benefits for our family:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Good luck with your research!

Answer 19

Medical issues don't allow my daughter to receive the education she needs in the school system, so I have been homeschooling her now for 4 yrs.

She suffers from:

--ALL ( Acute Lymphoblastic Lukemia)

--Venom Anaphalaxia (allergic to venomous insects)

--Asthma

Two days in school would equal 3 days home sick. A simple cold to everyone else could easily put her in the hospital (think about how many children go to school with the sniffles). My daughter started falling behind because she was out sick so much and I lost time at work for staying home and caring for her ( I taught preschool for 13 yrs).

At one point I went to pick her up at school only to be informed that she had been RUSHED to the ER earlier that day from getting bit during Gym Class---the school had failed to inform the gym Teacher that my daughter was allergic to things like bees and bull ants, furthermore they didn't inform her that there was an Epipen in the Nurse's Office, nor did they give the teacher a radio to reach the Office with in case of an emergancy. My daughter went into Cardiac Arrest and by the time I was notified (which was at pick up time), my little girl had been on a resperator for 2HOURS.

The school's excuse was that they couldn't reach me, come to find out that the secretary had started doing something else and figured that someone else would call me. The hospital at least had a legitimate excuse--they really didn't have any contact numbers and the Doctor's not wanting to see a little child die took it upon themselves to perform LIFESAVING measures and were willing to deal with any backlash.

The lasting effect is that my daughter now suffers a mild form of Autism due to lack of oxygen to her brain (she has had Cardiac Arrest 3x's from the Anaphalxia). There are certain things that just take longer for her to process now.

I now homeschool her and will NEVER again trust the school system with my daughter, her education OR her life. I make sure that she does not 'miss out' on certain things, and we go on Field Trips at least every other week, run a scout group called Keepers at Home, she takes Flute and voice lessons, is learning to cook and sew and wants to be a Palentologist when she grows up.

We try to give her her space since she is a 'p*****n' now, but she knows that mom and dad are nearby if needed.