After having the twins, I played around with the idea of homeschooling them. I had my reservations about the education system, and I knew some people in real life and online that were happily homeschooling. So I played around with the idea for a bit. Which is why the kiddies didn’t go to any childcare setting until they started Pre School at 3 years old. And before that, I never used any form of childcare and still haven’t except school. I wanted to be hands on with my kids from the start, and that is exactly what I have done for the past 5 plus years.
The best of both worlds
Homeschooling is an amazing opportunity. I wish I could shake the hands of every parent/guardian doing this. It is a lot of work homeschooling a child. The amount of work involved is impossible to comprehend until you actually do it, so I can only imagine. I do teach my kids at home. We do school work almost everyday, except holidays and weekends. The kiddies enjoy reading, so we do a lot of that. We also practice our spelling, writing and numbers. So they get the best of both worlds – Studying at home and at school.
Homeschooling – The pros for us
Like I said, I found the whole idea of Homeschooling very appealing, and I considered doing it. The reasons why I found homeschooling appealing are –
- I liked the flexibility – Being able to set our hours and travel when we want to made me want to homeschool the kids. Homeschooling will enable us work to our own schedule and do what would be convenient for us.
2. Learn at our pace – My kids are very academic, so being able to learn at their pace would be great. Not having to worry about the pace of 28 other children would be great.
3. Set up our own curriculum – This is a big one for me. The idea of learning what I feel is relevant for their age group and ignore things they have no business knowing about. Obviously, they would be learning what their peers are learning in school and more. But no topics I feel they shouldn’t be learning.
Homeschooling – The cons for us
For me, the cons outweigh the pros at the moment, which is why the kiddies are in a lovely primary school a few minutes away. Here are the cons for me –
- Dealing with isolation – I feel like my kids would be isolated if I homeschool now. I don’t drive, so being out and about isn’t easy. Even if I did drive, we would still feel isolated in a homeschool setting.
- The Kiddies love school – They love school so much. They are very happy to go everyday and they look forward to the holidays as well. So homeschooling won’t be the best idea for them as they love to socialise with other kids. The whole school setting works for them.
- A lot of work – Homeschooling is a lot of work like I said earlier, and the kids being in school helps me work and stay on top of chores, and so on. As a work from home mummy, I do most of my work while the kids are in school, so homeschooling won’t work for us now.
In conclusion
The cons of homeschooling outweighs the pros, which is why we didn’t go down the homeschooling route. What are your thoughts on this? Do you homeschool your children? What are the pros and cons for you? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. Let’s chat.
Thanks for reading. Have a lovely day.
I completely agree with your conclusion – while some kids might learn better at home, the isolation is such a big factor in a child’s development and mental health!
Same for me as well. Isolation is my major issue.
It’s an interesting one and a choice that will be made for so many reasons by parents. Personally I wouldn’t want to homeschool my children, but have such respect for anyone that does 🙂
I have respect for them too! It is a huge responsibility.
I did toy with the idea briefly of homeschooling. Decided against it as we preferred the fact that they get more social interaction with children their age at school.
The social interaction is very important for us too!
This is where I’m at with my son at the moment. He’s due to start school in September but we have a lot or reservations. Ultimately though we will probably send him to school and he will probably be happy.
Trying sending him to school and see how it goes.
I know exactly where you are coming from I toyed with the idea but I would never get any work done myself nor have much time to myself if I home schooled my son. He thrives on routine and I don’t think I’d have the patience for it either. Plus, being an only child he gets interaction and learns social skills with the other children.
The interaction with other children and social skills is very important.
Home schooling is not for me but I can see some of the benefits for kids that cannot cope with school
I can see the benefits too!
Hi, you have a really wonderful post here! I agree with all of your points, and homeschooling is not for everyone. I was home schooled, and I loved every minute of it. I felt safe, I was never bullied, and I still had friends, and I still got socialized. My Mom took us out, but education was the main thing. Socialization is innate in human beings, so I would not worry about that if anybody who is considering homeschooling reads this comment. Yes, it is a lot of work, but my Mom has always said that homeschooling me and my brother was the best thing she ever did. She even did college while she was homeschooling us, and would have worked from home, had there been any work from home jobs. My Mom had us kids help with the chores so it did not overwhelm her. I did the dishes and my brother vacuumed and took out the garbage. Once a week I mopped and cleaned the whole house.
I believe I am somewhat educated and normal since I am currently in college with a 3.91 GPA going to be an attorney in the Criminal Justice field. Like I said homeschooling is not for everyone, but if you do it I am sure it will be worth it. Yes, in no way will it be easy, but it is worth it.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Good to hear it worked great for you. I am so concerned about the socialisation bit but good to know that you didn’t have that issue.
The socialisation issue, we’ve found to be a non issue. Since we began homeschooling my kids are more social. They are able to socialise with all ages, and have more quality friends now than they ever had in the 6 years they went to school. We do attend a local homeschooling group fortnightly, and they also play sport, go to youth group and church. As a homeschooling mum I can honestly say its one of the most rewarding things I’ve done, and I also work from home.
Oh great! Good it works for you. The social bit is the most worrying part for me because we don’t really know anyone around where we live.
Thank you for sharing, much appreciated
Thanks for reading 😊
I am considering homeschooling my children as well, thanks for your post.
My pleasure. Hope it helps you decide.
Thank you
I thought your post was very well composed and I can see why you don’t homeschool your children.
For my family, the pros vastly outweighed the cons. My daughter became terrified of school, and it was a struggle every day to get her to go. She is a social butterfly and has never had a hard time socializing. Her grades were amazing and she was always the top of her class, even though she missed a lot of classes. For her, she felt more isolated at school. She felt like her teachers never payed any attention to her, and she was scared of breaking any rules. The pressure was to much for her and she wasn’t being challenged
While I understand that socializing is a big plus of schooling, my wife and I have found plenty of groups and events that allow her to socialize. We just want our daughter to feel safe and be challenged. Personally, homeschooling works for my family. We have found that through determination and a passion for homeschooling, we can surpass any obstacles that present themselves. So, if it’s something you truly want to do, you find ways to make it work.
Feeling safe and challenged is very important and I can see why you rather homeschool. I would do the same if I had that issue.