Home schooling your children can be a huge undertaking. When people find out we home school our children, they generally have the same reaction, “I could never do that”. The thing is, if your evening considering it, then you are halfway there. I compiled a list of 5 things that need to be considered in making your decision.
Time
Home schooling does not have to consume your whole day. You do need to consider how this will affect your daily routine. If you have smaller children it can take more time to do school than if your children are older, like mine. Take into account that you will be preparing lessons, monitoring experiments, grading papers and planning and leading field trips among other things.
Both parents involved in decision making
You have to both be on the same page on the decision to home school your children, this is imperative. It would be very difficult to home school if one parent is against it. Make sure you both understand the level of commitment this will require from you both. It is a team effort not just one parent involved, you both need to make the commitment.
Socialization
This is a real sticking point for a lot of people. There is a false understanding that traditional schools are great for socialization. There is very little time to socialize in traditional school settings. As home schooling parents we have lots of control over this very important aspect of our childrens lives. It takes a little work to make sure your children are socialized but worth the effort. Home school coops are available in most areas to help ease the work in this area. It can be done with great success, so don’t let socialization hold you back in your decision making process.
Financial and personal sacrifice
Home schooling can be done on very little money. It does require that one parent stay home to teach the children. This can put a strain on the family initially if they are used to two incomes. The personal sacrifice comes for the parent who must stay with the children 24/7. Our family is fortunate in that my husband and I both work from home, our whole family is together all day every day. We have done this for 6 years now with great success. You can do this too.
God’s leading
My husband and I both felt led by God to keep our children home to educate them. I am willing to admit that home schooling our children was not my idea. I actually came to it kicking and screaming. God’s leading was the main thing that got us thinking about this option in the first place.
We have never regretted our choice to home school our children. They have had the opportunity to learn and experience things that were not possible in the traditional setting. At the end of every school year we evaluate our curriculum and our purpose. God has blessed us with the opportunity to home school our children and we love the privilege of doing it.
