Why Choosing To Homeschool Was Easy For Me

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Here we are, it’s 2020 and we’re in a global pandemic. I don’t think it will go away anytime soon. This year school has been an eye-opener. This is why I wanted to tell you my story of why we are choosing to homeschool.

Here we are, in November and my girls have been home from school since March. I have a 3rd grader, a 4th grader, and a 6th grader. My kids have been fully remote since the end of March.

Come August, I had to decide if I wanted to go hybrid (let them go some days) or fully remote.

As hard as it was doing the remote learning at the end of the school year, with them using just their tablets to complete school. I still decided that I want them to go full remote. Why? I am an overthinker. And all I could think about is my entire household of 6 getting sick when 1 of the girls brought that mess home.

So the best thing for us at the time was fully remote. That was until I decided to do some research on choosing to homeschool.

My kids went to Fort Wayne Community Schools. Going full remote opened my eyes to quite a few things. And ultimately these are the reasons I chose to become a homeschooling parent.

Why Kids Fail In Public School

1. It’s impossible for schools to work with my kids where they are. I bet you’re wondering what I mean by that. Well, children learn at different paces, and with different techniques.

What 1 child excels in another may not catch on at all. When your child is in a school outside the home, it’s impossible for that 3rd grade, or whatever grade teacher to meet your baby where she/he is at.

If it is a class of 3rd graders the whole class is working on 3rd-grade work. It doesn’t matter if you have some that are behind or ahead of that. They are going to move on.

With home education, you have the ability to assess your homeschooled student to figure out if they are where they need to be, behind or ahead. Then from there, you can choose to create your homeschool curriculum around what they need and what levels they are.

They just don’t have the time or resources to individualize your child’s education in the public school system.

Choosing To Homeschool And Why We Did

2. With remote learning the attendance is super wonkey! I’d get a call about my daughter’s not being in class, when I am watching them on a zoom call with the teacher!

Here, our schools were taking attendance during zoom calls to start, which my 6th grader had 5 of them a day. The teacher was still marking them absent. Even when I could see them on the call.

They then moved to have them fill out a google form 2 times a day for attendance, which to me is ridiculous to expect elementary and middle school kids to remember to do this when they already have so much more responsibility than if they were in an actual school setting.

3. They are basically on their own, besides the live discussion during a zoom call there is absolutely no help from the teacher after that, no way to contact to get quick answers that they would if they were in public or private school. The teacher assigns something. Quickly goes over it in a zoom. Then they are expected to do the work alone.

Yes, I am here working from home full time. And, I can help, but I also have to work, and sometimes I get behind due to traditional schools remote program being way too demanding for us both, what if I was 1 of many parents who worked outside the home.

The difference with the homeschooling schedule is that it is my schedule, so I can get my work done then we can take care of them, if necessary.

Should You Choose Homeschooling?

There are many pros and cons to choosing to homeschool. I will cover that in another post.

Here in this post are the reasons I choose to start homeschooling my kids. Here in Indiana, the only requirement is that they have to be

There are no standardized tests, no regulations on common core math, I can legit make my own curriculum and teach them how and what I want.

Depending on your state, there are going to be some requirements for elementry, middle and high school.

You can find information on your state requirements here at Homeschool Laws By State. This site is super easy to navigate and you can very quickly find your state’s laws and requirements.

Now don’t take this to mean that you don’t have to teach them anything they teach in school. Don’t ignore all of what they were being taught. If you do, you are definitely setting your child up for failure.

I am at the very beginning of this journey, but I will be posting a ton about it, what’s working, what’s not, and the resources I have found. If you want to follow along, you can sign up to receive newsletter posts.

And in the meantime, here are a few of my favorite school posts Free First Day Of School Printables K through 12, and Printable First Day of School Signs: Pre K through 5th Grade. There are also tons of free craft projects to try out here too.

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