As a homeschool mom AND a homeschool grad, there are so many reasons I'm thankful for homeschooling. I've talked about reasons I love homeschooling before.
For this post, I sat down and thought about what I was really thankful for in homeschooling and the answer that kept coming to mind was TIME.
The Gift of Time. Or 10 time related reasons I'm thankful for homeschooling:
1. For the time it gives me with my kids.
Kids usually spend hours every day away from their parents. Bus rides plus the school day can add up to 8 hours or so away from home, not counting extra activities. Do you know where my kids are for most of those hours?
With me.
Don't get me wrong: sometimes that doesn't seem like a blessing. There are days when the school bus looks pretty tempting.
But then there are the days that remind me that I really like my kids.
I think they're the best kids on the planet. There are very few people I want to spend so many hours with but they make the list. I'm glad we get to see each other at our best and our worst.
I'm also incredibly aware of just how limited our time together really is.
Our oldest is almost 14. College, marriage, or other adult things are just a few years away. There are only a few more birthdays she'll spend just with us. Only a few more holidays. The countdown to adulthood is ON.
And oh, it's going so quickly.
She was my baby and now she's lovely and more than half grown. I really do want to spend every possible bit of time with her (and my other children) that I can.
Now, if you'll excuse me I have to wipe my eyes before I continue this post.
2. For the time it gives me with my husband
My husband doesn't work just one job 9-5. He works 3 or 4 different jobs and they all make different demands on his time.
His church responsibilities mean he doesn't have the weekends "off". Various teaching responsibilities (subbing, homeschool co-op, Bible institute, etc.) take other days. And his board game design business takes whatever working time he has left.
If we didn't homeschool, I might never see him.
And I can tell you: I am not OK with that. If he only has free time from 2-3 pm on a Wednesday or 10-11 AM on Tuesday, you can bet I want our family to be included in those hours.
Homeschooling means that we're often all home together, even if we're working on other projects at the same time.
3.For the time it gives my children with each other
I think one of the saddest thing about other school situations is that kids rarely see their siblings. We have 6 and one of the great joys of my life is watching them with each other.
Just think all the things they're learning:
- how to help someone smaller
- how to get along so the play time is fun
- how to work together to finish chores faster
- how to enjoy each other's imaginations
- how to share a room or space
- how to behave "like a big kid" so you don't get left out
- how to double team mom with annoying habits
(OK, no, that last one is not a great thing.)
Anyway, the point is, there is no other time in your life when you'll be surrounded only by twenty other people the exact same age as you.
When you think about it like that, homeschool socialization is the correct model for real life (various ages and temperaments learning to get along together).
4.For the time it gives my kids with their grandparents and great-grandparents
The flexibility that homeschooling gives us means that my kids get to have recess on Tuesday afternoons with their grandparents (and little cousins). Homeschooling means we can call school off on a Thursday and go visit a set of great-grandparents that we wouldn't otherwise see.
Homeschooling means we can go on vacation (or just for a visit) with grandparents during the school year.
5.For the time it gives me to read
I love to read (no secret there). Homeschooling gives me time not just to read classic books with my kids, it also gives me time to read the books I want to read while they're reading other things.
6. For the time it give us to pursue our interests
I've already mentioned reading, but there are other interests. The thing is, in a family of 8, there are a lot of interests. And homeschooling gives us the flexibility to pursue those.
7. For the time it gives us to serve together
Our church is important to our family. Homeschooling means we don't miss services or church activities because of school obligations.
Our choice to homeschool means we can finish our book work early so that some of us can go visit a shut-in at the hospital who hasn't had any visitors this week. Homeschooling means we can include the songs we want to sing at church as part of our "curriculum".
8. For the time it saves us
No standing in lines. Very little asking to use the bathroom. Absolutely no car-pool lines. And no waiting for buses to come.
Tracy Lee Simmons inClimbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin
The greatest mistake we Americans make in our schools is wasting our pupils' time and mental energy.
Whether you agree with that or not, I'm thankful that homeschooling wastes less of my children's time.
9. For the time we can rest
I've mentioned before that I'm a person who needs a lot of sleep. I'm not the only one in our family designed that way.
Homeschooling gives us the flexibility to sleep in and start school work at a time when we're actually all awake. It means we can all have a quiet time / nap time right when energy is flagging and tempers are worn. And we can follow a year round schedule that allows us to take days off as we need them.
10. For the time we can give back to God
Time is precious. The hours that are spent don't come back to us. I do believe that we'll give an account for how we spend our time.
I'm thankful that we homeschool because we can include Bible verses, Bible study, and hymns as part of our "curriculum". I'm thankful we can serve the Lord together in the ministries he's given us.
Lysa Terkeurst in The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands
The decisions we make dictate the schedules we keep. The schedules we keep determine the lives we live. The lives we live determine how we spend our souls.
Even with the gift of time, do we spend all our time wisely?
No, of course not. I'm one of the worst, to tell you the truth. I'll sit down to check my email...And the next thing I know it will be an hour later.
But my kids are home with me, so that doesn't happen as often as it could. Because they're little built-in accountability partners. We love God. And we love each other.
I'm thankful for the gift of time. Homeschooling nourishes those loves and helps us spend our souls on what really matters.
To see what else my fellow homeschool mom bloggers are thankful for check out this link-up:
You've hit the ball out the park! Incredible!