A question that I get asked all the time, is "Why do you homeschool?" Well why indeed? The short answer is that we believe it's THE BEST choice for William. But you wouldn't be reading this if you wanted the short answer, am I right?
So lets step back in time shall we? My precious toddler was entering preschool age. I found myself pouring over preschool websites, reviews, taking school tours & frantically trying to find room in our tight budget for the outrageously priced preschool classes. $400 a month- yikes! And the conclusion I came to was crazy simple. I was not ready to let my baby go. That and I was having a difficult time explaining to the husband how we were going to pay some strangers (money we couldn't really afford mind you) to care for & teach our son. What made them so much more qualified then me? How was this preschool better suited to teach my son then I was? I was so confused and overwhelmed. I just wanted to curl up in a ball, watch some General Hospital, eat a sleeve of Thin Mints and call it a day. But as well all know, a Mother's job is never done. Now back to reality!
Before we ever came to the conclusion to homeschool we pursued all other options. To be honest, homeschooling was our last resort. I started researching private schools, thinking the quality of education would somehow be superior. Ha! Somewhere along the way, I realized yet again, how broke we really were. If we couldn't afford traditional preschool, private school was so out of the equation! Duh! We briefly joined a preschool co-op and while it was fun, I just wasn't on board to clean up other people's mess. And pay for the privilege mind you! Co-ops were not my thing. I even found this "new-age" & somewhat scary (to me!) school which is a part of the Sudbury Schools. But it seemed to me that this school model had too much freedom, not the balance I was looking for. Frankly, at this point- we were clueless. So we started with a list of DON'Ts. Things we knew for sure that we didn't want for William. We didn't want him away from home and his loving parents all day, every day. We didn't want strangers, teachers & children alike, having a negative impact on our child. We were concerned for his safety. We didn't want him to get lumped in & labeled which is the land mine so many public school kids fall into. We were fearful of his emotional development. And our list of DON'Ts went on and one. Sometimes it's easier to know what you don't want then what you do want. Ooh, that's powerful. I'll say it again. Sometimes it's easier to know what you don't want then what you do want.
Finally, after much trial and error, we found it! Homeschool here we come! Initially, we had lots of doubts in our decision to homeschool. Could I do this? How would I do this? What if I screwed it up? We still have doubts. I personally believe that if you don't continually question your choices, then you're making the wrong ones. Homeschooling was a BIG idea. A new frontier. We knew no one who homeschooled. No One! Our friends & neighbors thought we were weird. Ok, we are weird but I digress... After all, if public school was a good choice for their kids, why wasn't it good enough for William? Our family was concerned. Very concerned. Geez, you'd think we were giving him Red Bull & cigarettes....and so our motto stands- "We Can Always Stop". Yep, just like that. If it doesn't work, don't do it.
So there you have it. We homeschool for many reasons, the most important one is that it works for us. It fits our family, our lifestyle and what we want and don't want for William. Why do YOU homeschool?
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