Homeschooling -FAQs

I get asked a lot of questions about homeschooling...from family, coworkers, friends. I am certainly not an exhaustive resource, but I can try and answer some of the questions I get asked the most.



Why do you homeschool? First of all, I want my children to learn about God as much as (more than?) they learn any other subject. They will not learn this in a public school. In addition, our public school system is becoming less and less tolerant of people with a Christian world-view. To me (this is my opinion only, it does not have to be yours), it seems more like I would be sending my children on a hostile foreign mission than to be fairly educated. As Christians, we want our children to be lights in a fallen world, especially in their areas of direct influence. I have to ask myself, is my five-yr-old equipped to defend her faith against the darkness?  I don't think so, and I don't want her tender heart crushed by mean-spirited people so young. For our family, there is also a scheduling issue. Since my husband works second-shift, my girls would never see him if they were away at school. He would be off while they were at school and working when they were home. In addition, my children LOVE to learn... I mean it- they LOVE it! They want to experience new things. As their parent, I want to be there to see the "light bulb" go on when learn something new.  

Will you ever send your children to "real-school?" The joke in our house is that if we send Susannah to school, they will likely send her back! The real answer is that I don't know for sure... My husband and I committed to homeschooling through grade school and will re-evaluate when Mikayla is nearing 5th grade. Also, if you ask this question, please don't imply that home educating is not "real."  Most homeschooling families spend a lot of time and effort educating their children and don't appreciate that others think it isn't "real" enough.

Practicing Patterns for Math

How do you have time? First of all, I am a nurse, so my schedule is usually three, 12-hr shifts a week at a local hospital. Those are long days, but I purposefully work a flexible job where I can pick and choose my hours and shifts to be best for my family. I am also very lucky that my husband is committed to helping me in educating our children. Although there are some things he does not feel comfortable teaching, he can definitely help them with their workbooks and math. I generally try and leave a list of what they need to work on while I am working...it's a system that works for us right now. I see Sue Patrick's workbox system in our future!

"Do it Carefully" Workbook, practicing fine motor skills

Do you have to have a degree or something?  I do not have to have any special training to school my children at home. I think people think I sit at home, write a curriculum, and then lesson plan for them. Thankfully, this is not the case! I think there wouldn't be nearly so many homeschooling families if it were! There are many types of curriculum out there, some of which do not even require textbooks, however, I have chosen to use Heart of Dakota's curriculum. The writer of this curriculum was a teacher for many years and has pulled together some of  the best resources for homeschooling families. There is a teacher's guide and then all of the other subjects usually have their workbooks or texts that she guides us through. I don't have to do any planning, and it helps to make this an enjoyable experience for all of us.  

My classroom NEVER looked like this!

Don't they need socialization? I actually don't get asked this as much as you might think.  Thankfully, I have been blessed with many friends who were homeschooled their whole lives and have no problems relating to other people, so it isn't something I worry about too much.  Also, I know my children are exposed to more experiences on a day-to-day basis that teach them to relate to people in an acceptable manner than they would ever learn in school.  They go with me EVERYWHERE so they need to learn to interact with a variety of people in many situations.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, just an opportunity for my to address the most frequent concerns and questions you may have about homeschooling.