Homeschooling is a Lifestyle Choice

We’ve been house hunting for over a year and finally a few months ago put our current home up for sale and one of the top selling points of our current home is the great location.

We live walking distance to a Super Target as well as a ton of restaurants and other stores. We are also only 1/2 a mile from the local elementary school which is part of one of the best school zones in South Florida.

So obviously, perspective buyers with young children are always curious about the schools. And since most of them have already done their homework and know the school is supposed to be good, why do we chose to homeschool?

The answer is easy: while the school is indeed fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone (despite our kindergarten troubles), we’re just not school people.

Homeschooling is a lifestyle choice for us.

homeschooling lifestyle

It’s not about the quality of the school. Or the teachers (we love the teachers!) Or even the administration.

It’s about the schedule and the rules. It’s about being tied into the school calendar and being forced to live on the school’s timeline.

For us, homeschooling affords us the freedom to make choices as needed for our family. It lets us decide how our days will go and when we do what.

Some days when I’m really stressed and frustrated and the girls are arguing about school and Doodle hasn’t napped and it’s two hours until hubby gets home and I still have to make dinner I think about what life would be like if my older kids went to school like other people’s kids do. What if I had my days almost to myself with only Doodle to worry about? What would that be like?

It would be all of us waking up at 6:30 every day (not just me and Doodle).  It would be me rushing around to get everyone fed breakfast and lunches made.  It would be arguing about getting ready and who is taking too long.  It would be 4 school runs a day: Honeybun dropped at 7:30, Sugarplum at 9:00 then pick up Sugarplum at 12:00 and Honeybun at 2:00.  It would be no chance of a morning nap for Doodle.  And it would be homework struggles followed by needed resting time followed by dinner and bedtime.

It would be all the worst parts of last year and the year before–combined! Sure, I might get some extra quiet/alone time but I’d also get all that stress and running around time.

I like being able to know and have a say in what my children hear, see and learn and while I trust the teachers to have the right intentions, I can’t expect every parent and therefore every child my children come in contact with to have the same standards we have as a family.  Children pick up on and often repeat everything they see and hear and some of the things we heard out of our kindergartener’s mouth last year (and her mouth the two years prior while in preschool) were quite surprising.

But it is definitely about WAY more than the learning, I’m a true believer that learning can happen anywhere (and am becoming more and more skeptical of the merits of the way we are teaching our children today.)

It’s about being able to spend time with family when we need to and friends when we want to.

It’s about being able to sleep in when we are tired, travel when we can and take a break when we need it.

It’s about eating when we are hungry and moving when we are fidgety.

It’s about playing when our work is done and enjoying each other’s company as much as possible (and fighting as little as possible).

It’s about having a life that we enjoy.  Where we learn together, explore our world and all grow as a family and as people.

For us, homeschooling is a lifestyle choice.  It’s never been just about reading, writing and arithmetic!

29 Comments

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