Advantages of homeschooling?

[CrunchyMama19]

My DD (my first child) will be 5 next spring and will be able to start kindergarten next year. However, we are seriously considering homeschooling. I am a former working mom and now a SAHM (loving it!).

One of the reasons we are considering homeschooling is because even just the short time DD1 was in preschool while I worked she picked up a LOT of bad habits and words , in preschool no less! I also just don't think she was all that happy there. She didn't seem to be interested in playing with other kids even though she got along with them just fine. She really seems to do best in a free play environment where she can initiate learning.

I also HATED having no free time for them to just play. It seemed that when I was working we were either at work or school or getting ready to go to work or school. We were always in a rush and I kind of want to slow down our lives (a big reason why I quit my job to SAH).

Sorry it's a rambling post, but we are just trying to get an idea if homeschooling is something that we should explore with her and wanted to explain why. Can you guys tell me...

what do you like about homeschooling?

what do you LOVE about homeschooling?

what do you NOT like about homeschooling?

[MittensKittens]

I love, and my kids love, the freedom and flexibility that homeschooling brings. We can learn about anything we want any time we want. We can take trips with friends in the daytime, often educational. My children can learn about the real world functions, including a trip to the fire station and a bakery. In our home, we have no need to stand up to bullies, whether they are teachers or students. We learn about all kinds of cultures, including my own, rather than just the national culture of the country we live in. There is nobody to tell my kids that reading books that are not written for "their age" are out of bounds. 

What I personally don't like? Well, my older kid is addicted to mathematics right now and wakes up wanting to do math and goes to bed doing math. I am very, very bad at math (dyscalculia!) and am going to hire a tutor for that particular subject. It's a shame she is so good at something I am so bad at. On the other hand, she can do my accounting for me in a few years, LOL. 

[pigpokey]

My kids aren't bored for long stretches.  They may not like their lessons but it doesn't last long and it's not busy work in the least.  It is at their academic level.  They get exactly what sleep they need.  They sometimes get outside in the middle of the day :).  They have time to learn a lot of things.  They aren't given grades on their work.  They can pursue multiple sports and arts at a level to lead to proficiency. 

[Reebekah]

i too was a working mom who resigned last year to stay at home and homeschool my 1.5, 3.5, and 5.5 yr olds. there are SO many reasons why i homeschool, but a few of the main reasons are that it provides so much family time and flexibilty for my family, it allows me to integrate religion into their education, it allows me to pick their curriculum materials and teach according to their interests/abilities/individdual levels, and i do not like what goes on in today's schools (with the teachers, the students, the education philosophies, etc.)  i did preschool and k-4 at home so far, and we are getting ready to start k-5 (that is what we are calling it, although my son is actually doing a lot of 1st grade things this year because he is more than ready).  so far everything is going great and i am very happy with my decision.  my biggest issue is that everything looks great to me, so i am spending too much money on materials.  and it is not EASY, esp. for me trying to juggle 3 small kids (and i'm pregnant), but when i see the end results it is rewarding and worth it. 

[CrunchyMama19]

Thanks guys so much for your responses! Please keep them coming! I love the idea of flexibility and giving my kids the freedom to learn what they are interested in and at there level rather than being forced to preform ahead or behind of where they are at. It is also good to know the downsides as well so I can prepare myself a little for those, though I imagine those are different for everybody.  I am interested in more responses but so far these are great.

[AAK]

Originally Posted by CrunchyMama19 

what do you like about homeschooling?

what do you LOVE about homeschooling?

what do you NOT like about homeschooling?

I LIKE/LOVE:

specifically choosing teaching methods and curriculums for my individual child's needs

choosing to take some subjects with an "unschoolish" path

my kids love to learn now--it stopped being a chore

the flexibilty and freedom to do things on our own schedule--for example:  the kids ski on Thursdays through a homeschool ski program, we go on vacations when we want to, we enjoy the first snow of the year, 

PE--simply thinking of it as a subject makes me determined to keep up active all year long

It seems that my children are friends with people they really like vs when my oldest was in ps, she was friends with a lot of people that she didn't really care for. . . they were part of the group, or it was better to be on their "good" side, etc.

Also love that the playground politics are gone.

no "homework" at night

my kids love to participate in community theater and other things.  I think this would be challenging to maintain that schedule if they were in school all day with homework at night

I am "more connected" to my kids now.  

My kids do really get along with each other.

My second child's confidence has skyrocketed since we pulled her out of ps.

I love learning with my kids.

What I don't like:
Sometimes the house work gets way behind--not unlike having little kids, but I sometimes think "wow, if they were all in school, I would have x number of hours to get this all done (and more)

This isn't a problem now but at first it was hard to find "me time" and to balance out the attention given to each child

I am responsible for "all" their learning.  (this could be under 'likes' also--it is a weird feeling for me)

Some things seem expensive that I would like to provide for my kids.

I sometimes think that life would be easier if I went back to work.  I sometimes feel guilty about not contributing financially to the household.

Amy

[zebra15]

I've homeschooled both as a SAHM and WOHM .  What I like best about HS is being able to meet my sons needs and educate him on the level he needs at move at his fast pace.  Even though we are unschoolers there is some 'schooly' type stuff that happens around here.

The one thing I don't like is trying to find a sitter who will accept a school age child so I can WOHM.  Right now I have a great sitter and I only work PT so that aspect is good.