Yes, a thousand times! I would like to add I started homeschooling cause of Covid! I was adamant against homeschooling even though a few people had mentioned it to me. The things I have learned since, I will never send my child to public school again!
3 Reasons: 1st, Time!
Not long ago, I watched a speech on YouTube about this subject. 24 hours in a day, let us see how the public school lifestyle uses up this time.
- Wake up at 6 am
- Get ready for school
- Bus stop by 7 am
- School from 7:30 to 2:30
- If no sports home by 3, if sports home by 5
- 5 pm dinner (hopefully as a family)
- 6pm homework
- 7pm bath and get settled for bed
The averageHomework person sleeps 8 hours a day. That schedule typically takes up 12 hours away from family. Your child has 20 hours of their day taken up by routine. At most including dinner, you are spending 4 hours a day as a family.
My daughter is in first grade so, her school schedule is way less than older kids but the logic still applies.
- 8 am wake up
- 9 am breakfast
- 9:30 to 10:30 school (at home)
- 10:30 – 12:00 free play!
- 12 lunch
- Work on hobbies, art music, play, and field trips with family
- 3 pm maybe do 20 – 30 mins more of school-related activities
- Rest of day free time with family!
Let’s go back to the previous paragraph about time management. 8 hours of sleep plus 90 minutes of school. She has 14.5 hours per day, for family time, playing, following her own interests, and playing learning games! Do I need to say more?
Socialization: Yup I said it!
Everyone asks about socialization when homeschooling! They say your kid will be weird! I’ve heard it, we all heard it, and I said it before I started homeschooling. Homeschooling has changed, more and more families homeschool now than ever before.
Let me ask you all a question. What happens in school when your child talks during class? ____________ The teacher says, school is for learning not for socialization. We had about 20 minutes for lunch daily, and about 20 minutes for recess. There is your socialization folks.
Personally, my daughter is young still and very shy! I do not push socialization. We are joining our FB group every other Friday at a gym for free play. Another group does a gathering every Thursday at a local park during warmer months. They have a bowling league too. I could sit here for an hour typing out all the homeschool gatherings that happen on a regular basis near my house. Then there are field trips. We have gone to parks, museums, apple picking tours, a fall foliage train ride, a train ride on a mini steam engine train track, and I organized a trip to a local maple syrup farm!
Learning Disabilities
When my child was in Pre-K, I got a call from the school saying there is something wrong with my child! Apparently for 5 months at age 3-4, she did not speak or eat at school EVER! They tested her and she was 2 levels below what they consider normal. They wanted her to go to a special school.
Fast forward to 2 weeks of using Power Homeschool, (our homeschool curriculum), She was recognizing letters, than words, at age 4! And she has not stopped growing and learning! They gave her IEPs for everything. She no longer needed any services. I think in her circumstance the one-on-one learning was key!
What if your child has a learning disability that is more severe? I have talked to countless parents over the years that have children with ADHD, ASD, Dyslexia, and others. If you find the right curriculum, these obstacles can actually be very easy to overcome. In my personal experience talking to other parents, the online, video-based curriculums seem to do best!
Conclusion
Many people have many reasons to homeschool or not homeschool their child. I really could have made this article 10x longer than this, about the benefits of homeschool! The amount of time gained by homeschooling is amazing! The family time, the time the child has to learn new hobbies and skills, nothing compares! The socialization options with the extra time during her day is amazing! I really think my daughter never did have a learning disability, just some social anxiety that prevented her from learning, but homeschooling gave her the ability to be herself and be free and learn away! And children with Autism and other learning disabilities typically thrive in a homeschool environment!
