Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

When we first started having kids we thought for sure we would send them to school, I mean, that's the way it is, right? You have kids, you send them to school, go to work, etc? It didn't take us long though to figure out that we were great candidates for homeschooling, so we got to work putting together a list of the pros and cons of homeschooling for us:

Pros:

• They learn as they are ready to learn material.


• They can learn what they are most interested in at the time (helps them retain it longer).


• One on one time with the teacher is HUGE (me being the teacher, and comparing to 20 kids/teacher in school).


• You can teach in a way that they can learn (we all learn differently)


• Very easy to sprinkle God throughout the content of the schooling when there aren't rules not to (school).


• More control over situations your kids come in contact with (not complete control)


• Lots of styles to choose from, lots of curriculums to choose from.


• The excitement of them learning (otherwise a teacher gets to witness it)


• All of the curriculum available (such as classes, social, etc, a completely customizable schedule for each kid)


• Awesome (and constantly growing) community of homeschoolers everywhere


• Well worth it, even at Ethan's young age (he's 5)

Cons:

• Someone has to stay home from work and teach (loss of income)


• Harassment from friends/family about homeschooling and lack of social interaction (you know cause, kids go to school just to make friends, not for classes, lol)


• Power struggles with the kids (this we have learned as time goes on) about teaching


• Once you start, difficult (in my opinion) to stop. Once your kid gets so far ahead of the other kids their age, it is difficult to get them back in school and enjoying it.


• Some school districts are a pain in the a** to deal with


• Definitely a lot more stressful on mom and dad, kids want to push, they need to learn, curriculum can be costly, etc.

To help I will add more pros and cons as I come across them in my own life. As for now we are doing a whole bunch of curriculums for math and handwriting, animals, reading and unschooling for the outdoors. I've never had so much fun. Who would have thought school the second time around could be this fun?