Should You Homeschool?

If you're reading this, you're likely considering homeschool and feeling a mix of hope and fear. Your reasons for considering homeschool don't really matter, but let's list a few:

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• Maybe your child doesn't fit "the mold," isn't a traditional learner or has a learning difference (and a corresponding label). 
• Maybe s/he is being bullied at school or a shade shy of that and just isn't feeling good about school, with each day starting (or ending) with tears around some aspect of school (from getting out the door in the morning to completing too many hours of homework each night). 
• Maybe the political indoctrination infecting many public schools worries you or you'd like to see religion play a role in your child's learning.
• Or maybe you're just tired of seeing your little one's love of learning slowly fade away, as s/he is burdened with memorizing facts and specific, convoluted methods geared toward testing, not learning.

Regardless of WHY, you're now considering homeschool - and you have concerns about socialization, the time commitment required, your ability to teach, and the many questions you don't even know to ask to get the process started! I'll address those concerns on this site. 

Other people reading this might be skeptical or just curious about our choice to homeschool. And a few might be here to pick that choice apart. 

Each family has unique - and deeply personal - reasons for homeschooling. Assumptions around those reasons and the parents' ability to effectively homeschool are typically made by under-informed, mean-spirited people possessing an idyllic (and entirely unrealistic) view of what traditional "school" looks like today. Schools today are:

• Overcrowded. Call a local public school and see for yourself.
• Antisocial. Kids learn how to be mean, sneaky and suck up to adults. There's nothing useful about any of that. And most get less than 30 minutes of recess each day - some get zero unstructured time at all. They're neither interacting as children should, nor socializing. They're learning to conform and obey.
• Unsafe. Regardless of how or why, the undeniable fact is that schools are not safe places, from bullying to sexual predators and random acts of violence, schools are targets and they've failed when it comes to managing these concerns.
• Polarizing. If your family does not believe what mainstream media believes - watch out! Teachers are increasingly little more than aggressive mouthpieces brainwashing young minds with ideas that step well outside of what you'd expect your child to learn in school. 
• Underfunded. Speaks for itself, but if that growing "school supply list" required on the first day of school each year doesn't concern you - it should.
• Understaffed. They may have enough teachers for their overcrowded, underfunded classrooms - but these teachers are NOT sufficiently trained. A bachelor's degree might sound adequate (particularly if you don't have one yourself!), but unless it's specifically in Early Childhood Development, it gives these "teachers" exactly ZERO qualifications beyond mom and dad's abilities when it comes to shaping a young mind. And even then, if they aren't actively creating curriculum that's optimally suited for each incoming class and its corresponding learning differences (and I guarantee public school teachers are not doing this), they're merely teaching to a test. And that's not teaching.

Backing it up a minute, I hate to even mention this, but it lends credibility to my position when addressing haters' meddling concerns: My background includes a master's degree in elementary education and four years spent teaching in public, private and parochial settings. A teaching degree/teaching experience is NOT necessary to homeschool. 

Yes, excellent schools exist, but they are NOT inclusive. If your child does not fit a traditional learner mold - and many do not, s/he will be guided toward schools with "services" where s/he will receive "accommodations" for this difference. Believing a specialist tasked with teaching ten children with varying needs when they take your child to a resource room (which they'll be ridiculed for, mind you) can do a better job than a parent working one-on-one with their child is ludicrous. But THAT is the mindset you're up against when you homeschool, mom & dad. Forewarned is forearmed.

And that's the purpose of this site: Arming you with info, by way of stats, success stories and strategies to help you - and your little hero - be the next homeschooling success story! And know that there are many.

Oh and you're still wondering about my story, right? Well, it's personal. No family should feel required to disclose why they choose to homeschool. And those who press for a reason are missing an essential bit of manners, called tact (and could have benefited from homeschooling, as homeschooled children are often exceedingly polite). But for those wishing us well and worrying around the pros and cons of this choice, know that it's a mix of some of the reasons detailed above - and my little hero absolutely excels now that he's learning at home - and we wouldn't have it any other way. And then read these Questions to Ask Homeschool Haters so you have THAT handy as well! Best of luck!

Are you a homeschooler (new or veteran) seeking to share insight? Read our guidelines and then reach out introducing yourself to obtain blogging credentials! And if you're a homeschool parent, be sure to follow the Homeschooling Heroes page on Facebook for tons of resources and insight, and join the Unschool Homeschool group to expand your horizons as to what homeschooling is/can be. And finally, if you're looking for activities to join, we have a group with New Orleans-based activities, which will be expanding to an area near you - so join our group! And be excited about that, because we offer tons of exceptional educational and extracurricular activities for homeschoolers and parents, and can't wait to include you.