One of the biggest advantages of homeschooling is the freedom we have. We have the ability to control the curriculum and schedule, literally everything about how we educate our children. Even if we have homeschool standards and restrictions in our state, we can meet those in our own way in keeping with our philosophy and beliefs and what works best for our families. There are so many benefits of homeschooling. A few of them are more efficient use of time and the ability to do it our own way. We can personalize education in a way that is impossible in classroom situations. Any effort to individualize education in public school or any classroom setting requires extreme amounts of energy and planning and organization and record keeping skills that few teachers have. I know I don’t have that kind of energy or skill. Organizing and keeping track of 20 or more students in a classroom all doing work that is truly personal and individual is a mind-boggling task.
More Efficient Use of Time
Far less time is wasted on bathroom and hall passes and class management, discipline, refereeing negative interaction between students, distraction, excessive noise and talking than at school. Since we don’t have any in homeschool. (Or at least we shouldn’t have many of these things!)
Kids don’t get frustrated by having to learn things they are not interested in.
They don’t have to wait for others in the class to finish before they can move on. Each student can move at their own pace.
We have no arbitrary or artificial time constraints as homeschoolers.
Your school time does not have to look ANYTHING like public school or any other classroom arrangement.
Make it Your Own
We can individualize and personalize the “curriculum” for each student. We can build our curriculum, schedule, and daily routine based on the interests, skills, talents, personalities, and preferences of our children. We can even structure our day and use of time according to our preferences and needs. We can let our young ones play a lot. We can let our older ones major on a subject that they are very interested in. We can change from one style to another if we find that something is not working for us. We can let one child use one kind of curriculum and another do things in a totally different way. We don’t have to use workbooks. We can let our children read and write and draw A LOT! There is no one standing and looking over our shoulder telling us how we have to do it. So throw away your old ideas of what school should look like and figure out what works best for you and your family. There are lots of books to read about different styles and philosophies and methods to use in homeschooling. You should read and compare them and see what appeals to you the most and feels like the best fit.
Read books like:
These books will give you an overview of how to shape your own curriculum and how to enjoy homeschooling. I consider these books some of the best books to help you make the most of homeschool freedom.
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
