Why Should I Homeschool?
When done properly, homeschooling can be very effective. Your children can receive a well rounded education and have high self-esteems without any of the emotional scars or discontent that so many people tend to get from public school. They will enjoy learning, love their lives, respect their parents, and be well adjusted, mature, happy children with auspicious futures.
When I say emotional scars, I’m talking about the derogatory comments and the physical abuse kids sometimes receive from other kids at school; commonly known as bullying. When a child is bullied at school, it can change the path of their life dramatically. In some rare occasions, kids have even taken their own lives due to bullying, but those are extreme cases. I am referring to the typical name-calling that goes on every day in public school. These comments can lower a child’s self esteem and confidence level. The two things you must have in order to comfortably talk in front of a group of people - an important skill for socializing. Think back to when you were a kid. Do you still remember a derogatory comment that was said to you? Did that comment change how you felt about yourself?
Imagine it’s the first day of school for a young girl. She is about 10 pounds heavier than the rest of the girls her age, but she doesn’t care, she never even noticed. She is just happy to be wearing her new orange dress and playing with her friends. But then some kid, who is having a bad day, comes along and calls her "a fat orange pumpkin." Instantly her self esteem is shot down, she now hates her orange dress and vows to never wear it again. Every time she looks in a mirror she now sees a fat girl, which over time could result in an eating disorder. Her life has been altered. It will take two hundred compliments to undo the damage that was caused by that one insult. You can imagine how distracted this young girl would be in class, since now she is more concerned with her weight than focusing on what the teacher is teaching; making her grades suffer as much as her self confidence.
Now imagine that same happy little girl was wearing her new orange dress while being taught by her mom that day instead. She never would have been called a fat pumpkin and if she truly did have a weight problem, her mom would have been able to prepare sensible meals for her instilling good eating habits. She would have learned something that day with her self confidence intact and a smile on her face. She wouldn't have spent the whole day with the very kid who called her fat. Instead, she would have been told how much she is loved and wanted. That's the kind of environment a child needs to be in to be able to learn.
People who are against homeschooling think you need this type of friction in your life to better prepare for the real world. Well...I'm an adult in the real world and it is completely unacceptable, unprofessional, and unheard of to call another adult names. It is illegal to hit another person, yet on the playground at recess this happens every day. This type of behavior might prepare you for the real world in jail, but the real world I live in, does not tolerate name calling, bullying, nor hitting. We are expected to act polite, legal, fair, and respectful at all times.
Would you ever tell a coworker straight to her face that she is ugly or fat? Of course you wouldn’t. It's not socially acceptable to talk like that, but in public school, it's an everyday occurrence. This kind of behavior is not only damaging to the person being bullied, but it also sets a standard of behavior for the rest of the students to follow. This is not how we want our kid's to act or be treated. That kind of friction is damaging and it can change the outcome of a child's personality. There is plenty of opportunity for friction and disappointment in this world, it doesn't need to be forced on you when you are trying to learn and grow as a person.
Think back to when you were in school. Do you recall having a teacher you liked or respected? I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that if you did, that teacher probably encouraged you, was impressed by you, or told you something wonderful about yourself that you didn’t know before. Am I right? I’d also bet that you ended up getting a good grade from that teacher too.
When a student respects and likes the teacher, they want to impress them by doing a good job. And we all like to please our parents, so when the parent becomes the teacher: it’s a double whammy! The child wants to please the parent AND impress the teacher. This wonderful chain reaction creates a child who enjoys learning. My face would light up every time my son learned something new. I was always so impressed and pleased. That attitude gave my son a love for learning. I can still remember my son saying, “Teach me, teach me, teach me” every time he discovered something new. Later in life, this love for learning enabled him to teach himself Calculus.
I wasn’t homeschooled. I grew up and attended public school in Washington State. Every morning, 5 days a week, I woke up to the sound of an alarm clock, ate a bowl of cereal, and walked to the bus stop. It didn’t matter if it was still dark outside, raining, or 30 degrees. I had to walk a half mile and go to school. By Saturday morning, I was always so tired, I would sleep in until nearly 11:00...if I could get away with it. Then on Sunday night, it was always the mad dash to get all my homework done and start all over again Monday morning. I was only 8 years old and basically, I had a full time job. This gave me a negative spin on learning. Needless to say, I was less than enthused with school.
My son, on the other hand was homeschooled. He woke up at exactly 8:00 am every morning, fully refreshed and ready for a new day. He had home-cooked meals, his mom’s full attention, and he was surrounded by people who loved him and encouraged him all day. There were no brand name clothes, no fashion statements, and no teasing or name calling. Just pencils, paper, books, a warm fire, the family dog, and a thirst for knowledge. In the afternoon he would go to his Tae Kwan Do class and then hang out with his friends from the neighborhood. At precisely 9:00, he was exhausted and ready for bed. He would fall asleep feeling proud that he had accomplished something, happy that he had enjoyed his day with friends and family, and he never once had to stress over homework. This gave learning a positive spin on learning. Needless to say, he loved his life.
When you homeschool a child, you aren't just teaching the ABC's and 123's at home, you are the number one role model in this child's life. You can teach him to behave exactly as you expect. When your kid spends more time with you than anyone else, you influence him the most. When a child spends the majority of his time with other kids, whether it's daycare, school, or neighbor kids, he will be influenced by them, not you.
Can you picture a typical 4-year-old girl who looks up to Mommy and Daddy like they are the smartest people in the world? She thinks her parents know everything and can do anything. They are strong beyond belief. They can operate a stove, drive a car, and write really fast in cursive writing.
Now picture that same child 3 years later; after having been in public school for a few years. Suddenly "Sarah" from second grade has taken your place. "Sarah says that babies grow in your stomach and a doctor has to cut them out”… "Sarah says I need to wear Hollister jeans or I'm not cool”… "Sarah says I should get my ears pierced.” Suddenly, Mom and Dad have become the un-cool, the old fuddy-duddies that don't know anything, they can't even send a text message. Schooling your kids at home not only gives them an excellent education, but it also gives them a realistic example of how a mature person handles themselves and others. Their heads are full of accurate, useful information that they will have for the rest of their lives. Also, you get to keep that "smartest person in the world" position for many more years.
Manners and maturity aren't included in the 11 subjects that we must teach our kids, according to Washington State, but that is one of the perks of homeschooling. You have the opportunity to make sure your kids are behaving appropriately all the time, not just when an authority figure is looking.
We've all seen how a classroom of kids act when the teacher leaves the room for a few minutes. Paper is thrown across the room, one kid is burping as loud as possible, a tack is put on the teacher's chair, someone swears, the overall volume of the voices goes up, and so on. You get the picture. This type of disobedience in the absence of an authority figure is indirectly taught when the ratio of teachers to students is 1:25. The desire to impress their peers through misbehaving, is higher than the desire to impress their teacher by behaving.
Today it's their teacher, but later in life that authority figure is their boss or the police. We want our kids to have the mindset that they need to behave ALL the time, not just when they think they might get caught. When a child is raised knowing Mom is looking 95% of the time, they tend to behave out of habit. It's unusual for them to misbehave, it feels weird.
My son was often told how mature he acted. He wasn’t impressed by this compliment. He wasn’t even really sure what people were talking about. That was until one day when he had to go to the local high school to take the SAT. He was only 17, but he had been in college for about a year already. He came home and told me how the typical conversation at his college would usually go..."What's your major?" or "What University or you applying to?" and things like calculus and psychology. But when he went to the high school and overheard some of students talking there, the conversation was…"Hey dude, remember when you brought that black banana to school and we squished it?" That's when my son realized what people were talking about when they told him he acts mature.
Homeschooling my son enabled him to enroll in college at age 16 through the Running Start Program. In fact, the majority of the kids in the Running Start Program at his college were previously homeschooled. He has earned two college degrees and he will have his third, a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering, at age 21. He is social, professional, and well respected by his boss, professors and peers. I have never met another 21 year old as responsible and well adjusted as my son and I accredit his success to the confidence, education, and goal-oriented drive he obtained through homeschooling.
If you want to give your children a gift that will last a lifetime, keep them home, keep them happy, and teach them everything you know, plus a little more. Your reward will be a mature, educated, responsible, young adult who respects you and loves to learn.
Please read about my Homeschool Math Books
Is your child fidgety and easily distracted?
When I say emotional scars, I’m talking about the derogatory comments and the physical abuse kids sometimes receive from other kids at school; commonly known as bullying. When a child is bullied at school, it can change the path of their life dramatically. In some rare occasions, kids have even taken their own lives due to bullying, but those are extreme cases. I am referring to the typical name-calling that goes on every day in public school. These comments can lower a child’s self esteem and confidence level. The two things you must have in order to comfortably talk in front of a group of people - an important skill for socializing. Think back to when you were a kid. Do you still remember a derogatory comment that was said to you? Did that comment change how you felt about yourself?
Imagine it’s the first day of school for a young girl. She is about 10 pounds heavier than the rest of the girls her age, but she doesn’t care, she never even noticed. She is just happy to be wearing her new orange dress and playing with her friends. But then some kid, who is having a bad day, comes along and calls her "a fat orange pumpkin." Instantly her self esteem is shot down, she now hates her orange dress and vows to never wear it again. Every time she looks in a mirror she now sees a fat girl, which over time could result in an eating disorder. Her life has been altered. It will take two hundred compliments to undo the damage that was caused by that one insult. You can imagine how distracted this young girl would be in class, since now she is more concerned with her weight than focusing on what the teacher is teaching; making her grades suffer as much as her self confidence.
Now imagine that same happy little girl was wearing her new orange dress while being taught by her mom that day instead. She never would have been called a fat pumpkin and if she truly did have a weight problem, her mom would have been able to prepare sensible meals for her instilling good eating habits. She would have learned something that day with her self confidence intact and a smile on her face. She wouldn't have spent the whole day with the very kid who called her fat. Instead, she would have been told how much she is loved and wanted. That's the kind of environment a child needs to be in to be able to learn.
People who are against homeschooling think you need this type of friction in your life to better prepare for the real world. Well...I'm an adult in the real world and it is completely unacceptable, unprofessional, and unheard of to call another adult names. It is illegal to hit another person, yet on the playground at recess this happens every day. This type of behavior might prepare you for the real world in jail, but the real world I live in, does not tolerate name calling, bullying, nor hitting. We are expected to act polite, legal, fair, and respectful at all times.
Would you ever tell a coworker straight to her face that she is ugly or fat? Of course you wouldn’t. It's not socially acceptable to talk like that, but in public school, it's an everyday occurrence. This kind of behavior is not only damaging to the person being bullied, but it also sets a standard of behavior for the rest of the students to follow. This is not how we want our kid's to act or be treated. That kind of friction is damaging and it can change the outcome of a child's personality. There is plenty of opportunity for friction and disappointment in this world, it doesn't need to be forced on you when you are trying to learn and grow as a person.
Think back to when you were in school. Do you recall having a teacher you liked or respected? I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that if you did, that teacher probably encouraged you, was impressed by you, or told you something wonderful about yourself that you didn’t know before. Am I right? I’d also bet that you ended up getting a good grade from that teacher too.
When a student respects and likes the teacher, they want to impress them by doing a good job. And we all like to please our parents, so when the parent becomes the teacher: it’s a double whammy! The child wants to please the parent AND impress the teacher. This wonderful chain reaction creates a child who enjoys learning. My face would light up every time my son learned something new. I was always so impressed and pleased. That attitude gave my son a love for learning. I can still remember my son saying, “Teach me, teach me, teach me” every time he discovered something new. Later in life, this love for learning enabled him to teach himself Calculus.
I wasn’t homeschooled. I grew up and attended public school in Washington State. Every morning, 5 days a week, I woke up to the sound of an alarm clock, ate a bowl of cereal, and walked to the bus stop. It didn’t matter if it was still dark outside, raining, or 30 degrees. I had to walk a half mile and go to school. By Saturday morning, I was always so tired, I would sleep in until nearly 11:00...if I could get away with it. Then on Sunday night, it was always the mad dash to get all my homework done and start all over again Monday morning. I was only 8 years old and basically, I had a full time job. This gave me a negative spin on learning. Needless to say, I was less than enthused with school.
My son, on the other hand was homeschooled. He woke up at exactly 8:00 am every morning, fully refreshed and ready for a new day. He had home-cooked meals, his mom’s full attention, and he was surrounded by people who loved him and encouraged him all day. There were no brand name clothes, no fashion statements, and no teasing or name calling. Just pencils, paper, books, a warm fire, the family dog, and a thirst for knowledge. In the afternoon he would go to his Tae Kwan Do class and then hang out with his friends from the neighborhood. At precisely 9:00, he was exhausted and ready for bed. He would fall asleep feeling proud that he had accomplished something, happy that he had enjoyed his day with friends and family, and he never once had to stress over homework. This gave learning a positive spin on learning. Needless to say, he loved his life.
When you homeschool a child, you aren't just teaching the ABC's and 123's at home, you are the number one role model in this child's life. You can teach him to behave exactly as you expect. When your kid spends more time with you than anyone else, you influence him the most. When a child spends the majority of his time with other kids, whether it's daycare, school, or neighbor kids, he will be influenced by them, not you.
Can you picture a typical 4-year-old girl who looks up to Mommy and Daddy like they are the smartest people in the world? She thinks her parents know everything and can do anything. They are strong beyond belief. They can operate a stove, drive a car, and write really fast in cursive writing.
Now picture that same child 3 years later; after having been in public school for a few years. Suddenly "Sarah" from second grade has taken your place. "Sarah says that babies grow in your stomach and a doctor has to cut them out”… "Sarah says I need to wear Hollister jeans or I'm not cool”… "Sarah says I should get my ears pierced.” Suddenly, Mom and Dad have become the un-cool, the old fuddy-duddies that don't know anything, they can't even send a text message. Schooling your kids at home not only gives them an excellent education, but it also gives them a realistic example of how a mature person handles themselves and others. Their heads are full of accurate, useful information that they will have for the rest of their lives. Also, you get to keep that "smartest person in the world" position for many more years.
Manners and maturity aren't included in the 11 subjects that we must teach our kids, according to Washington State, but that is one of the perks of homeschooling. You have the opportunity to make sure your kids are behaving appropriately all the time, not just when an authority figure is looking.
We've all seen how a classroom of kids act when the teacher leaves the room for a few minutes. Paper is thrown across the room, one kid is burping as loud as possible, a tack is put on the teacher's chair, someone swears, the overall volume of the voices goes up, and so on. You get the picture. This type of disobedience in the absence of an authority figure is indirectly taught when the ratio of teachers to students is 1:25. The desire to impress their peers through misbehaving, is higher than the desire to impress their teacher by behaving.
Today it's their teacher, but later in life that authority figure is their boss or the police. We want our kids to have the mindset that they need to behave ALL the time, not just when they think they might get caught. When a child is raised knowing Mom is looking 95% of the time, they tend to behave out of habit. It's unusual for them to misbehave, it feels weird.
My son was often told how mature he acted. He wasn’t impressed by this compliment. He wasn’t even really sure what people were talking about. That was until one day when he had to go to the local high school to take the SAT. He was only 17, but he had been in college for about a year already. He came home and told me how the typical conversation at his college would usually go..."What's your major?" or "What University or you applying to?" and things like calculus and psychology. But when he went to the high school and overheard some of students talking there, the conversation was…"Hey dude, remember when you brought that black banana to school and we squished it?" That's when my son realized what people were talking about when they told him he acts mature.
Homeschooling my son enabled him to enroll in college at age 16 through the Running Start Program. In fact, the majority of the kids in the Running Start Program at his college were previously homeschooled. He has earned two college degrees and he will have his third, a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering, at age 21. He is social, professional, and well respected by his boss, professors and peers. I have never met another 21 year old as responsible and well adjusted as my son and I accredit his success to the confidence, education, and goal-oriented drive he obtained through homeschooling.
If you want to give your children a gift that will last a lifetime, keep them home, keep them happy, and teach them everything you know, plus a little more. Your reward will be a mature, educated, responsible, young adult who respects you and loves to learn.
Please read about my Homeschool Math Books
Is your child fidgety and easily distracted?