I have addressed some of the beautiful aspects of homeschooling, many of which are why parents choose to homeschool. Personal attention, quality family time, building family culture, teaching your child a love of learning, and deep diving into your child's interests are a few. I wanted to share some additional perks that I never thought about until we were a few years into our homeschooling journey.
Slow mornings
I'm not a morning person, and rushing my kids to ANYTHING is very unpleasant for me and them. Homeschooling allows us to move slowly through our early morning hours and ease into the day. Morning coffee, snuggles, working out, walks, outside time, and breakfast #1 and #2 happen before we touch our schoolwork. I am constantly amazed at parents who get their kids ready, make breakfast and lunch, and do anything else they need to do by 8 a.m. I don't have to do that, and I love it.
Wear what you want!
Aside from my daughter's many, many, MANY wardrobe changes throughout the day, we don't have to worry about school dress codes or uniforms. The kids can wear whatever they want all day and change if they get craft paint or strawberry juice on their clothes. I don't have to stress about buying a particular type of clothing or worry about trends; our nice clothes are for Sundays, and that's it. Otherwise, we are in comfy play clothes all day.
No driving or car lines
We don't have to leave our house if we don't want to. Planning around pick-up lines or picking up the kids from different schools is not part of our daily life. We can take daily adventures or stay at home all day.
No packed lunches
Meal planning for me is such a chore. I am grateful I don't have to think about my kids having balanced lunches without allergens for the sake of other kids in their classes.
Daily prayer
We can pray together throughout the day. We often pray a decade of the rosary around 2 p.m., and that helps us reconnect with one another and with God. We can go to Holy Days of Obligation without thinking about taking the kids out of school or getting them to school late. We also have an Adoration chapel near our home, so visiting Our Lord when we need extra grace is a lovely perk.
Making appointments is easy
I don't have to plan around anything; I can get the kids to the doctor or the dentist whenever without making extra arrangements.
Daily adventures are less crowded
We go to the library, the children's museum, parks, run errands during work and school hours, and hardly ever deal with crowds. Keeping track of four kids in public spaces can cause me anxiety, especially with our two and four-year-olds. They tend to run in different directions. Thankfully, I can find them easily and quickly in those places when they are not so crowded. I also feel more at peace, which is always a good thing.
Snuggles
We live the Snug Life. If one of the children needs some physical affection, I am right there. If one of the kids needs to chat about something or wants to snuggle up and read a book together, I am right there. The snuggles are one of my FAVORITE perks.
School doesn't take that long
During our first year of homeschooling, I was distraught that my preschool son was 'done' with school after about 20 minutes. I kept comparing our days to the traditional school setting. It took me a while to 'unschool' my brain and stop trying to fill our day from 8-2 with non-stop learning. We work on math, writing, reading, and phonics daily and have science and catechism once a week. All of their work takes them about 90 minutes- and that's if they are distracted and need breaks in between subjects. Some days, my 2nd-grade son finishes his work in less than an hour.
Freedom!
This is probably why many people are drawn to homeschooling, but I wanted to mention it anyway. You can choose more unique ways to teach your children about the world around them.
If your child is interested in hiking, nature, volcanos, or whatever, you can follow that curiosity to its end. There are no rules!
I'll write about how we chose a curriculum next to share our experience navigating that. It can be very overwhelming, so send me those questions and concerns.
What are some perks you're experiencing in your journey?
If you're at the beginning of your journey, what concerns do you have?
I'm reading “The Rule: St Joan Paul II's Rule for a Joy-Filled Marriage of Divine Love” by Teresa and Peter Martin. I cannot recommend this book enough. What are you reading?
Freedom in every sense of the word! Sums it all up nicely! Freedom to change course when something isn’t working for either you or particularly for your child. Freedom to learn & try new things-etc..
I think a big reason this was an issue in my childhood was because I went to a traditional school until late elementary school and then switched to homeschooling, but I remember there being days in which everything school-related was a battle. My mom and I had and still have a loving relationship, but there were some ROUGH days during our homeschooling years. Have you had that experience at all, and do you have any tips for how to avoid that kind of dynamic?