Why We are Homeschooling

Disadvantages:   Honestly, the disadvantages from my perspective are few and far between.  There’s only one major one that comes to mind.

1.  Organized Activities:   People ask us about organized sports, clubs, or other extracurricular things like band.  To be honest, it’s almost become a non-issue and I’m reluctant to list this.  However, in some states it will be more of an issue than in other states, so I think it’s worth mentioning.  In our family, all four of my children are heavily involved in extracurricular and group activities.  All four of my kids are taking piano lessons.  One of my kids is taking drum lessons.  I’ve given basic band instrument instruction to three of the kids, and those kids are playing in a youth orchestra at church.  All four sing in choirs at church; all four play in handbell choirs too.  The two oldest kids are in our church’s youth praise band (one singing, the other on keyboards).  The kids are also involved in Bible studies and classes and youth groups at church.  All four kids swim on the community swim team in the summer (my oldest kid is one of the coaches of the team), and all four kids swim on a homeschool swim team during the non-summer months.  My boys have both participated in a Homeschool Football League  — I’ve helped coach for several years — in both a flag football and a contact football environment.  As an aside, anyone who doubts that a homeschooled student can be successful in football has not watched the University of Florida’s quarterback, Tim Tebow, play.

2.  Reduced Income:  In almost all homeschool situations, one of the parents will stay home and teach the children while the other parent works.  Obviously, the family will be drawing less income than if both parents were working, and the ramifications are a smaller house, perhaps fewer (and less “glamorous”) vacations, etc. 

Conclusion:  All this being said, I must restate what I said initially.  Homeschooling is not for everyone.  And there are outstanding teachers in the public and private school systems.  However, homeschooling does work, and if a family is inclined to consider it as an option, I would encourage that family to look into it further.

We’re still taking it one year at a time, but so far it’s been working for us.