Another Reason to Homeschool

Whenever I get into a conversation with someone about the fact that I homeschool our children, I inevitably hear something along the lines of, "Oh, I could never homeschool, it would be too much work." or "too overwhelming", or "I'm not organized enough." I've always thought those arguments were irrelevant, not because they weren't true, but because the benefits of homeschooling far outweigh the price we have to pay to do it. Today, however, I had a conversation that changed my perspective completely.

I was talking to a friend who has nine children, seven of whom are in a K-9 charter school, the other two are in High school. She was expressing the stress she experiences daily trying to help her children complete all of their homework. She described a typical evening having to stay up until midnight or later trying to correct problems, or answer questions, or generally keeping her children on task. Now, I probably see the pros of homeschooling and cons of public schooling a little more exaggerated than some, but I have often thought that homeschooling would be a little more difficult for someone with 7+ kids. It dawned on me however, as she was talking, that rather than making her life harder, homeschooling would actually make her life simpler. Yes, she would be responsible for teaching her children every day, but she is already doing that.  What she wouldn't have to do anymore is; worry about the expectations of 9 different teachers with completely different teaching styles, help her children to remember to finish their homework each day, get all nine children, up, fed, dressed, with lunches in hand, and back packs filled with all the necessary paperwork by between 7:00 and 7:45 each morning (after having stayed up until midnight the night before), not to mention all the social and emotional dramas that have to be dealt with on a regular basis because of events at school.

Granted, I only have 4 children to worry about at the moment, but we wake up the kids at 6:30 each morning so they can exercise, eat, dress, practice piano, and read their scriptures before we start school at 8:30. We then "do school" until noon, when we eat lunch and have an hour break. Some days, if we have had a late start, or a heavier load, we will then do some work from 1-2, or we will go to the library, or on a nature walk. We clean the house together from 2-3 and then we are all free to do whatever we like for the rest of the day. No "homework" (we've been doing that all day),  no lessons to practice, nothing but play or reading (for fun), or riding bikes, or drawing, or whatever we like. Fridays we don't do our "normal school". That is our field trip, or service project day so we have even less to worry about then. We are looking forward to adding another child to the mix in a few months, but rather than worrying about how we can keep homeschooling with one more little one, I realize that as our family grows, our kids age and are more able to work independently on their own education, and help more with their younger siblings and other duties around the house. Rather than segregating them from their family all day long, they work with each other all day and learn valuable lessons from doing so.

I will admit that my house is probably messier at 2:00 p.m. than it would likely be if I had no children filling it up all day long, but think of all the fun, and love, and learning (mine and theirs) I would miss out on if they weren't. There is a peace and joy that I get from homeschooling that I can't imagine I could find if my kids were only my own from 4:00 p.m. until bedtime every day. I still think the benefits of homeschooling far outweigh the price we have to pay to do it, but I am beginning to see that the price we have to pay may not be too high after all.