Homeschooling – 3 Questions to Ask Before Committing
You’re Thinking About Home Schooling… NOW WHAT?
One of the comments I hear often is how parents are becoming increasingly frustrated with our government-mandated school systems. Because of that alone, many parents are turning to the notion of homeschooling as an option.
The idea of gathering the kids around the kitchen table and teaching them with more attention and focus has a certain attraction.
Visions of the younger ones busily colouring whilst the older ones read their stories or work on basic math questions is one most parents would aspire to. The flexibility to go out to the park, run errands, and take family vacations anytime you want or to pack the fam jam up is indeed alluring.
Three questions to ask yourself before committing to homeschooling:
1. Are you the right teacher for your children?
You were your child’s first teacher for those milestones of crawling, walking, running, eating and getting dressed. You may have even taught them nursery rhymes, the alphabet, how to count and basic printing skills.
But are you prepared, patient and skilled enough to take them beyond the basics?
2. How long are you willing to commit to homeschooling?
You can plow through the curriculum in less than ten months when you home school – but remember that equates to several hours every day. The question would be, how many years are you willing to balance being the parent and the teacher?
If you are committing to take them through to junior high before sending them to the public/private school system, will they have the right skills they’ll need when they get there?
3. What are your future dreams and expectations for your children?
What opportunities do you want your children to have? When you think of education, how far do you want them to go? What kind of experiences do you want to share with them? What do you want their future to look like? These are all valuable questions to ask yourself.
Homeschooling can be rewarding and an amazing opportunity for your children. It’s important to understand it can also be time-consuming and frustrating for a parent. Putting the boundaries of schooling in place in the home isn’t for everyone, so if you only take one thing away from this blog post, it’s to understand your limitations as a parent.
Whichever you decide, you might like to discuss the options with Lani Donaldson. Lani can help you weed through some of the logistics so you can make the best choices for your family.
At UP Academy, we realize every child is a unique individual. We love and honour that! Up Academy considers these differences in all programming by meeting kids at their skill level and taking them to where they need to go in the way that serves them best.
Whether you’re looking for a free reading assessment, one-on-one tutoring or the benefits of a 100% independent private school, we have you covered.