The Question Many Parents Ask: Why Do People Home School?
All parents love their children dearly but many breathe a sigh of relief when they see them hopping on the school bus every morning. New moms are often counting the days till their child begins preschool so that she can get some me time, so the question that arises time and time again is why home school?
Why spend so much time, money and resources on teaching your children when qualified teachers are present in state-run schools just around the corner? The answers to why home school differs for parents, but some of the reasons include:
Dissatisfaction with Public Schools
Many parents decide to home school as they are just fed up with the public school system which focuses on the average child in large classrooms with few resources. The gifted child or one with a learning disability is often sidetracked in regular public schools and parents have to step up and take the responsibility themselves to impart an education more in tune with their child's abilities.
More Control
Another reason why home schooling parents are happy with their decision is that they have much more control over their child's education and environment when they are home schooled. Even when they do go for extra curricular activities at the park district or YMCA, they are under the supervision of their parents as opposed to a teacher who has to keep an eye on 30 plus kids. Parents feel in home schooling they can better keep track of the company their kids are keeping and perhaps have a more influential role in keeping them away from drugs, premarital sex and guns.
Cost
Many parents are unhappy with what their school district has to offer yet they cannot afford expensive private schools. This is why they home school; to get the best of both worlds. They can provide a safer and more customized education environment plus not have to take out a second mortgage just to send the kids to a private school.
Love for Learning and Children
And as strange as it may seem to some parents, others just love to be able to spend one on one time with their child and learn and re-learn things together. They like the flexibility to be able to go to the park on a weekday or make a trip downtown to a museum for an impromptu field trip and not having to bother about permission slips, car pools and lunch money. They enjoy being such an important part of their child's life and that is simply why they home school.
