Homeschooling is an amazing blessing filled with many benefits. I often share in my posts about the things I love about homeschooling. Today, however, I decided it would be fun to share what YOU think are the biggest benefits of homeschooling.
Awhile back, I surveyed my readers and I got some really amazing responses. Thank-you to everyone who has ever filled out one of my surveys. Not only did I learn ways that I can better serve you in the future, but I also learned why you are homeschooling and what you feel the benefits of homeschooling have been for your family.
When all of your responses are put together, I think it paints a very compelling picture of why homeschooling is on the rise and why so many of us do the extra work that it takes to educate our children at home.
So, without further adieu, here are your answers to what YOU feel are the biggest benefits of homeschooling (in your own words):
1 – The ability to tailor learning for our children
- Being able to teach each of my children in the ways that they best learn (learning this is a constant process for me, but every time I learn something new about my child it helps me teach them better). This helps me teach everything from character to ABC’s.
- Being able to provide for his individual needs.
2 – Benefits for mom
- Growing in virtue (for me).
- Personal/character growth for mama.
- Watching my children learn and be excited about learning new things.
- Seeing them learn.
- Getting to understand and appreciate my kids as individuals.
- Spending time with my children.
- I adore being with them and they have taught me so very much.
3 – Good for our children
- My boys are more confident, calmer and more obedient, but it flows from their heart. They also have a happier relationship with us.
- My oldest has finished her first year in college and I can see the fruits of my labor.
- Providing more opportunity in life.
- Being open to life.
- Teaching at our son’s pace – allowing him to somewhat lead where the lessons go, and seeing the light of epiphany light up his face as he puts the pieces together.
- My oldest is learning at his grade level and loves to learn! He is now a happy 10-year-old!!
- Being able to one on one help with learning problems.
- Confidence.
- individualized attention (vs the school system) has been SO good for my boys.
- My student has been able to develop his interests and already has ideas for his future. He is better socially than most school children I meet.
- Less stress than would be otherwise.
- Advancing at their own speed.
- So much more peaceful and calm. My daughter would wake up screaming several times a night and usually begin the morning with vomiting before public school started each day. Now she has the freedom to sleep as much as she needs, gets up and smiles and hugs Mom. She can ease into the day.
4 – Stronger relationships
- Kids love learning and be can be together every day. When I just asked my daughter to answer that question, she responded with the same idea by saying, “That we can be with you every day.”
- With our older four, we see how close we and they are as a family.
- We were losing our emotional connection with our eldest son. He was just so stressed with all he had going on in his life while he attended public school that he didn’t have anything left for his family afterward. He has been home for 2 years now and what a turnaround!
- The bonds we have made by living on an alternative schedule (my husband does weird shifts.)
- Closeness with my son.
- I feel like I’ve been able to connect with each of my children better.
- The relationships our family has with each other.
- I have a strong relationship with my kids.
- We now have a deep connection to each other. I doubt we would have been able to nurture such a connection had we followed a traditional way of learning.
- More time to develop relationships and spending time doing things together.
- I know my children well and I can allow them to integrate their interests/passions with learning.
- The closeness of our family
- Our family bond is strong.
- Family unity
- Relationship with my boys
- A closer relationship with my sons–even as teens, 14 and 18, they talk openly and easily to us, they feel comfortable with us and their friends, and the main influence in their lives is us.
- The relationship I have with my sons is very close. They are my friends, I miss them when we are not together.
- Family closeness
- Kids still like to talk to us.
- My relationship with my child.
- The closeness and connection from sharing our lives together (rather than being apart for a significant amount of the day.)
- Our close relationship as a family is the best result.
5 – Passing on Christian values
- Learning about the Lord.
- Stronger relationships especially with God.
- Passed on Biblical values and all four are living Christ-like lives.
- My kids are learning Truth at a young age instead of being exposed to all sorts of other teachings in school. They are also developing good relationships with their siblings and parents.
- We have been able to incorporate the Bible into our day.
- Solid faith and relationships
- All my children are walking with the Lord.
- Having a Christian worldview interwoven throughout all of the subjects we study. Everything points to God.
- Growing in our faith together.
- Character and Biblical training
6 – Other benefits
- Flexibility
- Time at home, time with family, and the time to pursue other things – ie: sports, hobbies, volunteering.
- Real learning
- We can work around “life” when it happens. Go as fast or slow as we need.
- Kinder kids
- I can truly make sure that they learn what is important to DH and myself. They would never learn to discuss political events, music history etc in school.
- Freedom
- We had soooo much fun after I let go of ‘schooling’. We have great memories.
- Academic achievement
- More relaxed lifestyle
- Nice kids that people like to be around who like to learn.
- I kept him out for a year after him being in a very stressed state. He was very behind in learning and socially/emotionally. One year at home changed all that and he was ahead when he went back.
And now you know the benefits that many other families have experienced from homeschooling their children. It might not be the easiest path but it is definitely worth it!
How about you? What benefits have you received from homeschooling? I’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below.
It’s interesting that as home educating mothers we have those times where we and our child do not get along that well. When the thought of sending them out the door in the morning flits across our mind. But when all is said and done we say home educating them was worth it and we are closer as a family. (From my experience and a lot of the comments above.)
That’s so true! I hear non-homeschooling moms say that they could never homeschool their children because they don’t have a close enough relationship with them – or they don’t get along well enough. But that doesn’t just magically happen for homeschooling families, either. It happens by pushing through those hard times and sticking it out. Great observation, Linda!
My favorite thing about home schooling my 14 year old son is watching him.
I know when he’s really concentrating and when he’s half hearted about
something. It is such a privilege to watch him in his high school Biology co-op
and realize this is one class he really clicks with. I see the wheels turning as he
assembles his experiment and love to watch his enthusiasm shine in a setting of students his own age and realize he is so smart! We have persevered through some tough years and now it is clear that we are bearing fruit!
Yes, it is such a privilege to watch them. And it definitely takes perseverance. Thanks for sharing your experience, Susan!
I’m featuring your post this week at the Literacy Musing Mondays Linkup. Thanks for encouraging your readers and me!
Thanks so much, Leslie. I really appreciate that!
I have a 2.5 year old & weighing up the odds between school & home schooling. What support do you get & what do you teach in homeschooling? Do you get support? I’m dyslexic so was always bullied after primary & at work too but I found my strength in leaning practically through work now I have a diverse knowledge on the workings of things, rather than academia than most I meet.
Thanks for asking your question, Sara. The only support you get with homeschooling is from other homeschoolers. But having been a homeschooler for 14 years, I can say that the homeschooling community is extremely supportive. You need to search it out yourself and find other homeschooling families rather than being thrown together with people at school events – but once you find your community, it is wonderful.
And I love your point about learning things practically through work rather than merely having book smarts. That is so true and something that’s very easy for homeschoolers to accomplish.
When my oldest son was your child’s age, I started homeschooling him just to make sure it would be something I could handle. You might want to try that as well so see how you both like it. Here’s a post called Make Your Own Homeschool Preschool Curriculum that you might find helpful. Whatever you decide, it’s always fun to spend time working with our kiddos and helping them to see how much fun learning can be. I wish you well in making your decision – and feel free to ask more questions as they arise. 🙂