Why Homeschool?

Around Christmas time, Eric, Taylor, Jimmy and I were at Wal-Mart shopping for Christmas. As we were walking down the candy isle, this elderly woman sitting on one of those ride-on carts asked Eric if he could grab her a bag of candy on the top shelf. After he had handed her the candy, Jimmy and Taylor ran up to the woman wanting her to give them some attention as well. The lady asked Taylor where she went to school and what grade she was in. Taylor (who is used to the comments made by many people when they find out she's being homeschooled) looked at me, not knowing what she sould say, so I told the lady she was homeschooled. Silence. I was waiting for the questions, Who am I to think I can teach my child what a certified teacher could teach them? All of a sudden the lady smiled at me and just said, "I think mothers that devote their time to their children are wonderful." We stood and talked to this lady for a few minutes, (until Eric started looking antsy) but I will never forget what she said.

Let me explain to everyone the reasons why we are homeschooling our children:

1. We're homeschooling because we can.
2. We're homeschooling because we love to learn and I love being able to share the world with them as a giant classroom.
3. We're homeschooling because we have been their teachers since birth and I'm not ready to turn the job over to anybody else.
4. We're homeschooling because we love to travel and visit friends and family.
5. We're homeschooling because we frankly love our children and would miss them all day.
6. We're homeschooling because it allows our children to take the lead in what they learn. We
have the freedom to go find tons of books and projects on the things that are interesting to them at that time. This seems like a natural and fun way to learn, and it's how their daddy and I continue to learn.
7. We're homeschooling because it gives us an opportunity to slow down in life and spend real,
daily time with our kids.
8. I believe that homeschooling my kids is one of the greatest gifts I can give them in life.

I wish I would have homeschooled Taylor from the beginning. This has been a very a great experience and I'm looking forward to many more. I will homeschool Jimmy through his elementry years as well. My children will have the decision after that, if they want to go to public middle and high school, we will send them, if not I will keep up with their schooling.

School ratio (teachers per student) 1:30
Our ratio 2:2

If Taylor has problems on a subject, we can stop what we are doing and work on that until she understands. Jimmy has learned a lot from me schooling his big sister and that makes me proud...I did that!

I am not saying that everyone should homeschool, I know not everybody has the patients to do this, but why am I the one who gets all the negative for giving my children one of the best educations they could receive. Eric didn't like the idea at first, but when I asked him to join me when I went to talk to one of the homeschooling groups around Florida, he went and that changed his mind. As we were driving home he told me I better send off the letter to the school board. Eric, as most of you know, is very negative about most things, so after his questions were answered, he felt confident that this was the right thing to do. We have not regretted any of this at all, I am doing what I was meant to do, teaching and guiding my children through their life and I wouldn't change that for the world.