I started homeschooling back in 2011, and through the years my reasons to homeschool have changed. One of my very first blog posts here on Homework and Horseplay was Why I Homeschool. In this post I share how my homeschooling journey began, but I wanted to get down to the nitty gritty and share the top 5 Reasons Why I Homeschool!

1. Customization

I think by now we know that all children learn differently, and I love being able to customize my children’s school to fit them! This is especially important when it comes to my special needs son. He is a very smart boy and understands a lot, but still has not mastered reading. I don’t ever want him to feel shame in this. I love that I can choose materials that he is interested in, and also matches his abilities.

However, my customizing doesn’t end there! All three of my children have very different interests and goals in life. My oldest son plans to join the Air Force straight out of high school, and he is aiming to become a linguist. Starting next year he will be tackling learning another language, which will hopefully give him a step up in his military career.

My daughter is very art oriented, so I always make sure to include a lot of hands on projects for her. I let her lead the way on what areas of the art world she wants to focus on, and it is amazing watching her abilities bloom.

2. Sibling Bonding

Having a house full of children can mean a lot of bickering and fighting among each other, but I love how close homeschooling has brought my children. They have learned to depend on each other to work through tough school assignments, and are always there to support each other on.

A few years ago, my two older children (Kenten and Julia) went back to public school. One of the biggest changes I seen was the separation in sibling relationships. It was heart breaking to me. I am so thankful that all three of my children are back home with me and rebuilding their relationships with each other.

3. Creating Our Own Schedule

In the early years of homeschooling my husband was in the military Air Force. Being able to set our own schedule was really important since his schedule was all over the place. If we didn’t homeschool, my children would have rarely seen their father. These days we don’t have to worry about a crazy work schedule for my husband, but I still like being able to set our own pace.

We follow a year round school schedule, and I love that! My children may complain about it once in awhile, but we never have to spend weeks reviewing things that they forgot over summer vacation. It also takes away the pressure of feeling as though we are behind schedule if we have to take a day off.

4. Treasuring Childhood

Kenten and Julia both started out in the public school system, and I couldn’t believe how quickly their childhoods were ending. In the 1st grade my children were being made fun of for believing in Santa… I think that is just heart breaking! Don’t even get me started on the questions they came home with.

Most of our lives are spent as adults, and I just want my children to hold on to being a child for as long as possible. My almost 11 year old still believes in Santa, and you know what? That’s how it should be in my eyes!

5. Being With My Children

Without a doubt, like most moms I have days where I just want a break from everything. However, at the end of the day I absolutely love being with my children. When I was growing up I knew that more than anything else in life that I wanted to be a mother. We tried the public school route, and I absolutely hated it for so many reasons. The biggest reason was that I missed my children so much when they were at school.

Before I know it all of my children will be grown and on their own. I don’t want to miss out on the ups and downs of childhood. Watching the excitement my children feel when they finally master something really hard in school is so amazing. Being the person my children turn to when they are struggling melts my heart. I want to watch my children grow into the amazing people I know they will be, and if they were in school for eight hours a day I would miss out on so much.

Thank you for checking out the 5 Reasons Why I Homeschool…

Why do you homeschool? I would love to hear your story so comment below, or join me over on the link up!