my children.

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educational videos for kids.

But, on to homeschooling!

Homeschooling is growing in popularity as an educational option in the United States,

with about 3 percent of the school-age population being taught at home during the 2011-2012

school year, but you could ask ten different families why they homeschool their children

and get ten different reasons.

Most homeschool parents agree that the environment that their children would be exposed

to in a public school is something that they are concerned about, others list reasons like

safety, morals, or the quality of education that their children would receive.

First things first, I'm not a homeschooler because I struggled my way through school

and therefore hate it, which I have had some people assume. In fact, I was a straight-A

student and my class valedictorian.

I'm not telling you this to brag, I'm telling you this to illustrate that the public school

system worked very well for me - or it would have, if the only goal of attending school

was to get good grades. It was because I sailed through the system with a nearly perfect score

that I realized that this system, that I had dedicated FIFTEEN years of my life to (I attended two

years of college before my husband enlisted in the military) that was supposed to help

me succeed in life actually failed me in several areas that were really important to me.

First, I was really unhappy in school. I loved the reading, the learning, the classes,

the projects, but the social dynamic made me miserable.

Personally, I think that if you trap twenty people in a room for seven hours a day and

only allow them to leave to eat and use the bathroom, it doesn't matter WHAT you do, it's

not going to be fun. Multiply that times 180 days and turn all of the people into teenagers,

and you can see why there are problems.

Second, school didn't leave me much time to pursue my own interests. These days, I spend

a lot of time teaching my kids, cooking, and making Youtube videos, but as a teen I wanted

to be an artist and a writer! I spent a lot of time time drawing, painting, writing, and reading,

but I still wonder how my life could be different if I had just had more time to focus on developing

those interests instead of waiting for class to start, waiting for class to be over,

and riding the bus.

I did the math, and just during the four years I spent in high school, I spent over 720 hours

riding the bus. That's 30 days. I spent the equivalent of a MONTH, day and night, 24 hours

round the clock, riding the bus! I did get a lot of reading done, but I also got harrassed

by a high school student who shouted profanity at me because I was in his seat until I started

crying...when I was NINE.

Third, the things that I learned at school were really limited by what the school had

to offer. As someone who attended school in a rural area, we didn't exactly knock it out

of the park in terms of academic variety. As a

child, I wanted to learn French - they only offered Spanish. The gifted program literally

did not exist at my school, until my family moved in. My mother demanded accommodation, at which

point they gave us about 30 minutes every week with the 'special ed' teacher... not kidding.

Also, the librarian refused to let me check out books that were above my grade level - quote,

above my grade level - until again my mom stepped in, and made them let me, you know, check out books.

From the library. Yeah. Now, you may be saying, Sure,

all that stuff happened to you, but we don't have those problems

in my school system, my school system's great, it does all the things that I want for my children

and that may be true! Good for you. That's awesome.

But the point is that there's a lot of things

that are out of your control, they're out of your hands, and even if you do discover that there's a problem

you may not be able to get them to fix it.

With homeschooling, the entire educational process is in your hands, which is both

a good thing, and a bad thing.

So, I was already considering homeschooling my children when my oldest son was diagnosed

with a pervasive developmental disorder at the age of 2, which really kind of sealed the deal

for me. I remembered the way that children with special needs were treated when I was at school,

both by the school and by other children and I didn't want him to go through that.

And I decided that I was going to handle his educational needs and his educational experience

myself.

Cut to eight years later, and it turns out that homeschooling is just really fun.

It's a great fit for our family, and a great way for us to learn and grow together, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So, what about you? Do you homeschool or send your kids to public school, and what made

you make that decision? Leave your experiences in the comments. No mom-shaming, please, I'm

everybody makes the best that they can for their children, and

just like our children, those decisions can all be different.

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