5 Reasons I Love Homeschooling

I decided to come up with 5 reasons I love homeschooling to remind myself that there are definite advantages. This year I really struggled with that and kept thinking about how much easier it'd be to send my kids to school. I know it's a "grass is greener on the other side" mentality so I wanted to count my blessings and remind myself of why I do what I do. These are in no particular order - I think it would change depending on the day anyways.

1. The kids don't get up until 8. We don't have a bus to catch or have to get in the van by 7:30 every morning. We just get up around our normal time, eat breakfast, get dressed and are ready to start at 9.

2. Rest time every day. Even with our later start, we finish by 1:30 or 2:00. The latest so far (out of all 3 days!) was 2:30 and that was because Owen and Rachel had a dr's appt that morning so we basically did all our schoolwork in the afternoon. Brendan and Tori still go up to lay on their bed for an hour in the afternoon to rest and read books and just have some quiet time. Of course, I practice what I preach and I do the same thing! This schedule means the kids generally aren't over-tired and get plenty of rest.

3. Free evenings. Except for extracurricular activities (currently ballet and football), there is no homework around here. We work until we're done and then we put it away and enjoy time as a family. That is the goal, anyways. There are days when there is more arguing than enjoying but we're working on it.

4. We can vacation when we want. This is huge to me. I love that we can plan a vacation whenever we want and either take our school with us or change our schedule around to fit us better. It is just so freeing. This year we are following the normal school schedule because I am a creature of habit but we will be taking a week off in November to go to North Carolina. We'll either go a week longer in the summer or make it up another time.

5. Learning more about my children. It has been amazing to see how differently they both learn and to see our relationship develop as we learn to work together. I have to remind myself that this is a blessing because there are times when I want to be the mom with the cookies after school that says, "How was your day?" and hear all about it. It is a burden to have to decide what to teach and how to teach and when to teach it. Or at least it becomes a burden in my mind. But really, it is a privilege. It is one that brings me to God many times saying, "I can't do this on my own but I know that nothing is impossible with You." Actually, I usually say something like "I can't do this! I don't know what I'm doing!" But He has been faithful and when I seek Him, He shows Himself to me in so many ways - through His word, through Josh and homeschooling friends who are always encouraging and supportive.

I was going to list 10 reasons but it's getting late. :) Maybe I'll do a part two. This has already helped me look forward to tomorrow. Anything that brings me closer to my children and to my God is a good thing.