Everyone experiences ups and downs when educating children at home. Just like all aspects of parenting, it’s not easy, but it is so very worth it! There are various motivators for parents to homeschool their children: better education, safer atmosphere for your children, ability to choose what your children learn, and freedom to instill Christian values without contradictory influences.
No matter what the initial reason is to homeschool, you will likely find that home education fits your family for many more reasons as time goes on. In this series, we have gathered articles that focus on the reasons why we homeschool. We hope you will be inspired and encouraged by these homeschooling stories.
Read these articles for real-life anecdotes from families that are on this homeschooling journey with you and be encouraged to educate your kids in the way that works best for your family.
Want to share your homeschooling story on The Canadian Schoolhouse? Email Kristin Stewart at kstewart@theoldschoolhouse.com for details.
Why do you homeschool? Are you prepared to answer that question? I’ll never forget the day I fumbled through my answer. I was in a small crowd of adults when someone (who doesn’t homeschool) confidently explained to the group why parents choose to homeschool. The explanation provided was absolutely ridiculous. As a longtime homeschooler, I didn’t know a single person in my large community of homeschoolers who kept their kids at home for the reasons this non-homeschooling “expert” on homeschooling just listed.
Homeschooling for Family, Freedom, and Faith
We moved from Nova Scotia to a small farm town in southern Saskatchewan in 2009 immediately after we were married. I was a newly graduated teacher, and my husband a newly graduated RCMP officer. We had hopes and dreams of having a big family. Our new church and community was full of large families, with an average of 4-6 children in each. Our small community also had a 4-day school week and several homeschool families.
Answering God's Call to Homeschool
I love education. I loved getting it; I love giving it; I love talking about it. I grew up playing teacher with my dolls, my sister, and my imaginary students (whoever I could get to come and pay attention). A Bachelor of Education was a natural fit for me, and I entered into that program after I completed my Bachelor of Kinesiology. Love of Teaching
Although I was open to homeschooling, I never expected to start it last year! For the 2019-2020 school year, my oldest daughter and my son attended a Catholic school that we could walk to. My daughter was in grade 1 and my son Joshua was in kindergarten. We loved the school and the teachers, and I was glad my kids were attending there.
I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I had always wanted to be a wife and mom, too. When my kids were barely toddling, I knew that I wanted to keep them at home and teach them myself, but their dad wanted them to go to school. As they got older, two of my four children entered into the public school system. Over time, I realized that maybe, just maybe, my desire to homeschool was also something God had implanted into my heart.
I am a homeschooling mom of four. My oldest is 9 years old, and we are currently in our 5th year of homeschooling. There are many reasons why my husband and I have decided to homeschool our children. There are secular reasons and biblical convictions; both of those ultimately come back to the glory of God.
Pre-pandemic (I think a term we all now use), I had been working with a local non-profit but have a background in education, mostly teaching lower elementary grades. Our girls were in our local public school; they had fantastic teachers and loved their school. I enjoyed my part-time work, helping facilitate programs for families in our community. Sharing and teaching is just part of who I am.
I don’t think anyone would disagree that this year has been a strange one. Life as we know it has been altered or altogether cancelled at times. We have had to adapt and find new ways for almost everything throughout the year, and we will have to continue to do so for the unforeseeable future. The biggest change for my family started with our schooling, and at times, lack thereof. And by lack thereof, I mean curriculum-based learning.
To be a homeschooler means to be fearless and willing to take chances (even if we don’t feel that way all the time). We become the movers and shakers of the world because we know we are willing to think outside the box and educationally prepare our family for whatever environment God puts us in. We are thankful to be homeschoolers and to provide the education that’s right for our family.
There are many different ways to educate children, and there is no lack of advice for pursuing an education customized to each child and to your family life. The reality is that every parent is the best teacher for the children that God has entrusted to them. No one else will love them as much and have as much concern for their well-being than the people that have raised them as their own. The most important aspect of a child’s quality of life has little to do with the quality of education, but how strong the relationships are with their close family members.
Every homeschool parent has their unique reason for why they decided to begin homeschooling. The majority of homeschooling parents would definitely list freedom and flexibility in their top five reasons and benefits of home education.
From the first moment we see our children, we are teaching them. Right from birth,they are learning every day from our instruction. Most parents love teaching their babies how to make new movements, their toddlers how to pick out colours, and their little ones the fine art of… everything. Parents love telling their children about life and exposing them to new experiences regularly. Parents have many good reasons to homeschool in the first four or five years of their children’s lives.
“I’m thinking of you to homeschool our boys,” my husband told me in early spring 2015. His words brought me tears of joy. God finally gave us a confirmation to homeschool after battling that thought for two years.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).