Since we homeschool and it is a huge part of our daily life and routine, I wanted to talk about the reasons why we choose to homeschool. The list is too long to discuss every single point, but I wanted to explain our thoughts and why we made the leap and chose to do this.
Why We Started Homeschooling
The list is endless but it comes down to our boys. We figured out pretty quickly that both our boys struggled in school. It wasn’t necessarily what they were learning about, but how they were being forced to learn it. Neither one of my boys want to read what they are forced to read. They also hate doing busy work. So when they were put in a position to do both of those things, they failed. Miserably.
The school system told us that both of our boys couldn’t read, write, or do basic math. I was ready to come unglued. How could this be? It wasn’t until I took my boys out of public school and let them decompress that I figured out that they could both read. Math was pretty easy. They did very well in fact. Writing was definitely a problem but not that bad. So what was the problem?
Public school is about doing the most good for the most amount of people. If you or your child don’t fit the mold, they will get left behind. And unfortunately due to certain legislation, you may not realize that they are that far behind until it’s too late.
How Did We Start
When we started homeschooling we started with “deschooling” which is basically letting their brains and bodies reset from public school. They do NOTHING until they say they are ready to learn. This can take a couple of weeks to a couple of months. We “let” our boys have four months of deschooling before we started introducing unschooling.
Unschooling is when the child directs what they want to learn about. No matter what it is, they get to dive as deep as they want to with it. I wanted to go this route when I talked to Chase about his ability to read. According to the teachers, Chase couldn’t read. He wasn’t even on the scale. But I literally watched the child devour Captain Underpants and could tell me everything about it, while he was still in school.
Jaxson, was so afraid to read because he was afraid to fail. He wouldn’t even try because he thought he was stupid. This was heartbreaking and something that we are still combating even three years later. He really struggles with the idea that he will get something wrong, so he doesn’t even try. Which ends up being frustrating for all of us.
Thinking of Homeschooling?
If you are thinking of homeschooling your kids, I would highly suggest it. You don’t have to be the most intelligent person. You just have to love your kids and want what’s best for them. We have found out just how far we can push them before they shut down. We know that Jaxson is incredibly smart, but would never show it on a test. He can build just about anything, but that doesn’t serve him in a classroom.
Chase will make you think he can’t do anything for himself, but properly motivated can move mountains. He will out work anyone for a little extra screen time. Teachers wouldn’t and couldn’t know that because they have so many other kids, with so many other personalities, that they could never keep up.
But if you can? I would definitely pull your kids and start this process.
My name is Leigh and I am the owner of Steel Raven Farms. I am also the mom of two wonderful boys, wife to a pretty nifty man for the last 15 years and paramedic to boot. We want to bring you along on our crazy journey of Homesteading and all that entails!