Have you grown tired of the constant hustle and bustle of shuttling children from campus to campus? Are you concerned that the public education system isn’t meeting your child’s needs and that they may be falling through the cracks in the classroom? Or are you weary of feeling like a standardized test score defines your child? 

As the school year ends, you may be weighing different schooling options for your child. It’s the perfect time to consider breaking free from the norm and explore whether homeschooling could fit your family’s needs.

If you’re contemplating this educational route, but it feels overwhelming or too good to be true, I can totally relate! When I first thought about homeschooling our son, doubts and questions loomed in my mind:

“Can I offer what my child needs? What if I fail? What about all the naysayers? How do I know what to teach?”

This was a decision my husband and I wrestled with and prayed over. But as someone who has now homeschooled for three years, I can tell you that it was the best decision for our family!

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss how and why homeschooling is on the rise, the benefits of this type of education for your child, common misconceptions about homeschooling, and what next steps you should take in your homeschooling journey.

Let’s jump right in!

Homeschooling is growing in popularity

You’re not alone if you’re curious about shifting away from public school. For more and more families, home isn’t just where the heart is; it’s where the school is, too.

While studies vary in just how much homeschooling has grown in popularity, it’s clear that home education is becoming a more desirable choice for families seeking alternative options for their children’s education. Recent statistics show that the number of homeschooled students increased to 4.3 million last year.

From school safety concerns to standardized testing, bullying, and the growing teacher shortage, parents have a growing list of reasons to turn to homeschooling as a viable option for their children’s education.

Advantages of homeschooling

Homeschool isn’t just a backup plan or second option, though. Teaching your child at home can be a challenging but beautiful journey. Homeschooling allows you to form deeper bonds with your children while customizing their education to fit their needs best!

I know that for our family, the benefits of our son learning at home far outweigh any unique challenges or sacrifices we’ve had to make. Here are some other perks we’ve enjoyed:

Personalized education

One of the most exciting parts of homeschooling is that you can create a customized educational plan that reflects your student’s needs and your family’s values. 

In a traditional school setting, your child is limited to the curriculum and teaching methods that the school selects. With homeschooling, you can choose the curriculum that best suits your child’s learning style and interests, as well as your family’s beliefs and values. 

Sitting down as a family and purposely making time to teach about values and openly discuss complex subjects, along with the freedom to impart our values and beliefs, is such a blessing. 

The freedom to deeply explore our religion, learn new life skills, character studies, career exploration, community involvement, and travel, coupled with the required state subjects, provided an excellent fit for our son.

Unhurried learning

You can move at your child’s pace, tailoring your teaching methods to your child’s specific needs and ensuring they get the most out of their education. If you need more time on a particular subject, take the time necessary for your child to master it. If a special exhibit relates to your study topic, take a field trip! 

In our home, sometimes our teaching journey takes us in a completely different direction due to a new interest, and we can take the time to learn about it. 

Schedule flexibility

Do you have a house full of early birds? Or does your child seem to focus best in the afternoons? Another perk of homeschooling is breaking the mold of the 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. school day! The power is in your hands, as you can create a more flexible schedule to accommodate your family’s unique needs.

Whether you need to accommodate a work schedule or take time off for family vacations or other activities, homeschooling allows you to create a program that works for your family rather than trying to plan your days around public school start times and dismissals. 

Increased opportunities for one-on-one instruction

In a traditional classroom, the teacher is responsible for educating a group of students with a wide range of needs and abilities. This can make it difficult for your child to get the individual attention they need to succeed. With homeschooling, you can work closely with your child, giving them the attention and support they need to excel. 

Common misconceptions about homeschooling

Many parents are under the impression homeschoolers are stuck at home all the time without opportunities for socialization, or they feel they aren’t cut out to teach their children. This simply isn’t true! Allow me to dispel these common homeschooling myths:

Homeschoolers lack opportunities for socialization 

This is one of the most frequent misunderstandings about homeschoolers! It’s not that homeschooled kids have fewer chances for socialization. It just looks different from the socialization that happens in public schools. 

Homeschoolers are often involved in various activities, which allows them to develop strong bonds with other kids. Everything from co-op classes to sports to different kinds of extracurriculars and field trips will enable kids to interact with one another and form meaningful friendships.

Parents aren’t qualified to teach their children

So many parents are under the illusion that they have to be certified teachers to be truly qualified to educate their children. This isn’t true!

You are their parent…no one is more qualified than you! 

You were there for their first breath, their first steps, and their first words. You potty trained them, taught them how to ride a bike, and much more! 

As their mom or dad, you know them better than anyone else; you love and care about them, and no one is more motivated to want the best for them. This makes you the perfect person to meet your child’s educational needs!

Children spend their days stuck at home

Quite the opposite! While your house might be a kind of “home base” for your children’s learning, the possibilities for field trips, co-op involvement, extracurricular activities, and so much more are endless.

In fact, statistics reveal that 98% of homeschooled students participate in an average of 5 extracurriculars per week. Homeschooled students are even more likely to participate in extracurriculars than their public school peers! 

Homeschooling will adversely affect your child’s academic future

The one-on-one attention and customized instruction homeschoolers receive don’t just help them in the short term; it impacts their life in the long run!

According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), homeschoolers typically score 15-30% higher than public school students on standardized tests. The average score for a homeschooler ranges between 85% to 87%, while public schoolers score around 50%.

Also, studies reveal homeschoolers typically score above average on the SATs and ACTs that colleges consider for admissions.

Only stay-at-home mothers can homeschool

When you picture a typical homeschooling family, you probably imagine a mother dedicating her days to teaching her children. However, this isn’t the case for every situation! 

While some homeschoolers have stay-at-home parents (moms or dads), many have both parents working or single-parent households. 

How do they do it? Through hard work, cooperation, and support from other homeschooling families, parents who rely on two incomes can find ways to homeschool! 

Remember, homeschooling is personalized and flexible, so by its nature – you can adapt it to fit your family’s needs as best as possible.

Next steps in your homeschool journey

Would homeschooling be a good fit for your family? Knowledge (and lots of prayers) are the keys to a successful transition from public school to homeschooling. Should you decide to embark upon the path of home education, here are the next steps I would suggest:

1. Gather as much information as possible from homeschooling co-ops in your area. I’ve found that other homeschooling families love to share their hopes, goals, fears, and honest feedback regarding the curriculum they use and the overall success of their journey. If you know a family currently homeschooling, ask if you can visit and talk with them about their experience. I did just that and found my answers sipping on iced tea while learning all I could on a front porch of a homeschooling family. I found what they shared insightful and necessary when deciding on homeschooling.
2. Come together as a family, decide if this should be your child’s educational path, and create a mission statement. Before we began homeschooling, we made a mission statement about why homeschooling was important and what results we wanted for our son. Our son did this as well. Not only did this provide direction for all of us as a family, but it helped us when faced with challenging days or responding to naysayers along the way.  
3. Do your research and be informed about the regulations and requirements in your state. For example, a notice of intent may be required to withdraw your child if your child is enrolled in public school. A great resource we used after we decided to homeschool our son was www.hslda.org. Not only did it help us become more familiar with our state board of education, but it also helped us gain a better understanding of the required subjects, goals, and objectives. Even though our state has low regulation, we closely followed all state guidelines and added a curriculum that we thought was important to our son’s development. 
4. Figure out testing and record-keeping requirements for your state. Is standardized testing required? If so, where and when do you send the results? Also, while my state doesn’t require us to keep records, I use www.myhomeschoolgrades.com. It is a helpful site, especially if you are homeschooling several children. Not only can you create lesson plans for each of your children on this site, but it’s also beneficial when creating a transcript for a student’s high school courses, grades, and GPA. If your state requires attendance records or community service hours, this site will help you track that.   

I’m here to help you as you pursue homeschooling!

Transitioning from public school to homeschooling can feel like an adventure into the great unknown, but you are not traveling this road alone! Reach out to co-ops and homeschooling friends in your area who will happily share their experiences and advice. 

This educational path takes a lot of work, and we’ve made many sacrifices, but it’s worth it! Remember, there’s no right way, only the best way for your family.  

Stay tuned: In my next post, I’ll share my tips for curriculum choices and scheduling a homeschooling day that will set you up for success!