Why We Homeschool
Our initial reason to homeschool Grasshopper is because the traditional school setting was a horrible experience for him. He attended preschool for 2 years, his preschool experience was half a day 2 days a week. Since preschool was pretty much all learning activities built into playing, and the shortened time spent there we didn’t really experience any problems here. The real problems began in kindergarten.
Like many moms I was so ready for the first day of kindergarten. At the time I was working part time out of the home. The combination of all day everyday kindergarten and the change to all day 4 days a week preschool for Ladybug meant I was finally going to be past the point in my life where I was juggling work/kids/babysitters to just work/kids. Or so I thought, yes that was a naive mommy moment.
We didn’t even make it through the first day of school before I got the call to come pick up Grasshopper because of behavior problems. I was shocked! Grasshopper is an all around good kid, he is helpful, kind and compassionate what happened in the first day of school that completely changed his behavior?!? At the time I thought he was simply acting out to having a special needs sibling who demanded a lot of our attention. He struggled with understanding why we expected him to be more independent but we didn’t expect that same independence from Ladybug. Now, I believe it was a combination of things. I believe he was bored, he already knew everything the teacher was teaching the class. I also believe he was overstimulated, I think the number of kids, sounds, etc were all too much for him.
Since these behaviors were all new to me, and because they were making me feel like I failed as a mother, I agreed to have him spend time with the school counselor weekly. He also participated in groups for leaning social behaviors. The outbursts didn’t stop, he would run out of the class, down the hall, even made it out of the building once before a teacher could catch up with him. He would yell out terrible things about himself, hit his head, and be downright uncontrollable during an outburst. One outburst became so bad they actually removed the entire class from the room because they couldn’t get him to calm down or come out from under the table. It was getting so bad the school staff thought maybe he was suffering from a personality disorder.
I wish I could say I pulled him from school right away, but no we stuck it out through the entire school year. After he adjusted his outbursts were not as frequent, they learned to give him quiet time and breaks (Christmas break, family vacation) seemed to help a little. Plus, I was still working outside the home and we relied on that income. Naturally I was concerned about financial impacts would come if we chose to homeschool.
By the end of his kindergarten year we decided to homeschool Grasshopper, public school was not the right fit for him and it was crushing him. When we told Grasshopper he would be homeschooled it was as if I got my son back that same day. He was back to the kid I knew before kindergarten. Of course it hasn’t been all rainbows and sunshine, but I have my little boy back and after a year of homeschooling he never wants to go back to school again!
While the reasons listed above are our primary reasons to homeschool there are many more reasons why I love it.
- I can teach from a Christian Worldview
- I can tailor our lessons based on his learning style
- I can choose areas of study that interest him
- The joy of watching him learn/grow/discover the world around him
- When explaining things such as the theory of evolution I can teach why we don’t believe this is true based on the Bible
- I don’t have to worry about political agendas being forced upon him
- Developing a deeper relationship with him
- Having a say in which social groups he is involved with
- Learning in a setting without other social pressures
Why we don’t homeschool
*GASP* I’ll give everyone a minute to let that thought settle in after reading all the reasons I love homeschooling.
Ladybug still attends public school. I know, I know all the reasons listed above are great reasons to homeschool and since we have already become a homeschooling family we not teach everyone at home right? I do admit that I feel guilty for continuing to send Ladybug to school, but truth be told I have my limitations. While I am usually flying my supermom cape proudly I am still human and can only do so much.
Let me explain, Ladybug’s cerebral palsy means she is very limited in the activities she can do. She requires hand over hand assistance with EVERYTHING, including using a pencil, crayons, 
eating utensils, you get the idea. While she does use a gait trainer to help with walking her primary means for mobility is her wheelchair. She is unable to sit up on her own, or transition on her own in and out of her wheelchair. Her speech is also limited, we’re lucky if she will put 3 words together and is just now (at the age of 7) starting to carry on short conversations. She is very oral and will bite/chew on anything and everything so she needs constant supervision. To sum it all up, the only independent activity she can do is watching cartoons.
I know many families teach multiple children, but in our home each child would need to be taught separately in order to teach them effectively. This means that while I am teaching Grasshopper, the only thing Ladybug would be doing is watching cartoons. Plus, they do like to eat and enjoy having clean clothes to wear which means there are many times a day she is watching cartoons while I’m just trying to get things done. So while I feel guilty for sending Ladybug off to school, I feel even more guilty about the time she would spend watching cartoons because I do have all the other normal mom responsibilities. Sending her to school means when she comes home I am available to be to the mom she needs me to be because I will have already completed day to day tasks.
Because of her speech delays I also feel inadequate for the special education she needs. It is really hard to access what she is and isn’t learning. I know she’s smart and catches on to more than we think but when she can’t communicate what she knows it’s difficult to know when we can continue to move forward. The special ed team at her school have been great to work with. and Ladybug enjoys spending her day with them. She has a one on one para professional with her all day, and loves being at school.
I will continue to reevaluate this every year especially as Grasshopper gets older and more independent, but for now we feel this is what works best for our family.
What are your reasons for homeschooling? Homeschooling a child like Ladybug?
I would love to hear them, please comment below.
I never got to homeschool our kids because that wasn’t a thing in our area. I didn’t even know that existed. My brother and his wife homeschool their 3 kids. They chose to do that for their safety as well as the same reasons you listed above. It took several years before they figured out how to teach my oldest nephew. He struggled daily to get his homeschool work done. People kept saying he had a learning disability but my brother decided to never test him. What they did finally find out was that he would get overwhelmed trying to learn all of the subjects every day. So they changed his schedule to dedicate only one subject per day. I truly think that if they had him in regular school it would have damaged him emotionally. I believe he would have been put into the wrong type of classes and he wouldn’t have survived without any scars. Now he is a senior in high school and doing so well. I am really proud of him and his siblings. My brother and his wife have done a great job with them all.
That’s so encouraging to hear Michelle, I’m glad they were able to find a teaching/learning style that works for him!
I enjoyed hearing your reasons on both counts. Sounds like you’ve made the right choice for both of your kids. Our kids started out in public school too. Our main reason for pulling them out was to teach them a Christian worldview, but there were other benefits too. Our oldest, in grade 3 was bored with school, and needed a challenge. Our younger daughter, in kindergarten, was struggling, and would probably have repeated the year, had we left them there. We pulled them out at Christmas time (many years ago) and never looked back!
Thanks Deborah! Glad to hear your kids are thriving at home as well!
Amy, we had a similar experience with my oldest was in Kindergarten! I knew in my heart I had to homeschool but I was still working full-time as a pastor. My husband encouraged me to take him off school and start homeschooling him part time and we took turns doing so. My son’s behavior changed from night to day. He was a happy kid again and today he is in 3rd grade, his sister is in 2nd grade and my youngest (a newborn we when started) is in Kindergarten. We love homeschooling for the same reasons you do.
And as for Ladybug, you do what you gotta do, right? For her special needs, the school can be better and no mom guilt allowed!
Keep up the good work, mama!!
Thanks Ana! I’m glad you were able to make homeschooling work with your schedule!
I wasn’t shocked by the “don’t.” Our experience was unusual, too. I had three kids in public school. I brought one out. Later, another came home, and finally the third. A year later, I sent my 5 year old to school even though I was unschooling three teens. Then she came home at the end of 2nd grade. But years later, when my fifth child turned 5, I sent her off to Kindergarten. That didn’t go well AT ALL. Every morning was tears and every afternoon was rages. I brought her home after 3 months. Turned out she had bipolar disorder. That explained a lot.
So…. I “get” having some home and others in school.
Thanks, Sounds like you have quite the story to tell Michelle!
We ‘ve gone back and forth with the homeschooling decision on our oldest. She’s almost 10, going into fifth grade, and while very intelligent, has problems with fine motor skills, slow processing speeds, and ADHD/anxiety disorder. She makes average to good grades and at the new, smaller school she started this past year, is starting to thrive socially. We are keeping a close eye and will pull her if she withdraws again, but right now, the new school setting is working for her.
My youngest, though, I’m not sure on. He’s only 2, but he’s my CP baby. At 2, he’s at about a 6 month level. He doesn’t talk, roll, sit, crawl, stand, at least not without his AFOs and standing frame. He also has medical issues, including epilepsy and hypothyroidism, which can make his internal temp drop dangerously low. I know I’m not qualified to teach him, but how in the world do you hand them over when they’re so defenseless? I know this is a choice I’ll have to make fairly soon. He’ll be 3 in January and Early Steps has already started talking about Headstart. My daughter went through the Headstart program too, and they were amazing with her. They had her reading sight words at 3! But I just don’t know with my baby.
It’s so hard! Praying for peace in your decision Diane!