I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I am not homeschooling my 5 year old this year. I’m depressed about it – angry with myself for not having the gumption to tell my well meaning family that I don’t really care what they think. I’m worried I’ve done the worst thing to my son in terms of his education and to top it off I’m feeling sad and sorry for myself.
Following on from all this wallowing, I’ve discovered a few selfish reasons all parents should homeschool
- You can wake up whenever YOU want to wake up. You don’t need to dress up and run around madly in search of that matching scarf
- You can relax. Breakfast is time for chatting, eating and joking. Not a time for yelling, “Hurry up – we’re going to be late!”
- Baby doesn’t get his routine interrupted while you pick up or drop off the school boy
- There are no emotional upheavals for you to deal with. Your child won’t be angry, tired or hungry in the afternoon because you will have taken care of his needs
- You can go on holidays ANYTIME instead of having to wait for school holidays (busiest and most expensive times of year)
- You can live abroad for a while, wherever and whenever since the kids’ school is wherever you are
Ok..parents -(Tracey – I know you have heaps more!) what are some other selfish reasons to homeschool?
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I’ve taken that little comment as a challenge. So here goes:
No packed lunches…and you know they are going to want those expensive overly wrapped little lunch treats…chips, bars, fruit sticks…just like everyone else
No homework…well none done at night when everyone is grumpy and tired and just not in the mood for busywork.
No uniforms…and no need to remember which uniform to wear on which day
No class parties to have to attend…what do you buy a child who is getting 30 presents from 30 kids anyway and do you leave your child at essentially a stranger’s home for this party??
No need to battle for a car park to pick up the children…get there early Tasmiya, mothers are ruthless about good car spots
No parent teacher meetings to stress about…unless you count talking to yourself
No “news†days where your kids are bound to share something embarrassing about you or your family or worse still make up something amazing that’ll make heads turn and people look at you when you pass…don’t laugh…it happens every year and they talk about you in the staff room at lunch…Oh and make sure you proofread your notes to school as teachers readily share funny errors in notes in the staff room as well!!
No projects to do the night before they are due because Junior didn’t tell you about them until that day…oh and never oh never help too much as the teachers always know.
No late night or early morning dashes to the shops before school because Junior forgot to tell you that they need “x†for school tomorrow/today and they HAVE to have it or they’ll be in trouble (they always add that to emphasise the urgency of the matter).
I’m sure there are lots more but I’ll leave these as starters for you…hehehehe
Good luck with school
Tracey
I have been thinking about these same points since i have decided to send my daughter to school next year. I keep thinking of all the hassles i’ll be going through… i wanted to put her in school just to give it a try. you can’t say no to something you haven’t tried yet. and i remember enjoying kindergarten and elementary school.
Hmm…you’ve already listed all the best reasons for selfish homeschoolers…and Tracey mentioned all the rest, I think…so where does that leave me?
Don’t beat yourself up too much, okay? You have the ability to change your mind in future, do you not? And if you do decide to homeschool, you can tell Well-Meaning Family Members that you tried it, but it just wasn’t for you and especially not for Small Offspring.
I really struggle with that myself. Alhumdillah my mom is all for homeschooling, and I sort of wish I could just drop Small Offspring off at her house and come back after the day is done. But she’s six hours away and she has a job…so it may not work.
On the one hand, I could use a break from Conversations Concerning How To Properly Go Potty, but on the other hand, well, you know already I’m sure. Then I think, what if I’m not teacher material? How will I get him and me into a learning routine? But then I get some preschooling material and I realize that he’s really ready for kindergarten stuff, so perhaps I haven’t done so badly after all…blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, so on and so forth. The decision is not easy, no matter which way you decide to go, so just say Allahu alim and take a step back and reassess you and him after a certain amount of time has passed, and go on from there.
How is he doing in school? If he’s enjoying it, then that’s enough for now. It’s just kindergarten after all.
(desperately hoping I made sense here!)
Tracey: thanks for the heads up. That’s quite a list.I know exactly what I’m in for this year!
Um Ibrahim: I see your point – I gave homeschooling a try last year so will have to try school out (if not just to appease the Well Meaning Family). I will make a decision after a few months inshaAllah or I might just wait till the end of this year.
b.: Yep, you made complete sense. I’m getting a little frustrated with the Conversations Concerning How to Sit in the Chair and Eat With Manners. As for learning routines – a lot depends on the child. 5 year old worked well early in the morning straight after breakfast – we’d do set out activities (worksheets, painting, cutting etc) then he was left to play for the rest of the morning. You’ll be surprised what they learn from just playing.