Photo courtesy of Critters and Crayons.

Homeschool is a challenge but I truly do love it and here’s the raw truth about WHY I love it:

1.  Time management freedom.  We have absolutely no set time for when it starts.  If one of the kids are having an off day or I’m having an off day, we can do our school time later in the day or just double up the next day.  Since our actual worksheets or dedicated school time only takes about an hour, this isn’t a daunting task.

2.  Fashion freedom.  This applies to me AND them!  I can sit with them at the kitchen table in PJs with messy hair and no makeup, cup of coffee in hand.  Of course, I DO get dressed and look decent for field trips.  My general rule of thumb: dress well enough that you’d win “best dressed” at the worst Walmart you’ve been to.  Talk about setting the bar high!

3.  Quality time.  We have an abundance of quality time.  From household chores and errands to games and school work, we all spend time together.  Since my husband works from home, we get to eat lunch together as a family as well.

4.  Educational freedom.  I try to keep things interesting and get them involved in not just doing the worksheets but also choosing which ones we do.  I mentioned the Education.com website in a previous post.  I use this website to print worksheets for free.  The girls and I browse the various options and select the ones that meet our needs.    We also talk about what are educational goals are for the day and how we will approach meeting them.  Sometimes I come up with some choices we can make together between two different crafts, for example, or two different activities.

5.  Play time.  Incorporating plenty of play time allows the kids to be kids.  I have explained to them that they can play for a few more minutes then we are going to have learning time.  If they’re having trouble concentrating we’ll take a play break and try again in a few minutes.  I’ve seen great results from this method.  Sometimes we’ll just stop what we’re working on a do an educational puzzle together.  We have a Melissa & Doug world map puzzle and it sparks all kinds of discussions about where other family members live or where Mommy and Daddy have traveled.

 6.  Field Trip Freedom.  We get to choose when, where and with whom we travel!  Discovery Place today?  Zoo tomorrow?  We purchase wonderfully affordable family passes for the year from the Western North Carolina Nature Center and can travel all over the world to various museums and zoos for free or at a discounted rate!

I’m sure there are many more reasons I can add to this but these are some of my favorites!  What are yours?