Why Some Teachers Choose To Homeschool
Have you ever wondered why some people choose to homeschool? Five of us on the Hip Homeschool Moms team were formerly public or private school teachers. It surprises most people that we would choose to homeschool our children instead of sending them to school somewhere. After all, we were teachers ourselves! We believe in sending children to school, not in homeschooling! Right? In order to answer that question, we decided to share our stories with you this week. All five of us chose to homeschool for very different reasons. Yet we all came to the same conclusion. Homeschooling was (and is) the right thing for our families.
Day 1: The teacher who wanted to take control of her child’s education, by Amy at Wildflower Ramblings
Day 2: The teacher who couldn’t wait for my kids to attend school, by Liz at Watch Me Homeschool
Day 3: The teacher who didn’t like the government’s curriculum proposals, by Taryn at TarynHayes.com
Day 4: The teacher who moved and I hadn’t planned on homeschooling more than a year, by Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs
Day 5: The teacher whose special needs child wasn’t learning, by Wendy at Homeschooling Blessings
I was a former teacher also. I always knew that I could give my kids more attention and personalize their curriculum if I homeschooled. I had experienced the frustration of knowing that I needed to spend more time with a student or make a change in what I was doing for a student, but I just couldn’t do it because I had 20 something other students I had to keep teaching also.
Homeschooling lets me choose materials and methods that better suit my children. 🙂
I am currently a 4th grade teacher, but I fully intend on homeschooling my daughter when she is school age. We are actively working to pay off debt and become a one-income family because of this.
I have seen the boredom in the eyes of my students. Not because I don’t try to make it fun, but I CANT. We have been explicitly told to not use any activities from Teachers Pay Teachers, do not deviate from the scripted curriculum, to not do anything different. We only teaching math and language arts skills. No science, no social studies. They say it’s “integrated”, but so very slightly, it’s pathetic.
My students have been spoon fed everything up to this point, primarily because they have to do well on the test. But, problem solving, creative writing, etc have all gone by the wayside.
I sound like I’m fed up and bitter. I’m really not. But, I am very disappointed in what could be a fantastic program. Yet, we have thrown it to the wayside because of standardized testing. It makes me sad.
I want my daughter to crave learning. I want her to be excited about writing, about science, about history. I want her to know how to learn on her own and to problem solve without having me hold her hand every step of the way. I know she won’t get this in our district (and moving is out of the question). So, homeschooling will be the choice for us – and I am excited to start the journey.
I am a former teacher who has now been homeschooling 8 years. Honestly, it was the best decision we ever made 🙂 Good luck on your homeschooling journey!
I too am a former teacher. I taught for eleven years in a public school. I had just finished my Masters degree when I became pregnant with our daughter. I never intended to be a stay at home mom let alone homeschool. My entire family was in education so you would think we would be die hard public schools yet God had another plan. Our lives changed and I saw plainly I wasn’t happy with the secular education my daughter would have to be exposed to let alone have to teach this material as well. I am happy to chose the curriculum that is centered around our religious beliefs.