Why homeschooling?

I can tell you that when I dreamed about the things I wanted when I had a family, I never thought that one of those would be homeschooling. I studied in private schools all my years of education, and I lie if I tell you that I knew what it meant or that it existed.

When I arrived in the United States, I found this way of teaching. But I didn't think about using it at first. I began to investigate what it was, how it worked, what were the positive things and the negative things and so on.

After my husband and I got married and decided to have children, we talked about that option, and we didn't think twice.

When my oldest son was born and was reaching the age at which everyone assumes that a child should be in school, I started researching about different teaching methods, different types of school and the differences between them and education at home. I had already begun to surround my little boy with all kinds of activities, his room looked like a little school. I realized that I absorbed the things we reviewed super fast and enjoyed learning something new every day.

I loved having him with me, we went out to do activities at the park, at the library, at the museums, and I had no idea of ​​sending him to school and wasting all that time I was spending with him.

In there you can see Aaron holding a sign, that officially his first day of homeschool, he was 1 and a half! (Lots of playing, walking, singing, drawing, building)

I don't want to make the story very long, I will show you the reasons why we decided to do what we do:

1. Our values and beliefs

We are a Christian family, we believe in God, in doing good, in marriage, in praying before doing things and that we walk holding God's hand. We have seen that every day these things are being lost more and more from schools (at least in public schools), where they have tried to get God out of every corner of the teaching world. For us, as a Christian family, it is vital that our children receive an education that is God-centered.

2. Control what they learn

It is true that there are things that are important for children to learn as they grow, so the traditional school has a pattern as to what, how and how long they have to learn it. If the child does not meet those expectations, it is considered weird or not normal. In our case and surely in the case of the majority of families who have chosen to homeschool, we focus a lot on the things that call our children's attention, and we can put more effort, dedication and time to those things specifically, without drastically damaging the standard of traditional education.

3. Freedom regarding schedules and areas to study

I think a lot of people have the bad concept that people that are homeschooled do nothing and are sitting all day on the couch or sleeping, but let me tell you, it's not like that ... For me there are two different types of families regarding this issue, some that get up every day at the same time, start school after breakfast, finish everything they have to do and then they are free to do what they want. The other group (the one that describes us the most) is the one who wakes up, has other things to do already planned, studies a little, takes breaks, does another little time and may not finish all of that day. That's why I like to be at home and teach them at home, I can adjust the schedule to our family's convenience and the things we do. Nobody is waiting for us, we don't have to finish a unit in a stipulated time.

As for areas to study, I mean the place we chose for what we are going to do for the day. Many times we pick up our basket with school things and go to the park, to a friend's house who does the same, in the car, on the sofa, on the bed, on the floor, in the bathroom sometimes we do math. We go to the museum and it becomes the perfect setting for history and geography, we go to the library and our reading lesson and sometimes even art is already covered. The supermarket is a school in every sense of the word, besides we learn to handle money, we recognize measures, numbers, we talk to people and we learn to make good decisions knowing that we can't buy everything. The world is our school.

4. All children are different (learn differently)

If you follow me on social media, I always share videos of us in school mode and you can see my oldest son doing his job very well, reading beautifully, writing, singing, painting, adding and subtracting. But what you don't see in the videos is the amount of energy that comes out of that small body, constantly moves his hands to read, stops and moves his feet, asks many questions, constantly, about everything we do, something that might get him classified in school as a child who does not concentrate and needs to sit quietly in order to learn.

No, my son does not learn that way. I don't want to say that he's always doing that, but a lot of the time that's the scenario. But you know what? He learns to do things quickly and effectively, already reading at the level of a first-grader, has an exquisite memory and loves math and experiments, did I mention that he turns 5 in January 2020? I'm so proud of him.

What I mean by this is that the school is created for a type of student, the one who puts all the attention, the one who doesn't interrupt, the one who gets good grades and does the things he must do to be able to win a place in the list of standards the school has. If your child is different from this, be still, everything is fine, you just have to encourage them to continue learning.

5. Our time together

Sounds a bit crazy what I'm going to say (for some), but it's the reality ... I enjoy the company of my children so much, that homeschooling them is also a tool to spend more time together. As a mother, I know that sometimes you can go a little crazy, test our patience and we need some space and go out alone. But I wouldn't change this for anything. I know that one day not too far away, they will be at a stage where they will move away a little more, they will have their own family and will embark on their way, away from home ... I want to make the most of these years.

6. We learn by playing

Let me explain this well. When we were in the stage of deciding if we would put Aaron in school or not, one of the things that moved us the most was the time they spend on everything, what do I mean? The time to eat is minimal, children have to literally swallow the food to be able to continue with what comes next and to be able to eat everything they have in their plates, that way you have children that are hungry and in a bad mood.

The time that children have for recreation, games, and exercises is so short that it made us sad. I firmly believe that children would have better school performance if they were offered much more time to play and exercise.

7. Bullying

The growth of bullying in schools is scary. Every day we see more and more in the news that children and young people are citing their lives because they receive horrible and frequent harassment from their peers. They are horrified with the idea of returning the next day because someone on the school bus bullies them, they have to walk side by side with the people that insult, beat, belittle them. They cry silently because they don't know how to ask for help, they don't know how to stop a situation that shouldn't have started in the first place. It scares me to know that the percentage of children who are experiencing bullying grows every day, a lot. It is time to take this into our hands and teach our children that they can be what they want to be and not what their peers want them to be.

8. Socialization

There is a question I hear all the time when people know that our child is not going to school, how will he socialize? Followed by, is he going to have friends?

There is no more erroneous thought than this (I am going to refer to what we have experienced). It is so beautiful to have conversations with children who have been taught at home, they have such an open mind to so many things, they know how to have a conversation with a baby and an old man. Usually, when I go to the store or the supermarket, I can say without fear of being wrong that which children are being educated at home, they talk a lot, they start the conversation with very direct questions, they are not intimidated by ages and it is very easy for them to make friends with others.

Anyone who thinks that my son has to be in a closed place, for 180 days or more a year, with everyone around his age, to learn, excuse me, but I don't believe him. My child learns much more when surrounded by people of all ages, and much more when surrounded by adults who with their experience can contribute to their emotional, educational and social growth.

9. Needs

I know very well that the body must be taught that it cannot do what it wishes when it wishes and that there is a time for everything. But there is something that really bothers me a bit and that is, if I want to go to the bathroom I can't, I have to wait until they give me permission. I remember some episodes when I was in school. We just arrived from recess, from eating and drinking... while entering class, I had no desire to go to the bathroom, even if I was going to just try because my body had not yet processed what I had ingested. After a few minutes, maybe an hour after recess, there was a desire to go to the bathroom and it was not once or twice that it was denied, because it was not time to go to the bathroom or because we had to use the bathroom while in recess.

I also remember how recess time was very short, the lines were too long to buy something and sometimes we didn't have time to even start or finish eating. When we entered our classrooms again, we were hungry and could not concentrate, we had to wait until we left school or go home.

We must be aware that teaching children to pay attention to body physiological needs is necessary.

10. Bilingual education

Everything we do, the songs we sing, the verses of the Bible we learn and things of daily life, mostly we translate and do in English and Spanish. It is important for us to have the opportunity to be exposed to Spanish as they do with English.

11. It is the best for our children

This is what we have decided as a family. When I talk with other people about these issues, it is usually because they ask me, I try to make them understand that we as a family make a decision and believe that it is the best for our children and our family in general. I also make it clear that the way you decide to educate your children is not going to dictate our friendship or relationship.

Everyone is trying to do their best so that their children receive a good education, are safe, loved, happy, that's why we have decided that homeschooling is the best for them as growing individuals and for us as individuals that are providing and facilitating that education.

Finally, I want you to know, no matter what you decide to do with the education of your children, before deciding what to do, think about it, take your time. Do not feel that you should do what everyone does because society asks you to, do what you believe is best for your children, taking into account your values ​​as a person, your beliefs and your weight in today's society, a society that needs a change, a better way of thinking and doing things.