the clincher

Recently, I was drafting some thoughts about why we like homeschooling so far. When I looked back over the list, every single thing came down to one reason:

We own our time.

All of it.

No one has claim on our time unless we give it to them. This is a big deal. I don't think I'd realized that until reading back through what I'd already written.

1. The local public school day, even for the 5-year-olds, is literally as long as an adult's full-time workday. I'm told by friends that kids are "supposed" get to school around 7:30 a.m. to "start their seatwork" even though technically, school doesn't start until 8:20. Even the Head Start bus comes through our complex driveway at 7 a.m. Nobody comes back until 4 p.m. We don't participate in that at all.

2. We have no additional schoolwork at home on top of those 8-9 hours at school. What the heck!?! Eight hours per day in a classroom isn't enough? Really? With that kind of time commitment, why aren't these elementary schools churning out nuclear scientists? What are they DOING in there?

3. I have no doubt that my children are getting the amount of sleep they need. We don't get up in the morning until we feel like it, usually around 8 a.m. It's okay for us to stay outside in the evening, and for the girls to read for awhile in bed at night. There's no rush to get to sleep at 7 p.m. because of having to get up before the sun in the morning.

4. We have lots of free time to play. The girls are becoming more and more imaginative. I'm really not sure how to describe it except to give a couple of examples. For a week now, the markers have been "people" having conversations, and they've built houses for them with the blocks. The other day, they spent over 2 hours "being" Angelina Ballerina, her little sister Polly, and her best friend Alice and I was required to address them as such.

5. Extracurriculars like piano and dance are not problems - those 3 hours a week are no big deal because it's just those 3 hours, not 3 hours on top of everything else taking them away from home. And of course they're entirely optional. We choose them - nothing is required.

6. We can travel whenever we feel like it and are not bound by the school schedule. Travel in the spring and fall is SO much better than during the summer. For one thing, the weather is a lot nicer!

7. We're not on ANY kind of a schedule. We sit and read when we want to. We play outside when we want to. (And when it's not too hot.) We eat when we want to. The only "schedule" is Dad going to work and coming home, and when we go to church on Sundays. Even bedtime is only an estimate. As parents, we aim for approximately the same time every evening but if it's thrown off for any reason, it's not a big deal.

8. There's no pressure to BE STILL at all. We move around as we wish. When Sunny sits at the table to do some book work, she's not actually still or quiet. She's swinging her feet or singing to herself or following along with her sisters' papers while doing her own. Even when she's off in a corner reading to herself, she's chewing on something (we keep a good supply of grapes and string cheese around). She can do that here. She wouldn't be able to do anything like that in a typical classroom - she'd be referred for Ritalin to basically sedate her in about 5 seconds.

9. Learning is not confined to books and worksheets, and sitting in a classroom. We can play games, get online to find stuff, do activities and experiments and projects that would be impossible with a large group in a classroom, go on trips wherever and whenever we feel like (and can afford), and generally explore any option we can think of to learn about a particular subject or concept. And we can do this at any time of day.

10. We are each other's best friends because we spend all of our time together. Sure, our girls fight and argue and don't share with each other at times. But as a general rule, they play together well and are developing their relationships as they grow up together. I've always thought of our family as a team put together to accomplish a specific purpose for God. I believe that we're off to a good start in building our team relationship in part because of homeschooling. We're not separated for the majority of the day.

Like I said ... we own our time. Maybe it's the libertarian in me - which is becoming more and more pronounced lately - but I'm good with that. Keep your government intervention away from my family - we do not need your all-day scheduling issues, boring and pointless curriculum, and standardized tests. We'll take care of our kids' educations ourselves, thanks very much.

People have asked if I'll ever put our girls in a "regular" schools. I've answered that we won't eliminate anything as a possibility, but after pondering the TIME factor, homeschooling looks really good for the long-term. If we ever do put any of our kids into any kind of full-time school, you can be assured that there was something akin to a Burning Bush involved with that decision.