Challenges
As with anything you’ve got to give up something to get something. Homeschool requires a lot of adjustment. It takes time and resources. It may require the sacrifice of your hard-earned career and position. And you have to school on your dime. You can homeschool for almost no money. There are lots of options. For me, it required a lot of character development and looking at the ugliness in myself that I had been busy enough to easily ignore. Not fun! You may have friends and family that look at you like you just sprouted a second head, or cruelly say that you will never succeed.
Advantages
Freedom and flexibility.
You are in control of the content.
You are a master of your own time and schedule.
Your children can be involved in choosing topics of interest or subjects.
You don’t have to teach everything. You just need to teach your children how to learn and provide them with the materials and guidance. They will take care of the rest.
It affords the opportunity to experience so much more with your children and family.
It doesn’t have to take 30+ hours per week for 36 weeks each year. I believe the K-12 total is something like 15,000 hours for public schools.
There doesn’t have to be any busy work.
Each child goes at their own pace.
You can teach to mastery when necessary or help them get the gist of it when it’s not.
You get to rethink what’s important to you & reprioritize because you have time now.
It is so much bigger than academics.
A Few Stats on Homeschoolers
According to the National Home Education Research Institute:
3-4% of school-aged children are homeschooled and this number is rising.
The homeschool community is demographically diverse across races, political affiliations, spiritual beliefs, socioeconomic classes, and educational backgrounds.
On average, home educated children score higher on standardized tests (15 to 30 percentile points higher) and achievement tests regardless of the parents’ level of formal education or income.
Homeschooled children are typically more involved and active in their communities.