Why do you Homeschool?

 I ran into a friend a few weeks ago, we both work for the same district. We started to catch up. She asked about my oldest and I told her that I was homeschooling. She then asked me, why did I decide to home school instead of putting her in the district. I replied with a pretty generic answer; I was caught off guard and I was running around helping set up for a program. My answer was something about her excelling in reading and we're taking our time in math. I am so thankful that she asked me that specific question. It gave me an opportunity to truly think about my answer. I then had a conversation with my husband (you'll hear that more often than not, we talk about everything) after discussing our options, we collectively (all 3 of us me, my husband and Kolby's father) decided that homeschooling would be the best fit for Kolby (I did not realize at the time how well it was going to fit.)

I wasn't worried about her socialization skills or if those skills would suffer. Socialization is important, but it isn't the most important thing. She is in activities and an awesome home school art class where she gets to interact with other children that are like her. I wanted to ignite that spark for learning, I wanted to show her that  learning can be fun and that it is something that is a lifelong journey. Everything that we do in our day to day lives is an opportunity for us to teach and our children to learn. We can even switch roles where the children become the teachers and we become the student. Kolby is so much like me in certain ways and we couldn't be more different in other aspects of our personalities. We are both lovers of books. That is how I like to learn or take in knowledge by reading. I like to highlight, and write in the book alongside the edge of the pages. Math is where we struggle. When we first started school it was difficult,  there were somethings that she and I both needed to unlearn. I was trying to make our home school mimic public school, starting with early wake up calls. We were both miserable. I had people telling me it should be structured like public school from 8-3. Brandon said," If we wanted it to be just like public school, we would put her in public school." The beauty about homeschooling her is that you get to set it up the way you see fit. I had to get to know her and what she likes to do and which way she likes to learn.

Praise, prayer and worship is part of home school life; we do it everyday. We get to read our favorite bible stories and we get to snuggle up on the couch, or read outside on a blanket if that's what we want to do that day. We are teaching Kolby how to cook, and she absolutely loves it. She helps with her brother and sister. She is more patient and kind to them then she was when she was in school.(Don't get it twisted they fight like cats and dogs and the next minute they're best friends.) I get to spend time with her. I felt like I didn't get enough time with her when she was in school. She would come home spend a few hours on homework, and then maybe have some reading to do. We would eat dinner and then it was time for bed. It can be trying at different times when a new skill doesn't come as easily as the last one did, or when she just downright doesn't feel like doing it. Then add the two littles in there and some days are just a recipe for disaster. There are tons more great days where we're singing, dancing, building, writing, doing science experiments and learning is happening in the midst of all that.

We are not  teaching her pointless information that she is never going to use again.Teaching goes well beyond memorizing math facts and definitions. It's about applying them to real life situations, making it more personal, so they can make connections that they will remember. You could be the smartest person in the world, but ugly and empty on the inside. I want her to be a great person. We are teaching her how to be a well rounded and instilling values at the same time. Skills need to nurtured,but if you have the patience learning will happen organically if you allow it.

I refuse to do everything for my daughter. I refuse to think for her, but I will do my best to nurture her critical thinking skills. In order to nurture those critical thinking skills she will have to learn to figure some things out on her own. I will guide her, I will walk her through a few times and then after that you have to do it for yourself. If she tries one way and it doesn't work, I will encourage her to try again another way, if she doesn't get it the next time, I will encourage her to continue to try until she gets it. That way she can  feel good about figuring it out on her own. This also builds self esteem. I come in contact with too may children who have no critical thinking skills, WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO DO EVERYTHING FOR OUR CHILDREN. They will in turn grow up and not be able to do anything for themselves unless you are there next to them holding their hands. (I'm not about that life.) 

I want her to know that she can be anything that she wants to be. I want her to be the Queen bee, not a worker bee or drone. I want her to have the entrepreneurial mind set. I want her to know that it is obtainable. She watches what me and her dad are doing at home. She hears some of the conversations we have. She will witness firsthand what it looks like to be your own boss. She will also know that it will not be handed to her. You have to work for what you want. It starts now. The freedom to start when we want to start and cover whatever material we want to cover is also a huge perk. Making sure my child is respectful, has manners, can think for herself, speak up for herself, stand firm in what she believes even if she is the only one standing at times (because it will be like that at times) loves God, knows that she has to work hard and that it's okay to fail as long as you dust yourself off and try again, shows compassion for others and can lend a listening ear; that's what this is all about. I want her to express herself, ask as many questions as she needs or wants to, I want her to be creative and share the world through her eyes, I want her to have an opinion. These are the things that she is going to pass on to her children. These are the things that will last and the things that matter most. Education is extremely important, but being a  down right awesome person, that's equally important. Most of all I don't ever want that desire for learning (that fire) to ever go out, because learning is a lifelong process.

We recently learned about the honey bees. We read books, we looked at videos. We made some bees out of old egg cartons and pipe cleaner. We had to use the hot glue gun and she had an accident in her art class (she dripped some of the hot glue on two of her fingers, she had two huge blisters on her middle and ring finger). She was scared to use to glue gun, she helped me glue on a few wings and eyes with the hot glue gun. It was an opportunity to walk her through one of her fears and show her that when the glue gun is used properly it is perfectly safe. I remember that a family friend of ours is in fact a beekeeper. We set up a visit and it was awesome. He talked to us about bees first and then he took us out to the hives. We had such an awesome time. It was the first time that I had seen the Ibarra's in a long time and the first time that they met my children. I got to learn right alongside of her. It was sooooooo cool to see the bees up close and personal. I saw my first bee carrying pollen in his back leg pockets. Learning never stops even for adults. We are also creating relationships. Isn't that what life is all about? Relationships ( that is another blog for another day)
This is why we home school.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and my views I am not the end all be all for home school moms.