Reasons I Homeschool: This Kind of Life

Lately my kids just want to make, create, think, read and do. Sure, they enjoy some TV here and there, but they are really turning into creative, self-driven people. I was thinking how with the freedom we have in our schedule and lifestyle, and their tendency toward making, they are becoming habituated to a kind of life that is very satisfying and purposeful and just the antithesis of passive. I have faith that this means they will never settle for a living that is dictated by others. They will either be entrepreneurs, artists, or self-directed professionals. Now that they know deep in their bones what it is to create and be curious, it will be far easier for them to recognize good work, good people, a good life. I'm feeling so thankful today.

Reasons I Homeschool: Having a Childhood

For a young child—say, under the age of 10—sitting still inside an artificially lit building full of stale, climate-controlled air is not the natural condition, nor the ideal or healthy condition. Young children need a childhood. What does that mean to me, a homeschooler? Fresh air, tree climbing, mud-pie making, dam building, stick-boat racing, playing with friends, listening to a classic book under a tree, picking flowers, baking cookies with mama, putting on puppet shows, sleeping when their bodies are tired and eating when they are hungry. I could go on, as the wildness and sweetness and wonder of childhood can contain an uncountable number of such moments, but suffice it to say that conventional schooling does not permit children to have a childhood. Of course, academics and creativity and logic and philosophy and virtue matter deeply to me, which is precisely why children must be allowed a childhood—it is the very ground from which these mature fruits gain the energy to exist.