10 Pros and Cons: Homeschooling

So, what do I think of homeschooling by now? Well.... just different stuff -- some of it nice and some not so much. 

Here are ten pros and cons in no particular order:

1. I love, love, love not having to be up and out of the house by 8:00. We still have a schedule and stick to it pretty strictly but being ready to start school at home at 9 is completely different then being up, dressed, breakfast eaten and out the door at 8.

I do miss coming back home to a quiet house and enjoying my breakfast alone. However, I get about an hour of alone time between Chris and Isaac leaving for work and the rest coming around for breakfast, so there is that. 

2. I do not miss packing five lunches every morning!

Obviously, everyone still has to eat lunch and sometimes I get weary of making sure there is food but generally there are enough leftovers to pull out and let people warm up. 

3. I LOVE not having to worry about getting out on snowy roads. 

There is no con for this one. 

4. I enjoy actively participating in my children's learning more than I thought I would. 

School at home has gone much, much better than I imagined it would. However, I know that going into it as "this is for this year" makes a huge difference. I am not a natural born teacher; I don't love learning like my husband does. Going into this thinking it's for one year helps me to not freak out as much about whether they're learning everything they should. Surely one year won't ruin them, or something like that. 

5. This might be too honest, but I absolutely love not being obligated to take part in all the ba-jillion school related activities and drama.

On the flip side, a bigger worry than my children getting a good education is what will happen to my children's social skills. It's hard enough to cultivate friendships sometimes and I worry that not being a part of school activities will make relationships next to impossible for them. Homeschooling can be rather lonely. 

6. I love watching my children be each other's best friends. Doing life together all day every day has forced them to iron out some wrinkles in the getting along department and provides so many opportunities to do things together. 

I get weary of having people in my space all the time. Sometimes I long for some silence to just breathe or an hour to mop the floor without anyone around. I am the kind of person who gets motivated to tackle projects and do lots of work when I am alone, so the past year has been a challenge and a learning curve. 

7. I love having some flexibility with our schedule. We don't do this a lot, but occasionally we have worked ahead a day in order to go away for a day. Other times we've hurried to get school work done so we can take an afternoon off or finished up school in the evening for the same reason. 

I miss not being tied down. I can still get away to do things on my own but it's more complicated than it used to be. I miss not being able to have a friend over during the day (which is silly, because I rarely did it but you know how it is).

8. This is related to #6 but I enjoy watching Jasmine interact as "teacher". I love hearing them randomly belting out songs downstairs in the middle of school time. I love listening to long discussions after supper about history lessons or the best way to teach things so that students want to learn. There was an hour long session a couple nights ago (while our food dried on our supper plates) that involved asking questions off of a history test Lillian had completed.

I get weary of juggling the roles of mother, teacher, mom-of-the-teacher, mom-of-the-student, and mom-of-the-classmate all at the same time. I'm also wife and wife-of-the-principal. Oh, and mother-of-the-graduated- student. It's fun. 

9. School at home is definitely easier on the finances. Think of all the $$ we are saving on gas this year without the drive to and from school twice a day! Not to mention not needing as many clothes and shoes and so forth that going to school requires. (Only, you might run into problems when you decide to go on a trip) The books were an initial investment but I can't say that I miss the monthly tuition bill. 

On the other hand, did you ever stop to think how much toilet paper and Kleenex your children use at school instead of at home? I feel like I am constantly buying the stuff. 

10. I love how many more Hank The Cowdog and Adventures In Odyssey stories I get to listen to in every spare minute. 

Just kidding. 

All in all, this year has been a different one but good for us in many ways. What will we do next year? Well, we shall see what we shall see, I suppose. This year has taught  me to never say never.