When we’re around extended family and friends we don’t see often, one of their favorite questions to ask is how school is going. Our eight-year-old David reminds them, “I’m homeschooled” and usually the focus shifts away from him and onto me. Not everyone asks why we homeschool. Our family does enough weird things (like moving away from family to pastor a church and adopting from China) that homeschooling just goes on the “weird things the Peoples do” list. But when they do ask, I’m prepared with my standard answer. It’s even alliterated.
“We homeschool because we want his education to focus on three important areas: critical thinking, creativity, and developing a Christian worldview.”
That’s my standard answer because it sounds very thought-through and is hard to argue with. And even though these three areas are important to us, they aren’t the main reasons we homeschool.
The #1 reason we homeschool is because it’s fun.
It’s fun to read together. It’s fun to write together. It’s fun to watch him get math concepts. It’s fun to see a bird in our backyard and look up what type of bird it is. It’s fun to talk about how organs, bones, and muscles all help his body work right. It’s fun to measure ingredients. It’s fun to try to pronounce ancient names. It’s fun to go through the catechism and read the book of Luke. It’s fun to add to his rock collection. It’s fun to find a super hero book at the library he hasn’t read yet. It’s fun to talk about Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Hiccup, and Growly.
I’m not saying every minute of every day is fun. Sometimes it’s not. We butt heads and raise voices. But we repeat our mantra, “We do hard things” and keep at it. Or, we take a break and go to separate rooms. Or, we find some chocolate to share.
But truly, the main reason we homeschool is because it’s fun. There’s nothing I’d rather do each day than learn with David.
