Are you taking full advantage of the homeschool edge? Whether after years of homeschooling, or just starting out, parents can get caught up in the daily grind and forget the advantages only homeschooling can offer. There are many ways to capitalize on our unique learning environments and enjoy family life. Many advantages take years to recognize and appreciate fully and others are overlooked or unappreciated.

So to help you set sail making the most of your homeschool adventure as soon as possible, I’m listing some of the best homeschool advantages here….

1. What an honor it is to be appointed to the position of homeschool parent! This is your job, not a side hobby. Raising your kids is your greatest life’s work. Though there is no paycheck, this job offers a direct deposit into your children’s future and is more important than any other job no matter how high the salary. Treat this God-given position as the sole bread-winning activity of your family. Because it is.

Our children are our legacy and our hope for the future.

Be intentional every day. The bonuses you’ll earn along the way include strong family relationships and the joy of seeing them grow in ability, knowledge, and integrity. And you may even score a room in their home when your old and senile, or at least a spot in a lovely retirement village. So, make homeschooling your daily priority.

2. Late morning starts and/or early afternoon finishes are unsuspecting secret weapons. Slow easing out of bed, no rush, with breakfast together or alone, each with their grumps and thoughts takes the edge off compelled learning.

We can start with a cozy read aloud, and then break for separate assignments, or second breakfast. No stress to pack lunches, find shoes, and head out in the dark or cold. Kids get the rest they need and miss out on all that anxiety and family arguing. (Well, some of it.)

Many of us have nightmares that have followed us far into adulthood where we show up late to school, and there’s a test in a class we didn’t even know we were taking. And we forgot to put on pants!

When education isn’t tied to that kind of stress, it makes learning more enjoyable and kids more willing.

But also, there is the perk of afternoons free for adventure, for chasing personal interests, working on projects, keeping up with household chores, easier appointments, and errands without going mad.

We get to choose which we prefer, late mornings or early afternoon free time. Or we can switch back and forth as needed. We don’t have to be as regimented and rushed in our academic planning, giving time for learning to soak, needs to be met, and family time appreciated.

3. You don’t have to homeschool via someone else’s published method. There is a lot of information and instruction out there about different homeschooling approaches: Classical, Charlotte Mason, Traditional, Unschooling, etc.

Seriously, you don’t have to pick a team.

In fact, it’s beneficial to remain dynamic and flexible, teaching your kids to be as well. Show them how to learn in a variety of ways. Don’t simply join a sect, shun all others, and follow someone else’s regimented plan.

Forging your own path is the point of homeschooling all along. Escape the scripted and scheduled commercial cruise and captain our own ships.

In case you didn’t know, eclectic is the word for “we’ll do what we want” type homeschooling, which incidentally is also considered a method. Really it’s just admitting you’re a non-subscriber and refuse to be exclusive with any group. You’ll likely keep a wider circle of homeschool friends this way. Do some of the things found in each method, but don’t worry about it all or you’ll get overwhelmed unnecessarily.

4. When lost in a sea of possibilities and in need of guidance, you can look to noteworthy homeschool paths. Boxed methods, curriculum sets, and the experiences of celebrity homeschoolers are optional GPS coordinates. Choose bits and pieces that work for your family. And when you find your sea legs again, shake things up.

Personalize and deviate from the script in whatever ways work best for your individual kids.

5. We get to set meaningful personal boundaries, expectations, and instill consequences to keep our kids growing in maturity and responsibility. Remember #1…. This is your job. Don’t squander their prep time for adult life. Give them expectations and the freedom to meet them (don’t coddle whiny grumpy attitudes). Stand your ground for them.

Letting your student off the hook (to let yourself off the hook as enforcer) can lead to a homeschool breakdown.

6. Double-up days offer a reward for intentional and diligent work. These are days you do all of Tuesday’s work on Monday so you can hang with Dad on his day off. Or when you do Friday’s work along with Thursdays, so you have a three day weekend and can get to the museums and parks before school lets out.

Because we must be intentional, it’s not good practice just to drop our daily academic objectives whenever we get a hankering.

Set goals and challenges, making those breakaway moments feel earned.

7. Don’t squander your tiny class size. Classroom settings and white board learning are for teachers to address a roomful. You don’t need to corral 25 kids, so move, interact, and go do!

The world is our classroom. Don’t waste all that good space. Let them put their hands on the world.

For example: It’s easier to learn how to use a microscope by just using the microscope already! I remember in my high school biology we spent two days filling out worksheets on the functions and labeling parts before we ever were allowed in the lab to crowd around the teacher’s setup.

Also, don’t get housebound. Take purposeful field trips, allow for time with a mentor, friend, or family member with experience in the topic you’re studying. This is so much more effective than textbook reading. If they’ll learn it better by carpet picnic or by discussion on the back porch swing, then do that. And if you want to give an oral quiz on a novel they just read while walking the dog on a cool evening after dinner, do that!

8. Discussion trumps testing, and you have the one-on-one ability to capitalize on it. I can’t stress enough how much more important and effective discussion of the topics you are studying is than completing worksheets, charts, and multiple-choice tests.

Kids in schools don’t often get the opportunity to converse, discuss, and examine information at length. But your homeschooler does have the opportunity. Don’t squander this!

Homeschoolers are more likely to have had time to gather knowledge, stew on it, and discuss it in their own words with an adult who cares and isn’t rushed.

Oral exams and interviews are simply conversation to many homeschoolers.This type of usage of information is real-world practice and greatly benefits homeschoolers after graduation, especially in college. Many professors attest to this sharing that their formerly homeschooled students are often the most active participants in lecture.

9. The time to check, grade, and correct work immediately is a great advantage of homeschooling. Schooling to check boxes, tests, and assign grades creates little races and stop gaps. When each is completed, students just accept the grade and move on. They rarely go back and see what they missed and why. Worse still, grading can take days or weeks, and by then the teacher has moved onto the next lesson.

Graded assignments and tests should be used as an indication of what students still need to learn or master, not a final halting judgement. Urge your kids not to fall for the false end points.

Because even the highest achieving students will stall their efforts once the coveted A is achieved, though there is loads more to learn beyond it.

Homeschooling allows the time and ability to catch and fix problems immediately. Searching for the right answers, understanding their mistakes, and explaining what went wrong are some of the best catalysts for learning. To refuse to look up the answer is a lazy, dangerous, gamble in the real world. We certainly want our doctors, mechanics, pharmacists, and engineers to look up what they are not sure of. Only in educational setting (and emergencies) must we gamble with our best choice or guess in the moment and let it ride!

10. Homeschoolers excel when their parents effort and feedback equal or exceed the effort expected of them. Did you ever work really hard on a project, above and beyond what was expected, beyond the other students in the class, only to see everyone get a meaningless 95. Or did you wait and wait, and it was never graded at all? Homeschool parents, just like school teachers, can get busy or lazy and not following through on their part.

Students need acknowledgement of their efforts with returned effort!

It’s also good for students to learn to work for their own sense of accomplishment without praise. But most kids will feel they don’t need to try as hard the next time around on projects that don’t interest them. They won’t continue to meet the bar you raise if you don’t meet them there with feedback, correction, and  encouragement.

11. Parents get to model learning, parenting, and reaching for more-than-we-are-today. Don’t expect more from them than you are willing to do yourself. Let them see you continue to learn, appreciate knowledge, and try.

Bonus: Homeschool parents get to reclaim their education. Many are in awe of how much they are learning right alongside their kids. Empowering their kids has them empowered to try things they never dared; starting businesses, building things, standing up when leaders are needed in the community, and learning new skills alongside their kids. If you say they can be anything they want to be, then you better be prepared to put your money where your mouth is.

Your inaction speaks louder than your expectations. Show your kids how to learn, dare to try, fail, and get back up. They are more likely to follow your lead than your weightless words. 

12. Good food within grasp and body autonomy boosts physical and mental health, builds confidence, and ensures the ability to focus. In schools, starving kids must wait for a rushed lunch period and risk rejection when raising their hands to relieve themselves, despite their discomfort and inability to focus in class.

Homeschoolers can eat and answer the call of nature as needed. Self awareness grows and much anxiety is avoided.

Plus, incorporating food into lessons will almost always get and keep their attention a little longer.

13. Much of what kids need to learn doesn’t need curriculum. Life skills do not require a syllabus. If your kids aren’t separated from daily life in school each day (only to return home like patrons of a family hotel) they don’t need to take a formal written course. Learning can and should occur naturally.

Often the most learning happens on the days that look the least like school!

Especially refrain from throwing curriculum between a kid and their passion. If they ask for it, sure, help them.

Don’t turn their interests into a syllabus and worksheets.

Let them lead and tell you all about what they are learning even if it appears disjointed and flailing wait for them to ask for input. The struggle is often more exciting than the finish line. Don’t steal the thrill of the hunt from them with unsolicited and unnecessary curriculum and checklists.

 

14. Homeschooling allows us to teach them what they really need to know, not just what they want to know or what uselessness the school system mandates. Combine your kids interests, goals, and needs to decide their educational path. Not every kid needs two o’clock study hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and luckily we don’t have to comply.

However, homeschool courses can’t always be what makes them happy. Override their frustration and grumbling about boring lessons that you clearly know they need. We even have to override our own reluctance to be the heavy and insist they learn important skills.

Choosing convenience and comfort now will rob your child of ability and opportunity later. Make them uncomfortable on occasion. Because life and the world certainly will.

15. The “Homeschool Twilight” is our 11th hour.  There are windows of suspended time that magically increase our fleeting  with our kids. Like when summer doesn’t know it’s over, but schools have started back and the parks, waterways, and museums are still open with end of summer discounts. Or that week after new year’s when school and work are back in session but a winter wonderland of adventure still sparkles outside our homes and textbooks.

Don’t squander these magic windows of time to rebel against the system.

Take vacations in October, do math when its 147 degrees in July, drop a week in April and go see the wildflowers. When the kids get older and are prepping for launch, their work and aspirations tend to push us back to the mainstream calendar. So, make haste! Escape into the homeschool twilight before time runs out.

Below…  you will find a concise list of these advantages to monopolize on in the ebbs and flows of your homeschool life.

Take heed! Don’t squander the amazing treasures that come with your decision to homeschool and set sail on a a personal family adventure!