How To Decide If Homeschooling Is The Right Choice

Deciding whether or not to homeschool your kids is a BIG decision! There are a lot of conflicting opinions out there about whether or not homeschooling is a good thing. The reality is, you get to decide if homeschooling is the right choice for your family! But how do you know if it is, or if you’ll be making a mistake? Here are some great things to consider when deciding if homeschooling is a good fit for your family!

>>Read Also: What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Homeschooling

Why do you want to homeschool?

First and foremost, it’s important to ask yourself WHY you want to homeschool. There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this, and everyone’s “why” will be unique. But knowing why you want to embark on the homeschool journey often becomes the reason you either stick with it, or ditch it. 

For myself, there are many reasons why I choose to homeschool my children. But my main “why”, is time and relationship with my kids. I can rhyme off lots of other reasons why I believe it’s the best choice for us, but at the end of the day it all comes down to our relationship. When things get a little bumpy and I start questioning my decisions, I always fall back on my why and focus on our relationship. Because our why is so powerful for US, it re-centers us every time. 

Take some time to really think about why you want to homeschool, and don’t just do it because it seems like a popular option. Write a list of your top reasons and then narrow down the number one driving force behind your desire to homeschool. This will be the thing that carries you through the hard days. Plus, it will also be what brings you and your family so much joy and satisfaction during the whole process!

Make An Informed Decision

Before you decide if homeschooling is the right choice for you and your family, you should first educate yourself on any provincial/state laws around homeschooling in your area. This isn’t to determine whether or not you should do it, but it’s important to know what’s required of you if you do. 

Some areas have laws around curriculum choices, or they require you to track your school hours and courses. While other areas give homeschool parents total freedom to design their school year how they see fit. Know the legal requirements expected of you and be sure those things will work for you, BEFORE you start homeschooling. 

Also, check out the National Home Education Research Institute for all kinds of articles and statistics on homeschooling. It’s a wealth of information and will likely be very eye opening!

Think About Your Educational Goals

Are there specific things you want your children to learn? Or perhaps your children have certain skills you would love for them to have more time for, such as music or art. Homeschooling allows you, and your children, to dive deeper into various topics of interest and really foster your children’s natural curiosity. 

A public school education can certainly give them what they need to graduate and move on to be successful adults. But it’s no secret that children who attend public school don’t always receive a quality education – especially in recent years. And oftentimes, children in the public school system have less time and energy to deep dive into their own interests. 

As a homeschooling parent, you have the ability to customize your child’s education! Not only can you give them what they need academically, but also provide a flexible education that makes room for exploring their passions. 

So when deciding if homeschooling is the right choice for your family, consider this aspect. Determine whether you feel you are able to spend the extra time helping your children explore and discover their interests in a deeper way. It doesn’t take a huge amount of time, but it does require some intentionality. 

Consider Your Child’s Unique Needs

Some children have special needs that parents need help and support to be able to meet. Sometimes, putting your child into a public or private school that has the resources available to help those children thrive, is the best choice. If you have a child who needs more than you can realistically give them at home, then that is something you need to consider. Having the right support systems in place is very important, and shouldn’t be diminished.

In situations like these, homeschooling may still be an option. You may just have to get a bit creative! I’ve heard of some parents choosing to homeschool their special needs child, but send them to public school a couple of days each week to receive the support they need. This can be a great option if you decide that homeschooling is in fact the right fit, but your child’s needs require a bit of extra attention. 

You as the parent know your child best and will ultimately make the best decision for their overall well-being. 

How Much Time Do You Have?

In order to decide if homeschooling is the right choice for your family, it’s important to look at your daily schedule. Do you work full time, are you a stay-at-home mom, or are you somewhere in between? The truth is, you can homeschool your children successfully no matter what your employment status is. However, your current demands will have an impact on how much quality time you can commit to homeschooling. 

I do believe that at least one parent needs to be available a good chunk of the time in order to get the most out of the homeschooling experience. Homeschooling does require a lot of time spent with your children, which is also the beauty of it! I’m not only referring to time spent on academics, although that is part of it. There are so many things that homeschooled kids can be involved in to enrich their education, so there needs to be a parent who is willing and able to facilitate those things. 

If you are busy all of the time and can’t have a flexible schedule, that could potentially make homeschooling a little bit harder. It’s still very doable, but ideally there needs to be some flexibility in there to take advantage of all the wonderful elements of homeschool life! 

Some examples of these extra’s are:

• Field trips with your local homeschooling community
• Extracurricular activities
• Community activities such as volunteer opportunities
• Special online courses

Do You And Your Spouse See Eye To Eye?

Deciding if homeschooling is the right choice for your family is a very important decision, and it’s crucial that you and your spouse are in agreement. This doesn’t mean he or she has to be as passionate as you on the topic, but you do need to have their approval to give it a shot. 

Sometimes the only hesitations someone has regarding homeschooling are their own experiences. Maybe your spouse knew some homeschool families that were “weird”, and social skills are a concern. If this is the case, I will just say that you can find weird people everywhere, not just inside the homeschool community! And even though the social skills question is one of the most common ones, it 100% stems out of fear and not fact. One of the greatest benefits of homeschooling is the ability to interact with people of all ages. This creates socially well rounded children, and gives them lots of real world experiences!

There may be other reasons why your spouse isn’t fully on board, and if that’s the case I encourage you to talk to a veteran homeschooler. Talk to someone who has been doing it for years and ask them your honest questions. This usually puts people’s minds at ease, and helps with a lot of the hesitation. 

Regardless of the reasons, one spouse choosing to homeschool while the other spouse is against it is a recipe for disaster. It could cause tension, arguments and more. If you and your spouse are on opposite sides of the coin when it comes to homeschooling, work on that FIRST, before making any decisions.

Are you committed to homeschooling?

Another thing I’ll suggest you ponder in order to decide if homeschooling is the right choice, is whether or not you are fully committed to this lifestyle. This doesn’t imply that deciding to homeschool means you can never change anything, or never stop. There will be times when you may need to reassess and make some tough choices. 

What I am saying is that when you embark on your homeschool journey, you are choosing to set aside traditional schooling and take charge of your child’s education. That’s no small thing and there will be hard days ahead. Homeschooling is a wonderful, beautiful thing that I wouldn’t trade for the world – but there are still hard days. 

You need to go into this with a personal growth mindset and not allow the “less than perfect days” to tear you down. Instead, commit to pushing through and learning from them. Maybe the homeschool curriculum you chose isn’t the right fit for your family and you need to make a change. Or maybe you need to stop all formal lessons for a while and simply deschool everyone, including yourself. Read my blog post all about deschooling and why it’s SO important! 

Some people start homeschooling with the mindset that they can always put their child back into public school if it doesn’t work out. And although that is true, you won’t ever fully reap the benefits of homeschooling if you fall back on that option too quickly.

Push, learn and grow through the tough days rather than assume it’s not working out. Stay committed, try new things and allow the homeschooling life to refine you, and your kids. There is so much beauty to be found within this life, and it’s a shame to give it up too quickly!

Don’t Let Fear Stop You

The last point I’ll mention to help you decide if homeschooling is the right choice or not, is the fear of messing it all up! Please know that every single homeschooling parent I know has felt inadequate at times. We all have moments where we question if we’re doing enough, or if we can provide our children with the education they need. 

If fear is the only thing holding you back from homeschooling right now, I encourage you to just step out in faith. You actually CAN do this! It doesn’t require a special degree or any prior teaching experience. All it requires is you being willing to pour into your children, love them fiercely, and make them your priority. And chances are, you’re likely doing those things already! 

So don’t let the fear of the unknown prevent you from experiencing something that could truly be the best fit for your family!

Blessings!

~Maryann