So you are starting homeschooling you said? Why? What are you hoping to achieve? These are just one of the many questions I got asked when we told people we are taking our 2 boys out of school.
I would like to express the thoughts behind this very big decision. When COVID happened, we like everyone else had to home school. We had a great time, the boys loved it and it was easy in the sense that the teacher was sending us all the work, so the only thing we had to do was to complete it. Then after a while the boys expressed that they loved it so much and would like to be home schooled, even though we all liked their school. I think they realised that you get much more done at home in a shorter time and we spend more time together as a family, but like with every decision, we had to think it through and not rush it.
Well this was our thoughts in 2020 and here I am writing this post in 2023. So what happened in between??
Well, the boys got back to their school in 2021 like everyone else and we decided that they could finish their primary school years and then we could home school in secondary school. Why you might ask, well because we thought they could learn all the basics and then we could take over, but why couldn’t we teach them the basics? Why were we so convinced that we could teach them through their secondary years and not primary.
So our work life changed and we ended up working from home for both of us. My husband is a tech nerd, I can’t explain what he does, but he’s good with anything that involves computers, phones, cameras, websites, seo training and well, nerdy stuff. I’m a potter, yes you are right, that’s the thing by the wheel that spins and clay pieces gets created.
So work life changed as I said, the boys still wanted to be home schooled and we as a family wanted more time together. We felt that we got the worse from our kids every day, because when we picked them up from school they were tired and we as parents were tired too to be honest. So why not learn the same things, just at home, use less time and gain more time together. When you think about it like this it was a no-brainer for us.
We have now schooled for only 3 days and so far so good. However, I’m not naive, I know there are going to be good and bad days. There will probably be days where we are thinking whaaaat are we doing, but that’s life really. Having kids in school is hard work too. Remember open afternoons, volunteer and pay for a school trips, make homework in the afternoon (when we are all tired) make sure they have the right uniform and PE clothes, the forever change of worn out shoes and also just making sure that they have had a good day, been good boys, both to their teacher and school mates. Writing all this makes me feel exhausted .
We want to have more time with my kids, be in control of their learning and teaching and do more in less time. Don’t get me wrong, I have had doubts and worries. Im not English, but Danish and my kids are constantly correcting my phonics and pronunciation. Now we just laugh about it really, but I was worried if I could provide what my boys needed. To my surprise I spoke to their teachers that encouraged us in this decision, and they told us all the great websites we could use in order to follow the curriculum. Actually, they gave me the exact sites that they use for their teaching and at that point I started to relax. The teachers get their work from somewhere, so that’s just what we have to do. I know you are laughing at the word “just” but I’m sure you know what I mean.
I hope this post was a little glimpse into our reasons behind home schooling and I’m excited to share many more.