Why We Chose To Homeschool

To be completely honest I had no intention of homeschooling….. up until my son, Roman, was getting close to five years old and the reality set in that soon we were going to have to send him off to kindergarten and start searching for the right school for him to attend.

I had the stereotypical mindset behind homeschooling when the thought popped into my head….. The one where he wasn’t going to be socialized well enough and it would turn him into being socially awkward. Overall, just not being able to give him what he needed to be well rounded through homeschooling.

When we started pondering all of the ideas popping into our heads, it was around the same time that we decided we were going to be leaving Washington state and moving to Arizona state.

So that would’ve meant as soon as we settled into our new home in Arizona that he’d be starting school for the first time shortly after. Roman insisted on going to a regular school. I think he really liked the idea of it and he just really wanted to ride a school bus. As parents, we weren’t too sure of the idea.

We had a couple of months before really having to decide. During that time, I started to hang out with a friend in WA who homeschooled her boys, and we did a whole lot of adventures together right before moving!

That sorta opened my eyes that homeschool is much more than just sitting at home and teaching your kids from a book. I’m over here thinking I need to have a rolling whiteboard in my house to be able to do classroom style at our dining room table. We were also moving to a smaller house where we didn’t even have an extra room to homeschool so that made me hesitant as well (I didn’t want it taking over our house).

During those couple of months, I decided to join a few of homeschool co-op groups here in Arizona just to get a feel for what the groups were doing and what kind of energy I felt with the different communities.

And all of the ideas of what I thought it was going to be was SO WRONG.

There is one particular co-op group that stood out to me. I liked the communication they had, I liked the events that they were doing, and also I really wanted something that was secular. This is when I decided we are going to try out homeschooling.

I made a deal with Roman that we would homeschool for kindergarten and then if he still wanted to go to a “regular” school, that he could try it out for first grade.

We started attending co-ops (from the group I found on Facebook) right away and it worked out really well for us. We go to as many events as we can for that co-op to this day! (I’m happy to message you the co-op group if you’re local to Mesa, AZ).

A few months into homeschooling and it was already time to start figuring out what was going to happen for first grade- since that was the deal we made.

One day, I told Roman, “okay it’s time to start touring schools if you’re still wanting to go to first grade at a regular school”. I was in complete shock when he answered me saying he doesn’t want to go to a regular school now and that he wants to keep homeschooling.

I do have to say that I can’t blame him because I really try my best to do as many activities and get us out as much as we can. I jokingly say it’s not really homeschooling because we’re out doing things all day every day and barely even at home.

We really love the freedom with homeschooling and being able to take on really unique opportunities. Some of the things we’ve done already is going behind the scenes making a pizza at an actual pizza shop, going to empty trampoline parks during the day to enjoy with homeschool friends, going behind the scenes at an ice cream shop, going to a local amusement park to ride roller coasters while learning the science aspect behind them, and really being able to focus on sports/real life things without feeling the exhaustion from being at school all day behind a desk.

It’s absolutely not to say or to look down on public school. My husband and I both went to public school growing up. So when I look at the experiences gained we’ve spent homeschooling, then look at what my school routine and my husband’s routine was like….. I can definitely say that the “regular” school routine limits the ability to do all of these “extra” activities. Sure, you can still do them, but it’s not with the same flexibility or with as much ease. It really came down to what is most important to us.

I also want to acknowledge and bring to light that I know homeschool isn’t the right choice for everybody and there’s SOOO many factors to consider when it comes to homeschooling. It is absolutely a group effort. This is just what works best for us and the process we went through when deciding.

I also want to add that I’m not super stern on homeschooling forever. I really do just try to take it one day at a time and I’m totally open to pulling in a tutor when needed for additional help. And I’m not planning on teaching him any and everything as he progresses into higher grades because I can’t! Lol. I don’t have the knowledge. But, the resources are THERE to get him what he needs!!!!

I did go to college and studied early child education. Although I have 3 quarters left before I could graduate with my bachelors, it still helped me enough to not feel much stress with lesson planning for kindergarten.

I do recognize as he gets older, we are going to need to pivot if we do want to continue homeschooling.

Ultimately, my favorite part of homeschooling is all of the resources and opportunity that comes with it- ensuring that we can mold homeschool to be what is in his best interest. As well as, the lifestyle we can continue on embracing.