I asked over 100 homeschoolers “What is the best thing about homeschooling? What is the hardest thing about homeschooling?” So many of the answers were things that we can all agree with. Here they are.
The Best Thing About Homeschooling
- Freedom
- Flexibility
- Being with my kids all day
- Seeing my child explore their interests so thoroughly
- Knowing that this is right for our family
- I don’t have miss anything
- Lots of time together as a family
- Seeing my kids so happy
- Don’t have to make lunches & get my kids out the door in the morning
- The great relationship with my teen
- Learning at their own pace
- The control I have over what my kids learn and at what pace they learn it
- The bond with my children
- How close and involved in each other’s day to day lives my children are
- Being able to explore on their own terms
- Knowing what they are learning
- Seeing your kids grow
- Letting your kids be themselves
- Being able to give them support as they need
- The “lightbulb” moments where their eyes light up because they get something
- The lack of bullies
- That I can look for different ways to offer information
- Mid-week travel if we want
- The opportunity for ME to learn all kinds of things I missed during my own education
- That we can just go do something fun or just watch a marathon of movies
- That we can make the whole world our classroom
- Sleeping in!
- The empowerment
- Living out our values in daily life
- Getting to celebrate my child’s educational milestones first hand
The Hardest Thing About Homeschooling
- Being with my kids all the time
- Craving adult conversation
- Getting started because there’s so much out there
- People who don’t “get it”
- Judgemental comments from others
- Doubt
- Too many things to do
- Having days when I feel too sick to do much
- Trying to balance activities with schoolwork and trying to clean house
- Teaching my kids when our personalities clash
- Getting organized with different school aged kids
- That it’s ending all too quickly
- Keeping their attention to do the work
- Fear that I’m failing them
- Keeping them excited
- Telling other people our decision
- No naps for mom!
- Staying organized
- Not getting sucked into all the freedom we have
- When they go to college
- Finding downtime
- Keeping track of what’s been learnt
- Some of the sacrifices we have to made to make it work
- Toddler or Baby underfoot
- Finding resources for special needs
- Watching your local homeschool support dwindle
- Having to deal with registering schools
- Having to work full-time out of the home and homeschool
- Not being able to try out every incredible curriculum option
- Making a curriculum choice
- Remembering to take time for myself
- Days when patience is lacking
- Unsupportive family members
- Feeling behind
- So much to plan
- Worrying that I’m not pushing them hard enough
Do you agree with these answers? What do YOU find the best and the hardest thing about homeschooling?
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Great list! I would say that I feel the same way as the statements in these two lists. It’s both wonderful and daunting, and sometimes for the same reasons.