See the entire list at Encouragements From the Piper’s Wife: The Beauty of Home Education. I would add that is also gave my daughter great time management skills. She learned how to plan and prioritize and doesn’t need a bell going off every 50 minutes to tell her what to do. The transition to college will be smooth. I just wish we had started earlier and done it with both girls.
Gym class: no stress
Extracurricular activities: use your imagination; the sky is the limit!
Calmness at home: worth more than pure gold
Father’s work schedule: schooling and family time can make a better fit
No deprograming time: you will notice the difference!
Spending as much time as possible on what counts
Great field trips to interesting places anytime of the year
. . .
The family pet sits with you while you do your work
My daughter loved having the dogs hang out with her all day!
. . .
No government indoctrination
That one gets more important every year.
Vacations anytime of the year
. . .
Go read ’em all!
If you haven’t considered home schooling I encourage you to give it some thought. Even just doing it for a couple years made a big difference. It was really more of “flexible schooling” for us, as she took some classes at a local home school group (sort of like private school with very small classes), some online courses with Texas Tech and some dual credit classes at the local junior college (very inexpensive and it gave her a semester head start in college).
Not that I know much about home-schooling, but one of the things that drove me crazy about public schools was how slowly we moved through material, especially in the younger years. If you could push your kid (does it really take a year to learn multiplication?), it will help – not just in intellectual stimulation, but in preparation for college, when high-level classes move very fast.
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Yes, the efficiency side is amazing. Kids can go at their own pace instead of trying to get 20+ kids to go at a similar pace.
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Just a very minor question, Neil. “My daughter loved having the dogs hand out with her all day!” ?? What did the dogs hand out? Did she and the dogs hand out Bible tracts? I’m a little confused. (Not really.)
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Ha! Fixed it, thanks.
And they are on the receiving end of handouts, of course, being the most hedonistic dogs in North America.
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In home school you don’t learn to be peer-oriented!
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AHHHH! We got our daughter into a NHA charter school. After 3 years of homeschooling. Everyday we are second guessing whether or not we are doing the right thing.
Neil, then you post this! All of these are excellent points. We still have 2 weeks to change our minds. Actually, we can change them at anytime after that too.
Decisions………….
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Sorry — not trying to make things more difficult for you!
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