The Top 10 Reasons to Homeschool Your Child

by Jeanette Steiner

1. You will be the number one influence on your child and his formation, instead of learning the latest "dirty word" or being encouraged to have a girlfriend at the very mature age of 10.

2. It will allow you the chance to get to know your child better because you will be with him most of the day. An average child will spend about 11,000 hours in the classroom. That doesn't even include activities and time away with friends. Children are young for such a short period of time. Why miss that much time with them?

3. You can allow your child to learn at her own pace, whether she is ahead or behind. Teaching in a traditional school is "one-size-fits-all." Differences in things such as learning styles and the child's temperment will not be taken into consideration. If your child has difficulty keeping up in math class, she may get lumped together with children in the "special ed" room, instead of being allowed to go back a level and relearn some things.

4. The ability to teach your religious faith and pray during your school day. This is very important. It is a proven fact that many children will lose their faith when faced with the day in an day out assault on their beliefs. Christian teenagers, in interviews, often report that they fell like a tiny, beleaguered minority at school. They often feel alone in their struggles to live by the Christian values of avoiding premarital sex, risqué music and videos, Internet pornography, alcohol and drugs. Why throw your lambs to the wolves at such an early age. Keep them at home for as long as possible to help build a solid foundation for weathering future storms. Which brings me to #5 ....

5. The ability to have a say in who your child's friends are. If you homeschool for any amount of time, you will seek out and find like-minded families and friends. I cannot say enough about how this has helped one of my more rebellious children in his ability to mature and grow through his teen years. His homeschooling friends are all being raised with roughly the same types of values so there is no "But Mom, everyone else is watching it, doing it, etc." Also, there is a "positive peer pressure" from these friends. If my son started talking about drugs or bragging about viewing porn, these friends would not approve and it would not be considered cool.

6. Nicer, more pleasant children. I hate to say it, but it is true. I have strangers tell me all of the time how "well behaved" my children are. It is not that I am such a great mother or am constantly nagging them about their manners (though I do believe in teaching them), but it is because of the removal of what I call the "Lord of the Flies" influence. When children of the same age spend 6-7 hours a day together, five days a week for nine months of the year, unless they have adults constantly monitoring and correcting them, their behaviour can be somewhat barbaric and out-of-control.

7. No worries about bullies. Children often don't say what all goes on at the classroom. The thought of a bully being mean to my little guy or stealing his glasses, makes my blood boil. Why put your kids through that, especially when they are young?

8. No worries about sexual abuse. A lot of attention has been given to sexual abuse by Catholic priests. However, the sexual abuse problem in the public schools is an even more pervasive problem and, shamefully, it has not been adequately addressed.

9. More freedom to express creativity and be themselves. Some schools do encourage the arts more than others and consider spending of funds on the humanities worthwhile. My now 19-year-old son is an incredibly gifted artist and photographer. Being homeschooled, he had the freedom to pursue these natural talents of his unrestrained. When he was younger, he had an affinity for drawing monsters and weapons (mostly medieval). I know for sure that his drawings of weapons would not be allowed or appreciated in a traditional school.

10. The ability to embark on a learning adventure with your children. Who knew that learning could be so much fun? I used to hate history because it was so boring. I can remember falling asleep during American History class in highschool more than once! It wasn't until I started homeschooling my children that I became enthralled with history. What a fascinating subject!

Now don't get me wrong, there will be frustrating days and days that both you and the kids don't feel like "doing school" at all; however, you will have many fun learning adventures together.

About the Author
Jeanette Steiner is a single homeschooling mother of 7 who has 12 years of experience. Read more tips and advice like on homeschooling at http:/www.completehomeschoolcurriculum.com