Is homeschooling easier than going to school? Our main goal as parents is to help our children develop a love of learning, right? How can we do that? By figuring our our children’s natural learning tendencies.
If we find out how our children learn best, then it will be easier to homeschool because we won’t be teaching against the grain, so-to speak.
Is homeschooling the best educational option? Well, many times, traditional education does not support the individual needs that kids need and they end up falling through the cracks.
As a reformed public school teacher myself, I have seen that way too many times. It was heartbreaking to have so much to do and not being able to because of red tape.
As we discussed in our list for parents (read here), there are many benefits to homeschooling kids instead of sending them away to school for 8 hours every weekday.
In this post, we will share with you a printable list for your kids to read and see why natural homeschooling is so awesome! Don’t forget to check out our homeschool encouragement hub!
Giveaway!
A new homeschool year is right around the corner!
Many homeschool moms are busy preparing and finalizing curriculum choices for the upcoming school year. And some homeschoolers are trucking on through the summer months as one school year flows into the next.
Whatever camp you are in, you’re bound to need new homeschool curriculum, and winning a gift card to a major online homeschool retailer would surely help you check some things off of your curriculum wish list.
I’m teaming up with some other great homeschool bloggers to bring you a HUGE gift card giveaway to Rainbow Resource Center.
We will be blessing TWO homeschool families with a $250 for you to use on curriculum, books, games, puzzles, or whatever educational supplies you might need! ENTER BELOW!
Homeschool Children’s Books
Before we get into our topic at hand, I wanted to touch on a very important point that marks as a HUGE pro for homeschooling: reading. Yes, homeschooled kids have more time to read.
When kids read for pleasure, they tend to have better vocabulary and less anxiety (because reading for pleasure offers relaxation from stress, etc), among other things.
Whether you are a traditional homeschooler in Classical education or you prefer unit studies approach (or any method you prefer), books should always be a part of your homeschooling day.
Every homeschool parent should offer their kids a variety of book option for them to read from. We have a super crazy list of books at home and we read through those.
But we also schedule trips to the local library to check out books that we might enjoy reading, but not necessarily want to own. Check out some titles that you will want to get for your kids.
They are books that they will want to read over and over, so they are definitely worth owning.
The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and
Building Our HouseThis Is My Home, This Is My School
The Benefits of Holistic Homeschooling
What is a holistic approach to homeschooling? Let’s find out what “holistic” means and then figuring our what holistic homeschooling means.
Holistic, in Philosophy, means “characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.”
In other words, Reading isn’t just a subject separate from others. Reading is interconnected and needed for understanding all other subjects. Math is also needed for Logic, critical thinking, drawing conclusions, etc.
A holistic approach to homeschooling means that it is all connected to a whole, like spaghetti and not part of a whole, like a square of lasagna. Writing is connected to Science, to Literature, to Bible, Typing and more.
Science experiments are connected to Math (measurements), Art (in fine motor skills, color and texture discrimination, etc), Reading (to follow instructions), Logic (to drawing conclusions), to History (past results for the experiment), etc.
The Benefits of Natural Homeschooling
Print this list and have it handy, especially on those days when your kids are complaining or having a negative attitude about homeschooling.
Read it often, read it out loud and have your kids add their own reasons to like/enjoy/prefer homeschooling over going to school (public, private or charter).
- no homework (well, because all of the work done is at home, so technically, it is homework)
- focus more on what kids are interested in (homeschoolers have more time to pursue personal passions, like child athletes, etc)
- no school bus (this includes no waking up super early to ready and to get picked up at 6:30 am)
- take breaks as needed (some kids work better with more frequent breaks that they can’t take in school)
- no getting up early (children have healthier sleep patterns that are more conducive to learning)
- go down rabbit trails with no guilt (if you are doing an activity that everyone is wanting to learn more about, you have the freedom to continue your studies without having to stop)
- no school lunches (kids can eat healthier meals for less money, see our post on homeschool lunch ideas and snack ideas)
- option of homeschooling year-round (we love to take breaks as needed, instead of being bound to the public school calendar)
- no bullying (if you don’t count siblings, lol, but it is a lot easier to help with and redirect)
- no lousy teachers (many teachers are great, but others are bullies and simply teach to make a living)
- take vacation time when needed/wanted (no lines, no traffic and no crowds while schools are in session)
- no falling through the cracks (every child gets the help and attention they need)
- they get to spend more time with their parents (so they can bond and develop a special life-long relationship)
- no failing a grade/subject (they can work on their weaknesses until they overcome them, without “falling behind”)
- children can become young entrepreneurs by selling their old/outgrown books and clothes, the family’s fresh eggs or by learning to mow lawns or get a newspaper run to save money for a bigger goal/item or for the future
- no 8-hour school days, work at your own pace (take more day, but less hours or adapt to your own comfortable schedule)
- the ability to use different homeschool methods (kids are put in a box in traditional schools and that obligates them to learn in a specific way, even if it isn’t how they learn best) like nature based homeschool curriculum, unit studies, visual, kinesthetic, etc.
- delve into homeschool craft projects (including awesome homeschool science projects) without having time restraints or having to provide materials for several dozen kids
- read all you want (get make cheap homeschool books for your kids to always have at home)
- learning at their own pace (Can self-taught be an option for homeschooling? Yes! Kids can advance as fast or as slow as they need to.)
- homeschool special needs kids (they benefit greatly because they don’t have the pressures of keeping up with others, peer pressure, bullying and dealing with physical handicaps without help)
- homeschool gifted kids (What are the advantages of home schooling a gifted child? they can advance as quickly as they can learn the material, without being confined to one grade per school year and they can start college online in their early teen years)
- they can go to the bathroom whenever they need to (“holding it” can be the culprit to constipation and other bowel complications)
- kids can take time to recover and still do schoolwork while they’re not feeling well (their workload might be lighter during an illness, but they won’t fall behind as much)
- kids can graduate early and pursue passions and/or employment opportunities before considering college (or start college early)
- smaller teacher-student ratios means more attention for each child and finishing work faster/earlier (more free time for fun and/or extracurricular classes)
What else can you think of to add to the list?
Can you think of other benefits? What does your spouse say? What do your kids say? What about outsiders looking in? What about homeschool discipline? Socialization?
Leave your comments below and we will add those reasons to our list! To get this printable list, simply enter your email address below and check your inbox for the download!
You might also like some stuff like fun homeschool t-shirts sayings, planners and more. Check them out!
For more awesome homeschool t-shirt designs, check this list out!
Different Styles of Homeschooling Quiz
Before we talk about the benefits of homeschooling, let’s recap that there are many homeschooling styles out there and many times, we don’t know which one to follow.
Yes, there are many different types of homeschooling methods out there, but that doesn’t mean that you have to do just one. Remember that the beauty, the benefit and the major reason for homeschooling is to do what is best for each of your children.
One method might be perfect for one child, but completely wrong for another. It goes without saying that we don’t want to put all of our children in a box (think public school) and assume that they will all learn the same way.
Are you a Classical homeschooler with the grammar stage and such? Or do you favor Charlotte Mason education? Maybe you enjoy Unit Studies or you prefer eclectic homeschooling.
Either way, we recommend reading living books to your kids and giving them the best education that will benefit everyone.
Different Homeschooling Methods & Free Homeschool Styles QUIZ
Giveaway Time!
A new homeschool year is right around the corner!
Many homeschool moms are busy preparing and finalizing curriculum choices for the upcoming school year. And some homeschoolers are trucking on through the summer months as one school year flows into the next.
Whatever camp you are in, you’re bound to need new homeschool curriculum, and winning a gift card to a major online homeschool retailer would surely help you check some things off of your curriculum wish list.
I’m teaming up with some other great homeschool bloggers to bring you a HUGE gift card giveaway to Rainbow Resource Center.
We will be blessing TWO homeschool families with a $250 for you to use on curriculum, books, games, puzzles, or whatever educational supplies you might need!
We know homeschooling can put a financial strain on families – whether it’s from living on one-income or buying curriculum for multiple children – the financial aspect of it can be stressful.
Our hope is that we can bless a couple of homeschool families (although we wish we could bless many more) so they can buy the curriculum and supplies they need.
Giveaway runs July 15th – July 24th
To enter for your chance to win, simply use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. Now I know that is quite a few entries for you, but each of these bloggers has generously chipped in their own money to make this giveaway possible, so I hope you will take the time to do all of the entries. And hey, the more entries you do, the better your odds are of winning!
Giveaway ends July 24, 2019 at 11:59pm ET. Must be at least 18 years of age. Must be a resident of U.S. or Canada to enter. Selected winners will have 48 hours to respond to email notification to claim their prizes or another winner will be drawn. By entering this giveaway, you agree to be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers (see the Terms & Conditions on the Rafflecopter form for the complete list).
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Kelly says
Thank you to all that sponsored this generous gift card opportunity and your support in the homeschool community.
Kathy says
Thank you for doing this giveaway. I hadn’t heard of your site, but am enjoying it so far!
Emily M says
I’m so excited for this giveaway! This will be our second year homeschooling. My son is about to turn 4. We love homeschooling because If like the other morning he takes a sudden interest in the anatomy of a mosquito, we can spend an hour researching it to our hearts desire. The giveaway $ would help us buy some important math materials we want.
Sarah Hanisko says
Love this! We’re new to homeschooling and love any ideas we can get.
Michelle says
Hi! Thank you so much for a chance to win the Rainbow Resources giveaway! My husband just started his own business and money is tight. There’s some curriculum that I would really love to buy, but I haven’t had the money to do so. This would be such a blessing! 🙂
tasha p. says
This sounds like a good chance to get some resources.
Crystal Rose says
I checked out the website. They have a wide variety of teaching supplies, more than I thought there’d be. Thank you for the chance!
Amber says
We are still relatively new to Homeschooling (going into year 2). I think we are still finding our “style”, but I’m loving learning about all the amazing ways to teach!! (And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why public schools haven’t caught on to all these amazing methods! Sooo much more effective!) Anyway, I feel incredibly blessed to be able to homeschool! Thank you to you and all those involved for putting together a great giveaway! 😊
jennie says
Fun giveaway!!
Frallicciardi says
Great reasons to homeschool
Clea says
Yay for Rainbow Resources!
Thank you!
AshleyH says
Thank you so much for this exciting giveaway. I loved the wonderful reminder of all of the incredible benefits on homeschooling that you listed on this post too. We are about to begin our third year of homeschooling and we love it. I especially appreciate that it allows us to have much more relaxed days since we don’t have to get to and from a school building at a certain time every day. I also want to instill a love for nature in our homeschool (which I think often gets neglected in public school). I will definitely check out your site for resources!