Things to Love About Homeschooling

Where do I begin - There are so many things to love about home schooling. While, there are days that big yellow school bus looks magical, I have never succumbed to sending my children off on one. On days whem home schooling are a struggle, I have received advice to remember the reasons why I started in the first place. On days when that list turns foggy, I just call for a day of no books until the image become clear once again as to why I love home schooling. Which, by the way is one of the things to love about home schooling - the flexibility of being able to call for a day with no books.
When I began homeschooling, way back before my first-born was officially a kindergartner (he was born in 2000), I made a list of why I wanted to homeschool. That list included being able to instill our Christian values to our children as number 1 priority. It also included thoughts on socialization and learning.
THIS POST FROM JANUARY, 2010 REMINDS ME OF WHY I STARTED HOMESCHOOLING!
So, here we go. Here is my list of things to love about home schooling:

1. Flexibility - Flexibility is perhaps the number 1 reason I homeschool. While, I'd like to be spiritual and claim that being able to freely teach my children the scriptures and biblical living as my number 1 reason, I have to be honest and admit that flexibility is really what I love best. This isn't to say that Bible-based schooling is not at the core of why I do it. Perhaps, it's part of the flexibility and freedom to be able to do so. Another part of the flexibility is our yearly tours with my musician hubby. We have had the flexibility to travel for several weeks at a time while still not getting behind on schooling.
2. Freedom - The freedom to choose what my children learn and when. I love allowing my children to guage when they are ready to move on. Sometimes, this means we are lightyears ahead of public schooled peers. Other times, it means we are learning at a slower pace. Either way, I love the freedom to allow them to learn how they need to learn.
3. Parental Influence - I love that my children have me and my hubby as their first influence, not only as mom and dad but as their first teachers as well. Hopefully, we live up to my high expectations of what a parent and teacher should be. No doubt, we often fall short, but then again, my expectations are set high. I love that we are able to grow together and learn how to live with each other as a family.
4. Life Skills - While we educate at home, my children also see two parents who run and own home businesses. They see what real life looks like on a daily basis.
5. Eclectic Curriculum - I love the fact that I am free and have the flexibility to choose what curriculum my children learn from. For us, this means one child wo is almost entirely unschooled, one who devours curriculum books from Rod and Staff, Bob Jones, and other established companies, and one who is a mixture of all with a very hands-on, always moving to learn approach.
6. Time - I love that I have been able to spend time with  my children while they grow up. I have not had to miss them for several hours a day while they are away at school. I was right there 24/7 for most of their baby, toddler, early elementary days. I am still there 24/7, even tough now the older two have times when they are away at robotics or theater or dance.
7. Car Schooling - Sometimes homeschool takes place in the car on the way to an event. I love the flexibility to be able to let learning happen on the road.
8. Learning - My aim at homeschooling is not to check off a list of requirements but for my children to really learn. I love that I have the opportunity to allow this to happen.
9. Socialization - I love that the friends my kids make are those they sought out and those whom God place din their paths and are not made up of only their age or grade level. I love that they learn more during a school day than how to raise their hand to ask to use the restroom or how to use a hall pass or how to stand in line (which by the way is not a quickly learned skill for homeschoolers. It's true that many don't know how to do this well for years, but I'm ok with that).
10. Encouragement - I love that for the foundational learning years, my children received encouragement to learn, grow, and be whoever they are created to be with encouragement and not bullying. Yes, bullying does exist even in homeschools, but I love that I have had the opportunity to replace a great deal of the negative with positive encouragement instead.
11. Pajama School - I love that there are days we just homeschool in PJs
12. Snow Days - I love that snow days are not days off for learning but merely a shift in how we learn, with a great deal of outside encounters with the snow and inside encounters with where wet snowsuits belong and how to properly make hot cocoa.
13. I love that God and my state and my country have allowed me the freedom to be with my children while they learn.
14. My Education - Even though, I have a college education, I love that I am constantly learning new things as I teach my children.