Homeschooling benefits

 Taking advantage of the homeschool benefits. 

Every job has it's benefits, whether they be monetary, physical or emotional. What we get from what we do matters an awful lot, or we would do something else. 

Home schooling is no different. When newly stay-at-home homeschoolers flooded kitchen tables this fall, one question that came up quite a bit was "do I get money back?" A valid question to be sure. I cannot speak to every state in the nation, for legal information and possible tax write-offs if they exist and how to take advantage of them would be found here. 

I am fairly certain at this writing it is not the norm to get money back for homeschooling your children. Public schools need money to function, and being the tax payers that we are, that money comes from us. "That's not fair, I'm not even using the services", is a common observation. However those empty-nesters, next door, or the single 20 something down the block are paying for the service too, and the service is to society not just the individual students. This may change in the future, but for now this is the norm. 

So what benefits am I talking about?  For homeschoolers that are not tied down to a schedule, the perks are IMMENSE!

The first is our relationship with our families, and those we home school with. Not to mention the confidence we have knowing what our children are taught day in and day out, AND what they learn (not always the same thing!). Each student also has the potential to really dive into a subject that they love and learn about it at a level unrivaled by a "formal" school setting. After all when you come to the end of a seven hour school day it is the rare student (though not extinct) that jumps into more study time on a subject that brings them joy. 

If I choose to stay up late and experience the sight of a meteor shower ,school can start an hour later than normal with no consequence. If a Make-a-Wish kiddo would love a giant flash mob doing a robot dance downtown, I can plan, train, and participate to be a part of making that wish come true!  If a grandparent needs help in the yard, or just company for lunch, I don't need to think too long about adjusting my schedule. 

Now, of course this can get out of hand, if you grab every bonus activity in a week you may reach Friday and wonder if you did any real school at all. Here's the secret; yes you did. The events and wanderings of the week didn't start on your school planning calendar ADD THEM NOW after the fun is done! You can reflect ,as their educator, and evaluate what knowledge and experience was gained. Isn't that cheating? you may ask. Remember the big point, the main objective, the REASON that you are together during the "school day", it's to learn. 

If you are uncertain, or your students giggle and scoff at having a day off instead of school, make an assignment for the next table day. What did you do, who did you see, what did you learn? Have them write a story about someone they saw, or someone they met (fictional rendition, or biographical). At the next family dinner, or opportunity with another friend or adult teaching helper, have the kids explain their experience in full sentences (not "we went to the zoo, the end.") and answer questions about the adventure. 

With fewer students we have the luxury of attending events that are more crowded, are further away from home and are more expensive than our public schooling counterparts. A week-long camping trip could be the counterpart to a "conservation camp" learning about our forest areas, survival skills, weather, plant life, animals, cooking, and orienteering. A trip to the skating rink, hiking trail, ice rink, swimming pool or local park is actually PE, it doesn't happen every day therefore a whole day of big muscle moving "counts" as school. Museum trips can happen on "free days" and you don't have to park a bus!  Busy popular attractions of all kinds have "non-peak" times and sometimes even "non-peak" admission prices. It is not a waste of time to inquire about group rates for "non peak" times at places like museums and zoos as well. If you get connected on social media it takes just a wee bit of effort to get enough participants to get some pretty great discounts! Chances are good that your local movie theater also has some discount days and special features that you could take advantage of. 

Once we start brainstorming you can see how easily you could be booked every hour that school should be "happening".  Again, you are in charge of your schedule, and you know what your kids are learning. Taking into consideration the laws of your state of course. This type of "out in the world" schooling lends itself nicely to Unit studies, as well as opportunity to polish that socialization thing we are always worried about (sarcasm implied). 

So let us GO and adventure together, daily, weekly, monthly, for as often and as long as you like. Your schedule, your school, your family, your life, really what other benefits do we need? 

~Jeanette