Why I Homeschool - Jess’s Story
#1 Freedom
Freedom to explore, freedom to choose what we study, freedom to spend as much time as needed on a subject or unit study, freedom to change course, freedom to connect with my kids. My number one reason, hands down, for homeschooling is freedom.
#2 Because I Was Homeschooled
My own experience as a homeschooled young adult was so inspiring and really gave me the confidence to choose homeschooling. To really understand this, I want to share more about how this came about.
Why I started homeschooling
My own homeschooling journey began in 7th grade. I was feeling anxious about changing schools and leaving many of my friends. I was anxious about having to change classes, meeting new teachers, and having more homework. I was heavily invested in ballet and was concerned about the workload. I met many homeschooling families through dance and convinced my mom to help me explore that option. We found a local charter school to support our homeschooling journey and I was set!
What I spent my time doing
Homeschooling for me was primarily independent study. I was given curriculum by my homeschool charter and met with a teacher once per week to help me stay on track. My mom’s job was pretty easy! I really only spent 1 -2 hours per day on academics, maybe more when I had projects to submit. My charter offered elective classes in handicrafts, music, literature and more, so I took them and made friends. I joined my local, public middle school band and jazz band and had special permission to be on campus just during those hours. I danced about 15 hours per week. And, I spent a wonderful amount of time with my family and my friends.
How I managed my own education
By the time I was in 8th grade, my mom and I began exploring my option to enroll in the local community college. I started slow with dance classes and by 9th grade added math and english. At the time, taking college courses provided me with high school credit AND college credit toward transferring to a University later. This seemed like a no brainer to me! Eventually, I realized that I could graduate high school with a basic diploma at 16 years old. Then, I could take one more year of courses at the community college and have enough credits to transfer as a junior to a university. This meant, I didn’t have to worry so much about the standard high school requirements for freshman college admission: clubs, volunteer hours, essays, recommendations, and SAT scores. Transferring as a junior was so much more streamlined. By the time I was 15, I was meeting with a college counselor and planning for my future.
Socializing and Making Friends
Though my time in high school was somewhat expedited, I made some amazing friendships. It turned out that I was one of many teenagers taking classes at the community college. I had one friend from ballet there with me who introduced me to about 10 others she knew from her church and homeschooling groups. Within weeks I became a part of that group and met so many more amazing homeschool families. Through this group, I became an officer for our “Independent Study Student Union,” we volunteered to clean up homes in our community, and we went on a Christmas caroling caravan tour. We took adventures to homeschool days at Six Flags Magic Mountain. We had beach bonfires weekly throughout the summer and pretty often the rest of the year. Our parents planned a formal for us rather than a prom, that is still one of my most favorite memories of my teens. I loved high school, I loved my huge group of friends (many of us are still close today!), and I felt like I truly fit in.
Fun fact: my husband was one of the first homeschooled high schoolers I met at the community college! We were friends but didn’t date until many years later.
After High School
I spent one more year at the community college after graduating from high school as planned. I had decided to apply to only one university, San Francisco State. I fell in love with the city and had a job waiting up there for me as a ballet teacher at a dance studio owned by very first ballet teacher. I was accepted to the school as an Accounting major, but lost interest after one, very boring semester. I switched to Economics and loved being in the Social Sciences. Studying data and statistics were the highlights of the program for me. After 2.5 years, I completed my B.A. in Economics in December 2005, just 4 months before my 20th birthday. Ironically, my first job out of college was in an accounting firm! While I wasn’t an academic genius and didn’t have lofty career goals, I’d say I was successful and that homeschooling was definitely a huge part of my success.
#3 To Create the Life I Want for My Kids
I think this reason why I homeschool can be best summarized in a slideshow. Homeschooling allows us to put our family first, to grow bonds within our family and with friends. We can spend time on the things we find interesting and explore until we’re satisfied. We can emphasis the power and joy of learning. We can celebrate everything.
#4 Flexibility & Family
This may seem obvious, but homeschooling provides me with so much flexibility. I can choose the homeschooling style that best suits my family. I can plan my daily schedule any way we want! If I want to save specific learning moments for when my husband is home from work, we can. Homeschooling my children gives me the ability to work part time and feel like I have a great balance. I am a dance educator and teach at two local dance studios between 10 - 20 hours per week depending on the season. My children are able to come with me, which allows me to teach in the morning or afternoon, weekdays or weekends. I plan two days during the week that my kids get to hang out with their cousins (who also homeschool). At least one day a week my kids get to spend quality time with a grandparent. To me, the time we dedicate to family is a huge gift.
#5 Creating My Own Community
After my amazing experience homeschooling and finding my own community, I knew it would be essential for my children to have their own homeschool community. I was worried about building how to do that until my daughter was school aged. Then, I found that I was meeting homeschooling families every where! Most importantly, I learned that families I had known for years through dance and whose children had become my daughter’s friends, were homeschooling. In fact, that’s where I met Mandi!
In the 5 years since we’ve met and the 3 that we’ve really been friends, we served on the booster club for our charter school where we planned a daddy daughter dance, fundraisers, and an end of year carnival. We organized a group of homeschooling friends to develop relationships with, which has evolved each year into what is now our “Coop Group.” We already anticipate it evolving again next school year and hope that our families are forming lifelong friendships.`Now we started The Coop Homeschool in hopes of inspiring some fellow moms, helping newbies and those choosing to homeschool for the first time, creating a bigger community. I have no doubt we will continue to do big things for our children, making their homeschool experience an awesome one.
