Homeschool Yay or Nay?

I've been thinking lately about whether or not I'm interested in homeschooling my children and I thought I'd talk about it today. I'm not really sure of anything and let's get real here; I have a long way to go before any decisions need to be made. And, hubby isn't too fond of the idea.

But hear me out...

I don't want to homeschool my children for forever. In my mind I see homeschooling until my kids are around 10-12 and then let them join school with their friends from there. How will they already have friends you ask? Well because we intend on having our children participate in extra-curricular activities such as dance class, various sports, piano lessons, etc... They will obviously have friends from these activities and then can join those friends in school.

See, I don't want to completely shelter them.

So why the idea of homeschooling? To be honest I'm not 100% sure why yet, I just know it's an idea that intrigues me. Obviously being a parent puts you in a position of being your child's number one protector and for me personally, the idea of sending little ones off to school who are vulnerable and incapable of always helping themselves scares the living doo doo out of me.

Doesn't it scare every mama who sends their little one off to school?

I'm sure it does. Our world is only getting scarier by the day. While you can't live in fear, that alone is a great argument for wanting to protect little ones who can't defend themselves.

Even more than that, is the ever changing school system. Our state has done so much to the curriculum in the past few years that I'm not quite sure it's what I want for my young child. I don't feel knowledgeable enough to speak for or against any particular points, other than that I know many teachers feel that the way our young students are being taught is just not right. There's no room for creativity, there's pressure to perform a certain way, there's developmentally inappropriate material being taught and much more. Sure, all teachers don't feel this way and some strive to still do what they can to make learning fun; I'd never say there wasn't teachers out there busting their humps to add to the curriculum.

While I want my children to be smart and excel with the material they learn, I don't want them to only excel at that. I want them to be creative and imaginative and I want them to learn in a simple way that makes sense. I want to instill home economics in them where homeschooling doesn't just cover the basic math and reading lessons, but also the simple tasks that can stay with them for forever. Why can't learning about measurements and fractions include actually sitting down and baking a cake or pie where measurements are actually used? Why can't my young one learn sight words through fun activities that we can do in the comfort of our home at our own pace? Why should my child have to learn something new when she isn't ready to or why should my child have to be pressured to perform a certain way just for school "ratings?" Obviously I can teach these things to my child on our own time outside of school, just as many parents do. It's just the idea of teaching in a simpler way that caters more to the child and not the state, that seems so much more appealing.

 And for the record,

I admire teachers so much.

I know that they work all day and often times on their time off for little pay, and they have hearts of gold for our kids. They also have a level of patience to deal with the large group of kids that I'm not so sure I could have (hence why I didn't become a teacher).

While I don't know if I ever will homeschool, I do know that I have a new found appreciation for those that do. Certain things work for certain families; we don't always know everyone's situation and story. Everyone has a different reason for doing different things. I want life to be simple, basic and back to the way it was years ago. Truth be told, give me a farm on the outskirts of a city, a homeschool curriculum and a simple, cozy house and I'd say that it's a perfect situation for us (I would obviously still need the Internet though).

Now, if only I could sew and bake more things from scratch and produce a new baby every other year.

Then I just be living the dream. ;)

What are your thoughts on homeschooling?