Homeschooling?

[japprend]

My parents decided to homeschool me and my siblings to ensure that we received a godly upbringing and a solid foundation of Christian education, which wasn't even available in the local Christian schools. When they began, homeschooling was unheard of in our state. (We were always having to explain to people why we weren't in school!)

I loved homeschool because of the flexibility of designing my own courses of study and being able to choose my favorite textbooks to learn from. Also, homeschool allowed the extra time for me to pursue my favorite subjects in more depth: mathematics and foreign lanuages.

Also, our family did quite a bit of traveling. Since we were homeschooled, we could just take the books along and enjoy the benefits of traveling "off-season." As a family, we've been able to visit all fifty states, and twelve countries. Traveling together as a family, seeing God's wonderful creation, meeting people from around the world, and enjoying different cultures are experiences that add an extra dimension to our understanding of the world we live in.

All that said, as a tutor I've seen instances of the cases where homeschooling is not the best option. I live in Pennsylvania, where there are strict laws governing homeschooling. A lot of people complain about them, but we've always seen the law as a preventative measure to keep homeschoolers from receiving a bad name from the abuses that can definitely occur. In any state when parents are disorganized it can show up in the children's education. However, the beauty of homeschooling is that students, as they progress into their high school years, do learn to organize their own time schedules and structure their own learning, - something they eventually have to learn as adults in college. If a student WANTS to learn, he will, regardless of whether or not his parent(s) are able to stay organized.