Why do Parents Choose to Homeschool Their Kids?

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You may be asking, why do parents choose to homeschool their kids?

You may have heard of homeschooling and had your curiosity peaked. Or you wonder what the benefits could be and why people would opt out of traditional public school. You may be on the fence about homeschooling and would just like to know why other families have made the plunge.

I’ve gathered some powerful answers from parents about why they chose to homeschool and you can read them below.

So let’s dive in and see what these parents have to say . . .

“Why are you choosing to homeschool your kids?”

Cristina says: I started homeschooling because my child was learning just fine at home (colors, numbers, shapes, etc) without “professionals”. When I first heard about homeschooling, I went to the library and read tons of books about homeschooling and loved the idea of being my child’s teacher and facilitator. I also realized I was already homeschooling.
It’s now been 14 years! There were tons of times when I wanted to give up, or thought my child was not learning enough, or I was afraid that I was going to ruin my relationship with my son. I am SO glad I didn’t give up. The rewards have been amazing!

Hailey says: So we can have our own schedule or lack of schedule and sleep in! Stay up late, be in charge of our own learning! So I can decide what they learn about rather than the government deciding. So my kids don’t get bored because after they complete their work they can play with their stuff or dig into a project, because I don’t have to worry about grades and homework and stupid last min projects my kids forgot to tell me were due. Because I don’t want my kids being taught that it is ok to murder fetuses and that there are 7 genders when there are only 2, and I want them to understand freedom of speech, cursive, and the constitution!

Emily says: Mine were in public school for the first few years. Between 6 hours of school and the homework that got sent home, they just didnt have time to play and be kids during the school week.
So, in the end, it was about giving them time to be kids and learn through play. Any academic shortcomings on my part will sort out in the end. I just want my kids to be curious and know how to look for answers.

Carrie says: Out of necessity. My daughter was doing great in public school and I loved the convenience of a neighborhood school until she became too ill to attend regularly.

Tatum says: 1. The larger the group/organization, the more institutionalized and below average the experience is. (for the most part, I exempt groups where God runs the show 😉)
2. Time. The older I get the more I see my children growing up in a blink of an eye. Sending them to spend half their young life away from family is not my ideal.
3. I believe education is not a collection of collectible, testable facts but a slow development of character, a refinement of critical thinking skills, and an exposure to truth through ideas. School is not those things anymore – if it ever was.
4. We aim for true “socialization” – civility and respect for all God’s creations and people of differing ages, abilities, tastes, backgrounds. School socialization is like a chicken coop – be different and you sink to the bottom of the pecking order.
5. We have NO IDEA what the world will look like in ten or twenty years, but I have a vague sense that memorizing the state capitals isn’t going to be a skill in high demand. 😆 Rather, all we can do to prepare our kids for an unknown future is create a home environment that nurtures creativity, curiousity, innovation, civil communication with others of different ideas, and wisdom/discernment. I find these lacking in schools.
6. I believe in literature, history, and the arts as being the best way to become a better human, to gain exposure to truth and the great ideas and minds of the past and present. Math and science are great too, but to be able to identify patterns in history and human behavior, to develop empathy and humanity, to let stories and themes shape one’s character – these are the experiences that have disappeared from modern schooling thanks to increased testing and the common core pursuit of making everything the same everywhere for every student.

Rachel says: As I have pondered this question more, I realized the main reason is I like having my kids around! But, I also want to make sure my son gets to learn in the way that best fits his needs and desires.

Kara says: I’ll be starting this fall with one of my kids. He has anxiety and sensory issues and middle school has been hard for him to deal with. We’re just doing partial enrollment for now because there are electives he wants to take there and see his friends, but he’s very excited for homeschool.

Amy says: The government does not get the best hours of the best days of the best years of my children’s lives.
I once figured out that my oldest kid that went to public school and my youngest who has never been to public school had one thing different between them.
One had 49,000 extra hours with her parents while awake before 18.
It was shocking…that I had lost an entire 1/2 of my oldest daughter’s childhood to conformity.
I LOVE MY KIDS.
The government does not get to ROB our family of time. They already take % of money.
They do not get any more my time that is fleeting – with my children before they are adults.
The 3 children that I time tithed and rendered unto Ceasar are all sad. They see what I have with the younger kids and they have decided to homeschool their kids.

Melissa says: Flexibility in schooling time, which means more sleep and more play for my kids. I want the way I parent and discipline my children to be reflected in their education. I know there are a lot of great teachers out there, but there are also a lot of worn out teachers who don’t like kids and don’t have patience for different learning styles. There is no way for me to guarantee that they wouldn’t be shamed and bullied by teachers (or other kids).
More room for failure and creativity! Slower or quicker pacing for my child’s needs. Control over what is taught, instead of being taught for standardized tests.

Rebekah says: My main reason for homeschooling started with I don’t like being tied down. I like being able to get-up-and-go and do what I wanna do without being stuck with the schedule that the public school system puts on kids. Since I’ve started homeschooling, I have since become more in passionate about letting children learn in their own time. Letting them find out who they are. Having them enjoy learning, and sharing it with their siblings. Being able to teach my kids principles that the public system would ignore. A lot more than these are the reasons why I homeschool now. It gets hard and sometimes I doubt myself and the choice I’ve made, but once I sit back and reflect, or read about how much the U.S. school systems are failing children, I am reinvigorated in my decision.

I grieve because I know that there are families that would love to home school but the system has made it otherwise impossible because it is very hard for a family to be able to function on only one income, so a lot of families are put into a position where they can’t do anything but put their kids in the public school system.

Allison says: Our charter school changed math programs. It’s so much more common core and was really confusing coming from Saxon math. Also, with so much emphasis on STEM my kids that are more artistically inclined were being squashed. Kids spend so much time at school and we have found most of it is just waisted. We can get our “school work” done in 2 hours. I only have 1 at home, the rest are high schoolers.

Another Amy says: I had several incidents planting seeds of doubt in the system for years. Like most parents, I got my kids their shots, got them in kindergarten, showed up to parent-teacher conferences, and checked out. Sometimes it’s nice to have someone else to blame for things, rather than having full responsibility. 🤦‍♀️ Then a huge wake-up call… I realized I couldn’t trust strangers with my kids.

I thought about how I skimmed through school, then REALLY started learning when I was in control of my destiny and career choice in college. I fixed gaps in my knowledge, dug in deeper, tested better – because I CARED to learn.

My goal is to get my children to love learning and love reading. If they can do those two things, they’re all set.

AFTER beginning to homeschool, I mourned over the lost hours every family has in the public school system. Between bussing, lining up, assemblies, quieting children down, etc… Kids were only learning about 3 hours of being away from home 7-8 hours (depending on how far away they lived). And that 3 hours of learning could be condensed to less than one hour if it’s 1-3 children at a time.

Schooling has changed. Teachers aren’t much in control… It’s a machine for corporations and agendas. Very sad that most parents are clueless about the amazing world of customized education. All the possibilities and that they could actually ENJOY their children instead of being their chauffeur and referee.

Joshua says: When we did the calculations, it was only 1.5 to 2 hours of productive learning out of the day. The rest was time wasting procedural filler. Small student to teacher ratio and customized learning tailored to a child’s interests and needs will always win over anything the public tax-payer daycare system has to offer.

Julie says: I had terrible experiences all throughout High School. I graduated with a dislike of public education. My 2 sons went through public school. Not only did I witness first hand an agenda being taught through their History classes but they were so burned out, they ended up forfeiting their scholarships. One ended up going the trade school route. The other took a 3-yr break before heading back to college last semester. I refused to put my daughter through that. I want her to love learning and to associate her educational experience with that.

Heather says: Because I don’t like my children being subjected to peer pressure and worldly influences when they’re so young. I want them to be mature enough to have a good handle on who they are and what they believe before they have to face that. Also, I want them to learn social skills by watching mature people socialize, and being involved in all of our family interactions, as opposed to learning social “not” skills from peers at school.

Michele says: I have done a mix of public and home. There are definitely things I miss when they’re all home. I pray about each child, each year. It’s hard to send them to public school and yet some of them need something at school I can’t give. With my oldest daughter, she wasn’t learning to read until she was home without distraction and without pressure. With one of my son’s, it was all about his learning disabilities. With my youngest daughter, it was about health and readiness. So many reasons. Each kid is unique in their needs.

Wrapping it up

Well, there you have it! Can you believe how many different things these good people had to say? I always say there are as many ways to homeschool as there are families, and I would also submit that there are as many reasons why people choose to homeschool as there are families.

Suffice it to say, people who make the decision to homeschool are often extremely dedicated to their kids and to their education. What a beautiful thing!

Some helpful resources:

Hopefully, this has all helped to clarify some questions in your mind about reasons for homeschooling. I know for beginning homeschoolers there are always a TON of questions and concerns.

If you are considering homeschooling or are just beginning, here are some other articles that may be of some help to you:

And as always, if you have any questions please feel free to email me! I’m always glad to help. 🙂