Why We Decided to Homeschool - Cristina's story

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A sweet friend of mine, Cristina Granados, volunteered to share with us her story of why she decided to homeschool.

I think it’s so helpful to read about people’s reasons for homeschooling as it helps us define our own “why”.

I hope you enjoy her story!

Why we decided to homeschool – Cristina’s story

I am Cristina Granados. I am from Chile so my native language is Spanish. I have been homeschooling in Utah for about 14 years. I started when my oldest was a preschooler.

Like all mothers, when my son was born, my desire was to give him the best of everything (food, shelter, love, and education). So with that, I started to teach him everything from breastfeeding to walking. I taught him how to speak and read in Spanish, I taught him basic shapes, colors, letters, and more.

When he turned 3 years old, I wanted him to go to preschool. I made a few phone calls and most pre-schools didn’t accept children until they were 4 years old. I also found out that pre-schools were expensive.

I talked to my husband about what I had found out about preschools and he told me to just homeschool him until he was ready to go to kindergarten. This was the first time that I had heard the word homeschool. It intrigued me and I started researching homeschooling. I realized that I had already been homeschooling my son since birth and that he was doing just fine!

I fell in love with the idea and decided that I was going to homeschool my son. I was so excited that I told friends, neighbors, and family that I was considering homeschooling. I was expecting them to support me or to ask me questions if they didn’t know about homeschool.

Instead, I was told not to homeschool. I was told school was going to be good for my son. I was told not to homeschool because homeschoolers were dumb. I was told that my son needed to learn responsibility by getting up in the morning to go to school and by having homework every night. I was told that the teachers in schools were professionals and knew how to teach him.

I even had a neighbor who brought to my house an application form to a new FREE pre-school that was going to open up at our local elementary school after I told her I was considering homeschooling. I thanked her and told her I was going to think about it.

Now, I start doubting myself. All my research on homeschooling was telling me that my child was going to be responsible and that I was the best teacher he could have.

I mentioned this to my husband and he supported me by saying that we were the ones who knew what was best for our son… not the neighbors… not our relatives. So we moved forward. We were the only homeschoolers among our friends, neighbors, and family for many years.

About a year into our homeschool, I went to the Orem library and I heard a lady who was talking to a librarian and she mentioned to her that she homeschooled her kids. I was so excited to finally meet another homeschooler. I approached her and told her that we homeschooled, too, but that we hadn’t met other homeschoolers before. I asked if she knew of a support group I could join so I can be on the-know about activities and events for homeschoolers. She was happy to share with me and I was finally connected with homeschoolers!

Since then I have made it a priority to create fun and engaging learning opportunities for other children with similar interests to come and join my own. Some of these activities have included sports clubs, Pokemon club, park days, Merit Badge POW Wows, Spanish Immersion classes, PE classes, science classes, and many other small home-school co-ops.

When my oldest son entered the high school years, I invested a great deal of my spare time and efforts researching what it takes to home-school high school, college admissions requirements for home-schoolers, scholarship opportunities, and much more. He was able to start as a full-time student at UVU at the age of 16 and started his own business.

I love sharing with others everything that I have learned through the years about teaching children at home PreK-12. I believe homeschooling allows children the opportunity to find their passions and to have the time to develop their talents and interests without the stress of hectic schedules.

Now, after 14 years, I can tell you that homeschoolers ARE responsible and they are NOT dumb! I AM the best teacher my sons can have. YOU ARE the best teachers and mentors your children can have. You know them better than any professional out there. You are QUALIFIED to teach YOUR children!

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Thank you, Cristina, for sharing your story!