My favorite things about homeschooling.

Just for fun, and to give me a chance to reflect, I thought I would post some of my favorite things about homeschooling.  These are in no particular order.  I just typed them as they came to me.

• First, I would have to say flexibility.  I am one of those people who absolutely HATE having a schedule.  I truly resent having to always be someplace.  I like being able to be spontaneous, or not, as the case may be.  If my life gets too busy and over scheduled, I get grumpy.

• Next is one my husband says I should never tell people.  Not having to get up early.  I'm not really a morning person.  I enjoy staying up later at night when the house is quite and all is calm.  It gives me some much needed mommy time.  If I had to get up at the crack of dawn every day, I would have to go to bed early and thereby miss that wonderful time of day.  Its also nice for my children since Haley isn't much of a morning person either.   Homeschooling allows my children the opportunity to enjoy spending time with daddy in the evenings.  My hubby doesn't get home until late most days and he would just about miss the kids entirely if they had to go to bed early like most children.

• I just have to add in fun.  Although I really didn't much care for school when I was there, I seriously enjoy it now.  Learning alongside your children is a huge bonus for me.  All those subjects that I thought were awful in school are now completely fascinating.  I get so excited over new curriculum and teaching ideas.  Getting a box of new curriculum feels like Christmas  morning to me.

• Another huge bonus for me is the sheer joy you feel when you know that you successfully taught something to your child, when you overcome some huge hurdle in their learning.  I cannot even begin to share how proud I am of my children for the things they have accomplished in their learning.  Its gives me so much happiness to share the wonder of learning with them each and every day.  

• The closeness and special relationships I am able to have with my children since we're together so much. There is no doubt in my mind that I would not know them and enjoy them as much if we were apart all day, every day.

• A huge bonus is being able to customize the lessons and methods of teaching to best fit your child.  You get to find out what works best and use it.  Homeschooling is like private tutoring at its very best. We can study anything and everything that we want when we want. 

• My children are able to grow up protected from peer pressure, sheltered from some of the harsh realities of school.  I'm personally glad that my kids are missing out on all of the drama.  Kids can be cruel, and I see no harm in skipping that part for now.  Let them figure out who they are and what they like without someone else telling them what they should or shouldn't do, wear, or be.  

• Lastly, I would have to say freedom.  The freedom to control the curriculum.  Freedom to include bible study in our learning.  Freedom to study music, art, Spanish, and any other extra curricular activity we choose.  Freedom to go outside and study nature and our great big world in all its glory.  Freedom to go on vacation whenever it suits us, rather than when there's a school break.  

Making this list of favorites was fun for me to think about all of the wonderful benefits.  Trust me when I say that there are days when that yellow school bus looks really good.  But, I know that homeschooling is the right choice for our family.  What are some of  your favorite things about homeschooling?