The perks of being homeschooled

"Do you do school in your pajamas?"

"When you graduated, did you have a ceremony or something?"

"Did you have any issues getting into college?"

These are just some of the questions that I heard growing up in a homeschooled family, and the answers are no, yes, and no...! I didn't do school in my pajamas, although every once in a while my mom would declare it an official pajama day. When I graduated, I did have a ceremony, but it was just for me and at my family's church! And lastly, I didn't have any issues getting into college!

I couldn't be more thankful that my parents chose to homeschool me and my siblings, all four of which are still being homeschooled to this day. There are so many reasons why I'm thankful, and I wanted to take the time to share them with you guys! Recently I've been talking to my friends a lot more about homeschooling and why, Lord willing, I will homeschool my kids. And while there are some PHENOMENAL schools out there and teachers that work their butts off for their students, there are so many benefits to homeschooling when it's done well!

So here are some of the perks of being a homeschooler (from my perspective)!

1. You get to learn at your own pace! During 2020, when the world was in lockdown and there was quite literally nothing to do outside of the house, I decided to do extra school. I ended up graduating a semester early and taking six months of school off before starting college. I loved that, especially in high school, I got to learn at my own pace! If I wanted to get ahead so I could go and hang out with friends, I could do that! If I wanted to get an assignment done early and move onto the next thing, I didn't have to wait for anyone else, I just kept going. And I got to take my time to read and reread things if I needed to, instead of having hard deadlines for things. 

2. You get to take breaks when it's convenient for your family. Being in a military family, my dad was gone a lot. But when he was home, it was nice to be able to do things as a family, so my mom would say, "Hey guys, we're going to do two weeks of school this week so we can go on a trip when dad gets home," and then we would. Or if we wanted to take a trip to go and see our grandparents in the middle of the school year, we could just do it. It was so convenient and allowed us to have so much flexibility when it came to both traveling and moving.

3. You get to learn about things you're passionate about! This was one of my favorite parts!!! I am a big science, history, and literature person! So growing up, my mom would try and cater things that I was learning to things that I was interested in. If I wanted to learn about Paris for one week, we'd do a geography and history study on France. If I wanted to skip chemistry and go right to anatomy, I could do that - and I did!! I took ballroom dance as an elective, Shakespeare as an elective, and a gym class with my friends, all because there were other homeschooled kids (and their amazing moms) who had similar passions and interests as I did. 

4. You can keep the Bible at the center. There are so many Bible-based curriculums that you can find nowadays - everything from math, to science, to literature, to history... you can get it all from a biblical perspective. When I was taking Biology, I didn't just learn about general science but also about Charles Darwin and Evolution and how we as Christians can use creation science to combat evolutionary theories. I got to take an apologetics class in high school and it counted as an elective... 

5. It can instill closer family relationships! It comes as no surprise to most people that I am extremely close with my family. I chalk most of that up to two things, one, I have incredible parents who always made family time a priority. And secondly, we did EVERYTHING together since we all did school at home. When it was lunch time my mom would read us a history lesson or a bible story; when we had free time or "gym time" us kids would play outside together, building those sibling bonds and memories!

And while there are so many other perks and blessings to being homeschooled, it really is such an investment not just on your kids education but also in their relationship with the Lord. Parent-teachers have the ability to pour the foundation of their kids beliefs, thought processes, and the way that they see the world. 

I couldn't be more thankful that I was homeschooled, that my mom made the incredible sacrifice to stay home and teach us kids. It has such a huge impact on who I am today and the way that I see the world.