Growing up, this was a huge, important part of our School routine. There was so much freedom and flexibility, that I honestly am so excited to homeschool my kids and set our own schedule.
If someone needed a doctor appt, but the only openings were doing school hours, we just shifted our school time to afterwards. Lots of activities are way less crowded if you go during school hours. If you have a special field trip or event, planning it during normal school hours and making up for it later was a fabulous way to get in activities and beat the crowds.
There is just this whole new level of flexibility that opens up a world of possibilities. Another thing with this is starting and ending dates with school. My mom would get so stressed out every year trying to have everything ready for school by September first, until my Dad, (our principal. 😀 ) stepped in and told her that we would start on October 1st. It gave us another month to enjoy the last bit of summer since it comes late for us northerners. We made up for it by doing school through the summer some years, and/or by working later in the spring.
There is also the realization that homeschooling really freed us up to have more time for extracurricular activities, which is where I found the time to pursue my creative passions and start running a small business from the young age of 12. We had a set amount of school work that we had to accomplish each day. If it took us 5 hours, or 2, once we finished, we finished. We didn’t have hours upon hours where we had to sit in lectures to fulfill time constraints. It was get the work done and you’re done. LOL!
I want to be able to have that freedom with my kids. I am excited to do life as well as school with them. I am excited to find our perfect normal, and to discover what freedom in homeschooling will look like for me and my journey.
What do you think?
By God’s Grace,
Victoria
This is one of my favourite aspects of homeschooling, the freedom to order our days however we need to 😀
I’ve really been enjoying these posts on homeschooling you’ve been doing — it has helped me to think more deeply about certain aspects of it that I have taken for granted.
We homeschooled both girls all through high school. They would not have it any other way
Totally agree! This is one of the reasons my family homeschooled, though not the original reason…I guess it was more of a bonus;) I too, loved how we could incorporate our passions into our school, writing for me. Homeschool is the best!
And beating the crowd is also a plus!
This is a great post as are all your homeschool posts. I went to public school. You are right about having to take subjects you do not need or want just to fill up a day’s schedule. Homeschool is the best thing for any child.
Marilyn