Monday, June 18, 2012

Side benefits to homeschooling

One of the reasons we started this blog was Janine and I were kicking around an idea for a book.  The title was going to be "101 Reasons to Homeschool.  For several years I had collected various reasons why people should homeschool their children.

Today I pulled out the 3x5 cards for a chapter that might have been on side benefits to homeschooling.  In doing research I had found lots of cool advantages of homeschooling.  Below is a partial list.  Most of them were based on real life instances:

Children have time for charity:  One girl raised $1400 to purchase a bullet proof vest for a police dog. One student wanted to grow his hair to make a wig for a sick child.

More life style options: A family homeschooled so both the parents and children could do motocross together.  I've heard of several families which travel around by boat or RV.  Sam & Lucy Black traveled around the world in their boat for years.  One family biked across the 48 states. 

More opportunities for business:  A 13-year-old boy spent a year making a movie.  The last I heard there was a chance the movie was going to be shown on Cable TV.  A father worked with his two sons to make history games.  (Think of all the history the boys were learning while building the games!)

Children have time for service: A 12-year-old girl collected blankets for the homeless. Another young girl helped at a retirement homes. She would refill water glasses, sort records and deliver flowers. (Talk about great socialization!)

Vacations are better in off seasons: Someone once said you can see more of Disneyland in one off season day than in a week in August.  Janine and I have noticed that we often can have a museum all to ourselves in off seasons.

4 comments:

Fatcat said...

Basically, kids can have a life because they are not incarcerated all day long and tied up with homework at night.

Mom as Doctor said...

I couldn't imagine not having all the freedoms that we have as homeschoolers. I love it!

David Stelzl said...

Some of my kids are busy building businesses at home - we use this as a platform to learn from, making our learning process more like real-life. Money management, customer service, sales & marketing, and even creating new offerings. This takes learning to a whole new level - something you cannot recreate in a classroom.

Henry Cate said...

Fatcat - Yep!

Mom as Doctor - I agree. It is nice to be able to do what we want without having to ask the school for permission.

David Stelzl - That is wonderful. You are right, the real world experience your children are getting is priceless.