Ah yes! Tis the season of lists! Wish lists, to-do lists, shopping lists, baking lists . . . How about homeschool list? Here is a list created by a homeschool student. I don’t know what he would like for Christmas, but here is what he LOVES about homeschool!
What I Love about Homeschool by Mihalis (age 10)
- We can travel the world and learn about different places
- I can learn about what I am interested in and at my own pace
- I do not get bossed around by people like I did at school
- We can have fun AND learn
- I can learn on the laptop, iPad and other electronic devices
- We can help other people (our homeschooling schedule includes voluntary and community work)
- I can listen to music while I am learning or anything else that relaxes me as long as I am doing my work too
- Homeschooling does not have to be done at “home”- we do ‘school’ at the park, in the city, on the beach, on the train, plane, car, sail boat, camping, with friends, in the back yard, and occasionally at home J
- Home schooling does not mean sitting at a desk for six hours a day. It can be wrapped in a warm cozy blanket on the sofa with hot chocolate, lying on my bed, on the rug on my bedroom floor, at the dining table, and occasionally at the desk…
- Home schooling allows me to practice my faith without insulting or hurting anyone
- I can watch educational videos and study a particular topic for hours if I am enjoying it – we don’t have a strict schedule
- It can fit in with my family’s work and other obligations – it does not mean Monday to Friday 9:00 – 4:00pm each day
- I do not like math but I get to play math games on the laptop and learn math that way and actually I now enjoy math!
- I can be with my family a lot more than ever before
- I get to tap in to the knowledge and experience of our friends and family (last year a family friend coached me in chess and I taught my 5 year old brother too. This year we are living at a college campus where my dad is studying! So one student is teaching me piano and another student is teaching me cartooning and drawing and I am teaching myself recorder).
- I do not get bullied anymore
- I do not waste all my spare time doing extra homework anymore but I can enjoy the time with my family doing sports, cooking together, playing games, watching movies
- I feel closer to my mum and dad because we spend a lot more time together doing stuff together and I feel part of what is going on
- We get to go to places when everyone is at school so it’s quieter, no queues, sometimes cheaper too when we go off season (off peak).
- No one tells me I am dumb, or average, or have learning difficulties, or that I am weak in subjects. My mum says I have so many strengths and talents and we can’t all be excellent at everything – that’s just not possible.
- I get to have sleepovers and visit friends and have friends over for sleepovers at my house because we don’t have a strict bed time because…ermmmm we don’t have to wake up for the school bus!
- I get to learn how to do other stuff in my home like cook, bake, clean and tidy and use cleaning chemicals safely, occupy my baby sister when she is upset, budget, make and sell stuff to earn pocket money, and all sorts of stuff. Mum and dad say we work as a team to keep our home clean and tidy and for all of us to have more free time together. They also say it prepares me for life when I am all grown up.