Many teachers are opting to leave their careers to homeschool their own children. But why?
When it comes to deciding how to educate their children, more and more teachers are choosing to homeschool them. While there are many reasons why teachers might choose this option, the most common ones are dissatisfaction with the public school system and a desire to have more control over their child’s education. In addition, many homeschooling parents find that it allows for a closer bond between parent and child, as well as more opportunities for creativity and hands-on learning.
If you’re considering homeschooling your child, read on to see why teachers choose this route.
They Can Give a 1-on-1 Education
Public school systems typically have roughly 30 students per class. This means that the teacher is constantly pulled in different directions and trying to divide her attention between her students. This can leave some students behind if the teacher has to move on before each student understands the concept, in order to stay on track with the curriculum.
By homeschooling their children, they can give them that extra hand they need with certain subjects or concepts.
They can keep track of what their child excels in and what they struggle with. Nobody has the same strengths and weaknesses, and that’s okay! They are able to take more time on the things their child is having trouble with. This helps them learn not to give up when they don’t know something right away.
They Can Go at Their Child’s Pace
Some subjects will come naturally to kids, and they master them in only a few weeks. Maybe they read at a high school level at eight years old, or they memorized the times tables in two weeks. Now, they can spend that extra time on something they actually struggle with or enjoy doing. Their education can actually teach them, rather than stressing them out over things that public schools would simply brush over or have to move on from before the topic is learned.
It is not uncommon with homeschooled children to be “ahead” in 1 subject, and “behind” or “on track” with other subjects. Thinking back to when I was in 4th grade, I was able to teach my high school age brother how to diagram sentences and other language arts concepts because I was advanced in that subject because it came naturally to me. I needed extra time and attention spent on higher math and science.
That’s the beauty of homeschooling. You can spend as much or as little time on a topic as needed.
They Can Teach with Their Child’s Learning Style
Public schools try their best to give every kid a chance, but they just don’t have the same amount of time and understanding of each child’s individual needs that homeschooling parents do. Public schools don’t have the time or money to figure out every child’s particular learning style the way that homeschooling parents do.
Parents know their children best and have the drive to do their best job teaching their children. Most public schools are set up to teach children using auditory and read/write learning styles. This often leaves kinesthetic learners behind. Many kids need to be hands-on and do something themselves before they gain understanding.
They Don’t Have to Deal with Government Control
A mass exodus of teachers increased after the COVID pandemic. With the government mandating children to wear masks all day, quarantine after exposure, and frequently take COVID tests, many teachers felt it was easier and more productive to teach their children from home. My friend’s daughter was exposed to COVID 3 times during her first month of school and was forced to miss several days and do her work from home.
There are also other ways the government has control over the public school system in ways that homeschooling parents do not have to worry about. Standardized testing, how many hours a child is in school, and which topics are taught are all ways the government has control over children and families. Once teachers leave the public school system to teach their children at home, they don’t have to worry about these issues.
They Can Teach Life Skills
Public schools teach many topics – geometry, physics, algebra, chemistry, American History – but they not teach many life skills.
Here are some life skills that homeschooling can focus on:
- Budgeting
- Meal planning
- Grocery shopping
- Financial planning
- Opening a savings account
- Cooking
- Travel planning
- Time management
- Critical thinking
- Changing oil and tires in a car
- Teamwork
- Cooperation
- Cleaning
- Laundry
Many children enter the “real world” without knowledge on how to manage their money or maintain their home. By homeschooling, education can be tailored in so many ways. Children can receive a completely customizable education by teaching at home. These topics can be thoroughly discussed and mastered while at home.
They Can Spend Time with Their Own Kids
Many teachers who have opted to leave the public school system have expressed that they felt that they were getting the worst of their children when they arrived home from school. Between homework, exhaustion, dinner, chores, and extra curricular activities, there simply wasn’t enough time or energy to accomplish everything.
Parents were noticing that their children were coming home from school exhausted and grumpy. The parents were spending most of the evening “fighting” with their children about upcoming school projects, book reports, and homework assignments that needed finished.
Once they made the switch to homeschooling, they realized that they were able to get the best part of each other. Breakfast together, no rushing out of the house, finishing “school” by lunchtime, plenty of time in the afternoon for passions and hobbies, time to finish chores, and no fighting in the evening to finish homework because as your child’s educator, you can decide that there is no homework!
They Know Where the Public School System is Lacking
Teachers know firsthand where the public school system is lacking. School safety issues, lack of government funding, parent-teacher conflicts, underpaying teachers, common core confusion, bullying, peer pressure, too many students per classroom, the focus on standardized testing, the pressure to move ahead before all kids understand a concept, and so much more.
Teachers know what their children will face if they enter the public school system, and many are opting to teach their children themselves. After all, they have degrees in childhood education, which leads me to my next point.
They Know How to Teach Already
Teachers have degrees in childhood education, so they already know to how to teach children difficult topics. Teaching a child to read, for example, is difficult. When I was starting to teach my child at home, I struggled with where to start. Luckily, I have a friend who is a teacher and I was able to talk to her about the best way to start. This is where I learned that it is much more important for children to know what sounds the letters make than knowing what the name of the letter is.
Teachers who choose to homeschool their children do not have as much self-doubt as other homeschool parents because they have the training for how to do it.
They Have Much More Flexibility in Their Schedules
Teachers work many more hours than school hours. They have lessons to plan, papers to grade, and so much more. By homeschooling, they are able to create their own schedule. This will look different for every family, but many opt for year-round schooling in order to have shorter school days. Some opt to do school in the evenings or on the weekends. Homeschooling also lets you take schooling on the road! (travel homeschooling / roadschooling)
They Are Tired of Wasting Time
Public schools have to have certain rules and regulations in place to keep track of each student and make sure they’re getting to where they’re supposed to be on time. Unfortunately, this wastes a lot of time for students. They have to wait for buses and spend nearly an hour every day just moving from classroom to classroom. Substitute teachers try their best, but they don’t have the same teaching background or context of what the kids are learning, so those days are often filled with just busy work for the kids.
In the end, students will spend hours of their school day doing nothing. Homeschooling is so much more streamlined. When your child finishes an assignment, they can move on to the next one, or just enjoy that extra time.
This teaches the valuable lesson that efficiency is rewarded with more leisure, not just sitting around bored.
They Want Control Over What Their Child Learns
Just like any parent, teachers want their children to learn what they need to know and what sits right with them as parents. For many parents, this means that certain topics (CRT, sex education, gender identity, etc.) pushed at public schools are able to be avoided at home. In contrast, many topics (religion, life skills, etc.) that are avoided at public schools are able to be taught at home.
Parents have the right to spend that time with their kids and teach them what they feel is necessary.
They Are Tired of Standardized Testing
Grading, grading, and more grading gets overwhelming and exhausting to nearly every teacher at times. What’s worse is that the government requires students to take standardized test’s to measure the effectiveness of the teacher and knowledge of the student. All students are measured by the same measuring stick and there is a score threshold that students must meet in order to move on from their grade.
Never mind if that student didn’t get enough sleep the night before the test, if they are a terrible test taker, or if they excel in 1 subject but need extra help in another subject.
Teachers know this and want to prevent their children from experiencing the feelings of failure from a bad test score.
They Want to Teach Their Children HOW to Think
Public schools tend to teach children WHAT to think. Homeschool parents tend to teach their children HOW to think. There is a huge difference. Teachers are able to teach their children to give them that individuality and out-of-the-box, independent, critical thinking. The ability to make their own decisions and form their own opinions is vital for children as they become adults in the real world.
Homeschooling has so many opportunities to teach those skills; opportunities that public schools just don’t.
Independent learning is also an option. Children don’t always need an adult over their shoulder. Giving them space can let them learn how to figure out problems on their own, and work independently. Knowing how to problem solve independently can be a huge boost later on in life when they may not have access to the same support.
They Can Create a Lifetime Love of Learning
Children are natural curious and do not require 7 hours of formal education daily to gain a thorough education. In fact, studies show that children’s curiousity is often squelched at the start of formal education.
Homeschool parents can foster a lifetime love of learning by making learning fun – visiting zoos, museums, natural landmarks, historical sites, libraries, and by doing hands-on activities. You also don’t need to limit learning experiences to “school hours” which tends to be the mindset of children in the public school system. In homeschool, everything can be a learning opportunity. You can play books on tape in the car, or give a quick lesson on budgeting at the grocery store.
You can even take your student to shadow professionals or tour business facilities they may be interested in giving them a boost into their career.
One amazing opportunity you get with homeschooling is the chance to learn as a family. You can do activities with your whole family, or give each child an age-appropriate activity that fits the same subject. For example, maybe you’re all studying the same event in history, and depending on the child’s age, they each get a different level of difficulty for a report on that subject.
Look into outside world resources that offer learning opportunities and chances to socialize. Many libraries and museums will offer programs to help out and let your children learn from people with lots of different educational backgrounds.
Conclusion
So, why do public school teachers choose to homeschool their own children? The answer is simple. They want more control over the curriculum, they want to teach their children how to think for themselves and make good decisions, they want to give them a well-rounded education that includes life skills, and they want to be able to spend time with them during the day. They know where the public school system is lacking. In short, they are tired of wasting valuable time and energy on things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. If you’re considering homeschooling your child, we hope this article has been helpful. Thank you for reading!