Should I Homeschool My Child? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself

If you’re wondering whether you should homeschool your child or not, read this now!

Because homeschooling is on the rise (and will be for the foreseeable future), we realize more parents than ever before may be asking themselves the question, “Should I homeschool my child?”

Best first, let us say: Homeschooling is not for everyone.

We did NOT write this article to try to persuade you to homeschool.

At The Reluctant Homeschool Mama, we believe that the best type of schooling for your child is a decision that YOU are uniquely qualified to make!

Please keep reading to check out our best tips to help you answer this big question!

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Reasons Why You May Be Considering Homeschool

There are many reasons why you might consider homeschooling your child.

According to Calvert Education, here are the top five most common reasons that parents give for wanting to homeschool their kids:

To get away from a negative school environment
Opportunities to receive a higher-quality education
To improve social interactions, or avoid negative ones
Specific support for a special needs or learning disabled child
An easier way to educate children during a move to another state or country

Of course, there are more reasons that you might want to homeschool.

Some of these other reasons we’ve heard are:

To avoid state-mandated standardized testing, which often results in “teaching to a test” or higher level of stress and anxiety
The ability to educate children from a more religious framework
To avoid exposure to illness and disease
The opportunity to foster a specific skill or talent
To keep their children safe from school violence

Do any of these resonate with you? Let us know in the comments below!

Should I Homeschool My Child?

Again, we never want to insinuate that homeschooling is the best schooling option for every child.

We also don’t believe that kids who go to public or private schools are somehow going to be worse off than homeschooled kids.

Most importantly, we believe that your schooling choice does NOT determine whether you’re a good parent or whether or not you’ll have a close relationship with your child.

We’re only here to provide a framework to help you make the decision!

10 Questions to Help You Decide Whether You Should Homeschool Your Child

Here is our list of the top ten questions to consider as you try to answer the question: “Should I homeschool my child?”

We encourage you to carefully consider each one.

Don’t skim through them quickly. Instead, let each question marinate in your mind.

You may even want to jot down your answers as you go.

1.Why do I want to homeschool in the first place? Who or what is influencing my thoughts?

2. In my mind, what are the major pros of homeschooling?

3. What do I see as the major cons of homeschooling?

4. What are my goals for my child’s education?

5. Is there a homeschool community in my area? If so, am I willing to reach out and get connected?

6. What opportunities will my child have to socialize if I choose to homeschool?

7. Will I have support from my spouse, extended family, and friends? If not, am I okay with that?

8. Will I be able to dedicate the time needed to properly homeschool my child?

9. How will homeschooling impact our family finances?

10. Has my child ever asked to be homeschooled? If yes, what were their reasons?

Tips for making your homeschooling decision

Making the decision to homeschool is a big deal.

As you go through our list of “Should I homeschool my child?” questions, you may find that you’ll need to do a bit of research to find some of the answers.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that you aren’t trying to answer the question, “Is homeschooling a good idea?”

Instead, you are seeking to answer the question, “Is homeschooling a good idea FOR ME?”

A few more things that can help you with the decision to homeschool your kids are:

Get some advice from outside counsel. You may consider talking with homeschool moms you know and respect in your community. Or you may speak with public school teachers in your area and get their opinion on whether homeschooling is right for you (you might be surprised!).
Trust your gut. There are some decisions that may not have a clear-cut answer. If this is the case for you, recognize that if you do decide to homeschool your kids and it doesn’t work out, this decision can be reversed if needed!
Try the Freudian flip. This may seem simplistic, but it really helps with understanding what your gut may be telling you. Assign a yes and a no to each side of a coin. Then flip the coin. Do you feel relief with the result? Or do you wish you could flip the coin again and get a different result? This isn’t meant to be the exercise for determining whether or not you should homeschool your child. It’s just meant to help you discern what your gut is telling you.
If you are religious, consider your “Should I homeschool my child?” in prayer.

How we made our decision to homeschool

When our oldest son was in kindergarten, he tested into the gifted and talented program. We were quickly told that this would not begin for him until third grade. Until that time, he’d be given “extra worksheets” to help him stay occupied and “learn more.”

What?

While I’m not a child psychologist, I could easily see those extra worksheets would NOT help my son to enjoy school. Instead, he started to resent that he had more work to do than the other kids in his class.

Additionally, he often got frustrated that his class had to practice lining up multiple times in a row while maintaining complete silence when all he wanted to do was read his book about the Titanic.

While the lack of funding for the gifted and talented program was one thing, it was clear that the rigidity of public school was frustrating my child’s opportunities for real learning and growth.

So, we started to consider homeschooling. I really wanted to make an informed decision, so I went to the library.

I read several books about homeschooling, including:

So You’re Thinking About Homeschooling? by Lisa Whelchel
The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp

(And I highly recommend ALL of these, by the way!)

Next, I talked with two of my friends who’d been homeschooling for a few years.

I distinctly remember toting my aqua notebook into their homes, sitting down in their living rooms, and asking them my myriad of questions, one of which was, “When do you find time to grocery shop?”

They each gave me some different resources and shared their hearts with me. I was truly thankful, but still undecided.

Then I realized that the real test to determine whether I should homeschool my child would be discussing it with a few of my friends who were public school teachers.

I felt some real trepidation in asking these women, who had actual teaching degrees, whether they thought homeschooling would be a good idea for me and my son.

To say that I was shocked to hear their resounding YES would be a huge understatement.

One of my teacher friends cited the stress and anxiety associated with the state-mandated standardized testing, as well as her frustration with the need to “teach to the test” all year long.

Another teacher friend said that because I had such an eager learner on my hands, we’d be in good shape.

And yet another one told me that if she could afford to stop working, she’d pull her own kids out of elementary school and homeschool them herself!

With that feedback, I felt reassured and ready to take the plunge!

Ten years later, I can say without a doubt that making the decision to homeschool was the right choice for our family.

Final thoughts to answer the question, “Should I homeschool my child?”

As we’ve said before, the decision to homeschool your child is completely and uniquely yours.

We hope these 10 “Should I homeschool my child?” questions will be a big help and give you some clear insight into your homeschool decision.

If you do decide to homeschool, please consider joining our Free Resource Library here at The Reluctant Homeschool Mama! It’s full of over 100 printables to help you organize and enjoy your homeschool!

Which of these questions about whether or not you should homeschool your child resonated with you?

Should I Homeschool My Child? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself

Hi there! I’m so glad you’re here! I’m Jen, a former reluctant homeschool mom who is ready to help you actually enjoy homeschooling too. Read more here…