Very true. I think part of it is because most people still can’t imagine doing it themselves, so think we must be really upset with something. And some of us do tend to pose our reasonings against failures in schools. A lot of people are homeschooling after problems in their schools, so it is only natural that this would enter into their discourse about why they have chosen homeschooling.

But it is difficult to pin any reason on all of us, and the more accepted homeschooling becomes, the more of us there will be who do it for reasons that aren’t specifically a rejection of anything.

I’ve gotten to the point where I won’t list “religious reasons” as part of why I homeschool. While there are certain religious issues in the schools that concern me, and while I like being able to teach my kids what I believe, and while I’m even pretty sure the schools would be trying to counteract what I’m teaching, that’s not why I originally chose to homeschool. I’m tired of being lumped (by those who don’t know what they’re talking about) with those who pulled their children specifically because they disagreed with what the public schools are teaching about religion; and I’m particularly tired of having people say things like, “Well, since you are a conservative Christian, you OBVIOUSLY homeschool primarily for religious reasons.”

In fact, I began homeschooling because even our excellent local church-based preschool could not provide my daughter with what she needed. At 3 1/2, my daughter had already mastered all but two of the skills they were teaching in kindergarten (and this was a top-tier preschool). I decided she was better off staying home and letting me teach her – and the longer she is at home, the further ahead she gets. At just-turned-12, she is now taking Algebra 1 and biology, and is flying through them with no difficulty at all. How can I sentence a chidl like this to sit through two years of middle-school classes before her peers catch up with her?

I also homeschool because my younger daughter is a struggling reader. She is a great learner, and is very bright, but reading is tough for her. I’m not willing to let the schools put out her enthusiasm for learning; at home, I can read aloud to her and she can keep learning while she grows into a good reader.

Not only that, I homeschool for social reasons, because I think homeschooled kids are better socialized. I homeschool because I think kids need time to be kids, and I don’t see the kids who go to school getting that time. I homeschool because I genuinely LIKE my kids, and because it allows my daughters to swim competitively, and because we can learn together as a family, and for countless other reasons.

So I refuse to allow someone else to discount all those other reasons, just because I happen to be a Christian, or just because I’ve said I homeschool for “religious reasons.” The primary reasons I homeschool would be there even if the religious ones were non-existent.

Oh, and I agree 100% that we should not allow the state to monitor because there is only a possibility of wrongdoing. I feel differently if wrongdoing has already been established (if, for example, a family has a pattern of truancy and suddenly begins saying they are “homeschooling”; or if a family has a history of substantiated child abuse).

Great post (as always)!

Which leads me to Zayna’s comment: “I am not trying to nor am I even interested in, competing with the school system. I’m just trying to do what’s best for my daughter.” That hits the nail on the head. So often homeschooling is seen as a defacto indictment of the local school, public or private, and people immediately go into defensive mode. And yet, at least in our family, homeschooling has always been our “default” mode and has very little to do with the quality of any particular school.

And quite true, Susan.

As a Canadian homeschooler, particularly in Ontario…

I am not even sure what the above statement means.

All I do know is that we are one of the few provinces in Canada, thanks mostly to the efforts of the OFTP (a secular organization), who do not have to “justify” our decision to homeschool with mandatory testing, submissions of lesson plans or routine check-ups by our local school boards.

I feel very fortunate in that because I am not trying to nor am I even interested in, competing with the school system. I’m just trying to do what’s best for my daughter.

Appreciate your analysis and how you cut to the chase.