Over the years, you’ve been hearing the buzz about homeschooling and how it’s growing in popularity. You even know some people who homeschool and are intrigued by it. Lately, you’ve been playing around with the idea of dipping your toe in with preschool homeschool, but you’re still not sure if you should take the leap.
While I can’t tell you what to do, I can tell you some of the main reasons families all over the world choose to homeschool for preschool (and beyond).
Hopefully, their reasons will help you to gain some clarity about whether homeschool would be the best fit for your family.
100% Customizable Education
Now, this might be an unpopular opinion: Preschools these days are too focused on education.
What do I mean? Back when I was in preschool, we had lots of playtime. Lots of story time. We got to learn through playing and exploring.
Creativity was highly encouraged.
We learned, but it wasn’t forced and there wasn’t a ton of pressure.
However, these days, it seems like schools expect you to arrive at kindergarten already knowing the things that my generation learned IN kindergarten.
Not only do they have to know shapes and colors – it seems they also need to know how to count, write, read, rhyme, and have a pretty high level of self-sufficiency.
I don’t know about you, but I think that expecting every 4 or 5-year-old to be able to keep up with those expectations (especially when you have a room of 15-30 of them) is a lot.
Those expectations can be managed when you choose to go the preschool homeschool route.
You can, of course, work on those skills and concepts, but if you find that your child is struggling with something (or ready to move on to the next thing), you don’t have to just stay the course – you can switch things up.
Check out these tips and tricks for teaching colors to your preschooler.
Your preschooler will love these homeschool activities to help them learn while having fun too.
Having that level of customization can make a world of a difference to your child’s education.
More Focus on Skills
Speaking of customizing your child’s education, I think one big benefit is that you can focus on skills (rather than just cramming a bunch of facts in their heads).
Do you know someone who is super smart, but is extremely lacking with certain key skills?
Knowledge (though definitely important) isn’t the only thing kids (or humans) need to learn.
They also need to learn skills. Skills like gardening, preparing simple meals, taking care of pets, helping out around the house, understanding and managing money, managing time, having conversations, and so much more!
These are all things you can spend time working on with your child. Of course, these aren’t things that are limited to just homeschoolers. But, you have to admit that when your child is home all day, you have more time to fit it in.
Higher Quality Socialization
Let’s be honest – socialization in school isn’t always picture perfect. There are too many rules and limits.
Actual playtime may be limited to 10-minute chunks throughout the day. The rest of the time is spent following the curriculum that has been set to ensure that all of the lessons are completed.
When you homeschool, you’re able to arrange social activities that are a bit less formal (not to mention longer). You can set up (or join in on playdates), join organizations like MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) that get together on a regular basis for fun events, or even just make new friends at places like the library, the park, or the playground.
As often as I hear people say that homeschoolers don’t get to socialize, we sure do have seemingly endless opportunities to do so!
More 1-on-1 Attention
I think teachers are doing an important job. One that not many people choose to do – especially considering how shockingly little they’re paid.
But, as amazing as a teacher may be, and as much as he or she may want to give every single child some undivided attention, there’s only so much 1-on-1 time that can be offered when a class has 15-30 students.
If you worry about your child falling through the proverbial cracks, consider the fact that even if you have several children at home, the class size will still be MUCH smaller than the standard preschool classroom.
The exceptions, of course, being if your last name is Duggar or you have the funds to pay for a really expensive preschool that boasts tiny class sizes.
Taking the preschool homeschool path means that your child will have more one-on-one time with the teacher – you. Which brings me to my 5th (and final) reason homeschooling your preschooler might be a great idea:
You Get More Time with Your Child
While I don’t think that sending your child to preschool means you DON’T want to spend lots of time with your child (that would be highly assumptive and judgmental), I do think that some of us crave that extra time a bit more than others.
If you hated going back to work after your maternity leave was over, cried the entire car ride back to the office after dropping your child off at daycare, and truly never got over the feeling that you’d rather be at home with your kids – homeschooling may just be a good fit for your family.
At the end of the day, only you can know what is best for your child. Block out all the outside voices. Push down all of the doubts and fears that tend to crop up when you’re making big decisions.
Focus only on one question : “What would be the best educational environment for my child?” Then, once you have your answer, you can start taking the next steps.
I hope that this helps you, in some way, to gain some clarity about the path you should take.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below. I will answer to the best of my ability or direct you to a more helpful resource.
If you know someone who might be struggling with this exact same question, please share this article with them.
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