Ever imagine that you want to quit homeschooling and throw enroll your kids in school?

The thought has occurred to me.

Re-evaluating Why We Homeschool

When my eldest was 11, she started expressing that she wanted to attend public school.

She struggled in math. I worried about her attitude and time management. I felt she was often lazy.

She excelled in Latin and history and language.

My youngest daughter has a similar personality and also wanted to attend school.

Sometimes, I wonder if it would be easier if they had attended school.

Easier, how, though?

Ah, escapism. Let someone else be responsible, right? Let someone else deal with her snarkiness and possibly instill some character in her! Because, obviously, I was failing miserably at this. Let her learn from failing, because I feared so much that’s what she’ll do…

Would it be easier to rush my kids out the door each morning?

Easier for me to keep track of the school’s schedule, dress code/trends, lunches, fundraisers, extra-curricular activities, homework? Oh, the stress…

Weighing the pros and cons…

And what about my middle girls?

They are just a year apart in age. But here at home, they both have always done the same academic work. Would they like being separated?

And my son? What would he do without his sisters all day, every day? I think he would miss them terribly.

Do I still feel called to homeschool?

God slammed every door. in. my. face. when my eldest was four and I could. not. find. a. job. (I used to teach English – middle school, high school, college, public, private.) I was pregnant with my second daughter. We were certainly reluctant homeschoolers. Read about that here.

We thought there would come a time for us to hang it up and work our way back into the mainstream (real) world.

In a way, the thought makes me feel a little sick. Not just about all the supplies that would be wasted. All the curriculum that has been bought and saved that we’re just going to start to use next school year with the next child.

I want to know what goes into my children’s heads.

Also, I want to shepherd my children’s hearts.

Not that I always do the greatest job with that. Still working on that and dealing with my own issues. Issues with laziness and anger and selfishness. I’m an only child. Sharing is new to me. Having no privacy or free time to myself is still new to me. I don’t always like it. I’m an introvert.

The plain truth is that I’m just really tired sometimes.

We’ve had some slower years (like the years when Katie and Alex were born), but I’ve compensated by schooling year-round and having flexible schedules.

We’ve travelled and experienced some really neat things that school kids wouldn’t have had time to do.

I’m sure I could have done more with science experiments or history projects or writing assignments some years. My eldest has resentments.

My husband sometimes questions my methods and wants a more traditional approach and grades and products.

With four active kids, I’m worried there’s not enough me to go around.

My son is completely different from the girls and they sometimes feel resentful if they think he gets special treatment.

I don’t think school would work for us. I know we are counter-cultural and different for being at home. We get frustrated with each other sometimes.

There’s often isn’t much opportunity to get together with others who are like-minded. It’s hard to find unschoolers with teens.

I know my kids want activities and friends and to seem more normal. I try really hard to provide lots of chances for classes, lessons, camps, sports, art.

We won’t go back to participating in a homeschool co-op since it was a big waste of time and very stressful.

People fade in and out of our lives. We never seem very important to anyone.

It’s sometimes just lonely and a little overwhelming.

I used to feel like I had to have every educational toy, every workbook, all the curricula, every new thing I saw – to homeschool my children well.

Kids learn well when left alone, maybe just a little coaching and guidance. We’re pretty laid back these days.

There’s so much available online that we could virtually homeschool for free, anywhere, anytime. We don’t need much at all.

I have minimized to the top ten items we love and need to homeschool our four kids.

Our Top 10 Homeschool Items:

10. Art Supplies. (all that crafty stuff that makes life stressful and messy and fun and beautiful). We love colored pencils and glue sticks and the Back to School aisles still give me butterflies! I try to buy the highest quality supplies that will last and give my kids the effects they desire.

9. Library Cards. (we all have our own cards and we max those suckers out each week!) We love books. While I purchase lots, I always check the library and the Libby, by Overdrive app to borrow eBooks first.

8. Tablets. We each have an iPad Mini. Thank God for technology. Starfall taught Alex his ABCs. We all have one with color-coded cases. (They were gifts from grandparents.) We use them daily for schoolwork and fun. I gave the girls their own shared Kindle account and we download FREE eBooks all the time! We love weather and geography apps. We love Stack the States, Splash Math, and Duolingo! And yes, we watch YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, and cable TV when we have WiFi.

7. Desks/Lap Trays. My kids each have a desk from thrift stores. We had four of this little table kind of lap desk. We also have some portable fun ones from lap gear. And I even found a mini one with a cool clipboard on it! They’re also great for travel.

6. Printer. How else would I function and print all the kiddos’ notebooking pages?

5. Pencils and Sharpeners. The kids all love their Staedtler manual pencil sharpeners. I like this big electric pencil sharpener. It’s also a good idea to get good pencils, not those cutesy bargain ones.

4. Science Supplies. We love to do demonstrations and experiments. We have not regretted the expense of a good microscope and telescope.

3. Games. Just Dance and other fun active games. When it’s cold or very wet and windy, the kids love to exercise or wind down with the Wii and Switch.

2. Bookcases. We have lots of books. I have a wall of bookcases in my office. We have bookcases in the kids’ bedrooms. We have bookcases in the basement. I have a basket of our morning reading beside the sofa.

1. Dry Erase Boards. We have a pretty big board in our basement. I also like a small personal board to do small work and have fun.

We continue to purge and downsize our belongings, including our homeschool items, each year. It’s getting even more fun as the kids get older. We need less and less.

What are your must-haves for your homeschool?