There are definite perks to homeschooling. Some of the perks are seen by the whole universe, like the fact some of us don’t get up until after 9:00am. Other perks are seen by very few, like watching your child "get it" after he’s been struggling for eons.
Then there are the perks we get to share with others, like my daughter’s absolute love for writing, reading, and photography. Since we homeschool, I’m able to foster her reading and writing to such an extent that people often think she is much older than 11 when they read her writing. She blogs daily (has four blogs: Life, American Girls, Book Reviews, and Photography) and around two-hundred people who collectively follow her words. She has a fabulous grip on life and the words to communicate it.
Because we homeschool, she was able to participate in NaNoWriMo this year (National Novel Writing Month). She worked feverishly (when allowed… yes, I had to limit her writing) to get her words done. She didn’t quite reach her goal (30,000 words in one month), but she did do an excellent job on a topic she knew nearly nothing about beforehand. In fact, she spent hours before Nano, researching and preparing her outline. It was an excellent exercise in not only writing, but also research and meeting a goal.
We also have unique opportunities to explore things most sixth graders can’t, like creative photography. My daughter reads and studies blogs and websites about photography, then devises a way to capture the photos she just learned about. Today, we spent around two hours creating a filter out of paper for our digital SLR camera. We used trial and error until the filter did what we wanted it to do. In the process, we both learned more than we could have from any book. Excellent perk to homeschooling—Mommy gets to play!
Learning together with my children, and seeing their eyes glow with excitement when we achieve our goals, is priceless! And it’s certainly something I consider a perk to this homeschool adventure.
Photo 1 was taken without a filter, while photo 2 was taken with a paper filter.
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Why I Started Homeschooling
Homeschool Burnout
Homeschooling and Socializing
