WHY HOMESCHOOL?
Take an active role in learning with your child and discover a new layer of happiness and fulfillment!
We asked real families . . . Why Homeschool?
Email us your story to stories@lds-nha.org.
Why homeschool? What was I thinking? Oh yeah, this wasn’t my idea. I said I wound never homeschool. I was going to be one of the moms who volunteers in the classroom and helps sew costumes for the end of the year school performances. I was going to assist in my children’s education and in no way actually be responsible for their education.
But I do have to say I am very grateful for the events and feelings that shifted my perspective six years ago. The answer to, "Why homeschool?" has changed and evolved since that time and probably will continue to do so. The answer today is family. In September 2012 our four year old daughter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and we were able to enjoy and learn from this amazing little girl for only six more months! Math and Language Arts will always be a part of homeschooling, but it is so much more than that. My children could not have learned about love, faith, service, sacrifice, and compassion the way they did had they been sitting in a classroom. My children could not have had the family interactions they did, had they been sitting in a classroom. My children could not have asked me questions about
death and heaven and be comforted any time of the day had they been sitting in a classroom. Maybe my answer will always be family, but what will change and evolve is how it benefits us.
-Wendy
Homeschooling has been an amazing opportunity for our whole family. We are able to learn together, work together and overcome challenges together. By being such a large part of my children's education, our whole family has been strengthened. I can spend individual time with each child, and give them the attention and personal guidance each of them need. Not only have my children grown in the different facets of their education, we have grown as a family.
-Audrey
Homeschooling has been a most unexpected blessing for our family. We sent our children to school until the oldest was in fourth grade. I never planned to homeschool my children until one of our daughters was not thriving in the public school system. This beautiful, bright, and talented girl was falling through the cracks. Deciding to bring her home snowballed until just one year later, I found myself homeschooling them all. As a result we have discovered the gift of "time" with our family. Our lives have taken an unexpected turn for the better. It has made things both overwhelmingly complicated and profoundly simple all at the same time. It takes hard work and dedication but the rewards are ten fold.
-Nicole
“We home school so that the things that matter most in an education can be taught. These are the things that don’t necessarily come from textbooks and modern school curriculum. We have an opportunity to enlighten our children with the values in which this great country was founded, in addition to the most important values that come from the gospel of Jesus Christ. We teach our children at home so that they can grow spiritually, as well as, academically.”
-Christy
Homeschooling my children, allows me the flexibility to teach them the principles and fundamentals that I desire.  I have a passion for my children to be very well rounded.  In my eyes this includes a strong understanding in Math, English, Reading, Writing, Spelling, Music, History and Science.  I believe in learning not just from the book, but exploring and visiting places that are of interest to them.  It is also important to me that I have the time I need to teach my family our religious beliefs daily. 
Our family has a very strong passion for sports. We like to have the ability to play more than one sport during each season. We enjoy golf, basketball, football, and baseball. It is very important to both my husband and me that our children are able to complete their school work and piano lessons during the day. This allows them to avoid feeling rushed or overwhelmed as we attend their sporting events in the late afternoon.
Many families may feel limited as to what they do because there isn’t enough time in the day. Families may feel that important time to be together is missing. I have found that homeschooling is allowing me to fulfill all of the important aspects of life with my children by creating our own daily schedule. It has been working for our family the last three years, as I hope to continue on this path. I truly enjoy seeing my children learn and grow daily. As a mother, it is my dream to keep our family well balanced on this journey of life. Together we find that we learn and grow immensely from each member in our family. I am grateful to have the opportunity to let others know about homeschooling. Even if it feels as if you are out of your comfort zone to homeschool, there is a lot of support in the area with those who can help direct you and your children on the path that they are meant for in this life.
-Amy
Our initial interest in home schooling came from a problem we saw in Special Education programs in public schools. Since there is a learning disability that runs in our family, we often saw the Special Education programs were afraid to push family members to succeed. The approach we saw when a family member complained that something was too difficult was that teachers would not push them to do it. As a result, these family members did not grow much in their education.
Later as our children were born, we quickly realized that none of them were born with this learning disability, but we still felt a strong spiritual need to teach them at home and to reap the other many benefits of home schooling. We love to learn in our family and we saw too many classes and teachers forced to follow the curriculum rather than being able to foster a love of learning. We never blamed it on the teachers since we had many influential teachers in our lives who were able to pass it on this love. We felt if we were going to pass on this hunger for learning, we need to cultivate true thinking and understanding, and not memorization of facts just for the test. We want our kids to be truly independent, able to find answers, and able to realize how valuable an education is, and homeschooling was our solution to help our children develop these skills in themselves.
-Jen