Reasons to Homeschool

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I thought I'd post some of my reasons why I want to homeschool Gabriel.

1. I want Gabriel to receive an education that is founded in God, not in the world. I don't want him to learn about God in one class and have everything else be separate from that. I want God to part of everything that he learns. And I don't want him to learn things like how the world evolved millions of years ago. I want him to learn Christian morals and values. And I believe that God want us to teach our own children. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

2. Why would I send my child away to school to spend most of the day with strangers, when he can be with the people he loves most? We would miss out on precious family time. Before we know it, Gabriel will be 18 and ready to fly out! And it will be so great to actually watch him learn things.

3. I want him to have a practical education, where he learn from real life, and where he can use the things he learns from books in real life. I want to teach him things he would not learn in school, like Dutch, cooking, gardening, raising animals, helping others. And I want learning to be fun for him!

4. I don't want him to get lost in the school system. In a classroom with 25 or 30 kids it is easy for kids to get overlooked. I want him to develop to his full potential. If he struggles with things, I want to catch it early so we can spend extra time on those things. If he is especially good at things, I want him to learn as much as he can about those things.

5. I want to protect him from bad influences. Whether it's the wrong friends, drugs, sex, kids bullying him, or feeling like he has do or have certain things just to 'fit in'. I want to teach him to make the right choices, I want him to be confident by being himself.

6. A flexible schedule. Everyone has their good and bad days, and some days we will feel more like learning than other days. Also, homeschooling takes less time than regular school, so he will have more time for other things, like playing sports, playing with friends, boy scouts, fishing trips with Daddy, vacations to Holland etc.

7. Socialization. I know most people who don't know about homeschooling use this as an argument against it. But I believe that Gabriel can learn better social skills from us than from a classroom full of kids, many of which misbehave. Also, there are homeschool groups out there so we can go out and meet other homeschooled children. And then there's church, sports, boy scouts and all kinds of opportunities where he can make friends.

There are probably more reasons, but this is all I can think of right now. I just don't see how any school out there could give Gabriel what we can give him at home.

Here are a few links about reasons to homeschool:
http://www.oddparts.com/missions/homeschool.htm
http://www.homeeducator.com/FamilyTimes/articles/10-3article1.htm

http://www.homeschoolcookbook.com/article_reasons_to_homeschool.htm
http://www.heritagehomeschool.com/ten-reasons.htm
And this one is kind of funny:
http://www.justenoughblog.com/?p=95