Home Education has become a huge topic over the last several years. A few years ago, the overall opinion of homeschooling was not positive. The public viewed homeschooling as ‘weird.’ Today, we have more families switching to homeschooling and seeing the value of home education. Parents have more access to resources for homeschool than in the past. Finding other homeschool families and building community is easier than it’s ever been. A 2023 National Home Education Research Institute study says 5.5 million U.S. kids homeschool, up 10% yearly.
When people ask, “Why do you homeschool?” I usually laugh—it’s not one reason. Public school teacher turned homeschool mom gets a few eyebrows raised. My kids and I don’t just learn at home; we live here—running relay races in the living room, mastering math over breakfast, and dodging the chaos of traditional school schedules. We made the leap to take back the time with our children, I would never go back.
Here’s why it works for us—and why it might for you.
1. Flexibility That Fits Us
School bells? Nope. We set our clock. If my 6-year-old’s buzzing at 8 a.m., we’re doing spelling sprints—literally running while shouting words. If the children are having a bad day, we shift and play outside in the sun while doing math problems in the dirt. When their dad gets a random weekday off, we put aside the textbooks and go for a family hike instead.
2. Learning That Sticks
Textbooks are fine, but my kids remember more from hands on learning. Homeschooling lets us ditch the fluff and dive deep into student lead learning. Grey is interested in whittling, so we buy books and watch videos on carving. Zander is interested in baking, so we learn how to make bread and cakes. How many teaspoons do I need when I do not have a tablespoon? Why do we use baking soda? There is a chemistry lesson without a book. Want to play a board game? Lets bring out Monopoly and learn about counting money. Don’t get me wrong, we still break out the spelling and math book, but that is such a small fraction of their homeschool.
3. Fitness Built In
Here’s where FitKidsWorkout started—traditional school cuts PE to 1-2 hours weekly, but the CDC says kids need 60 minutes daily. I would argue that number should be adjusted. With the flexibility of our schedule, we can achieve above the CDC’s recommended amount of fitness time. My children play outside daily, running around. We incorporate movement into our lessons, go on family walks and runs, do yoga with mom, and workout with dad.
4. No One-Size-Fits-All
Public school must try to target every student with their lessons. The reality is that they mostly teach to the average student. Yes, they incorporate rigor and follow IEP’s to the best of their ability, but the reality is they cannot teach for every student. My 6-year-old’s math is advanced but needed additional work on reading. School would not be able to slow down and wait for my six year old to be ready to read. Homeschooling lets me tailor—reading games, sight word practice at stores, and library days to explore books.
5. Family Time, Real Time
I get my kids—all of them. No rushed mornings or late bus waits. We cook lunch together (science: boiling points), laugh over failed cartwheels, and talk—really talk. I can take time to play games with my children. I remember the public-school days when my son would get home cranky. I would rush to make dinner, then help him with homework, and then it was time for bed. Time. I wanted time back, and that’s exactly what we have now. I have slow intentional time with my children.
6. Ditching the Drama
Bullying, cliques, overstuffed classrooms—none of that here. My kids don’t stress about fitting in; they thrive being themselves. My children still have friends that are not homeschooled, but playing together outside a public-school setting is different. My children can choose who they want to be around. We have conversations on what makes a good friend. Our home’s a safe zone—no peer pressure, just pillow forts and push-up challenges.
7. Real-World Skills Early
School preps for tests; we prep for life. We can teach about money management by modeling budgets at the grocery store. The children learn animal husbandry by helping with the chickens and rabbits. They learn where their food comes from on processing day, along with anatomy. They learn about business from their dad. They learn money, grit, even marketing from us—our FitKidsWorkout blog’s their idea!
8. Nature’s Our Classroom
No walls, no problem. We hike trails for science—counting bugs beats diagrams—or run laps in the park for PE. Last week’s rain? Indoor yoga instead. We have a garden where the children learn how plants grow and how to tend to them. They also learn the benefit of organic growing while finding caterpillars that we can raise into butterflies. Learning to love and appreciate nature is the root of our home education.
Why It’s Our Fit
Homeschooling’s not perfect, laundry piles up, and I’m no saint when multiplication tantrums hit. But it’s us. We’ve traded rigid schedules for relay races, rote drills for real talks. My kids are fitter, happier, and learning more than I ever did in school. “Why homeschool?” Because it’s freedom—to move, grow, and take time back with your children. It’s less about desks and more about life. Once I heard someone say that you only get eighteen summers with your children. What about taking back the entire eighteen years?
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