12 Lessons I’ve Learned from 12 Years of Homeschooling

1. God is the most important subject. Fun fact, I am reading through the Bible in a year for the 3rd time. Seriously, the second best thing I ever did from homeschooling. The first being, learning how to pray and when I started to literally write out every single prayer. I highly recommend that you do this. It’s awesome to be able to go back and see how your prayer life has grown.

2. I am obsessed with classical music. (I can’t count the number of times I’ve stopped doing whatever subject I was doing to start dancing/conducting the William Tell Overture [If you haven’t heard this song, please look it up. It’s wonderful])

3.Anything counts as school work. (I think I am the most advanced in Home Economics.)

4. Co-op is a great place to make friends and learn things. The year I only took PE and drama was the best. #nohomework. Doing co-op with rednecks and country kids is really fun. But it’s more fun to do a co-op with people from your church. Fun fact, homeschoolers actually converse when they’re together. (Even if it is just about YouTube, writing books, and video games…)  There’s nothing like dissecting a frog and then reading Beowulf to bring teenagers together. (Also, word of advice, don’t try to discuss classical literature with a bunch of teenagers over a google hangout. Trust me on this one.) I also don’t recommend getting a crush on the oldest boy in your co-op. It just makes everything awkward. (And everyone will know except the 2 of you. [Albeit, it is fun to laugh and joke about years later.])

5. Being able to hold and enjoy conversations with people of any age is incredible.

6. Playing the flute at a retirement home is hard for an introvert but the smiles on the resident’s faces and the thanks afterward make it worth it.

7. Your math book doesn’t care what you wear so the comfier you are the better.

8. I have really good self-esteem from not having to worry what people think of me on a daily basis because I rarely leave the house.

9.YouTube and reading are greater than a social life. (These are all the books that I read in 2014) [Is it weird that I read biographies for fun?]

10. I can do my school at any time and in any location. I have brought schoolwork on vacations and such. Also, the ability to set my schedule is amazing. My childhood I would wake up by like 6:30 and get all my school done so I could play or read in the afternoon. Then I became a teenager and started getting up around 8 and doing school literally all day. Most days I didn’t finish until about 6-7 at night. I love being flexible and being able to work choir, music lessons, shopping, and trips around my schoolwork.

11. God, family, and chores are more important than school. (In that order usually too.)

12. Field trips are the best and anything can count as one. (Albeit the looks you get at the grocery store at 1 in the afternoon are entertaining. Especially when you’re there with your mom and 3 younger siblings.)

My 6 siblings and I were homeschooled our entire lives. I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you a million times to my awesome parents for doing this. I doubt I would be doing what I am today or have had the opportunities that I have had without being homeschooled. I have very close relationships with my siblings because of this and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Friends come and go but family is forever.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Heather