Why are you homeschooling?

This is an easy to answer questions but there are many parts to the answer.

We enjoy being around Esme and want to spend as much time with her as we can, especially while she's still little.

We like knowing that that we're in control of what she's learning and the context in which she's learning it. She will get a strong sense of our values.

In homeschooling she has the opportunity to work at her own pace - faster or slower at any given time or in any given subject.

Homeschooling gives our family a very flexible schedule.

We like knowing that Esme isn't wasting her time on busywork or interruptions due to disciplinary issues with other students.

None of the local school options were ideal for us - the public schools in our city are underperforming, the religious school we would have sent her to only teaches Biblical literalism (which is against our beliefs), and school choice would require that we drop her off and pick her up in a different city every day.

We are learning so much through this process. Teaching her opens our own minds to new things.

In homeschooling Esme can take a more active role in choosing what she studies, and the lessons are likely to hold her interest.

At home there is a greater opportunity for hands-on learning. We can take as many field trips as we want - even if they're just around our block.

We have opportunities to use a wide variety of resources and aren't confined to district-approved anthologies. We are strongly for literature-based learning.