There are lots of reasons that families decide to homeschool their children.  They may have perfectly good access to adequate public or private schools in their local area and still make the decision to educate their children at home.  It is nothing against the standard schooling system, it is a choice to do something different.

1. Some families simply want to spend more time together while the kids are young and may choose to home educate for the early years before considering attending a standard school
2. Other families are travelling and would like the freedom of an education system that followed them on their journeys
3. For some, it is a case of having a negative experience for themselves or for their children in a standard schooling system and a need to seek out a more positive situation
4. Many families have religious or moral and ethical concerns with curriculum topics and would like more say in the values or ideals being taught to their children
5. There are a significant amount of children who face challenges with focussing and holding attention for long periods of time.  Having a flexible education environment at home that allows these children freedom to roam and take breaks when necessary can be a life changer for some families
6. Bullying and peer pressure in a classroom environment, or indirectly from online social media sources can be stressful to many young people.  Having a safe learning environment at home can alieviate much of this pressure.
7. Creativity and having the ability to delve deeply into topics that hold interest and passion are also good reasons to choose to educate at home.  Children who aren’t restricted to time pressured deadline driven outcomes and instead have the ability to direct their learning towards their own interests and spend the time there that it requires for a feeling of completion.
8. Location, location, location is another core reason families choose the flexibility of educating their children at home.  Not only the high country sheep farmers who are located hours away from the nearest township, but also the city dwelling urbanites who would prefer not to battle hours of rush hour traffic jams on a daily basis in order to deliver their children to and from a suitable school.
9. There is a changing face of the workforce in these modern times and working from home is becoming a steadily popular choice for many people.  Having your children educated at home at the same time provides flexibility in schedules.  There is time for the family to work their work and schooling in and around other activities and leisure time.
10. What about the desire to have a say in your children’s education and to undertake the teaching?  There are a growing number of people who would like to be a part of their children’s learning, to become the teacher and to learn alongside their children.
11. Each child learns at their own pace.  Some families wish to provide for their children an environment that challenges them beyond what a standard classroom full of peers can offer, and others wish to slow down the pace and create a more gentle approach to learning that allows for more time to digest new ideas.
12. High level sport commitments are another reason families choose the flexibility of educating their children at home.  Fitting schooling in around demanding training schedules allows for reduced pressure and stress, particularly around competition times.
13. Some families have to work around illness and challenging health issues that limit the time available to schedule regular work, a flexible home learning environment is very supportive here.

All of these reasons are a good idea.  Perhaps one or more of them relate to you and your family.  You are not alone.  There are growing numbers of students being educated at home and families choosing to follow a different path.  There are professional networks of like minded individuals getting together on a regular basis with their children for social, sport, art and cultural exchanges.   It is not a case of hiding children from the ‘real world’ and wrapping them up in cotton wool so that they never experience the negative situations in life.  It is more a case of opening the world up to your children rather than focussing on protecting them from it.  Educating your children at home they become independent big picture thinkers, confident and self-motivated to learn and with a thirst to immerse themselves in the world amongst all ages, cultures and backgrounds and to see the world with observant eyes, not biased judgements limited to standardised opinions.

If you're thinking about home schooling, Functional Education makes it easy. The entire curriculum is covered for you by a qualified teacher through video lessons and hands on activities.