Like many homeschooling families my reason to opt out of the public school setting is multi-dimensional. There really was no one reason why, but instead numerous reasons that built up to my decision.

I am a product of the public school system, as is my husband, and our families. I spent twelve long years learning how to sit behind a desk, stay quiet, think what I was told, and smile all the while. I thought it was normal, that it was right, that it was what children were meant to do. Why? Because everyone else did it.

Then I had children of my own. As I began raising my sons I looked for other parents that I could share this new experience with, other mothers who would understand the things that only mothers understand. More and more often I met mothers who were choosing not to follow the crowd, but instead were homeschooling. My curiosity was piqued. I began looking at websites, reading blogs, and checking out books from the local library about homeschooling. What i found shocked me. There it was, all of the experiences that I was raised to think of as normal, as important, as part of every child's life. These experiences were being turned over on their heads, and children were getting a good education and growing up happy and well adjusted.

There are many nay-sayers out there about homeschooling, and many mythes that common sense could easily wipe away. But, with human nature, we fear what we do not understand and hate what we fear. i made the decision to homeschool my children. I took the time to learn about and understand where homeschoolers were coming from rather than replying on the half truths and myths circulated about them. i decided that instead of forcing my children to sit in a desk every day having their love of learning willed out of them I would let them be free, let them explore life, and let them gain the best education they could on their own terms. We're not sheltered away, in fact I've never met a homeschool family that was. After school, on the weekends, in church, at the library, extra-curricular activities, and homeschooled children have numerous opportunities to be with people of all ages, and without sitting quietly in a desk unable to talk. We are not an ultra-conservative religious family as many assume all homeschoolers are. We don't dress in extremely modest wear, or spend hours at the kitchen table doing work, or refuse to watch the television, or any of the other assumptions that are held against us as soon as the word homeschool is brought up.

Despite the objections and the myths, we took the time to educate ourselves on homeschooling, and in the process understood why we wanted to educate our own children. It is not for everyone, but for our family it was the best decision to make.

Learn more about this author, Summer Minor.
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