It's a Way of Life!

I thought I'd put a little bit on here about the difference between our homeschooling and some of the other "homeschooling" going on out there. I would like to clarify that for us and many other homeschoolers, homeschooling is A WAY OF LIFE, not a way of doing school. Recently, we met some neighbors who said they "tried" homeschooling but it got boring. The child said he would do his schoolwork in an hour or two and then go back to sleep since there was nothing else to do.

I am telling you this so that you'll understand that just because you hear someone saying they "homeschool", please reject the tendency to associate their way of life with ours. Our homeschooling means we live and look at the world differently. We plan field trips and extra learning ventures together, and most importantly, we make learning a family effort.

This situation has come up partly as a result of the new virtual schools (online school). The homeschooling organizations that we are a part of, including HSLDA, are very clear in their position against these schools as "homeschools." For their reasons and more information, read this:

http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/Issues/C/CharterSchools.asp

This page also has an article on the dangers of families, especially Christian families, thinking charter schools are a healthy alternative to homeschooling. I hope these articles will help clear up some of the confusion caused by those who view homeschooling as just another way of "getting school done."