My Favorite Homeschool Subject

When you homeschool, you get asked a lot of questions.

Right behind the perennial favorite "But what about their socialization?" is the WHY question. Why do we homeschool? why...why...why

I can give a short and sweet "Cause we love it" or I can spend an hour enumerating the many and varied reasons why we began homeschooling and why we continue to homeschool and why we plan to homeschool until the last child is graduated.

But the reason I only give once in a while out of fear that it will sound too self serving is that homeschooling has been good for me. Yes, while the questioner is either doubting my sanity or elevating me to sainthood, I am standing there knowing that homeschooling is one of the best things that ever happened to me, personally.

I often remark that I learned more in my first four years of homeschooling than in my four years of college....and mean it most sincerely. Particularly if one factors in the value of the lessons learned.

And out of all I have learned, setting aside the myriad of character lessons, I value most what I have learned about history. Of course, I didn't realize just how little I knew of history when we started. And the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. History is truly a lifetime subject; one that never will come up empty when you seek to add to your store of knowledge and understanding.

Not all of my children share my love of history. I hope that they will leave my homeschool with, at least, a basic understanding of world history, America's place in that history, and an openness to learning more as they live their lives. I am fortunate, however, that my oldest son shares my thirst for learning more. It gives me a good excuse to acquire historical resources.

And now I begin on a new project that will allow me to share my enthusiasm for history with a wider audience. Stay tuned...