Just to be contrary to my previous posts, I want to discuss some of the joys that I had while homeschooling my two elementary aged sons for nearly a year. Seeing my kids every day and spending time together was wonderful at times. I homeschooled my kids shortly after separated from my former wife. Being able to see my two, favorite kids in the world every day was awesome. Was that better for the kids to be homeschooled by me, their dad, rather than going to school with their peers for those nine months? It's hard to say. From a selfish point of view, I'm glad that we had the time together.
Taking field trips with the kids is also a lot of fun. During those nine months, we went to the natural history museum, the aquarium, a couple childrens' museums, an organized nature outing, an apple orchard, an art museum, bike trails, the library, walks through nature and the zoo. We also shared fun weekly activities such as a roller skating group where I skated with the kids, a swim and gym group where I played dodgeball with the kids and battled with foam swords on the playground. Sounds like a lot of fun, eh?
I also enjoyed bring the kids to a weekly gym group where I helped teach some of the classes and volunteer in running the "mock" school. We met many nice folks, a few of which I'm still friends with two years later.
There were difficult parts of the homeschooling experience. I had very little curriculum to work with so I struggled at times to put together the book work that kept the kids interest all day. It also gets kind of lonely with just me and the kids without other kids and adults around. It was a mixed experience. If I had to do it again, I would, especially if there was no way of getting the kids in public school with their peers.
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