Homeschooling your Children. Yay or Nay?

Hello beautiful people. How are we all doing? To all the parents and potential parents... have you ever considered homeschooling as an option for educating your children or future children???

As a single lady, I always liked the idea of homeschooling, and kept the option open. When I got married, I discussed this with my husband and we decided we would go for it if there were other parents we could network with to pull it through together. As our first son started to approach schooling age, the enormity of that decision started staring at me in the face.

Eventually, it became time to start school and I was still unsure. I did some school rounds, decided on a school, but later backtracked because I believed the school fees was too much for a child that young (I mean, he’s just turning two. Why pay so much? It’s not that serious). I considered the homeschooling thing again,
and reached out to Tomi, another mother who is a serious proponent of homeschooling. She runs The Cuddle Blog. My questions were that since I’m a very busy mother, and basically unavailable to homeschool, can I get a teacher to do it? After so much back and forth, we decided my nanny should do it. As much as I wasn’t 100% sure about this, I convinced my husband that it was the best for his age.

I went back to think about it, and backtracked again, for the following reasons

1. I have a new baby that is taking the whole attention of my nanny
2. If my nanny will be homeschooling, I want to be very sure about the quality of this ‘schooling’ she’ll be dishing out
3. My nanny is not yet sure if she’ll be returning after Christmas, and I can’t be training and retraining new nannies just for homeschooling alone

Anyway we finally settled on traditional schooling, but my husband still insisted we should go for the homeschooling conference hosted by The Cuddle Blog. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it so I went alone, and I’m glad I did. My eyes were opened to the in and out of homeschooling. The myth about homeschooled children not being social was debunked. The pros and cons of homeschooling were discussed. It was a very realistic and balanced discussion.

One thing I took from the conversation was that homeschooling was definitely not for me, and I shouldn’t feel bad about it. Homeschooling cannot be outsourced to nannies or external tutors. It is qualified homeschooling because it involves the parents personal touch in the lives of the children. Since I’m not even at home or available, I couldn’t do it. Even if I were, I’m not sure I’m patient enough to handle my son.

My son has since started school, and for now, we are happy with the decision we made.

What of you? What is your opinion about homeschooling in general? Is it something you would consider? One thing is certain though, this conversation is not going away anytime soon. To get more information about homeschooling in Lagos, you can follow thecuddleblog on Instagram so you will be updated on when they’ll be having the next homeschooling conference.