The decision to homeschool your kiddos is a weighty one! It’s a complex decision with as many reasons as there are families who choose to do it! We polled 170 Minnesotan Homeschool families over a 9 day period and asked them to select their top 3 reasons (out of 8) for homeschooling, and invited them to add their own reason if the 8 presented didn’t adequately represent the reason for their decision. (A big thank you for your contributions! To be involved in future MN homeschooling polls and stay in the Homeschool Sherpa MN loop, please subscribe!) Here’s what we discovered!
The full descriptions of options presented, as well as the number and percentage of the 170 families who selected that option are as follows
- To get ahead academically and/or support my gifted student (31 families/ 18%)
- Bullying (or fear of bullying) and/or other safety concerns (29 families/ 17%)
- Dissatisfaction with the public school system/quality of education my child would receive (95 families/ 56%)
- My religious or philosophical beliefs lead me to bring my child(ren) home (54 families/ 32%)
- Individualized learning environment/support for my child with special needs (46 families/ 27%)
- A desire for more family time/ focus on familial relationships (96 families/ 56%)
- Lifestyle flexibility (scheduling, travel, extracurricular activities etc.) (83 families/ 49%)
- Health concerns (ie.complicated health issues that make traditional schooling difficult, and/or my child’s compromised Immune system (8 families/ 5%)
- Desire for alternative educational approaches (ie. Montessori, Waldorf, unschooling, etc) (42 families/ 25%)
Some additional reasons MN families shared for homeschooling their kiddos include:
- Lack of outdoor time and movement in the classroom setting
- Having screen free, hands on learning
- Having control over what material is presented to my child
- Desire to control the kinds of foods my child consumes and is surrounded by
- More time to spend outside and just be children
- Educational freedom, and plenty of time for my kids to explore their own interests. Also for my kids to have. . . social interaction with friends of all ages
I find it interesting to see the trends in this small sample size. I wonder how the chart may shift depending on concentration of families in rural MN vs inner city, veteran homeschool families vs new families. Regardless, we get a feel for the various reasons one may choose this educational approach. we also can see here, some of the perceived benefits to homeschooling, even if the reasons aren’t why someone chose to homeschool, they can still reap the additional benefit of, say, a reduction in bullying, more time for their child to explore personal interests, or lifestyle flexibility, etc.
Are there additional reasons you choose to home-educate your kiddo? Any benefits you’ve reaped you didn’t expect? Have the reasons you started homeschooling changed over the years? Please share your perspective below!
