20 Homeschooling Questions To Ask Yourself

When you go into homeschooling you also bring a large amount of preconceived ideas and values that you don’t even know are there.
Here are more than 20 questions to ask yourself. The answers influence the way we homeschool.

How were you educated?

The answer to these questions form our opinion of What School Looks Like To Us.

1. What was your education like? Was it good or bad? Was it private or public? Was it secular or Christian? Were you homeschooled?
2. What do you blame school for?
3. How important is education to your family? Did you get a degree? Did you leave school early? Did you think your degree was helpful? Did you always wish you had a university education?
4. Do you have any gaps in your education?
5. Do you think you’re smart?
6. Do you think you’re dumb?
7. What are the cultural expectations of your community? Do they value university, money, full-time motherhood?
8. What are the gender roles you expect for your child? Do you think only boys need a good education? Do you think a career is a waste of time for your girls?
9. Are you a trained teacher? Do you believe in training for a job or providing lots of experiences?

All of these aspects affect how we homeschool before we even begin homeschooling. They affect our curriculum choices, and the pressure we put on our kids.

Why are you homeschooling?

Today people are homeschooling for a variety of reasons.

1. Are you courting the idea of homeschooling? Just thinking about going into it. Considering your options.
2. Are you burnt out?
3. Was homeschooling forced upon you? Did your church, parents, husband decide you should homeschool? Was it just the convenient option? Are you making the most of it? You’re not in love but you don’t hate it. Is it what works for you?
4. Have you tried school and it didn’t work? Is this your second or third attempt at a previously unsuccessful homeschool or even child?
5. Do you love homeschool? You want to do it. Even though you know things aren’t perfect you’re working towards making it successful.

How Do You Educate Your Kids? What’s Your Homeschool Philosophy?

1. Are we just keeping our kids at home to “protect them” and is the fact that we need to “educate” just a by product of that decision?
2. Do we prefer to forget about the school work and just concentrate on motherhood?
3. Do we just care about the academics? Are we aiming for our child to be a doctor and lawyer and astronaut?
4. Do we train for a job (utilitarian education) or is it about lifelong learning?
5. Do we decide what they should learn based on what we learnt at school – or what the National Curriculum says is important or are we aiming to teach a generous curriculum?

I’ve listed these homeschooling questions to ask you to help you look beyond the curriculum and towards the goal of educating your kids to be lifelong learners and lovers of God.
When we understand ourselves it often helps us understand our priorities.