I choose to school at home for many reasons. I figured if I could teach my baby to sit, eat, talk, walk, run, play…. ect. Then why should I let someone else take over at age 4 or 5, especially someone who would never love my children as a parent does? I began my oldest at age 4 with sit-down schoolwork. She was reading at age 5 and now is completing 6th grade work.

Of course, there are many challenges to teaching children at home, but the benefits far outweigh the challenges. The biggest challenge I encounter is learning to make time for myself. Sometimes I find it hard to remember who I am as a person because I simply have so many roles, Mom - Homemaker - Wife - Teacher - Cook - etc. It's been said that ' a woman's work is never done', that holds double when you make your children's education your career.

The best benefit is that I never have to worry that my children are being properly taken care of. I never worry that they are not getting sufficient attention one on one either. I know when they understand something and when they are in need of extra work on subjects. Of course there is always the fear that I cannot teach them what they need to know, and that is what is so great about the Western Rockingham Home Educators.

The group is a source of information. The links on the Web site has been a great help to me this year. And I don't have to do all the exploring alone. I can take what someone else has already explored and learned and run with it. The same holds true for the books. This year, when we had a day to share curriculums helped me tremendously. I know already from that day, what books I will need this year without having to search out independently various textbooks. And I also know that they will WORK, because someone else has been successful with it.

I can never express all the reasons I feel homeschool is the absolute BEST for our children. But, if you truly love your children and you are willing to sacrifice your time for the best interests of your children, then homeschool is for you.