In the decision to homeschool, one factor is sometimes forgotten — will the kids enjoy it? Will they thrive while doing school from home?
Homeschooling is a family affair, so everyone needs to be on board with the lifestyle to make it work: the primary teaching parent, a spouse, and the kids.
The good news is that homeschooling is a delight for children! We've shared before on the blog some of the reasons kids like being homeschooled, but with the influx of new pandemic homeschoolers, we thought it was due time to revisit the perks of homeschooling, told from the viewpoint of the students themselves.
We asked...Do your kids like being homeschooled? If so why? What are their favorite parts of the homeschool life?
Pajamas and Family Time
My 6 year old son said, “Because I get to wear pajamas and be with my baby brother.” My 9 year old said, “I get to lay on the floor and be in my pajamas. I don’t have to wake up super early and my school day is shorter.”
As you can see, they love being in pajamas. 🤣 —Jb
Thank you for making me ask my kids this question. Their answers brightened my morning 
Jack 6 years old, 1st grade (attended kindergarten at a private preschool): “I love that we can cuddle up to read so many books together. That’s definitely the best part.” 
Lucy, 3: “I like learning counting with you and I like when Bubba (brother) helps with my school too.” —Nathalia W.
My twin boys (8) said: “I like being with you! And I like the Usborne World Book of Animals.” My other said “I like the books.” —Laura-Lee Hubert
More Time for Free Play
My 6yo LOVES the read-alouds. My 9yo loves that he gets to stay in pajamas (or a curriculum-relevant costume he creates 🤣) and that he has lots of time to play with LEGO when we’re done with school for the day. —Courtney W.
These are word for word quotes! Malachi, age 9 grade 4: "Kind of its not as long as public school and we get to be with my family and stay home and we're always done by lunch so we can be playing longer. I only would want to go to public school so I could be with my friends but I guess I get to play with them when they get home so I guess it's cool to stay home."
Faith, age 5 grade K: "Yes I like being homeschooled. It's fun and I don't have to go somewhere and I can eat lunch with you and also I love sleeping in."
Hannah, age 8 grade 3: "yea I like being homeschooled because I don't have to get up early and I can do school in my pajamas. And because I can stay home with you and don't have to leave you. And I get to do a bunch more things than other kids. Public school also has to do more work than us" —Sabrina M.
Carah, age 12 "All the books!" Gavin, age 9 "If I have to do it, might as well be home where I can go outside more." —Grace A.
My (then 9 year old) boy when asked which he preferred "Homeschool. Because I'm usually done by lunch, and then I can do what I like. Also, I wouldn't be able to take my knife to a real school." 😂
Background info: we live in Papua New Guinea, and bush knives/machetes are seen as garden tools not weapons and children grow up using them from a young age! —Cheree V.
“Being at home and I get to play outside in the snow when I want to,” Jaxson, age 8 “We get to go at our own pace,” Emma, age 11. —Lindsey M.
More Freedom in Learning
My older kids like to be able to negotiate assignments, for example, "Can I write about this instead of that? Can I give it to you Saturday instead of Thursday?" —Jen M. P.
16 yo -"Yes, I love homeschooling. I can work at my own pace. Also, where else can I study Elvis for school?" (She's doing 20th century history, and for the 50's her decade project is on rock and roll. So she's been watching Elvis videos, along with other 50's singers and bands.). 14 yo - "Sure, I like it. I'm done really early and can study stuff I like." 12 yo - "Yes. Because it's not really school." (She's doing Core F and loves all the projects and videos we get to do. Also does Math-U-See math and Sonlight Language Arts and Apologia science. Really, she's never done anything else for school and somehow she still thinks this isn't "real" school. I guess it isn't like what her swim friends talk about.) 10 yo - "Yes. Except the writing. The cooking is the best." (He's my little chef. Entered his first cooking competition just before he turned 9 with his own chili recipe. So he's loving finding recipes from the countries in Core F and creating those dishes.) —Jannette M. I.
Luna age 11 “Yes I love homeschooling I can do it at my own pace.” —Kerri S.
My daughter is 16 years old and in 11th grade. We started homeschooling two years ago after a rough first year of high school. What she loves the most is the individual attention I can give her which makes her school day much shorter because we aren’t working around 32 other kids in a classroom. She loves starting later and finishing earlier. And she finally has learned to enjoy reading rather than being intimidated by it and loathing it. She also loves switching up the order we do things in based on how her vision is that day and what she can see (as she is blind, and her vision will fluctuate throughout the day.) Finally, she loves the flexibly homeschool gives us to travel and do school at the same time. —Tammie H.
Lauren (10) says, "I can do as much work as I want in one day, and if I'm sick, I can take the complete day off. And stuff like that." Brooke (12) says, "Everything. I would never want to go to public school. I like that I get to plan my own schedule, and some days I can do as much as I want and get ahead, so that I can take a day off. That you get to be my teacher, and I don't have to talk to people I don't know, or have teachers I don't like." 😂 —Amy R.
"I can listen in on [my older sister's] lessons--and you can't do that in a regular school." - Breeze, 11yo (Core F)
"I like planning out my own schedule and choosing what I get to study." - Raine, 13yo (Core H) —Rheea H.
Home Is More Comfortable
My high school junior just took the PSAT today at our local high school. I asked him if he wished he went to school there. In a nutshell, he said "No!" because the chairs are so uncomfortable. 🤣 He also said he knows they don't get the same history and civics education that he is getting at home with SL. —Ann S. K.
"I guess it's not having to call the teacher ma'am or sir or Mr. or Mrs." - Annika, age 7 (2nd grade) —Sharon R. W.
7 year old girl, second grade, says she loves the freedom of homeschooling. She is a fidget bug and can wiggle, move all she wants too, take breaks when she needs too, play outside when others kids are in big school and we can play in the snow and do snow sculptures for art and play in the rain and study things she loves to learn about. She can take more time to do things if she needs too and can play outside and do class outside or at the beach or in the woods or anywhere. School can be over when she gets her work done and she can eat snacks when she wants too as long as her work gets done. She can eat and do school work. —Claudette A.
More Time with Mom
Micah, age 7, says "Because it's more fun. It's shorter, and I get to do it with you!" —Jessica P.
Maggie age 8, "yes I like being homeschooled" because "I get to stay home with Mom, I don't have to eat tuna sandwiches everyday, I get to keep all the books and I get to pick out my own math (curriculum)." —Marabeth V. D.
Evelyn age 6- I like that I get to go see friends or my grandparents during the day when other kids are at school all day. I love read-aloud time the most and spending time with my mommy. —TiAnna A. W.
“What I love most about homeschooling is my teacher (mom)” Emery, age 6, 1st grade. Made my day ❤️ —Melissa W. G.
