Discover 7 compelling reasons for homeschooling—from academic freedom to stronger family bonds. It’s more doable (and rewarding) than you think!
More and more families are choosing a different path for their children’s education—one that forgoes the public school classroom in favor of the kitchen table. These families aren’t just opting out of traditional schools—they’re embracing a lifestyle that prioritizes family values, customized learning, and flexibility. So, what are the real reasons for homeschooling?
What Makes Families Choose Homeschooling?
If you ask a homeschool family why they do it, you'll probably get an enthusiastic bunch of responses. Some of the top reasons we've found include:
1. Influence
Homeschool parents can ensure their children receive the academic attention, help, and challenges they deserve. The one-on-one tutorial style helps children thrive and discover unique gifts.
Who knows and loves your children more than you and your spouse? Why shouldn't you be the central influences in their educational and moral formation?
Think about the schoolteachers you know. Don't they have their hands full? They're typically supposed to teach 20-30 students at a time who have a vast range of abilities, learning styles, and special needs. But when children learn at home, they can receive the personal attention and freedom they need.
And consider the influence you could have on your child's character formation. You could deal with the fallout as your children learn values from peers and teachers with unspecified agendas. Or you could raise your children in a positive learning environment, with your own views of character development.
Homeschooling allows families to strengthen their personal family values, follow a curriculum that emphasizes specific moral teaching, and encourages their children to follow their dreams. And no matter what path they follow, families can weave meaningful discussions about faith, citizenship, service, and character into everyday learning.
2. Close-Knit Families
Many parents rejoice in the close family bonds that homeschooling can facilitate.
Instead of just meeting (perhaps) at the dinner table between long school days, sports practices, and piles of homework, homeschool parents and children learn side-by-side daily. They have plenty of relaxed time to actually get to know and appreciate one another.
Especially if families teach multiple children with the same curriculum, they spend their days building upon shared experiences and points of interest.
Ask almost any homeschool parent what they love most, and you’ll hear this: the time together. For the love of homeschooling, many families cite the deep, close-knit relationships they build through shared learning and everyday life.
Instead of seeing each other only in the margins of a hectic schedule, homeschooling families live and learn together. They spend time reading aloud, solving problems, discussing big ideas, laughing through experiments, and sometimes just enjoying a walk outdoors. These shared experiences create a bond that can last a lifetime.
Especially for families with multiple children, homeschooling fosters sibling closeness as they learn together and support one another. Older children often become natural mentors, and younger ones look up to their siblings as examples.
Over time, this closeness pays off in your child’s teenage years. Instead of feeling distant or misunderstood, many homeschooled teens have strong relationships with their parents and turn to them for guidance and perspective.
3. Academics
Rhonda W. homeschooled her children from preschool through high school. One son had serious learning difficulties that made reading and handwriting an enormous struggle. He would never have been able to keep up with classmates in school, and he might even have concluded he was "stupid."
However, through homeschooling, Rhonda worked through his difficulties and his strengths. She shared in March 2010:
"I still tell people about my son, whom we had tested for learning disabilities at the end of 5th grade – his reading and handwriting were at a 1st grade level. But his content areas – science, history, even vocabulary (that one still blows me away) – were at or above grade level! All because I was reading aloud great literature to him."
What an inspiring story. Even with severe learning challenges, Rhonda's son was able to excel because of his time homeschooling.
Homeschooling tends to let children thrive academically, whatever their special gifts and needs are. Whether a child is advanced, average, or has learning differences, homeschooling gives them space to grow in their own way. Subjects can be adjusted, curricula can be swapped, and lessons can be paused or accelerated depending on the child’s needs.
In fact, data consistently shows homeschooled students scored 34%-39% higher than average on standardized achievement tests. In other words, while the national average for all students is the 50th percentile, "the homeschool national average ranged from the 84th percentile for Language, Math, and Social Studies to the 89th percentile for Reading." In short, when education fits the student, everyone wins.
4. Positive Environment
It's no secret that the classroom school environment is toxic to many children. Overworked and underpaid teachers often struggle to teach too many children in one classroom. They are supposed to use one curriculum in one way to reach a hodgepodge of children: some with special gifts, others with special learning challenges, some exhibiting behavior disorders, and others just learning English. And all of these children are supposed to progress at the same pace!
Does that make sense to you?
Bullying, peer pressure, stress, and distractions can also weigh heavily on kids. For many families, one of the key reasons for homeschooling is simply creating a peaceful, supportive environment where children can thrive.
Classroom teachers, as dedicated as they are, face the nearly impossible task of managing 20–30 students with varying needs. This often leads to rigid schedules, one-size-fits-all teaching, and classroom management struggles.
At home, learning can happen in a calm, tailored environment. Children can work at their own pace, take breaks when needed, and focus without fear of judgment or ridicule. Homeschooling removes much of the social noise and pressure and replaces it with genuine connection and encouragement.
And socialization? Homeschoolers still get plenty, just in more intentional ways. Support groups, co-ops, sports teams, volunteer opportunities, and neighborhood friends offer plenty of meaningful interaction.
5. Religious & Moral Training
A 2007 survey by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that 36% of homeschool parents reported the main reason they homeschool is to provide religious and moral instruction.
Homeschooling gives parents freedom to educate their children through the lens of their faith. Families from many traditions (including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and New Age spirituality) value the opportunity to pass on their faith to their children.
Christians often homeschool because they desire to have a greater role in raising their children to become disciples of Christ. Proverbs 22:6 often encourages such families: "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it."
6. Affordability
For many families across the US and around the world, the local public schools are simply out of the question because of poor academic standards, safety concerns, or a myriad of other reasons. In this case, the "obvious" thing to do is to turn to private schools.
However, private school tuition can range from $4,000 per student per year for "cheap" schools to well over $20,000 a year for elite schools. Many families simply cannot or do not want to commit such a large portion of their income to tuition.
Besides offering many academic and social benefits that private schools typically can't provide, homeschooling is much more cost-effective.
Even "high-end" curricula cost only a fraction of one child's private school tuition. And some programs—Sonlight being one example—are designed for you to use one package with more than one student at a time. (When you're reading books that appeal to a wide range of ages, why not?) And if the age range is too wide, the right kind of package will permit younger students to use the same materials years after their older siblings first used them.
Many families find their choices narrowed down to:
- Sending their kids to unacceptable public schools;
- Having both spouses work outside the home in order to pay for private school tuition; or
- Homeschooling, thereby foregoing expensive tuition and allowing one spouse to stay home with the children.
Whatever your circumstance, homeschooling really can be a wise and economical option.
7. Sleeping Late
Homeschooling offers unparalleled freedom and flexibility. No one else is dictating your family's schedule and study habits.
Does your 7-year-old work best sprawled out on the floor? Great.
Do you want your kids to get enough sleep every night (compared to the rampant sleep deprivation among public school kids)? Wonderful. Start "school" at whatever time you'd like in the morning.
Instead of pushing through the morning sprint each day to get the kids dressed, teeth brushed, lunches packed, and out the door in time for school, homeschool families can cultivate a more natural, relaxed home atmosphere.
Do you want to travel for 6 months each year? Pack your curriculum and go for it.
Do you move frequently? Live overseas? Homeschooling can make location changes smoother for children and parents.
Is your child a virtuoso musician, Hollywood actor, or Olympic-level athlete? Homeschooling lets families pursue big dreams without sacrificing crucial academics.
Do you want to take Fridays off to hang out with other homeschoolers, go on field trips, or head to piano lessons? No problem. With homeschooling, you decide what your family's routine should be.
Homeschooling isn’t just about staying home—it’s about taking ownership of your child’s education and creating a learning life that reflects your family’s values, rhythm, and dreams. From personalized academics and stronger family bonds to faith-based instruction and flexible days, these reasons for homeschooling continue to inspire a growing number of families.
Curious about whether homeschooling is the right choice for your family?
