Recently, a friend messaged me on Twitter and asked: “Why do you homeschool?”

I’ve got a draft post on this topic I’ve been holding onto for months. It’s a topic I care so much about, I feel as if I have to write this epic essay that definitely covers all my thoughts on the subject. But there is a problem with that post… it never ships. Writing a definitive essay on a huge topic is daunting, so I never finish it.

But when my friend asked me the question, I was in a different context. The Twitter DMs helped me get some words out quickly – words that focused on the most important parts. So in the interest of getting something out there, here is the response I wrote:

There is a long list of reasons so I’ll just give you the most important one.

Amanda and I believe that our daughters will have a better life if they have more control over their own education. They will learn more, learn deeply, and experience more of the world.

It all started with some reflection on our own education experiences. Both of us spent unbelievable amounts of time essentially just sitting there. My lack of engagement went so far that I eventually just “checked out” sometime around grade 10. I didn’t become interested in learning again until part way through university, and that’s when my whole life changed. The amount of time wasted is incredible when you add it up.

So far our theory has proven true. Our daughters get about 1 hour of organized “studies” per day. Sometimes not even that. And yet they are little learning machines because that is the nature of children.

Addison (six) is now reading fluently at a level far past where she “should” be and no one is asking her to slow down. Arya (four) is showing special aptitude for math so we just let her do more math whenever she asks for it. Audrey (one) runs around and draws on herself with markers.

I could certainly rant on and on about this so I’ll stop now.

Have you ever considered homeschooling?