Why homeschool?

The question "Why do you homeschool?" is one that has so many answers, I hardly know where to start. As a new homeschooler (and one that doesn't get questioned very often since my oldest is only preschool-age), I haven't really honed my answer yet. There are so many reasons that I homeschool, ranging from reasons specific to my child, reasons based on my own experience, reasons based on what I know about public education...the list goes on.

But the other day I was reminded of an experience from my childhood that helped crystallize one of the major reasons I want to homeschool, in my own mind.

Sixth grade was the last grade I was ever in public school. One thing I was very excited for in middle school was taking a middle school science class. In elementary school, we didn't have science--just "social studies," which somehow was supposed to encompass history, science, culture, and I don't even know what else. But middle school was different. Middle school had an entire hour every day devoted specifically to science!

When I entered the science classroom the first day, I looked around in wide-eyed wonder. The room was lined with what looked to my eyes like a serious laboratory: there were sinks (presumably for washing chemicals off one's hands), beakers (presumably for mixing potions in), and complicated charts and posters (presumably based on the science we would learn in class). I was pumped. I was going to do real science experiments!

The first day of class wasn't quite what I envisioned: rather than breaking out the chemicals, we were lectured in lab safety. However, despite that, my excitement only grew. We were learning about how to be safe around chemicals and other science stuff, which surely meant that we would be knee-deep in chemistry, biology, and physics in no time!

For what felt like weeks, we continued to drill the lab safety rules into our heads. We made posters about lab safety. We memorized rules. (It was probably only a week or two, but to me it felt like ages. Also, did we really need a week or two to memorize rules like "Keep your goggles on at all times"?) Surely, once this was over, we would get to the good stuff!

No such luck. The only actual science thing I remember studying that year was the way you draw mountains on a map. (Another thing I remember so distinctly that we must have spent weeks working on it.) I can think of few science subjects that would be less interesting to an 11-year-old than how to read maps of mountains, yet apparently this was a vital topic in sixth grade.

We didn't mix potions. We didn't drop objects off the tops of buildings (like they did in my beloved Sideways Stories from Wayside School). We never so much as washed our hands in those ever-inviting sinks. Ironically, we never actually had reason to follow the rules we spent the first two weeks memorizing.

Now, I can't say I blame our teacher for not wanting to hand dangerous chemicals to a pack of unruly 11-year-olds. Perhaps she even had cool experiments planned, but concluded that we (aka the other kids, because I was busy trying to prove how mature and rule-following I was so we could get to the good stuff) were too rowdy and would never follow the rules. And she was probably right. If we'd been allowed anywhere near chemicals, someone in that class probably would have had to go to the emergency room.

But I don't want my kids to have to spend a year quietly decoding boring mountain maps while they're waiting for something interesting to happen. (Not that mountain maps are objectively boring--but if you're a kid who wants to pour some chemicals into a beaker and instead are forced to read mountain maps for weeks on end, they are definitely boring.) With homeschooling, we get to do the interesting stuff. If my kid says they want to do a real science experiment, we can. Because we're not working with a class of thirty insane kids. And honestly? I'm pretty excited myself to pour some vinegar over baking soda.