Market Data 
- I knew before my daughter was born that I wanted to try homeschooling her.
- We did for a few years, and it went well, but she recently asked to go to our local school.
- We were nervous about the transition, but she’s thriving.
Before my now-6-year-old daughter Lucia was even born, I knew I wanted to homeschool her. This was not a decision that our family made lightly; my husband was mostly against it, and I had to convince him why I felt it was a good decision for our daughter.
I had my heart set on offering our child an alternative type of education, even though I was slightly concerned about a few things. I wanted to make sure her home curriculum would be up to standards and that she would know how to socialize and have friends. But still, I have never been a fan of the structured school day for such young children and felt it was the right decision for us.
Homeschooling worked for us at first
I think that spending much of the day seated at a desk is too much for a 6-year-old, and I am not a big fan of how the school system works. I feel children need to learn by getting hands-on experience and using more creativity. Our daughter is also full of energy and learns by observing and doing, as a lot of children do. I also feel that with class sizes being so large, teachers understandably can’t give enough individual attention to students, especially those who need to be taught differently.
Plus, on a personal note, in the past couple of years, between moving back to our old town, renovating a house, and welcoming a new baby, sending our daughter to school when she had never even been to day care seemed like it would all be too much change for her. We thought she would find it overwhelming.
I also run my own business from home, and our family travels, so I loved the idea of having my daughter at home with me. I know we are lucky to have this set-up, and I thought it would be nice for her to see me run my business; I wanted to help teach her myself and for our family to be able to continue to travel throughout the school year.
So, for the past couple of years, we have been doing just that. Our daughter was homeschooled.
A private teacher came to our house, and I taught her, as well, partially using those hands-on methods we love. Besides the usual stuff that is taught to young children by using textbooks and worksheets (which we used provided by the elementary school here in Italy, where we live), my husband and I always encouraged our daughter to explore her creative side through things like painting.
Lucia also loves puzzles and from a young age, could sit and do a puzzle all afternoon. When we traveled, we always took her to museums and art galleries, and our daughter already recognizes famous historical sites and works of art, because she has had the joy of seeing them in person. Homeschooling was working well for her.
Until one day recently, she wasn’t. She had already been homeschooled for over a year and was doing great. But this past October, she decided she was ready for a change.
Recently, my daughter asked to start at our local school
Our daughter, now 6, had a lot of friends and wanted to see them more often. My husband and I frequently brought up the option of going to school with her, including mid-year, because we wanted our daughter to know that when she felt she was ready, we were ready, too. Whereas in the past, when the subject of school came up, my daughter immediately would shut down and say she wanted to stay home, this time, she didn’t. She told us she wanted to start at the local school where all of her friends attended.
We were honestly surprised but, at the same time, happy that it was our daughter who was the one to make the decision. In the back of my mind, while I had always wanted homeschooling to work out, I had been slightly concerned about the long-term effects, like my daughter not being in the same place socially or in terms of curriculum. My husband was concerned that since our daughter was homeschooled and bilingual (since there are no other American kids in her school and our daughter speaks Italian with an American accent), she would have difficulty staying up to speed with the other kids.
When we went to register her for school, we were told that we would need to bring our daughter in along with the work she had done at home for an evaluation. They needed to see if it would be possible to let her enter school mid-year since school had officially begun in September, and she would be starting in January.
After the meeting, we were told that our daughter would be able to start school within a month.
My daughter has been in school now for a little over three weeks and is doing amazing. Luckily, she entered a school where she already had so many friends in all different grades, so socializing was never a concern. She wakes up in the morning excited to go to school, gives me a kiss, and walks into the building proudly. She comes home happy from the long day, ready to do homework, and just as excited for the next day of school ahead.
I often felt like people were questioning my decision to homeschool my child and told me she would be behind the other kids because she wouldn’t be socialized. Homeschooling was the right decision for us at the time. My daughter was able to keep up with her studies and still make a lot of friends. I’m so grateful for the time I had teaching my daughter at home. However, she is now thriving in a school environment, too.
