In the interest of perspective:

The biggest pro of homeschooling is the students. I get the boys I love most in the world as students. I get to hang out with them. We get to have fun. We’ve picked weeds- counting. We’ve made coke floats- science. We’ve made elephant parades- art. We spent time together.

My boys are good at independent work and the older they’ve become the more I’ve seen that.

My students are a challenge. I thought I was teaching my eldest Algebra I. I certainly was attempting to do it. And he did very well at algebra. But I don’t think it was me. I think it was E. Because when I began to teach M algebra, I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t that many years later. It was the same book I’d used before, but it didn’t work. That’s because my boys are unique.

How unique are they?

E is an introvert, great with young kids, and intuitively mathematically gifted.

M is an extrovert, great with adults, and the detail king of European and American history for the last two hundred or so years.

E draws for fun and during any down time.

M talks to himself, to the computer, and to other people any time there’s a slow down.

I know so much about my boys because I was their teacher. I have spent more time with my children than most mothers these days. I was able to stay home with them when they were little. I’m still home. I spend less time now; they’re growing up and away.

But if I had to name the main pro of homeschooling it is the fact that you get to know and teach your own children.