Anyone who has been reading my blog for awhile knows that I’m very strongly pro-homeschooling. From day one, I’ve planned to homeschool my son, and knew that he would be learning from me.  But when it came time to enroll him in preschool, I chose to. And here’s why I decided to send my child to preschool, even though I plan to homeschool.

Deciding to send my son to preschool wasn’t an easy decision– it was one I cried over, agonized over, and second-guessed. A lot.

We are very, very blessed to live in an area with a lot of great homeschooling resources, homeschool groups that kids can utilize to have social skills, and extracurricular classes. But there’s just not much available for preschoolers in our area– no wealth of homeschooling groups or social activities for his age when it comes to homeschooling.

My son is the social butterfly. He’ll thrive in a homeschool environment that meets his needs, but he also needs interaction, and loves making new friends. Because of that, I didn’t feel like homeschooling him during a year when there weren’t any groups for him was the right idea. He deserved the opportunity to forge long-term bonds with kids that he wouldn’t have been able to make with no good homeschooling group available for his age.

Further, it seemed like my son was having trouble listening. While he was really good at doing school projects, he just hadn’t fully grasped the concept of listening and process. Part of that was age, but part of it was that he needed some additional structure. I thought school would make a great jumping off point for our future lessons at home.

When selecting a preschool, there were a lot of things that I looked for:

Our preschool reflected our views and beliefs, and my teaching style. I didn’t want homeschooling to be a huge transition for him, so I tried to opt for a school that reflected the style I’d be teaching him in later. We were able to go and observe one day to make sure the school lined up with our views, and I was able to talk to the teacher to confirm that the school was the right fit.

Our preschool wasn’t all-day-every-day. A lot of people choose to go to a preschool that is all day, 5 days a week. And that’s great for a lot of families. For me, I wanted something that was structured, but also offered the flexibility for me to supplement at home (and help transition him into learning from home), while still helping him have his needs met at school. So, I opted for a preschool that met for half days, part of the week.

I could get involved at my son’s school. I wanted the option to be involved at my son’s school, without being so involved that he wasn’t getting the full experience. I’ve found that balance by being the “parent helper substitute” which means I come in on days when the regular parent helper isn’t available to come, and allows me to get involved without being there all the time and giving my tot the distance he needs to learn.

The school featured small class sizes with only about 8 kids total and 4 kids per adult in the classroom. Small class sizes allowed for dedicated focus on the kids, and made sure that no child’s needs were overlooked.

Many kids who attend are later homeschooled. Our teacher said that the school was about 50/50 on future homeschoolers vs. students who attended public or private school after. I liked that my son would be making connections with kids who may be in our homeschooling group in the future. That isn’t to say his other friendships formed in preschool won’t be long-lasting, but it is to say that he will be able to move forward in homeschooling with some familiar faces.

For me, it seems like offering my son preschool as an option before we homeschool is a fair decision. I don’t feel like it’s hypocritical of me to send my son to school while advocating for homeschooling. I think that, in the end, it comes down to what’s right for your family, what’s right for your child’s personal needs, and what feels right to you.

And for us, that means preschool for a year before we start our homeschool journey. And that’s very okay with me.