I would say that a healthy instructing of children how to work -- from an early age -- is not only key to being able to homeschool, but also key to being able to lead a normal (one-income, no birth control) Catholic family lifestyle.

That's rule #1 if you're going to have more than about 2 children: they HAVE to carry their own weight. As soon as they're able, they need to help out. It's only fair, and life isn't about play, play, play AT ANY AGE. This is the valley of tears. Once you're done with school, you work. Even in old age, you have to worry about your health, and your children and grandchildren. Plus you might be volunteering at Church. You never get to just sit around and "play" all day.

You get to rest in Eternity -- not before. :)

Also, for a Catholic, one of the most important things you teach your children is MORTIFICATION, or "doing that which you don't want to do" (very closely related to "NOT doing that which you WANT to do").

One of the main advantages to country living is that parents are forced even more to teach their children to work. That, along with a more "natural" environment, is the primary advantage of such a lifestyle.

With city/suburb living, life is too convenient. You don't have to require much of your children, so many parents don't.

That's rule #1 if you're going to have more than about 2 children: they HAVE to carry their own weight. As soon as they're able, they need to help out. It's only fair, and life isn't about play, play, play AT ANY AGE. This is the valley of tears. Once you're done with school, you work. Even in old age, you have to worry about your health, and your children and grandchildren. Plus you might be volunteering at Church. You never get to just sit around and "play" all day.

This is a very good point, and really a "side benefit" of having a large family -- it helps you to be a better parent by forcing you to make your children pull their weight instead of "taking the easy way out" and just requiring very little of the children because that's easier than disciplining them.

With city/suburb living, life is too convenient. You don't have to require much of your children, so many parents don't.

I have seen people say this from time-to-time ... but I really wonder how everyone else finds suburban living so easy! I've never found it so myself and there is always work to be done and extra things that could and would be done if we had more time.

We basically live suburban living. Technically we live in a small village, but it is so close to the city that it can scarcely be called rural and our property is only 3/4 of an acre. I haven't found it much different to living "officially" in the suburbs. But we still have lots to do, mostly homeschooling, but it's also a part-time job sourcing clean organic food and making connections with farmers, cooking every meal from scratch, making our own (chemical-free) laundry detergent and soap, and more mundane things like dishes and keeping the house tidy. These are all things that would be the same no matter where we live. I don't think we will ever have a shortage of chores for our children to do.

We've gotten on a bit of a tangent from my explaining myself to Geremia ... the upshot of all of it is my response to the OP's question "Why Not Homeschool?", and that is, that there are legitimate reasons for people not to homeschool if they have a trustworthy traditional Catholic school nearby. The Church has really promoted Catholic schools in the past. I think there are many benefits to them. There are also many benefits (and a lot of work) to homeschooling. If you don't have access to a good Catholic school homeschooling is mandatory as far as I see it (even if all you can manage is giving your children some books to read -- anything is better than the indoctrination centres called public schools). But I don't see homeschooling as inherently better or morally superior to a proper Catholic school. And for many, if the option is there, I think a good Catholic school would be the better option.

Secret Societies are doing their job, being secret!  We take the words of the young, we believe or we don't.  Of course there was no one with a camera moment.  But we know it is happening and that is enough.

Maybe this subject has been brought up before but since I am new here I am still learning to maneuver.

With all the concerning things that are happening in private and public schools why not homeschool?

How many of you use a public school or private school for your child(ren)'s education? Is the school SSPX, CMRI, SSPV?

Why do you not homeschool?

Just curious.

OBrien

I believed what I had been told for YEARS: that I ought to send my kids to the SSPX's school.

After what I experienced, I cannot say I would do that again. I would strongly recommend against it, in fact.