Homeschooling is Neither Privilege Nor Sacrifice, But Right and Joy

I keep hearing people frame homeschooling as either a privilege or a sacrifice. Both narratives miss the mark entirely. Homeschooling isn’t something I’m fortunate enough to do, nor is it something I’m nobly giving up my life to accomplish. It’s simply a right I’m exercising and, honestly, a joy I get to experience daily.Let me flip the script: attending public school was the privilege and the sacrifice in our family.

The Privilege Was Theirs, Not Ours

When my children were in public school, we were extending an enormous privilege to that institution. We were handing over our children, the most precious people in our lives, for seven hours a day, trusting the system with their minds, their hearts, and their formative years. We were allowing someone else to shape their understanding of the world, their sense of self, and their love of learning.The school had the privilege of access to our children. Not the other way around.

Think about what families give to public schools: our tax dollars, our time volunteering, our participation in fundraisers, our compliance with schedules and policies we had no say in creating, and most significantly, our children themselves. The system depends entirely on families choosing to participate. That’s privilege.

The Sacrifice Was Ours

While our children were in public school, our family sacrificed constantly. We sacrificed time together during the best hours of the day. We sacrificed our ability to travel, explore, and learn according to our children’s natural rhythms and interests. We sacrificed flexibility when a child needed extra sleep, was deeply engaged in a project, or simply needed a slower day.

We sacrificed watching our children discover new concepts. Someone else got to see their eyes light up when math suddenly made sense or when they fell in love with a new book. We sacrificed being present for the bulk of their daily struggles and triumphs.

We sacrificed our values at times, compromising on what we believed was best for our children to fit into a one-size-fits-all system. We sacrificed our children’s individual needs to accommodate classroom management necessities, standardized testing schedules, and curriculum pacing that had nothing to do with our actual kids.

That was sacrifice.

Homeschooling Is a Right

Choosing how to educate your children isn’t a privilege bestowed by society, it’s a fundamental right. Parents have always been the primary educators of their children, long before institutional schooling existed. Homeschooling isn’t an alternative or an exception; it’s the original model.

When we started homeschooling, we weren’t accessing some special luxury. We were exercising our right to direct our children’s upbringing and education. Just as we have the right to choose their medical care, their diet, and their religious instruction, we have the right to choose their education.

This right doesn’t depend on our income, our ZIP code, or our credentials. It’s not something granted to us by the state. It’s inherent in parenthood itself.

Homeschooling Is a Joy

Here’s what people miss when they call homeschooling a sacrifice: I get to be there. I get to witness my children’s intellectual awakening. I get to see the exact moment a concept clicks. I get to explore subjects alongside them, rediscovering wonder I’d forgotten.

We read great books together and discuss them. We take walks in the middle of the day. We follow interests down rabbit holes that wouldn’t fit in a classroom schedule. We have time for deep conversations. We build relationships that aren’t squeezed into hurried evenings and stressed weekends.

Yes, homeschooling takes time and energy. So does any worthwhile endeavor. But I don’t experience it as sacrifice any more than I experience playing with my children or having dinner together as sacrifice. It’s simply life, the life I want to live with my family.

Reframing the Conversation

The privilege-or-sacrifice framing does a disservice to homeschooling families. It suggests we’re either lucky enough to afford some luxury or we’re martyrs giving up our lives. Neither captures the reality.

We’re not privileged—we’re making choices and trade-offs like every family does. Some families prioritize a larger home; we prioritize flexible schedules. Some families prioritize dual incomes; we prioritize direct involvement in education. Different choices, not different privilege levels.

We’re not sacrificing—we’re investing in what matters most to us. We’re choosing presence over absence, relationship over convenience, and customization over standardization. Those aren’t sacrifices; they’re decisions that align with our values.

The Bottom Line

When someone suggests I’m privileged to homeschool, I want to ask: privileged to spend time with my own children? Privileged to fulfill my responsibility as a parent? Privileged to exercise a fundamental right?When someone suggests I’m sacrificing, I want to ask: what exactly am I sacrificing? The opportunity to outsource my children’s education? The chance to be less involved in their daily lives?Homeschooling isn’t privilege or sacrifice. It’s right and joy. The sooner we stop framing it otherwise, the sooner we can have honest conversations about education, parental rights, and what families truly need to thrive.