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I heard it again this past week.
The response that grates on my nerves.
The response I often get when people find out we homeschool.
The response that people don’t really mean.
The response that I used to give before we started homeschooling.
That response is…
I’ve heard that when people approach the end of life, their priorities become very clear. They realize that many things that seemed significant in the past aren’t that important after all. They spend the time they have left with loved ones, and they reflect on the lasting legacy they’ll be leaving behind.
My oldest son is now a high school junior and, in some ways, I find myself thinking along the same lines. Thankfully he’s just moving on to the next stage of life, but to me it feels like the end of an era.
Time is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child. Time with you. Time with other people who love them. And even time alone.
In this series on How to Homeschool Preschool, we’ve already talked about the importance of playing (in Part 1) and character training (in Part 2). But, to do both of those things, you need time and you need to be intentional with it!
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Have you ever questioned your ability to educate your own kids? Are you scared to teach math or science (or any other subject) because you barely made it through those subjects yourself?
Or, have you wondered how homeschooling parents can teach their own kids when they aren’t certified teachers?
The “parents-can’t-homeschool-since-they-aren’t-certified-teachers” criticism is (unfortunately) still a common homeschool myth. I debunk it pretty thoroughly in my book, Think About Homeschooling: What It Is, What It Isn’t, & Why It Works, so you can check that out and put that myth to rest in your mind.
But, for now, I’d like to address those of you who are genuinely concerned that you won’t be able to teach your kids _______ (fill in the blank with your weakest subject).
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I could never homeschool because…
These are all concerns I had when our family first considered homeschooling and I hear non-homeschooling parents say things like this all the time.
It’s August…. The END of August….
If you’re being thrown into homeschooling unexpectedly, this might be the moment you start to panic.
Or, it might be when the panic you’ve felt rising for months turns into full-blown freaking out.
As a friend of mine says to lighten the mood when her kids are stressed out, “don’t worry… sausages!”
Take a deep breath. It’s going to be okay.
You never imagined yourself doing school at home. Or maybe you did, but not yet… and definitely not because schools closed suddenly during a pandemic! You don’t have the luxury of researching and planning over the summer months – this is happening NOW!
But for now – right now – you want to make the most of this. For the next three weeks or three months or however long it lasts, you want to take the lemons and make lemonade.
Has the word “homeschool” caught your attention lately?
Are you curious about it? Feeling called to it? Wondering if it’s something you should explore more?
Do you feel a little crazy for even considering such a counter-cultural concept?
That’s exactly where I was not too long ago.
I’ve never met anyone who loves every single part of their job.
When I used to work in architectural engineering, the two things I dreaded most were boring business meetings and plumbing diagrams. And if I had to attend a boring business meeting ABOUT plumbing diagrams… well, let’s just say that wasn’t my favorite day. There’s only so long a girl (at least THIS girl) can listen to someone explain the intricacies of sanitary vent lines before she’s forced to mentally escape to Aruba to preserve her mental health.
It’s no different with home education. Not the part about the plumbing and meetings (unless you mean pulling LEGOs out of the toilet and calling a family meeting to determine the culprit).
No. What I mean is, just like every other job, the role of home educator has its downsides.
Not too long ago, if you asked me if I like gardening, I’d have answered…
“No way! I kill plants!”
(I didn’t mean to kill them – it just happened. I’m pretty sure it had to do with forgetting to water them for months at a time…)
