Homeschool doesn’t have to be overwhelming and intimidating. It is all about connection!
“Nope, I am not homeschooling, I don’t like the idea of being their teacher and their mom.”
Yep, that was a direct quote from yours truly when I had my first child eleven years ago. Never say never. When it came time to discuss schooling for our firstborn, we weighed the pros and cons, and in our hearts we knew that homeschooling was where we wanted to be.
I didn’t have a clue what I was doing (thankfully my first was super easy and caught on fast), but I knew that I was shaping a world changer and that I wanted to take the journey, bumps and curves and all. I survived those first years and I am going on year 7 now and currently homeschooling our oldest four.
Homeschool is a hot topic these days, these last few months have seen a significant rise in parents ready to start that journey. So really, what is it? Sure, it is a school at home, technically, but it is so much more.
Perhaps you’re in a place where your searching for curriculum, maybe figuring out how you’re going to fit it all in. You may be scouring Pinterest for creative activities to make it fun, or maybe your goal is just to survive. Wherever you are, my first advice would be to rest. This journey doesn’t have to be complicated (trust me, I’ve tried that and it wasn’t fun for anyone).
I struggled my first couple of years of homeschool. My biggest obstacle was comparison. I felt the need to adjust my teaching every time I saw another homeschool family doing something different. I taught out of fear…fear I wouldn’t cover everything and fear that my kids wouldn’t know what other kids know.
But something happened that changed me. I started spending time with the Creator and I began to let Him tell me who I was. This was one of the best things that happened to me. It released me to teach from a place of who I was and not who another homeschool parent was.
You will know your children better than anyone, teach from that place. Do not be fooled into thinking you need all this fancy curriculum and that you need to “keep up with the Joneses.” When I took a step back and remembered my main goal, for them to experience the JOY of learning, I stopped trying to cram the information in just to keep up.
One homeschool father put it well, “Yes, there will be holes in their learning, but when they don’t know the answer, they will know where to find it.” That is the beauty of homeschooling, it can light the fire of learning so that they seek it out on their own.
There are still frustrating days, but I have learned to stop, take a break, and regroup. If it takes a year to get through material that should have taken 6 months, so be it. And on the reverse side, if it takes 6 months to get through material that should take a year, so be it.
Wherever the cards fall, did they develop a love of learning? Don’t sacrifice connection for material covered. I am not interested in checking things off the list, I am interested in seeing the light in their eyes when it finally clicks.
So, I say to you who are on this journey be free, be you, there is no one size fits all. Tailor it to YOUR child. And do not, do not, do not compare yourself to other homeschool families. There is freedom for moms and dads to be different and unique in their approach. Oh yeah, and enjoy seeing the light in their eyes, because that is something to treasure!
~Amanda