To the Mom Considering Home Education

Growing up as a home school kid in the 90's, "regular" school kids often voiced either their jealousy or genuine curiosity. "Do you get to sleep in? What about snow days? Do you spend the day in your pajamas?? Your mom is your teacher?! 

Now that I am a home school mom the opinions and questions are a bit different. "Oh I could never do that!" and"When are you going to send your kids to real school?" 

And my favorite..."How do you make sure your kids don't turn out weird?" 

We'll talk weird in a moment but for now allow me to address the first statement.

1) When a fellow mom mentions that she could never home educate...

Pardon my snarkiness, (all these thoughts truly are coming from a place of love) but yeah, I categorically disagree. I've heard too many stories and seen too much evidence. I feel the need to even post on this because I believe there are a lot of moms out there that may want to give it a try but are intimidated, unsure and need a little nudging.  

Well I aint gonna lie. I do my best to speak the truth on this blog and home learning sure does have its difficult days. But it is also a wonder. One of the biggest blessings of my life.

Veteran home school moms quite often remark how it was the best, yet hardest thing they have ever done. Isn't that life though? Whatever is worthwhile is not easy. 

I also suppose that mothers believe they can't home educate because we have a strong tendency to absorb what the world around us teaches. And quite frankly, we've been told over and over again that kids HAVE to learn XYZ by a certain time period. We've absorbed the ideology that they NEED a certified teacher or else they are doomed. They'll be living on the streets if they don't check the right boxes by the right amount of time. I am done checking boxes y'all and you can be too.

(Formal education teachers here's where I want to express that I love you and I am grateful for you. You are grossly underappreciated, underpaid and undervalued. Seriously, I could go on all day. You rock. )

Well here's the thing - if everybody sent their kids to daycare to learn to walk we'd start to believe that only daycare teachers can teach kids to walk. But we know that is not true! What do kids need to learn to walk? Encouragement and space and time. Education is no different. Heck, if disorganized, forgetful me can do it, then you can too. Mama you love your child more than anyone. There are so many resources out there. You can figure it out. Time speeds up the older they get, so spend your time learning and living with your kids. You can teach them. And I doubt you will regret it when you are old and gray.

Okay 2nd question/objection: When are you going to send your kids to real school?

 To that I often want to ask what do you mean by real? Truth is what is real. Education is relaying the truth. Also is there anywhere else that children can learn about the world than in the home? Kids learn to cook and manage a home. They learn to work out disagreements. All in an environment where they are experiencing familial support. Unconditional love. Also, when else will they be in a room with people the same age for six hours a day, asked to sit perfectly still and never question anything that is being fed in their ears?

And that leads us to the last mama objection. We want our kids to question what they hear. We can't blindly follow the parade. We all must be unique and critical thinkers. God gave us a mind and different gifts so that we could make a difference

Gasp! But then we might be weird, right?. What if  our home learners turn out weird? What if they're un-socialized?

Well  first, since we tend to act like whom we hang around with I guess our kids will be as weird as we are

(For the record, there are certainly really cool home-educated children out there even if I was not one of them. Also, really cool home school moms)

And if the cool kids today are in a tik-tok haze then yes let's be weird. If the "normal" students today are being introduced to pornographic sketches in Kindergarten then yes let them be weird. And if being progressive today means that a student requests litter boxes be placed in their classroom so they can fulfill their felt need to act like a furry creature then yes by all means (please, for the love!) let my kids be the weirdest. 

And lastly, I'm told, that the students have been told, that school is not for socialization. Have we forgotten that? 

Socialization is simply a relatedness with those around you. A home educated kid has more time. More support to hone in on what gives them joy.  To learn logic and poetry. To study religion and discuss the Biblical worldview on s*x. To cozy up with hot chocolate and take turns making a crock-pot meal. 

Let me let you in on some of my dark secrets...if I can home educate any one can. Somehow I've managed to teach all three of my girls to read (including my amazing beautiful daughter with profound dyslexia.) while I worked full-time in ministry nonetheless. I am pretty sure that I have  ADHD and I'm really good at putting on a confident front but inside I question my choices virtually non-stop. But here we are testing above grade level and doing life-school together.

My secrets? All the things that you can employ as you live and learn with your kids. Prayer. And humility and good friends. And online math curriculums. And podcasts. Oh my, praise the Lord for the trailblazers form the 80's and 90's who are podcasting their successes and failures into our earbuds.  

Mama, you are your kids' biggest cheerleader. You can do this! Do the research, take a stab at it. And as Stephen Crowder recently said: It just maybe one of the biggest gifts you can give your children.