Frets of a Home Schooling Parent
My husband and I have been home schooling our boys from the beginning. He worked for seven years in one of the largest public school systems in the region and said his job was the main reason we were schooling our boys at home.
The reasons for me were multi-fold. I enjoy working with the boys and get a lot (about them) from our time together. Home schooling also gives them more time to explore and adventure – sometimes around the house and sometimes in the form of field trips. They study all of the major subjects, plus they do memory verses and stuff with Boy Scouts.
There are only a few times each year when I really question the home school path we have chosen. The questions usually form around the activities at the local school, but sometimes it is my own frustration or that of one of the boys. I need someone that has been there and done than and can give me the peace I am looking to uncover.
Questions of a Home Schooling Parent
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1. Am I causing my children to miss out on fundamental memories by keeping them away from annuals, school dances, and theme days in the halls?
2. Is it selfish to send them to school because “it would be nice to have the day to myself” or is it selfish to think that I can do a better job educating my children than the public school system?
3. Are they really learning, because there are days when I would swear that they are just filling in blanks and flipping pages?
4. How do I know that what I am doing is the right path – will there be street signs pointing the way?
5. When I look back in five years – ten years – twenty years – will I kick myself for the choices I did, or didn’t make?
I know that I am not alone in my struggle. Any parent that has, is or will ever take the journey into the world of home schooling will face some form of these questions. It would be great to get some responses from parents and even children that have gone on before us!
1. Am I causing my children to miss out on fundamental memories by keeping them away from annuals, school dances, and theme days in the halls?
I doubt it…when I think back to school I remember none of this…maybe one dance and how awkward it was, but the rest isn’t even a faded memory.
2. Is it selfish to send them to school because “it would be nice to have the day to myself” or is it selfish to think that I can do a better job educating my children than the public school system?
Two questions in one 🙂 Of course you want a day to yourself, teaching them is hard work…and if you don’t take care of you, you can’t take care of them. Think about what they tell you on an airplane – “in the even of an emergency, put your mask on first…”
As for being selfish about doing a better job…that’s not selfish at all, that’s looking out for their best interest.
3. Are they really learning, because there are days when I would swear that they are just filling in blanks and flipping pages?
The number of days they do that for you are going to be far less than the number of days that they would do that in a pubic classroom. Sometimes it seems like public school believes that filled in papers = learning.
4. How do I know that what I am doing is the right path – will there be street signs pointing the way?
Pray. I wish I could say that God will give you audible direction, but I don’t think he will. However, you’ll will see successes if you look for them – just keep an eye out.
5. When I look back in five years – ten years – twenty years – will I kick myself for the choices I did, or didn’t make?
Probably. That’s the advantage of hindsight, it’s 20/20. But we can’t play the what if game, the grass is always greener. Celebrate the successes and learn from the failures. Figure out what your children’s strengths are and what yours are and focus your energy there.