Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - I could never homeschool
So many people I run into say this to me. I wonder if they think A. I am really ruining my kids chance at a future career or B. I am that much smarter than they are that I can confidently and accurately teach my kids all they need to know, or C. I am superwoman. I prefer B myself. But I know the truth. I am an average housewife of average intelligence and education. I do have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as my guide and a great calling from God to protect my precious children form the truth of the world right now. So I will attempt to explain how homeschooling works and is possible for many Moms.
OK first of all, homeschooling Moms are not SuperWoman in disguise. We are super women who choose to answer a call from God to keep our children home and let them blossom in the protective atmosphere of home. We struggle daily with scheduling and time management. More often than not our children learn in such a way that traditional schooling would not be all that educational for our kids. This does not mean however that we are recluses. We search our opportunities for our children to reach out and make connections with people of all kinds. For instance, my daughters are volunteering with an adult day care center calling Bingo and serving snack. Some people do sports, (my daughter would rather drown that do sports) some do 4-H. As many opportunities as there are for adults to be busy in the community there are the same for children, you just need to look.
My sister-in-law said to me that she didn't feel qualified to homeschool because her daughter was 4 and she hadn't even taught her to speak correctly yet. Let me just say that I am learning right alongside my daughters in many ways. I use curriculum and research. The first question we have to ask is "what is the purpose of education?". In my humble opinion it is not impart knowledge but to teach a child to find knowledge. So the question is not can I teach my child everything she needs to know but can I help her find the information and learn it? And that answer is a resounding yes. It may stretch me academically but I can do it. For instance I recently got over my fear of the Public Library, mostly because I have no money left to buy books, but also to help my daughter never have that fear. In a future post I will outline curriculum choices (there are so many that I often have to throw out entire catalogs in order to not see yet another good thing) and approaches to homeschooling.
Let me sum up this post by saying that we are all qualified to teach our children. We in fact are their first teachers. If I can teach my child to talk, a formidable feat indeed, and to eat, go to the bathroom, and dress herself why then am I not qualified to teach her to take knowledge off a page and own it, understand it and experience it? The simple answer is that I am.
I love homeschooling, that is not to say that it isn't the hardest thing I have ever done at times. I feel a special calling to it, in our case public school is just not an option that God allows. I know everyone has their own calling. In future posts I will cover curriculum choices, educational approaches, scheduling options, and time management as well as other subjects that come to mind or that people request.
Lovingly, Ann
