A Word from a Homeschool Mom
I was a homeschool mom before it was cool. That is, I was walking my way through a homeschooling journey long before COVID-19 forced most families to home-educate their children. Homeschooling to me has been about the journey, the highs and the lows rolled into one. That’s a fancy way of saying that my kids drive me bonkers and it’s still very, very difficult to find the perfect balance between being a teacher and parent. The truth of the matter is that being a teacher and being a parent are one in the same. To be a parent is to teach and to be a teacher is to parent. With that said, let me break homeschooling down for you.
First, forget everything you thought you knew about what it is to be a teacher. Forget everything you thought you knew about homeschooling. Come to the table with an open mind and open heart. In the long term, your kids need you - their parent - more than they need to learn long division or diagramming a sentence. They need love. That doesn’t mean you can’t be firm and that doesn’t mean you can’t have rules. It just means that your primary goal while your children are home during this relatively short amount of time, is making sure they feel secure and loved. Only when that’s established can the learning begin. I feel a little bit like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid saying all this, but it’s true. “Wax on, wax off.”
Let’s talk about HOW to homeschool. Sometimes (and more frequently than most of us would like to admit) we don’t feel up to par in explaining complicated math, science or ELA topics. Most likely, all we remember from our own experiences in high school math is how much we hated algebra, trigonometry, calculus, whatever! We were taught to learn it, regurgitate it onto our tests and forget it. Want better for your kids! Let them see the beauty in mathematics. Educating your kids at home has given you a glorious opportunity to learn beside them. You’ll have more time to dig in deeper, using multiple resources from Youtube, websites and even Pinterest to develop both of your math skills. If your child just can’t quite grasp it and tensions are getting high - know when to let things go for a bit. If tears are spilling, you more than likely already pushed too far. These days are unique in that time is your friend. Revisit that tricky question later.
Assuming everyone has been given the school work from their school teachers online, the next thing you should know is WHEN and WHERE. Every family is different and just like the regular homeschool families do it differently, so can all of you. However, my experience has taught me a few things. Education at home should not and will never look like education in a classroom setting. It can look like writing a science report on the porch, doing multiplication problems in the grass, or listening to audio books while jumping on a trampoline. When we aren’t all confined to our homes, homeschoolers make the world their playground. Mixing up your environment makes learning energizing. And as far as when, your schedule is YOURS to make. My family prefers a more loose schedule because math may take 10 minutes one day, 45 minutes another or maybe we just need a day off, so not at all. My personal goal is to finish all “school work” in the morning so that our afternoons are free. Maybe your kids are more apt to do their schoolwork in the evenings. Or maybe they need to have it broken up throughout the day. My recommendation is to play around with what works for you and not punish yourself if you need a change because it’s just not working.
If you’ve read nothing else, I hope you read this: It’s important to not compare your experiences and your family with how others get through this time. You got this! To put it in perspective, when your kids go back to the classroom, it’s going to be an adjustment for everyone (even that child whose parents made it seem perfect on social media).
This is a rare time in all of our lives to get back to the basics - family togetherness. Don’t waste this precious opportunity with your kids by trying to be perfect. Enjoy the journey with all the highs and all the lows - even if your kids drive you just a little bonkers.
Written by Ashley Dawson, homeschooling mother of 3
-(1).png){kind=logo}
