Homeschooling….for real

I think sometimes people have ideas about homeschooling, what it is and what it isn’t. There are also people who have ideals of what it should be. I have found in homeschooling four boys that nothing is ever ideal. There are always something that will come up in schooling to change your idea about what things should look like.

You may realize that  you, yourself, are not perfect. You struggle with patience, with teaching division, and you really, really hate art.

Everyone is different, in their talents and teaching abilities, but if you think about it, each of us is teaching our children from the moment they are born. We look at them and encourage them in crawling, walking, smiling, cooing. We teach them not to touch the plugs and how to persevere, when they fall down.

When suddenly we are faced with the facts that we have to help them learn their letter sounds, or maybe we have a child who is brilliant and learns on his own, we still find we have to teach him diligence with his chores.

I find myself repeating over and over again, similar lines.

“Sit still.” “Slide your chair up.” “No, you may not go to the bathroom again.” “That letter is supposed to be a lower case. Rewrite it.”

It becomes wearying to be repeat yourself. I often have a headache by the end of the day. But, things are also very rewarding for me. My children have different struggles than some children in their learning. I do have to have help with some of the basics. I learned as a homeschooling mother, I am my son’s resource guide. I have to look out for him and find the resources for him. I have to practice, drill, and look for the things he is struggling in. I am their librarian, teacher, and drill sergeant.  I am teaching them how to get up for a job in the morning, to resolve issues in the work place when we have sibling rivalry.

Every teacher out there, no matter where they teach, has my admiration. I know what a hard job it is, and all the extra basic things that you teach on a daily basis.

Homeschooling is hard work. Plain and simple. We work on a daily basis to do what is best for our children, we know them better than most people, and work hard, not just in the hours of 7-3, but all day and sometimes all night with them.

If you know a homeschooling mom, please be careful that you encourage them and don’t judge them. There are bad homeschool mom’s out there, but if you question whether someone is one of those bad ones, please volunteer to help before judging them and condemning them. You never know what is going on behind the scenes and there may be learning issues you don’t know about.