Home School Curriculum Experts

In my last post I talked about the freedoms of homeschooling. In the interest of honesty and fairness, this one will explore my responsibilities as a homeschooler For anyone who has not homeschooled, I don’t want to paint an overly rosy picture of a family gathered around the fire with the girls’ heads resting on mom’s knee while I read some classic of literature. Are there days like that? Yes ( I had one back in 2005:). But I have been discouraged over the years when I would read about a family who seemed to be the ideal homeschool family, and then I would compare that to the reality of what goes on around my house most days. Do I love homeschooling, and can I not even imagine any other way of life for our family? Absolutely. Are there days when I want to run screaming into the distance (at least as far as the bus stop) and wait for someone to pick either me or my kids up? I would be lying if I denied it. The truth is, homeschooling is hard work. I am not telling you anything if you are a homeschooler – you discovered that your first week. Trying to get four kids with five different learning styles and a lot of drama to get it in gear and get their work done… well, let’s just say I struggle with the whole idea of a “gentle, quiet spirit.” And none of that learning can even take place until curriculum is researched and bought; kids are registered with an umbrella school or the like; kids are convinced, dads are convinced, moms are convinced…that this is the direction we all need to go as a family. I must admit, I do love curriculum – researching, comparing, buying…it’s the actual teaching that involves work for me. I know there are some homeschoolers who are not like this, but most of the homeschoolers I know are constantly worried that their kids aren’t getting enough…grammar, foreign language, social contacts, field trips, advanced math, you name it. The funny thing is, for other people I can see that they are doing just great by their kids – smart, well-adjusted, happy, social, compassionate, involved. It’s just hard to see it for yourself. A lot of us have that problem. We know we have the complete responsibility to oversee and provide for our kids’ education, and that is a daunting task. A great opportunity, but nevertheless daunting. It is easier to give that responsibility to someone else in some ways, because to shoulder it by yourself means that if your kid fails, in whatever area, you feel that you have failed them. I am not saying this to discourage you. I am saying this to encourage you…that to feel this way is normal. In my mind, no good homeschool parent ever thinks they have it all together and that their kids are getting the best of everything. It is that very angst that keeps us on our toes, keeps us pushing through that hard math, keeps us looking for the best way to motivate that child, keeps us searching for good curriculum, keeps us from calling the local school and enrolling them tomorrow (despite our threats to the contrary)…in short, a good homeschool parent is an insecure one. (Oh, wait, did that come out right?) So when you have a day (or days) of failure, when your kid has cried for the last week and says they don’t understand, when you hear that the kid next door is in the band and two clubs at school and you wonder if you are doing right by your child….take heart. Corinthians says "”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” I am not homeschooling because I am a great teacher or even a great parent – I am doing it because that’s what I am called to do. God will take up the slack.