Have you considered homeschooling? I mean REALLY considered homeschooling? Considered it to the point where you mention it to your family?
I’m guessing you get reactions from “ARE YOU NUTS?” to “No WAY!” to “That’s a cool idea!”.
Every family will react differently. How you react to them will determine your experience as a homeschooler.
How to respond to the Children
Children are creatures of habit. If you ask them, “Do you want to be homeschooled?” they would probably respond with, “What’s that?”. For my children it was an instantaneous “No WAY!” They didn’t want to leave their friends. They were scared. They didn’t want to change.
We responded by listening to everyone of their concerns. We as parents had made a decision, but we wanted our children to know that we would walk with them through the transition from public school to home school.
This required us (myself especially) to have a definite reason why we were going to educate at home and no longer send them to a government-sponsored school.
If your child is asking to be homeschooled, then this would be a mute point. However, if you have felt called to become the primary educator of your child, I would like to give you some tips for overcoming the sometimes subtle and/or outright rejection of the idea.
1. Have a game plan. You do not need to have everything planned. You do need to have a goal or mission statement in mind. Just what do you want your child to accomplish in the next 6 months? Are you going to de-school? (a process of unlearning structured learning patterns) Why are you homeschooling? If you are confident and sure in why and how you are going to homeschool, your children will feel more confident in what can be a scary transition for them.
2. Answer their questions and fears no matter how silly or mundane. You might as well get used to it right now. You will be answering questions. A lot. You may not always have the answer. However, you are going to need to be able to find the answer or help your child find the answer. Listen to your child. Even if it seems ridiculous to you that on Thursday of every month they have art time with Ms. L in the library, it’s important to them. Never discredit their feelings. You will be spending a lot of time together; now is not the time to place a wedge between you.
3. Involve them in making their learning decisions. One thing that helped my son was giving him the opportunity to research our curriculum. We spent a day at the homeschool bookstore. We looked over several different type of curriculums. I asked his opinion on the material. This gave him a sense of responsibility over his education. In return, he was less apt to fight me over the daily mundane subjects. After all…he had a hand in what books we used.
4. Give love in big doses. It is important to give your child tons of love during this time. Realize that they are moving from a routine they know. Even if they proclaim they ‘hate’ it, they will find days they miss the comfortable known instead of the sometimes messy unknown of homeschooling. There will be days they miss their friends, teachers and even the janitor. (That one was kind of funny!) Knowing that their parents love them and support them will help them to grow from this time.
5. Be honest. There will be days you don’t have a clue what you are doing. You will feel inadequate, unintelligent and downright insane for taking the responsibility of educating your children. Let your child see those days. Tell them how you feel. You will be surprised; they may hold the very key you need!
Never forget that homeschooling is way more than just learning reading, writing and math; it is a way of learning life. Life is very important. Even if all you get done on those days is chores and maybe a trip to visit Grandma who tells them stories, you are teaching them about life. Life is good. Never forget that.
I hope to be able to continue this series in the next week. I’d like to share how to deal with a spouse, grandparents, extended family and the community as a whole. I had planned (If you are a regular to my blog you know my dance with plans) a series of getting started homeschooling with a focus on Oregon. However, due to last week’s events, I’m behind and I’m dropping that series for now.
I hope you find this information helpful. I’m by no means an expert. This is only my 2nd year as a homeschooler. I’m still trying to find my way. Yet, I feel the things I have learned in 2 years are meant to be shared. May they be a blessing to you.
The Kids
The Parents
