Is Homeschooling For You?

Are you thinking about homeschooling your kiddos? Maybe the thought has crossed your mind and you think to yourself that there is no way you would even attempt it. It’s possible you have a desire to give it a try but you are fearful to begin. The thoughts of ruining your kids of any chances of being successful in life haunt you or you think that you barely made it through school yourself so how could you possibly educate your own children. If you are having these thoughts and other fearful thinking…you are at the right place! Don’t worry, I had those very same thoughts plus some. I probably had every emotion and fear when we made the decision to homeschool. I also had so much joy in being with my kids each day and instilling in them not only their lessons for the day, but strong values that would carry them through life.

*Be sure to click on the link under blog topics titled, Homeschooling and you will find all the other posts on this subject. Or click here to find the other posts on this topic.

I like to say that I homeschooled my two children when homeschooling wasn’t cool! I had a desire to home educate when my first child was barely to the toddler stage. When she was ready for Kindergarten I desperately wanted to but I didn’t have a clue how to go about it. During the middle of the year a friend that I knew when I was a teen introduced me to her homeschooling world. Long story short, this lady mentored me and I was on my way to begin our first grade year at home. I loved every second of it. I took each year as it came as I was always wanting to make sure I was doing the right thing for my kids as well as me.

Fifteen years later both of my kids graduated from Dillow Christian Academy. It was cool to give a name to your homeschool and that was the name we gave ourself. Was I a perfect homeschool mom? No, I wasn’t! If I could go back, I would be much better at it than I was knowing what I know now. My kids gave me much grace as this was a new thing for me and I was like a kid in a candy store. I wanted to read everything possible about homeschooling. When I would hear about something that was working great for someone else, I wanted to try it. We didn’t have the internet like we do now and when I would get the homeschool catalog in the mail with so many resources available, I would drool over that catalog. I wanted everything and I wanted to do everything. The main thing holding me back was the monetary resources.

My husband and I made the decision that I would stay home and raise our kiddos even if it meant we drove one car and lived on a very limited budget before we even started our family. So, when we began to homeschool, the cost of educational supplies was very costly. The Lord provided so amazingly all that we needed each year.

So many moms would say to me, “There is no way I can teach my children. They don’t mind me and I can’t teach them how to do anything!” That is a scary statement to make I would think. If you have children that don’t mind you or you can’t teach them anything….that might be a clue that some serious changes need to be made and homeschooling could be part of that answer. I always asked, “Did you potty train them?” Did you teach them their ABC’s? That’s called teaching. If you can potty train, you can teach! Isn’t potty training so time consuming and hard? Yes, but oh, so worth it.

I’ve heard every possible excuse and even accusatory statements on the subject of educating our own children. One was, “Well, I went to public school and nothings wrong with me!” First of all, I never said anything was wrong with you and guess what? I went to public school myself. I have good memories and I have some bad memories. Which in homeschooling you will have both as well. While educating my children I never made any remarks to anyone about their kids being in public school but boy, did I get remarks made to me. It’s amazing how when someone doesn’t understand what you are doing, instead of talking to you about it, they will make fun of or try really hard to make you feel like you don’t know what you are doing. They will do the same to your kids. Trust me, I’ve seen it all, heard it all and had a few that even tried to ridicule what I was doing. Remember, I was homeschooling before it was cool. These days it is so much easier and accepted, but, I have a feeling there is still some struggle in acceptance for some.

Today, when I hear stories of what all is going on in our world, our country and in our own cities, there would be nothing stopping me from having my kids at home learning how to read, write and arithmetic-ing, as they say. What a privilege it is to converse, teach, play and discuss everything about life with your kids each and every day.

If you love and enjoy being around your kids and you want your values passed on to your kids as well as making sure they learn things that will help them make it in this world, then homeschooling is a great way to do that. Sure, there are naysayers who had a bad experience, saw or heard something bad about a homeschool child or family, but guess what….those are few and far between. Unlike the horror stories we hear each and every day that is happening in our pubic education system. Those are not few and far between. I always say, grab a couple of dice and give them a roll……that is the chance you will take with your children by putting them in the care of a system that doesn’t have your values. To me……it wasn’t worth the risk.

I will be sharing more on the topic of homeschooling. I have a feeling that many are looking into the possibilities and doing some research just as I did all those years ago. How thankful I am that I took the plunge and gave it my best and not because of me, but, I believe because of God’s amazing grace my two kids are amazing adults. Our daughter is now a wife and mom of 6. When she was young, she loved learning. She was always reading and learning something new. She had thought at one time of going into politics of some sort but at 18 she knew that her calling was to be a wife and mom and design a home that honored God. Our days were full of choir practice, piano lessons, ice skating lessons, church youth groups, cooking/baking, friends and family. Today, she now home educates her children and runs a beautiful home as well as inspires her husband in their family business. Our son is married and has a new baby boy and what fun to watch him as a dad! He is also an animator for a major animation studio. He has animated many movies with top studios all the while having his own studio and animating for many clients of his own. When he was young and in the midst of homeschooling, our days were full of piano lessons, school work, basketball, building forts with his dad, church, art, guitar lessons, worship band, self learning animation, family and friends. Oh, how I’d love to go back to those days, but, I will settle for the sweet memories and sit back and watch both of our kiddos soar.

If you know someone who is thinking of Homeschooling, encourage them to do some research and talk to people who have been there and done that! It’s worth checking out. Your kids are worth checking into it and seeing if it’s a good fit for you and your family. We will talk more on this subject coming soon!

Until next time,