Let’s talk about homeschooling…It’s funny, in my last 8 years of homeschooling, I have never heard so much talk about the subject. However, since the recent pandemic and closing of a majority of schools, it seems like it is one of the topics at hand. Here’s the thing, though, the majority of those that have had to bring their school work home needs to realize that that is not technically or even legally defined as homeschooling.
Yes, you are doing school at home, but it is the continuation of the education from the public institution led by a teacher that has defined what you will learn and has given you the options of how you will pass or fail this year. We are in a time that businesses, church buildings, co-ops, gyms, entertainment facilities, museums, aquariums, parks, and other institutions are closed. We are in a time that for some are under financial strain and have been overtaken with uncertainty. For some, this time may even be traumatic for them.
We are in a time where the normal day to day happenings in the household have been uprooted and are operating with the lack of normalcy. In essence, it is a time of crisis for our nation that for the most part has directly affected the majority of families in one way or another. I say all that to say this, based on its basis of normalcy and legal definition, you are not homeschooling, but rather you are crisis schooling. I want to point this out because my concern is if there are parents out there that have desired that sometime in their lifetime to homeschool your child that this time of crisis is giving you a distorted view of what that would be like. Please do not base your opinion of homeschool or future decisions to homeschool on the current circumstances of what this feels like or looks like.
Even as a homeschooler, our homeschool has experienced disruptions due to the current state of our country and has been limited by state executive orders. The fullness, enrichment, and flexibility have been altered. This is not a complaint, it’s just a fact of how things are. Nevertheless, we have adjusted and made things work with what we are able to do in the current scenario. In fact, it’s afforded us the time to reevaluate certain aspects of our homeschool and we have improved portions that will be implemented next year.
You have to make the best out of what you have while continuing to pray for God to move in situations. I’d like to say to the parents that feel like you have had your dream to homeschool squashed because for whatever reason you feel like this moment of crisis schooling has made you feel negative or defeated in some way: I want you to know, YOU CAN DO IT!!! Do not think for one second that is what homeschooling is like.
First, YOU get to choose your curriculum based on the way your child learns. You get to choose how they learn. You get to see the beauty of when you taught them a new concept and they get the “ah-ha” moment. You get to have field trips and explore past the books, outside the walls of your house. You set your schedule. You set your grading scale. You are in control (for the most part) of how and what and when homeschool happens for you. Yes, in the Commonwealth of Virginia (as in most states), there are regulations you need to abide by to legally homeschool. However, they are extremely doable.
So, is homeschool always rainbows and butterflies….NO!! Many days before the rainbows we had storms…sometimes tornadoes. Also, before we got butterflies, many days it felt like we were suffocating in a cocoon. In my beginning years, I said a number of times, “I quit, let’s enroll him elsewhere.” Tears have been shed from both him and myself. We have had times that we both just needed to go to our own corner and cool off. However, I didn’t quit, he didn’t quit and we continued on with much prayer, much research, grace, forgiveness, and an outpouring of much-needed patience.
Homeschooling has allowed me to grow and has revealed areas of myself that I needed to surrender to Jesus or have him heal and change in me. As a Christian family, it has afforded me the opportunity to minister to our son and present opportunities to teach great character lessons. It’s led to many discussions and how they equate to our lives and the real world of the now or the future. In fact, it was during a homeschool day after reading a bible lesson that my son gave his life to Christ. What an amazing gift to be able to lead your own child to the Lord. One of the greatest lessons I learned was that he will eventually get it. No matter what it is, it will eventually click. Just don’t stress it, or it will hinder the learning process.
Enjoy the time you have with one of the greatest gifts that God can give. Enjoy watching them be formed and developed. Enjoy watching them grow and learn. Don’t get caught up in the overwhelmingness of things or even the killer of comparison. Find a curriculum that works for you or make it work for you. Nothing is written in stone. You guys can do this…whether it’s crisis schooling, homebound schooling, or homeschooling…y’all can do this. Just breathe, pray, and revisit that thought and dream of homeschooling, because it really is a rewarding and beautiful thing if it is your desire to do so.
