Qualified?

Before I was married, I never thought I would homeschool.  My sister, who is seven years older then me, was homeschooling her children from the get go.  I never really talked to her about it, and figured the main reason she was doing it was because her husband wanted his family homeschooled because he had been.

Whenever I talked to anyone about it I would say "My sister homeschools, BUT she has her degree in Elementary Education, and has her kids in lots of extra curricular activities, so I'm sure they'll be fine."

I don't have a degree in Elementary Education (although I did take one Elementary Education class in college...loved it too, but I graduated a year or two earlier with my fine arts degree then I would have if I had done elementary ed).  Nor do I put my kids into TONS of extra curricular activities  (I do believe in going out of my way to be social though.)  By my own standards, I am not qualified.

I went to my mom's house this past week, and she brought out all my old school things for me to reminisce over.  I found a lot of my things from first grade.  I looked at the date and thought "there's no way Maxwell could write like this in three months!"  I thought "Would Maxwell do better scholastically in public school?"  Well, maybe right now he would, but in the long run?  Hummmm

I have felt unqualified off and on for the past few months.  But I know one thing I am qualified in: my knowledge of who my children are and what they need individually.  And an overworked, underpaid public school teacher who is trying her/his best with twenty other children in their class would not have this qualification.  So I guess I do have an advantage.  Subsequently my children have an advantage.

For instance, I know that Maxwell needs a group of boys that are his age and older to learn with and to have as examples, and so I am doing a boy's science club with the homeschool boys around me next school year.

I know that Hyrum is probably going to be behind in some of his schooling.  He has already been diagnosed as "Speech and Language Delayed" which means large groups frustrate him and it might mean that reading will come slowly as well.  I know that this next year he needs one on one time with me for preschool where there's a lot of repetition and not getting frustrated that he doesn't know something I've taught him 1,000 times.

I know that Daniel will be quick to learn.  I'm already planning on having Hyrum and Daniel on the same level soon.  Teaching them together, Hyrum a little late, and Daniel a little early.

So am I qualified or not?  I don't know, but I do know that I've seen success in home school families where moms have not been "qualified" by society's standards.   I guess time will tell, but I'm willing to try.

Filling Our Lamps

The Ebert's Four Year Plan book for this past year is called "Filling Our Lamps" referring to how like the ten virgins, we must drop by drop fill our lamps so we will be ready for what ever comes our way.  In their book, they include some "drops of faith" that homeschoolers need to instil in their children, and I thought it was so excellent, I had to share it.

Heavenly Father loves you.
He likes you. He believes you are beautiful and smart and good.
He wants you to learn.  He will help you learn.

You can do anything.
You have been given special gifts that you can develop, enjoy, and use to help others.
You can choose any area that interests you to explore and learn about.  You can become an expert in anything if you are willing to work hard.
Both boys and girls can be good in math- and science and English and computers and cooking and childcare and sports and so on.

You are a genius.
If you are struggling in an area, it is because a lot of your "smarts" went into making another area REALLY strong.  The more you struggle, the more of a genius you must be.
God gave you weaknesses so that you can turn them into strengths.

I am in this with you.
I will do everything I can to help and support you, whatever it takes.
I know some things, and sometimes I am even smart.  I can be good at math if I want to be.
I do not know everything.  I make mistakes.  However, I can still learn, and I am willing to learn this with you.
I do not have to do this, but I will because I love you.  We are a team.
I cannot learn it for you.

Our family loves to learn.
We each have different strengths.  We help each other by sharing our strengths.
Life is not fair, which means equal.  We are happy for each other's achievements.
Our family is smart.  We can do anything, together.
Our family believes in striving for excellence.

Homeschool Moms

I don't think homeschooling is for everyone.  I think it's great when moms have seriously looked into homeschool as an option and choose something different because they know what their family needs.

However, it's frustrating to me that the majority....I'm going to guess 99%....of moms out there do not even see homeschooling as a viable option.  They never even consider it.

It's frustrating to me because at one time I thought it wasn't a viable option, and now I see it as one of the best things in my life.  If it can be as great for other families out there as it is for ours, I wish that they could open their minds to accept it as a possibility.

It isn't easy homeschooling though.  You have to really believe in it.  I figured that out before my oldest was born.  I would tutor a little group of homeschoolers, and do you know what that mom was doing with her time off?  CLEANING.  "Man" I thought, "If I wasn't here she would have to teach AND clean...this homeschooling thing is not for wimps."

I've decided that there are three qualities that every homeschool mom needs to have or to strive to have to survive the homeschooling experience. (and most homeschool moms I know have or try to have these qualities)

1.   You must have a love of learning.  If you don't like to open up a science book and get excited about possible experiments to do with your family, or if you don't like to read or if finding out history facts you've never know before doesn't make you excited to share with those around you, I can imagine that trying to be in charge of the education of your children would be very difficult.

2.   You must be confidently social.  I firmly believe that with homeschool families the kids end up with the same social graces as their parents.  Even if you don't stick your kids into a million extra curricular activities, they'll still learn social skills when you invite a couple over for dinner.  Your guests don't even need to have kids.  Your kids will learn from the way you interact with others.  So you need to feel good about how you are socially since that's how your kids will end up.

3.   You must not be a wimp.  This is the hardest one for me.  By "not be a wimp" I mean you can't do everything for your kids or be willy-nilly about discipline and nurturing.  It would be so easy to clean the house while sticking them in front of a movie and show show show school but never require, but that would never work in the long run.

That's my opinion about mom requirements anyways.