No matter what our knowledge of the homeschool world is when we begin, the thought of giving homeschooling a trial run crosses our mind during our journey.
I had a younger sister who was homeschooled and I knew quite a bit about the homeschooling world then, but I still thought I should be prepared to send my first son back to public school.
Homeschool Trials – A Sign of Weakness?
What if my son missed out on opportunities that only the public school could offer?
What if the public school teacher was more prepared than myself on a particular subject?
What would I do if we got to high school and I didn’t have a science lab?
What field trips would he miss out on?
What I have learned is that we can’t lead our lives, teach our children or fully enjoy the benefits of homeschooling based on “what ifs”.
We will either be insane, live in a state of constant panic and fear or we can choose now to intentionally homeschool.
Now, when I think about homeschooling being a trial run it’s like saying: “I’ll give my newborn a year. Because if I don’t have a great year, we’ll we just can’t keep him.”
That may sound like a way out there analogy but homeschooling half-heartedly was paralyzing and insane.
I think about all the preparation I made for nine months when I had my first born.
I thought everything would go perfect, along with our perfect crib, perfect schedule and perfect baby because well — I planned, right?
If I had judged my whole parenthood by the first year with my oldest son, I wouldn’t have had any more kids because very few of my expectations were met.
It was not rock-a-bye-baby with my first son.
The sleepless nights, constant calls to the doctor and worrying, the nights up pacing, rocking, digging for information to understand him was met by lots of hard work and on the job training. It was much more time than I even imagined.
Homeschooling is very similar.
I homeschool to enjoy the freedom, to have better standards, to give more time, to tailor the curriculum, to give my children a better future, to give my sons a better foot hold in life, to build Godly character, to foster sibling relationships, to build a relationship with God, to capture my child’s heart, to make learning a delight for the child and on and on.
I was not giving that up.
Along the way, I figured out this would not happen if I kept looking back instead of looking forward.
After my momentary lapse of fear when I put my son back in school for less than a year and took him back out, I realized that ruling out public school as an option from the beginning was the only way I could whole heartedly homeschool.
Too, though in the beginning my fears were more about not being able to meet my sons’ academic needs, the turns and twists of life have proven more challenging than meeting the academic ones.
Extended sicknesses by family members, deaths in our extended family, change of employment, financial ups and downs, pregnancy, and moving have been challenges that have you second guessing your journey.
Breaking all ties with public school was the best thing I did for our family. Why?
Because meeting the challenges of life was done best without interference with the public school schedule.
Public school may seem like a blessed relief in the beginning, but relief can quickly turn to restraint after the initial phase has passed.
Year-end testing, homework in the evenings and giving up control of what your children will be learning and when, were not things that I wanted to add to an already stressful time.
I weathered all the personal challenges I mentioned above and my homeschool conviction was stronger because of it.
At the time when I was making trips back and forth to the ICU in the hospital to care for my husband, laying on the couch because I was so nauseated each day of my pregnancy that I couldn’t hardly move to take care of my other children and driving hours and hours back and forth from my house to my mother’s house to care for my very sick mother, I felt my sons were going to be so behind in their academics that public school would be a relief.
Academics – Perk of Homeschooling?
Tears followed and the feeling of defeat loomed.
What I have come to treasure, value and hold on to is that out of every one of life’s challenges, we raced ahead, caught up and even moved ahead at certain times.
Along through the years, I taught my sons about compassion, nurturing older ones and the value of precious life. What a blessing!
Here are my answers now to the above questions:
If I sent my children back to public school, it would be giving them less as I can offer more even when the road blocks of life happen.
Yes, I have gaps in my education and will make mistakes. Through the years, I have seen plenty of mistakes in textbooks though.
Many professionals will know more on subjects than me, but I am the parent I don’t have to know the subjects, my children do.
I can hire private tutors, use DVDs, have my sons take on line classes and use co-ops and not to mention learn right along with my kids and I did.
We still don’t have a science lab.
We have something better, a fully stocked kitchen that is the perfect science lab.
Field trips are not taken once a year or a few times in the early years and then almost non-existent in the older grades, which is the norm in public school.
I did better. We have taken monthly field trips for every year and the field trips are some of my boys best learning moments. The tales we have to tell you now.
I don’t view myself as a particularly courageous or brave person, but through each hurdle, I was fortified, fueled and empowered for the next challenge and unswerving in my determination to stick to homeschooling.
Keep looking forward to your end goals and don’t measure your whole homeschooling career in front of you by one or two years. It is worth every effort and sacrifice.
What about you? Have you chosen to intentionally homeschool NOW?
Don’t give in thinking the other path is easier, check out these posts:
- 8 Colossal Pitfalls of Homeschooling in the WHAT IF World
- How to Grow to Love Being a Homeschooler
- From Struggling Homeschooler to Empowered Educator
Hugs and love ya,
