Homeschooling – Never!

I was never going to homeschool my kids. Nope. Not ever! I never considered it, would never consider it. I actually had strong opinions about NOT homeschooling. I thought the very idea of homeschooling was wacky. I went to the public school and turned out perfectly fine, thank you very much. I was a product of the public school system, so I was on their team regarding education. I came out unscathed, or did I?

My husband and I waited a long time to have kids. My first pregnancy was a late miscarriage. That was five years into our marriage. We waited 3 more years to try and get pregnant again. When I did get pregnant I was happily working as an Academic Advisor for a public school. My husband was working at a private school as a math/science teacher. I found out I was pregnant a month after my husband lost his job at a private school. Not because of anything he had done, but because the principal/owner of the school left town with what little money the school had and never paid his teachers their last paycheck (but that’s a whole other story). Fortunately, my husband found employment with an alternative tutor school.

My husband got another full-time public school job teaching job 2 and 1/2 months before our child was born. While I was pregnant, I didn’t think I was going to stay home with my child. I was going to be a working mother. I wondered what women who stayed home did with their kids all day. I thought it must be incredibly boring. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to stay home with a baby ALL DAY. I was fairly certain…I was going to be a working mom…somewhat certain…okay, maybe there was a voice in my head whispering to me about staying home with my kid.

I know you’ve heard umpteen times about how a mother falls in love with her baby when it’s born, and how it changed their life, and they were never the same again, and how they never knew love like this before…and…I’ll spare you most of the details. However, I was one of those mothers. It did change me. I couldn’t picture myself going back to work and missing out on all that babyness I was enjoying. I was afraid to stay home with my baby, but I also enjoyed it immensely. I wasn’t afraid of the staying home part, I was afraid of who I would be. I was afraid I would lose my identity. I wouldn’t be an Academic Advisor, I would be a mom. I wouldn’t get paid anymore. If people asked me what I did for a living, I would only be able to say, “I’m a mom…” My public school feminist indoctrination told me this wasn’t okay. I was torn.

As I was adjusting to this new stay at home lifestyle, I was meeting new people: moms with babies like mine, moms with preschoolers, and wait for it…MOMS WHO HOMESCHOOLED their kids. That’s right, I actually met HOMESCHOOL moms. They weren’t who I thought they’d be. They sounded like normal people. They walked and talked like me. They laughed at funny things. Their kids seemed normal too…wait, I take that back. Their kids weren’t quite normal. This one family had a 13 year old girl. She WASN’T like the typical girls I was used to working with in the public school. She looked me in the eye when I spoke to her. She seemed to enjoy talking to me, me…a full on grown up. She smiled a lot. She laughed a lot. She talked about how she didn’t understand the point of Algebra, but not in a disrespectful, rude way. I was fascinated by her. I verified this fact, “So you are homeschooled?” She smiled and said, “Yes.” I asked, “Do you like being homeschooled?” She smiled again, “Yes,” she said. We were having a conversation, me and this homeschooled girl. Though I had worked in the public school system with middle school kids, I don’t ever recall actually having a full on conversation with any of the students. I usually got one word answers to my questions and this sense they really didn’t want to be around me. This girl seemed to enjoy talking to me, me, an adult. I asked her if she’d been homeschooled all of her life and she said yes. This girl was genuinely happy, respectful, intelligent, and out going. Whoa! I thought. I like this girl…and she’s HOMESCHOOLED. That can’t be right. She was dismantling my homeschool prejustice.

After meeting this girl, I went home questioning homeschooling. This homeschool family were really nice people. This homeschool girl was happy, polite, awake, and interesting. I wanted my kids to be happy, polite, awake, and interesting. What was happening to me? I couldn’t actually be thinking I might be possibly…no, I couldn’t. Could I? Was I considering homeschooling as a possibility for my own kids? HOLY COWS! I might homeschool my kids. Ack! I don’t want to be a homeschooler. I didn’t want to be one of THOSE people. I didn’t want to wear the denim jumper. I wasn’t going to grow my hair long and never wear mascara again. I didn’t want to grind my own wheat and milk my own cows. I…I…I…I think I might have to consider homeschooling my kids. My daughter was eighteen months old when I made the decision to homeschool. She has been homeschooled all of her life, as well as her little brother. I have yet to wear a denim jumper or grow out my hair. I still wear mascara. My son did try and milk a cow once when this farm thing came to town and they let the kids take a turn. And 3/4 of my family are gluten intolerant, so the whole wheat grinding is out.