Have you thought about homeschooling your children but don’t think you can do it? I had the opportunity to homeschool our 6 children for 25 years, and I can tell you there are many misconceptions that prevent people from homeschooling their kids when they really want to.
Once, I had a conversation with a mother who knew she wanted to homeschool her children but was terribly afraid of ruining them. She was afraid she wasn’t qualified to teach them. She was afraid she didn’t know enough. The interesting thing is that this mother had been a high school teacher in a public school before she had kids and decided to stay home while her kids were young. And now she was worried about how to teach the alphabet to her kindergartener! That day, I learned a very important lesson. The fear most parents feel at the thought of teaching their own children isn’t necessarily because they lack a degree that qualifies them to teach, but because the outcome is personal to them. But the truth is, you’ve been through this before. When you found out you were having a baby, when you took them home, when they started teething, and just wait until they get their driving permit. Raising children is hard. And yes, the stakes are high. But they always have been.
Since you brought that baby home, you’ve been a teacher. You simply got used to delegating the academic part to someone trained in those subjects. But who taught your child to eat at the table, brush their teeth, say thank you, or look both ways before crossing the street? Who taught them to bathe or make their bed? Or use the bathroom? You are their first teacher.
A teacher is someone who teaches. Someone who teaches is someone who facilitates learning. That’s it! Think of yourself more as a facilitator of learning than a traditional teacher, and adjust your expectations accordingly. Different ages and grade levels will require different amounts of your time and interaction, but you’ll still be facilitating learning. There are different ways to delegate the things you don’t feel equipped to teach, but there are many more things you can teach than you think.