Confessions of a Homeschool Mom

Isolation.  It's an occupational hazard of a homeschool mom.

And though I use to find every opportunity to leave the house and socialize, I am realizing that my preference these days is to be a homebody.  Before I would wade through the trenches of packing diaper bags for 3 kids while buckling everyone in myself just to plan an outing in between feedings and nap time so that I could have some adult interaction for more than 15 minutes.  But these days I am very content to be at home with all these Yahoos.

Maybe it's the weather.  Or maybe I've wised up enough to understand that no amount of socialization is worth the work it takes to get out the door with 4.

Socialization.  It's overrated.

I mean, we're a family of 6 with 3 cats and grandparents coming out our ears.  How much more socialization do we really need?

I know that is one myth that homeschoolers get labeled with.  That we are isolated and not well adapted to our community and can't relate.  And I have to admit that that can happen if we aren't intentional with our time.  But The Honey and I try to be.  We try to provide as many opportunities as we logistically can to produce well-rounded, well-adapted, relational kids.

 MYTH

REALITY

Sometimes I wonder what other myths are out there about homeschoolers?  I hear all the time 'Oh, I could never do that!.'  But honestly, I think that about working moms.  I think that there is no way I could multitask the way they do.   By keeping up responsibilities at work, home, and still getting their kids to the activities they are in.  Not to mention being a wife (which I honestly believe is the most overlooked role we play).  It really puts me in my place when I think of the load these ladies carry and how they carry them out so well.

MYTH

REALITY

I am also asked a lot about why we homeschool.  That is such a loaded question.  I think that is like asking a physician 'Why do you practice medicine?' or a teacher 'Why do you teach?'  I look at homeschooling my kids as my profession.  It is one of many roles I play.  It is not THE ONLY role I play.  There are a lot of benefits to homeschooling.  One of my favorites is that The Honey and I get to teach the kids about the Lord ourselves.  That we get extra time in our day to testify to His faithfulness in our lives.  I also love getting the be a part of their growth.  That I can be the one to teach them how to read or that I can be there when fractions finally click for them.

I'm hoping one day soon fractions will finally click for me.  You might remember my feelings towards fractions.

Back to the point.  Those are special moments.  But those really are all just benefits to homeschooling.  Not really the reasons for our choice.  I picked this job just like most of your picked yours.  By prayer and walking through doors of opportunity that were placed in front of us.  I don't believe that homeschooling is our only option. There are lots of avenues our family could travel.  This is just the one we're on now.  And I have to admit that I'm loving it!

I also get asked a lot 'How long do you think you will keep homeschooling?'  Honestly, God only knows.  We do this a year at a time.

Some days a day at a time!

But right now I'm loving it so much I can't imagine doing anything else.  I really do love being with my kids.  Of course, we get on each others nerves.

A lot.

But learning to love your family is the catalyst to learning to love the world.  And I desperately want my Yahoos to grow into fine adults that absolutely love the Lord and love others.  And what better practice than to day in and day out love the imperfect family you are born into?

But, as to not mislead you, there are some dark sides of our lives.  So I thought I would take a post to humbly bear my confessions of a homeschool mom.  Be warned.  It's a little ugly.  Here goes:

1.  I'd say I average about 3 days a week that I don't get out of my pajamas before 3:00 pm.

There are loads of books out there by way better moms/wives than I am that testify that getting up at 5:00am to zumba, knit, bake pies, and read 30 chapters of Psalms is the key to their day being successful.  I am not yet under that conviction.  I am clinging to the freedom that allows me to roll out of bed 20 5 minutes before The Honey leaves for work.

2.  I have yet to file one piece of work The Yahoos have done this year.

Not one.  I have just been throwing them into a drawer labeled:  To Be Filed When There is Absolutely Nothing Else To Do or Upon Graduation.



3.  Baby Yahoo watches an insane amount of  TV.
 Insane.  That's a pretty general, relative word.  Let's just say that my labor and delivery with my children was shorter than the average amount of hours Baby Yahoo spends in front of the tube.  It's pretty pathetic. His best friends are Diego and Dora.

At least he will be fluent in Spanish.


4.  Our field trips consist of Kroger and the Post Office.

Sweet Yahoo said she might want to grow up and work at either Walmart or Arby's.  I consider these 'field trips'  more like job placement training.

5.  Scope and Sequence means how many rooms we can clean and in what order.


This falls under Home-Ec.  Home Ec is my favorite subject.

6.  I'm really nervous the mail carrier is going to report me for truancy.

He's sees my kids a lot.  They are often outside shooting things and spraying each other with the water hose.  I make a conscious effort to lavish him with lots of candy at Christmas.  And sometimes cash.

7.   My biggest guilt is that I have a hard time getting one on one time with each kid.

Which honestly isn't a 'homeschool' thing as much as it is a 'mom of 4 Yahoos' thing.  But while I'm making confessions I just thought I'd throw it in.

8.  If I don't watch it my family can quickly become my idol.

I am convinced that Satan's number one tactic for my life is to distract me from what God desires for me to be doing.  And what better thing to distract us by than by something good, something necessary....taking care of the kids.

But our hearts can quickly get led astray if we place anything as a higher priority than our devotion to Jesus.  Let's face it. I can say I'm raising my kids, teaching them Scripture, etc for Jesus.  But He is so jealous of me.  And He knows that my heart is deceptive above all things.  How at times I'm doing it all for me.  For my pride, for control, out of fear.

He knows.

And He constantly is calling me back to Himself. 

 
9.  I really struggle with intimidation.

When I take my eye off the goal I get really intimidated that my kids are going to graduate without knowing the difference between mean, median, and mode or how osmosis works.

If they graduate at all.

But I do have to remind myself often that I did not choose to homeschool to produce high test scores.  There are plenty of schools that could do a much better job of that than I could. But this verse has helped me a lot when I start to struggle with intimidation:

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

2 Peter 1:3 NLT

He gives us everything we need to do what He has purposed for us.  And I really don't believe God's main objective for my Yahoos is to score a 2300 on the SAT's.  There is a higher calling on their lives. 



OK, that's it.  I think they're right....confession is totally humiliating good for the soul. 

My apologies to homeschoolers who are actually doing it right.  We are just doing it real.

Now, for an added bonus:  this recently released Youtube video that makes some well crafted clarifications to many myths about homeschoolers.  Make sure you turn off my background music on my playlist at the bottom of the page.  Enjoy!