HOMESCHOOL MOM

If someone told me five years ago I would homeschool my children, I would have told them they were crazy. I had never even considered homeschooling my kids. When I thought of homeschool kids many of the typical stereotypes popped in my head. I didn’t want my kids growing up to be antisocial freaks with extreme religious views. 

When homeschooling was first suggested to me by my son’s pulmonologist I was more than a bit worried. I knew with his health issues being exposed to too many germs could be very dangerous for him, but homeschooling? A bit extreme I thought, so I decided I would speak to his pediatrician about it, confident he would tell me homeschooling would be terrible for him and I must enroll him in pre-k, but to my surprise the complete opposite happened. He thought it was a fantastic idea. He even suggested that I homeschool my daughter as well. He said she would get a better education and would not get sick as much, which in turn meant my son would most likely not get sick as much.

He must had seen the internal freaking out I was doing because his next words to me were “Relax, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking your kids will grow up to be nerds if you homeschooled.” Well, the term ‘nerd’ was putting it mildly I thought to myself, but I nodded yes to him.  He encouraged me to do some research. He assured me my kids could be homeschooled and grow up to be well-rounded, outgoing adults. He suggested I join a few local homeschool groups before I made up my mind.

So, I went home that day and I did, research, research and more research. I read tons of articles both for and against homeschooling. I joined a few local homeschool groups and just observed the events they planned and the communication in the group. I decided I would give it a try. I had my daughter finish out 1^st grade in public school and would begin homeschooling her for her 2^nd grade year.

During the summer I purchased a curriculum. I was both excited and scared about the new adventure I was about to undertake with my kids. Public school in my area begins in September so I decided to begin in August. It would give me one month to decide if I liked it or not. If I decided I didn’t want to or couldn’t do it I could enroll her back in school and she wouldn’t miss ‘the-first-day-of-school’.

During our first homeschool field trip I realized that the stereotypes of homeschool families were false. We have met many wonderful families during our homeschool journey and look forward to meeting more.

The most rewarding part of homeschooling is that ‘ah-ha’ moment when the light bulb in their head turns on and that something you have been drilling in their head finally makes sense to them.  It is a feeling I would have missed out on if I decided not to homeschool. Two years later I can honestly say it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

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