i'm not homeschooling because…

Did I confuse you?  I thought so!  To clarify: yes, I am homeschooling, but what I mean is that it’s not for some of the reasons that you might think.  So, these are not the reasons why I am homeschooling:

Myth #1: I don’t like teachers in general or don’t think they are qualified to teach correctly. 

Truth: I went through public school and had many good teachers and even some great ones (others weren’t good at all or didn’t like their jobs, but those were the minority in my experience).  And actually, most of my extended family members and many of my friends are teachers!  I have so much respect for them and feel their role is highly under-valued, as I couldn’t fathom being responsible for teaching even 10 kids for half-an-hour, not to mention the huge groups they teach for hours on end! 

Myth #2: I hated school.

Truth: I actually enjoyed school a lot of the time.  I’m a bookworm, enjoyed talking with most of my teachers, and had quite a few good friends in school (though we usually weren’t allowed to talk in class, we were in after-school sports together, and so most of our socializing would happen then).  But, my mom did home-school us for a couple of years when our family was in transition periods, so even though I did like public school, I must say that those home-school years were my favorite years of school.  The closeness as a family was great and I loved feeling understood by my teacher (smile).

Myth #3: We want to separate our family from the rest of the world and shelter our kids from the reality around us.

Truth: We are exposing (and will continue to expose) our kids to the problems and blessings in society by taking them with us to different places, pointing things out, explaining, letting them ask questions…  They are a part of society and our desire is that they would want to be a source of encouragement to others and help bring change where it’s needed too.  Also, because they are not in a traditional school, our kids will actually have more opportunities to meet new people of different ages, social statuses, nationalities, etc., when out and about with us during the week and will be able to socialize with a wider range of people and broaden their worldview because of that.  We are aware of the fact that it is up to us to create opportunities for them to spend time with other kids their ages and develop friendships, and make that a priority too.  But between cousins, other families at church, neighbors, playing at parks, and looking into extracurricular classes and activities our children are interested in, socializing with other kids comes very naturally.

Myth #4: I consider myself to be a super-mom and a great teacher, so of course I home-school! 

Truth: I struggle daily with this balancing act of trying to run the house, raise the kids in general, do their schooling, and everything else that I should be doing…  I am constantly second-guessing myself, wondering if I’m doing things OK, frustrated & disappointed when I know I haven’t done well, and very excited (sometimes prematurely) when things seem to be working.  But my reality is different than many other moms: I am able to be home all day and have a super-supportive husband who not only wants to be involved and helpful however he can, but also his work schedule allows him the flexibility to sometimes help me during times of the day when I know many other husbands just can’t.  And he & I are regularly going back to the drawing board to re-analyze my current teaching strategies and our child-raising vision in general, which really helps me to de-stress and re-focus on what’s important (and not lose my mind!).  It would be very hard for me to take on something as huge as homeschooling without my husband’s support and our teamwork relationship in regards to our children and life in general.

On the flipped side, I am homeschooling because:

• Unlike me, my husband hated school; for him it was like a prison.  I’m sure that’s partly because of how the system is here in Chile (longer hours than where I studied, very static subject matter…) and partly because of his learning style: needing to learn things by doing and seeing the practical value, not just being told how it’s done and needing to memorize formulas.  So, as a couple we believe homeschooling is the best option for our children’s learning styles, at least for now: our oldest at least is a kinetic learner like his daddy and definitely works best with hands-on activities and personalized attention, and for now his little sisters are thriving in that style of learning as well.

• It allows the kids to spend more time with their dad.  Since my husband has ministry-related work most evenings and weekends, if they were in a public school they would hardly ever get to see him.

• It permits us to focus on bilingual and multicultural learning while also having the flexibility & freedom to visit different places as a family at any time of the day, week or year, which would all be difficult to do to this degree if the kids had regular school hours.

• Ultimately, we as a couple consider it our responsibility to educate our children, not necessarily in school subjects, but definitely in character-building. They need for us to be consistently encouraging positive behaviors and discouraging disobedience, and our desire is to continue teaching them about God’s love & truth not just through occasional words or with a book in hand but also practically through life experiences and every-day situations.  Looking at long school hours, followed by after-school activities and still more homework, we just felt that there wouldn’t be much quality time or energy left to cultivate those deeper areas of our children’s lives and really address their questions, struggles and insights on a daily basis.   

There really is a lot more to me than just being a homeschooling mom.  I don’t want to simply be put in a category or reduced down to that.  And I also don’t want others to think that I consider myself to be superior or that I will look down on those who have not chosen to home-school or really cannot do it for work reasons.  But right now that’s simply my main job and takes most of my time & energy, so I think about homeschooling a lot and like sharing about it, just as many others share about the ups and downs of their more “normal” jobs too. 

Mostly, though, I’m just very blessed that this is even a legal and viable option for us as a family here in Chile.  I am so thankful for the opportunity and privilege to spend all day with my kids and be their primary teacher (though it can be very draining physically, mentally and emotionally); and at the same time I am being taught, humbled and transformed through this experience as well!