The Weight of Responsibility

The idea of homeschooling can be terrifying to some because it means pretty much taking sole responsibility for your child’s education. I know, because I felt exactly the same way when first contemplating the idea!

I’m not a trained teacher, although I do have the advantage of being married to one. In many ways I felt totally under qualified for such an undertaking.

Giving it a go

What convinced me to give it a try was the comforting thought that I could always enrol my little student in school if things turned pear-shaped. I decided to do a 6 month trial initially when my eldest was four and a half, which would leave time for her to start school with her age group if necessary.

I think part of what worried me was homeschooling’s obvious need for good routine and organisation. I hadn’t been a super scheduled mum with preschoolers and had always struggled to organise my time well. How would I cope with the increased complexities of homeschooling?

Start Simple

I started simply, planning to do maybe an hour and a half in the morning of Maths, Writing and Phonics. To my surprise it went well, and not only that, it was easy! It really just felt like an extension of what I had already been doing, only more ‘official’ and consistent. The added structure helped me organise other parts of our lives too.

Learn with them

The benefit of starting homeschooling when your kids are young is that you learn as they do! You don’t need to worry about how they’ve been taught a particular concept because you do it together with them. As the difficulty of their Maths or English increases, you become more able to help them. Picking some good curriculums takes away some of the stress since you know they will systematically progress through it and get fairly good coverage of concepts. I also keep an eye on the Cambridge objectives for different year levels to gauge what they should (according to Cambridge at least) be learning.

I would really have struggled to help an intermediate – aged kid when I first started because it was just so long since I did Maths myself! But now I feel that once my kids are that age it won’t be a problem. In fact, I have learned lots of things that I was myself never taught e.g. Long division. My mental maths has dramatically improved too.

It’s not all easy

Of course, our homeschooling journey has been filled with a lot of trial and error, and there have been many ups and downs along the way. For each of my children there has been an initial enthusiasm and excitement about starting school work (actually come to think of it, Alex was never that excited about doing work when he could be playing!) But without exception, for each child there came a period of resistance involving tears, moaning and gnashing of teeth. This seemed to be a reaction to the realisation that school work was no longer optional but part of their new routine. I guess it was a bit of a shock when prior to that they could opt to do a smidgen of school work amongst vast swathes of free time.

Responsibility and Confidence

I still feel a burden of responsibility for my kids, but I have realised that it’s not terribly difficult to provide them with a halfway decent primary education. In fact, I have the freedom and flexibility to challenge them more than they might be in a school setting, and I get to choose what to prioritise in their studies. I can also encourage them to learn for themselves, to read up on a topic that they’re fascinated with.

In addition, I have come to realise that whatever education we choose for our children, we the parents are ultimately responsible. In some respects, entrusting our child’s education to the local school might be more concerning!

Homeschooling is a lifestyle that I eased into and slowly got comfortable and confident with, although there are still many moments of self-doubt and worry. Some encouraging friends and a supportive husband go a long way towards alleviating those fears. I discovered many benefits to homeschooling which only became obvious after sticking with it for a few years. Perhaps one day we will send our kids to school, but six years in and I’m more committed than ever!