Helpful Intentions

I didn't really think about the fact that many families struggle to even begin to educate their children at home, let alone create their own curriculum shaped to fit their children's needs, strengths, and desires. This isn't due to lack of ability or education on their part. Sadly, it is a by-product of our society that has taught us to respect the "authority" of professionals, even when the "professional" is less knowledgable than we are. We think of teaching our children, and immediately we conjure up images of the perfect little classroom with the chalk-board at the front, and the desks all in a row. We think of the "all-knowing" teachers we had, growing up, and imagine all that must have been learned by new teachers since then. Our minds race from the charming thoughts of alphabets and nursery rhymes to the horrors of "How am I ever going to teach calculus???" Even I went there briefly. When I realized I had sorrowful tears in my eyes from thinking about my, then, newborn baby having moved on to college, I snapped out of it.

Mind you, I have nothing against teachers. I know a number of them. (Oddly, they all say they wish they could home-school their own children, but that they don't have the patience. Do they really have more patience for strangers' children than they do for their own?) I admire their interest in educating people's children. It's just that all of their education to prepare them to teach "children" cannot possibly grant them the ability to do a better job than a loving, devoted parent can do for their OWN children.

The truth of the matter is, if you are literate (and since you are reading this, you have to be), you are qualified to teach your children. Not just qualified, in fact, you are the best possible teacher, for your child, in the entire world. No paid "expert" will ever know your child, with all his various abilities, weaknesses, strengths, interests, and needs, as well as you do! This knowledge inherently makes you an excellent teacher, if you have the desire to be one. You just need confidence. Remember, children are resilient. They can easily "recover" (if necessary) from any educational mishap that may befall them during their years of study. Home education is no different than the rest of your life. No one is perfect. You can expect to fail at some point, or even many times. Pick yourself up, correct the problem if possible, and move on. I once, accidentally, called a mushroom a "marshmallow" when I was teaching my younger boy about how mushrooms grow. (Okay, it was more like a bad habit, I did it 3 times in a row, in one conversation, and even did it again, later.) That blunder haunted me for two years as he would say "marshmallow" when he meant "mushroom". Nevertheless, he still understood the life cycle of a mushroom and has since learned their correct name. When we think of our mistakes, their significance seems to mushroom (or is that marshmallow?) out of all proportion, and we feel inadequate. Rest assured... if you can handle being a parent to your little one, you can handle teaching him. After all, you are already teaching him... they don't learn to talk by themselves.

To allow someone else the pleasure of teaching your children, is to rob yourself of the delight of being the one who introduces all of the world to them. There is nothing equal to the sight of your child learning something new that excites and invigorates them, making them eager to learn more. This doesn't happen that often in a government-run school, where it is fashionable to be jaded and indifferent. At home, children never learn that being intelligent is "un-cool". They also never learn to bully or exclude others, or to be racist or rude, but that is for another post, another time.

My point is... you CAN do it. Be brave. Jump in with both feet. Don't worry about "failure". Even if you fail miserably, you will still do a better job than the government can.