I went to go visit one of my homeschooling forums this morning to discover not one, but four posts from moms who are ready to toss this whole homeschooling thing in the garbage. Their children don’t love it, they don’t love it. . .and well, it’s hard. There’s no ‘mommy time’, there’s tears and fights over school work, and these moms feel like they’re just not reaching their kids. This blog (and maybe a few more) are dedicated to those moms who are ready to throw in the towel on the whole homeschooling thing.
Why Did You Start Homeschooling?
I find a phenomenon in the homeschooling community, that there are those homeschoolers who are committed to homeschooling on principle, and those homeschoolers who homeschool as a move of desperation away from the public school system. What I find is that for those families who are committed to homeschooling out of principle, bad days are but one small part of a bigger picture. I find that for moms who want to quit homeschooling, the bigger picture is frequently missing from their mindset.
Before you quit, it is time to take stock and evaluate why you started in the first place. Are the circumstances that led you to start still true? If you felt like your child’s needs were not being met in the public school system before. . .they probably still are not going to be met. If you had safety concerns, things will probably not have changed. In other words, homeschooling may still be a good idea, and the right fit for your family. . .but perhaps how you homeschool needs to change.
Deschooling
I have written a few articles about ‘deschooling’. Deschooling is essentially the idea that you have to deprogram yourself and your child out of the school mentality. To put it differently, many parents have to spend time acquiring that big picture mentality. Learning doesn’t have to happen at a school desk. Neither does it have to happen from 8 to 3 and neither does it have to happen from traditional textbooks. Remember, if the school system methodology was successful for your child, you probably would not have pulled him out–right?
Deschooling is also important not only for you but for your child. There is something to be said for enjoying learning. When your child enjoys what he’s doing, learning becomes effortless.
So if you’re ready to quit, take some stock. Have you deschooled? Do you have the big picture mentality? If you have specific questions regarding struggles in your homeschool, please feel free to drop me a line or a leave comments in the comment box!
Related Articles:
Eclectic Schooling, Unschooling and Deschooling
The Deschooling Series: The Fallacy of Traditional School
The Deschooling Series: The Fallacy of Good Grades
The Deschooling Series: The Fallacy of Comparing Children
Confessions of a Super Mom: Fun Things to Do When We Blow Off a Day of School
Confessions of a Super Mom: I Never Burn Out
Confessions of a Super Mom: The Big Picture
Confessions of a Super Mom: The Doldrums