Home Schooling - From Babies to Books
by Mimi Rothschild
The most important notion a parent should believe in is that home schooling is something they are doing with their children. It’s a learning experience for both parent and child. Being a home school parent requires having a high level of curiosity and interest about the world to provide a good example to your child’s inquisitive mind. This will entail confidence on the part of the home schooling parent.
First time home school parents may obviously not be as confident as experienced ones. However, it is not bad not to achieve total 100% confidence. Eventually you will learn that having doubts once in a while allows you to experiment on other techniques that might be more effective for your child.
Home school parents also learn to maximize their time. The days and weeks of worry or doubt brought about by inexperience will in due course be replaced by focus. Realizing the responsibility they have taken on when they first decided to home school their child pushes them to roll up their sleeves and work. However, having a high-achievement personality might not be helpful, as many home school parents can attest to. Learning to let your family “be free” will prove to be more gratifying than trying so hard to accomplish everything at once. A newbie home school parent can start by letting go of one household project at a time, as educating their children must be their primary concern.
There may come a time when, as much as support groups are helpful, a parent will opt to shy away from these gathering as he/she will develop a competitive behavior towards other home schoolers. A home schooling parent will soon find out that spending time with the family is more rewarding than mingling with people in support groups, which can get rather competitive. It is important that home school parents interact with those who share their key values.
It’s a common pitfall to compare having more than one child versus having only one child. A home school parent of an only child should realize the other facets that make his/her family rich, such as the family’s health or a flourishing marriage. Parents also become aware of the damage that comparing one child to another will cause. Home schooling is synonymous to educational freedom. Parents draw pleasure in seeing their children blossom into young individuals who are pursuing the interests of their choice.
The urge to please other people often plagues new home schoolers. It is understandable that parents may feel vulnerable and afraid of what others may say. A home schooling parent will learn how to deal with this; whether by dismissing offensive queries with short simple answers or trying to help others understand through lengthy discussions. You’ll have to accept that pleasing everybody is an exercise in futility, so it’s better to invest your energy in more fruitful things and concentrate on effectively teaching your child.
The possibility of failure lurks in every venture that we undertake. A home schooling parent will realize that everything else is second to achieving the goal of a quality education for the child. A lot of self-help books are available, along with the experiences that can be shared by other home schooling parents. What matters most is the future of the child that is being molded through home school. That is the most powerful motivation a parent can get. Home school parents understand and keep this in their hearts and minds. From taking care of their children as infants to maturing as reliable parents, the joy of home schooling is as academically beneficial as it is emotionally gratifying.
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