You Don’t Have to Know Everything to Homeschool Your Children
Monday, July 10th, 2006By Mimi Rothschild
The first thing you must realize when you think about your qualifications to homeschool your children is that the day you became a parent is the day you became qualified to teach your children everything. Think about it. Would you hire someone to teach your child to walk or to talk? Of course not! Additionally, since God has entrusted you to teach your children about Him and you bear that responsibility, surely you must also be qualified to teach academics. When you put it in its proper perspective, it’s not nearly as daunting.
Actually, it can be beneficial to both you and your homeschool student if you learn some things together. Don’t be afraid to teach something that you’re not an expert at already. There are countless resources to help you learn as well as teach things you may not have considered before. One of the many benefits of homeschooling our children are making sure they learn the things they really need to in order to be successful out in the world.
Field trips can be an invaluable teaching resource. What’s more, there are many, many free places to go and things to see and do together. Museums are often free and always have something to teach us. Yet if we look deeper, there are many more homeschool teaching avenues available that can be fun as well. Many local businesses would welcome the opportunity to host a mini tour for your homeschool class, even if you only have one student. Just call ahead and explain your request. Most would be happy to help you with this. Local newspapers and television stations would be excellent places to schedule a private tour. What about banks and post offices as well?
Do you know someone with an interesting job or skill that would be willing to come to your homeschool classroom and give a talk? If you were teaching writing skills, this would be a great way for your child to learn about interviewing skills. If you were looking to spice up a cooking class, you might find a local chef willing to lend a hand. Can you imagine the weatherman giving your child a science lesson? Use your imagination! You may find interesting temporary homeschool classrooms.
Of course, learning isn’t always exciting. Yet even if you are up against an algebra equation, you can find free tutorials on the Internet. One mother, who didn’t want her kids to know she didn’t know much about algebra, waited until they went to bed and then taught herself algebra on the computer. The next day she was prepared for the homeschool lesson. Realize though, there is no shame in admitting you don’t know something and kids can be very receptive to learning something together. As every parent knows, they even like to teach us a few things sometimes!