Lets Talk Homeschool

I have spent the last two days in professional development sessions for public school teachers listening to the “latest and greatest” in instructional strategies and “why aren’t these kids learning?”

Yes, I am a double agent. I work as the Director of Assessment for a large public school district AND I homeschool. So, essentially, I am a spy.

I dread that moment…the moment when polite conversation turns to family life and I get asked where my kids go to school. When I say I homeschool I get “the look”. Sometimes I get more than the look; I get a full-blown lecture on what a traitor I am for working in the public schools but not sending my kids there. My response? That’s WHY I don’t send my kids there (which is only partially true but, hey, they started it).

Don’t get me wrong. I will not bash public schools (well, not too often) but I can say that as I sit listening to these educators talk about what goes on in their classrooms it makes me smile to know that my children will not get a cookie-cutter education, that I will be able to teach them Greek and take a day off when we feel like it and tailor the curriculum to meet their needs. They will not be acquiring a humanistic worldview and I can make God the center of all their learning.

The only thing that bothers me more than the lecture I get from them is the acceptance I get from them…”oh, well you are a certified teacher so I guess that’s OK.” I can tell you firsthand that my certification does not make me more qualified to homeschool my children. I know countless homeschooling mothers that leave me in awe of their teaching abilities. Peruse the various homeschooling message boards and you will find mothers researching and agonizing over every little aspect of their child’s curriculum. They pray and search, look for advice and pray some more, spend untold dollars on curriculum and then spend more if that isn’t the best one for their child

Homeschooling mothers are far more invested in their child’s education than public school teachers could ever be. There is no certification you can get from a college on how to love your children so much that you are willing to give up careers, money, cars, vacations…your life…to stay home and oversee the most important years of their lives.

So I’ll take the “you are a traitor” look any day. I’ve been called worse.