Homeschooling Blessings

By Linda Dobson

Every single piece of art work your child creates immediately becomes part of your home decor.

I’m lovin’ it. Once again my Barnes and Noble University course, Homeschooling Your Children, is in full swing. Once again, I get to spend an entire month with – mostly – first-time homeschoolers. It gives me a feeling similar to that of Christmas, only instead of enjoying the innocent angst of children anticipating Santa’s rewards for being good, I enjoy the innocent angst of just-getting-ready-to-homeschool (mostly-moms) anticipating either the euphoria of success or dreading the discovery of their own lack of (fill-in-the-blank with the myriad options typically available and heavy on the minds of new home educators). By the time you read this column, most will have joined the ever-swelling ranks of homeschoooling families (gee, there must be at least 17 cajillion by now, don’t you think?) beginning what has become known throughout our culture as another “school year.” (This is not to be confused with “fiscal year,” yet another time hallmark that can put the fear of God into a multitude of hearts, if only adult ones.)

I think, therefore, that as this “new year” rolls around it’s an opportune time to remind everyone – both new and seasoned homeschoolers – of the many blessings you possess as a result of your decision to homeschool. After all, within days you might accidentally forget them as you wrestle the brand new language-learning CD out of the dogs mouth without scratching it, or figure you did a pretty good job of getting the baby spit-up off your older child’s freshly created work of art, but wonder what in the world you are going to do about that lingering odor – hang it inside the refrigerator next to the baking soda?

Homeschooling Blessing 1

If for some reason your child doesn’t manage to wake up at the crack of dawn, your first school day will not be filled with the guilt-ridden anxiety of chalking up the first “tardy” which, in today’s educational climate, could be the beginning of a slippery slope toward your first stint at your local penitentiary for educational neglect.

Homeschooling Blessing 2

Your child doesn’t have to shove breakfast down her throat before rushing out the door to catch the school bus. That is, if she has time for breakfast at all. If the former, you won’t get a call from the school nurse stating that she has a bellyache and you need to come pick her up.

Homeschooling Blessing 3

You won’t have some stranger telling you everything your child doesn’t know when you know darn well that he knows all these things.

Homeschooling Blessing 4

When lunchtime rolls around, you know your child won’t be responding Pavlovian-style to a bell signaling that it’s time to begin salivating. Further, he won’t be satisfying the need for sustenance with fatty, non-nutritious foods.

Homeschooling Blessing 5

If your child is having problems picking up a concept (or an adult perceives that this is the case), you won’t decide that the best remedy is to keep him inside while everyone else is done with school and outside playing to make him do much more of the same thing he’s having trouble understanding.

Homeschooling Blessing 6

You don’t have to answer 1000 times each week, “Why do I have to learn about (fill in the blank with the subject/topic most distasteful to your unique little person), anyway?” If your child does, in fact, ask this question on occasion, she doesn’t have to raise her hand to do so.

Homeschooling Blessing 7

Your moment, your hour, your day, your week are yours to fill with meaning and value. Use each and every one wisely, and you can remind your children, as frequently as possible, how lucky you, your spouse, and your children are.

Homeschooling Blessing 8

Every single piece of art work your child creates immediately becomes part of your home decor.

Homeschooling Blessing 9

Homeschooling is a great reason to hit every yard sale within a 50-mile radius. (People holding yard sales can get very generous when you explain that you are shopping for “school supplies.”)

And Homeschooling Blessing 1o

Your younger children will pick up much knowledge through osmosis, thereby making homeschooling a job that gets easier and easier with the passage of time.

See also “It Costs $30.08 to Educate a Child“

Happy Homeschooling!

Happy not-going-back-to-school, don’t have to change your family lifestyle, count your blessings new “school year.” Oh, and don’t forget to wave as the school bus passes you by.

Originally appeared in the September/October, 2006 edition of Home Education Magazine.

 Link to this page

 Link to this page