Why Do So Many Parents Think They

Can’t Homeschool Their Children?

By Linda Dobson

I’m cutting to the chase. Many parents don’t think they can homeschool their children because their own schooling experience convinced them they’re incapable. Not directly, of course. Instead, it was part of an overall message of incapability that permeated our formative years in school.

You learn not to trust yourself.

Move on command of the school bell…move on command of the factory whistle. Don’t talk in class…don’t talk while you work. Acquiesce autonomy to the teacher…acquiesce autonomy to the boss. Don’t think you can learn on your own…don’t think you can build a better business than the one that employs you and needs your hands, not your head.

What happens? In the institution of school you learn to quietly take a place in yet more institutions. You learn that the only one who can solve a problem is an “expert” who has training you don’t. You learn not to trust yourself.

Top 5 Reasons Parents Give to Not Homeschool

Having dutifully learned the lesson that you are not to be trusted, how could you possibly homeschool your own children?

1) You have no degree. You aren’t an “expert” (trained teacher). Guess what? It’s the “experts” who in increasing numbers are turning to homeschooling and who often have a rougher time of making the transition into a homeschool environment. (Remember, they had additional training in the school institution!)

2) You can’t bear the thought of spending day after day with your children. That’s because your children are spending so much time in the institution where they are steadily – stealthily – learning that they can’t trust themselves, either. You’ll be amazed at the different people your children become when removed from this harmful practice.

3) You’re not smart enough. Yes, you are. You just need to do whatever you need to to re-program your thinking. Read. Talk to experienced homeschoolers. Surf the Internet. It’s not easy, but boy is it worth it.

4) Your kids will miss their friends. Besides the bus ride, cafeteria lunch, and recess (if, in fact, your child’s school still provides it), there’s not a whole lot of socializing going on in school. The “real” socializing of kids occur after school, on weekends, on vacations, and in community activities. Not only won’t they miss their old friends, they’ll also make new ones.

5) You don’t want to take your kids away from “the real world.” Here’s a question for you: When has “the real world” of the school institution ever again entered your life? Does your workplace only hire people from a specific zip code? Do you only hang out with people who were born in the same year as you? When children aren’t compelled to sit in an institution all day, they grow up in the real world.

See also 3 Secrets from the Homeschool Lifestyle to Help Your Child Learn

Why Do You Think You Can’t Homeschool Your Children?

This isn’t a question to be answered right away. You need to think about your own schooling, its impact on your life and decisions, and how best to learn to trust yourself.

Here’s a bit of a head start that I hope helps. How did your child learn how to walk? Talk? Throw a ball? Make the Jack-in-the-Box pop up? Give kisses and hugs? Eat with a spoon? Drink from a cup? Ride a bike? Color? Snuggle?

Did you go to college for four years to get a teaching degree to accomplish these things? No. They were accomplished through your loving guidance.

That’s all that homeschool is. That’s everything that homeschool is. And homeschool can be yours.

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