Are You Qualified To Teach Your Own Child?
Monday, March 17, 2014 at 5:00AM *This post contains affiliate links.
Not everyone is qualified to teach their own child.
Staunch homeschooling advocates will answer the question, "Are you qualified to teach your own child?" with an unequivocable YES.
YES. Simply by being a child's parent gives you the qualifications to educate them yourself at home. Parents do the very best they can, and by the grace of God any educational gaps melt away. Anyone can homeschool their own child.
Flip the coin.
Many homeschool critics will answer that same question with a resounding NO.
NO. You must have QUALIFICATIONS to homeschool your children. You must have a high school/college/teaching degree. You must have prior EXPERIENCE. Some children are just better off in brick and mortar school.
When anyone sits down with me to find out more about homeschooling and to SERIOUSLY talk homeschooling with me, I tell them they CAN DO IT! I tell them my own story, and then I give them my Homegrown Learners business card and encourage them to visit the blog.
My desire is to further the cause of homeschooling through encouragement, ideas, and honest conversations.
Let's have an honest conversation about people being qualified to teach their own child:
* Society has trained most parents to believe they are NOT qualified to teach their own children.
* Many parents don't homeschool because they think there are too many sacrifices involved.
* If you really want to home educate you will figure out a way to bolster your qualifications to give your child the best education possible.
Case in Point
Just last week I was having a conversation with someone I've known for quite a few years now. They were telling me that there was no way they could homeschool their child because they "just won't listen to me. We are too much alike and would butt heads all day long. Homeschool would be a disaster. Besides, I want my child to know what the real world is like."
{Let's not even address the last part of the comment above -- we just know that is false.}
This person is NOT qualified to teach their own child. The desire, heart, and faith in herself and her child is lacking.
My heart breaks for a generation of children who are being raised by parents who don't even think their children will listen to them.
The mom who made this statement is VERY intelligent and capable. She would be a fine teacher for her child.
Our culture, however, leads us to believe we aren't an authority figure for our child. Children place more stock in what their peers and teachers say than what their own parents say. It's alarming when you really stop and think about the gravity of the situation.
Homeschooling is not a Sacrifice
It's funny, because I used to think that homeschooling was some big "sacrifice" on my part. I thought I would really be giving up a lot to keep my children at home.
I was supposedly giving up:
- income
- time
- personal interests and goals
- sanity
Those were the thoughts of a misguided, selfish mom who had a lot of growing up to do. I see now that we have GAINED so very much through homeschooling. Some days it just hits me how much we have gained. Some of the benefits include:
- a bond with my children that is incredibly deep
- TIME for our family
- authority - my children view their dad and I as authority - not peers
- intellectual DEPTH
Equip Yourself to Homeschool
I don't believe you can just set out to homeschool without a plan.
Homeschooling takes a lot of careful research and strategy. You need to know what the different methods are. You need to know what kind of learners you have, and what method best fits your learners.
You need to be committed to lifelong learning and pursuit of excellence.
Resources for Learning
This year I have felt more "qualified" than ever before to teach my children. I believe this directly correlates to the amount of reading and learning I have been doing in my "free" time. It also speaks volumes of the community I live in and the many moms I am so grateful to call friends.
Special thanks to Classical Conversations and its ongoing committment to equip parents to train their children in excellence. The community support and culture of learning is something I greatly treasure.
In addition to our weekly community meetings, I also read a variety of books to keep learning with my children, and learning HOW to best serve their needs. It's also so important to keep yourself EDUCATED - not just one step ahead of what your children are learning, but educated in a broad sense.
My favorite resources right now include:
The Core
The Question
Hold Onto Your Kids
Amusing Ourselves to Death
The History of the Ancient World (and other books in this series)
The Well Trained Mind
Recovering The Lost Tools of Learning
The Great Homeschool Convention
This week I will be attending The Great Homeschool Convention in Greenville, SC. I look forward to this convention each year because I know I will LEARN. I will be in COMMUNITY. Last year I came away feeling equipped to design an education for my children that was rich, challenging, and based on God's word.
I hope to attend many wonderful sessions, and I can't wait to see Dr. Ben Carson speak on Saturday evening! We've been reading Gifted Hands and it is moving and inspirational.
The exciting thing about this year, though, is that I will be in the exhibition hall with my SQUILT Music Appreciation Curriculum. I am being carried by Silver Age Music (my friend Professor Carol). If you have an upper grades student and are looking for a truly wonderful music history course, Professor Carol is your resource! She is the author of Discovering Music: 300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Arts, History, and Culture and Exploring America’s Musical Heritage.
We are teaming up for this convention because we feel that between the two of us, we can serve the homeschool child from preschool to high school with quality music appreciation materials.
If you're going to be in Greenville, PLEASE leave me a comment or send me a message! I will be sitting with lots of other Classical education folks and soaking up every minute I can -- and I'd love for you to come visit me on the couch with Professor Carol!
How do you keep your skills as a homeschool teacher sharp? What are your favorite ways to keep learning and growing? Are you attending a homeschool convention this year?
Reader Comments (16)
Excellent! My heart breaks when I talk to people who sound just like the woman you referred to. It makes you wonder how the next generation will turn out.
Blessings, Dawn
I applaud you for speaking out. It seems like our generation believes we have to rely on "experts" in every field to tell us how to do things so taking a step outside the 'norm' can be daunting. (Susan W. Bauer has an audio that mentions that, might be the 'Educating Ourselves' audio - which I highly recommend!).
I find that the more I study and learn the easier my task as a homeschool teacher is easier. I wish homeschool moms would focus more on continuing to educate themselves instead of the constant search for the 'perfect curriculum'.
Thank you for the encouragement. I am homeschooling my oldest in kindergarten right now. I would like to learn more about how to homeschool well. What resource would you recommend I start with?
Great post, Mary. I will share it on FB.
Great post! I hear parents say "my kids just wouldn't listen to me" a lot as well., and that's not a "homeschooling" issue, it's a parenting issue. If they won't listen if you were to homeschool, they probably aren't listening any other time, because they either haven't been trained to listen or you've abdicated your authority to them.
In addition to learning how to homeschool, many people need to learn how to parent as well.
Beautifully written . Thank You ~ Amy
Hi. I'm not s homeschooler. I'm a missionary in Ukraine and I've adapted some of your ideas to teaching English to Ukrainians.
There's a similar societal belief in this part of the world that if your children have special needs, that you're not qualified to raise them. A Down Syndrome child born here or in Russia is institutionalized their entire lives in orphanages or adult care facilities. In the system, the children never develop to their potential, and the lives of people with Down Syndrome are significantly shortened.
I was a good student in public school, but I've often wondered what my potential would have been if my parents had considered homeschooling as an option. They certainly wouldn't have had the same resources that are available today. But many times in school, I sat bored waiting for other students to understand. Or just got lazy because I knew I could afford to.
I salute homeschoolers and appreciate the many youth I've met in the mission field who have been homeschooled. There's an independence they have, and a uniqueness, that kids who have been 'socialized' have also been 'homogenized' into a group think peer-pressure centric mentality. Of course it's not across the board on either side. But I'm sometimes secretly jealous of homeschooled kids.
I love this, Mary! Thank you for sharing the truth in a very open but gentle way!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! My older 3 children had a mother who listened too much to the world and not enough to her heart. They survived, reaching graduation on 3 completely different paths. My youngest, who is 10 years younger than the olders, has been homeschooled since she was 6. I finally stopped listening to the world and finally listened to what God was saying. Okay by then it was probably closer to yelling LOL. But homeschooling is something about which I am now passionate and I can't imagine ever sending her back to a brick and mortar school. Even now, through the dragons of the preteen years we are still moving forward. In this post you have said everything I wish I had said to all those people who have no faith in being their child's authority. My heart breaks because I was that parent. Thank you for reminding us that we were blessed with these beautiful beings by God. And he wants us to raise them, not peers, not teachers, but us.
Markus - Thank you so much for your insightful comment. I am so happy to learn that this site is a blessing to you as you do your mission work. It is also encouraging to hear your thoughts about homeschool children and their characteristics. That makes me smile.
It saddens me to know the plight of children in Russia with Downs' Syndrome. Yes, governments like to take authority away from parents at every turn, and this is extreme and so sad.
Bless you for the work you are doing - and I hope we get to interact more here!
Well said, Mary! I believe anyone who really wants to homeschool, because they believe it's the best way to educate their children, and enjoys being with their children is qualified. However, I also believe that there are some who homeschool that shouldn't. Angry and abusive parents who just want to control and isolate their children from the world should not homeschool!
I love to read any chance I get! What I dearly cherish about homeschooling is the ability to learn beside my children. I challenge myself to remember the time periods and places we study (not always successfully!) and we memorize scripture and prayers together. I've enjoyed wonderful literature I never read as a child. And I'm always seeking information to bolster my worldview, so my nose is constantly stuck in a book or magazine in my spare time. Hopefully I can attend the state convention this year. I could use the encouragement refresher :)
EXCELLENT !!!!!!. THANKS
Yippee! I am headed to the convention, too, and I am SO excited about the possibility of meeting you. My husband and I are preparing to begin homeschooling our children next year, and I have gleaned s much from your blog as we prepare for this journey. I am going to keep my eye out for you!
Awesome post. Loved it.
I too have heard the same type of response from other parents.
I've just discovered your blog - looking for SOTW resources. We're hoping/planning to start homeschooling next year - kids will be in 2nd and 4th grades. I'm one who has always thought "my kids don't listen to me", but I've decided that's part of the reason we NEED to homeschool (although there are many others, of course). Praying that I'm up to the challenge! Too bad I didn't start reading this a couple of weeks ago - I, too, attended the GHC in SC. It would have been nice to have someone to say "hi" to (other than Flylady - was so cool to meet her!). Thanks for your posts...