Who's your homeschool inspiration?

[Xuzi]

Who's someone (past or present) that you look to as your inspiration for homeschooling? Someone who makes you think: "Well, if THEY can do it, I can do it!" or "I want THAT kind of home environment for my kids!"

 

I've been thinking about this tonight, because, as I draw closer to the Starting Line for our family's Homeschool journey, I find myself very often calming my freaked-out nerves by thinking of Caroline ("Ma") Ingalls. If SHE could home-educate her girls when they were living way out in the middle of the Prairie and turn out a smart woman like Laura, then who's to say I couldn't do it? :tongue_smilie:

 

(and yes I realize Laura Ingalls Wilder also went to public school, but certainly homeschooling back then must've been a bit of a challenge! and not to mention lonely!)

[Heidi]

Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. (I can't find the brown-noser emoticon, but imagine one inserted here.)

 

Seriously, I have yet to encounter a home schooler, irl, I want to emulate. It was when I came across The Well-Trained Mind that I had my first glimpse of what I want for my children. And now, of course, many of you on this forum ;)

[Joker]

My grandmother. She was a ps teacher for 30+ years and never actually hs'd but she is my inspiration. She taught my siblings and me before we entered ps. Our teachers in K thought we were geniuses. She loved what she did and she enthusiastically shared it with her grandkids. We still meet people today that will ask us if we are related to Mrs. ?. They tell us how she changed their lives. I hope to give to my dds what she gave to me.

[milovany]

Susan Schaeffer Macaulay who wrote For The Children's Sake.

[ubermomto5]

there isn't so much one person as qualities of many people. but i think there are several homeschool bloggers who seem to be the best kind of 'me' that i could be and therefore i am very interested in their methods. my google reader has quite a few that leave me feeling inspired and ready to try harder.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

This is not exactly what you asked for, but I am inspired by my child.

 

When I wonder why I'm doing this, I look at my oldest son and the "why" is so, so clear. John Holt was right about the possibilities. In my son, I see what can happen to an unfettered mind in a rich learning environment that is devoid of peer pressure, punishments and rewards doled out by people with whom he has no lasting relationship, and external, ill-fitting standards. Real learning. That's what my son experiences nearly every day. The fruit I see in his life consists of real growth and understanding. Not just in academics, but also in spiritual growth and maturity, and in the development of thoughtful interpersonal skills.

 

It is astounding to me. What might I have become, if I had been able to learn that way? Why did I have to wait until I left school to learn who I really was? My son has known who he is from the day he was born, it seems. He is intrinsically and eternally confident, self-aware, and secure. He inspires me to keep homeschooling. It is my job to help him keep that light in his eyes until he is old enough to direct his own destinies. That light hinges on his freedom to learn unhindered. That's all the inspiration I need to keep going.

[Ibbygirl]

My friend Donna D. She is the first homeschooler that I ever met and she is the one who made me believe that I could do it. If it wasn't for her encouragement, I never would have believed it possible that I could homeschool my kids. Thanks Donna! :grouphug: mua!!

[Tap]

Not exactly what you were asking....buy it my kids. They are the ones who show me daily, why I think it works. Just today I was thinking that dd may be better served in traditional school and that she is bored. Some days I don't feel like I am meeting her needs. Then tonight, she couldn't get a math problem, and I Second guess my self again, thinking that she isn't getting it. Until, I have her explain the problem back to me and this starts a verbal math problem game of us giving each other story problems and solving them mentally. She blew me away being able to solve 20+ multi step math problems rapidly and with 100% accuracy. She was also able to create 20 unique complex math problems for me. For one thing, this would have never happened in school, and I guarantee that she wouldn't have enjoyed math as much as she did tonight :D

[Impish]

I had a friend that I met through our local online group, before I met SpecialMama. I jokingly called her "The Homeschooling Goddess". She always seemed so calm, patient. I remember calling her once in tears, I couldn't do it, I didn't have the patience, Diva hadn't done her work that day, I was going to fail my child, what the heck was I thinking, homeschooling her...

 

She laughed. Told me that ALL homeschooling parents have those moments/days/weeks. To hear that SHE, with all her patience and experience still had those days...well, that gave me the courage to keep on keeping on.

 

And now, its SpecialMama. She's just so good, so knowledgeable about materials, her dd is just a dream child *she says that's when she's here, because she claims the same of Diva when Diva's over there, so I dunno :lol:* She gives me the support and encouragement.

 

And my kids. Knowing how bad ps damaged Diva, knowing that despite the days I want to hang the child by her toes and use her as a pinata, see if candy flies out of her butt, she's learning. She's doing well academically. And I know socially, she's far better off.

 

Tazzie, if I sent him to school, would come home the first week with a demand for him to be medicated.

 

Princess, if I sent her, would end up with us being sued by the teacher for emotional damages. She looks sweet and innocent, acts sweet and innocent...but she plots. And when she puts her plans into action...well, she'd make the news as the ringleader of a kindergarten coup. :glare:

[Closeacademy]

Honestly:

 

Elsie Dinsmore (I read the first couple of books before I was just too annoyed)

Jane Eyre (I know a governess but still education at home)

Ads for Calvert and Oak Meadow in the back of magazines

 

That's what put the idea in my head and got me going in that direction. I was very young at the time.

 

Later:

 

Charlotte Mason

John Holt

 

Really made me feel like I could do this and do it well.:001_smile:

[hillfarm]

My inspiration was two little girls back in the mid 1980's, Rosanna and Amanda. Their mother had appointments at the company where I worked and they waited in our lounge area for her. So bright, patient, responsible, truly wonderful children!

 

I was just out of college, not yet married. But I knew then that I wanted what I saw in Rosanna and Amanda if I ever had children. So when dh and I began to get serious, I told him then that if we ever had a family that I wanted to homeschool.

 

These girls would be about 35 and 30 now. I've never seen them again, but I wish them the very best and thank them for their example.

Edited March 17, 2010 by hillfarm

[elegantlion]

My inspiration is many of the posters on the high school board. We've always planned to homeschool through high school, but as the years roll by I've become a tad anxious about the prospect of high school.

 

When I first started reading the high school board I'd sneak in and sneak out and then try to catch my breath and remember we have a few years to go. There is so much wisdom over there. Many people have inspired me, either by their postings or PMs. Every time I get nervous about high school I think of that group. Then I read something over there that makes me eager to homeschool high school and I"m okay.

[Melora in NC]

The homeschool moms and children I got to know in the library, during the years I worked as a children's librarian. The moms were all so kind and smart and interesting, and their kids were all friendly, polite, and eager to learn. They All seemed to be that way, and I got the idea that it was Because they homeschooled! Then I had my own children and started homeschooling and found out that it doesn't automatically make children polite and eager to learn (nor, sadly, did it make me smart and interesting!), but I am still deeply grateful to those families for inspiring me to teach my kids at home.

[woolybear]

There are so many people on these boards that inspire me, that I learn from and grow. Also--Dawne over at By Sun and Candlelight. I want to be like

her.:001_smile:

 

Woolybear

[Hedgehogs4]

i have a dear friend and mentor named sue who has 7 children. she showed me how homeschooling can be done and done well. her family is so harmonious, her lifestyle is so simple her faith so profound. they live on a very small income and in a very humble house. her children are all taught exactly what they need and they participate in activities, but they never seem stressed out or frantic.

 

watching her life has been a benchmark for me. she has learned to rest well, play often, and entrust herself and her children completely to God. she admits that she has not always been that way, and that it's been a long journey, but the beauty of it is that she is always willing to help other mothers along that path.

 

the secret of her success is her faith and her ability to rest. i too have learned that when these things are in balance, everything else can fall into place.

 

there is another inspiration that i have found, and that is a book / author. The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson was the thing that pushed me "over the edge" so to speak in my decision to homeschool. The book never mentions hsing, but at the end of it, i felt strongly that in order to achieve the things she was talking about in the book, i would need to hs.

[Pamela H in Texas]

When I was 12, I went to an alternative learning environment (we'll leave it at that). I was able to follow interests as well as accelerate during that time. Then when I was in 10th grade at public school, a gymnast went back to homeschooling and that is when it really hit me that it was an option. And finally, when my kids were itty bitty, our across the street neighbors were homeschoolers. They were different from us (Gothardites), but mom was a really good mentor to me. Through her, I met others (non-Gs btw), and so I just kept learning and living. By the time my kids were 1 and 3, I was hooked :)

[MamaAkins]

My inspiration is Sally Clarkson (author of "Mission of Motherhood," "Ministry of Motherhood," "Seasons of a Mother's Heart," "MomWalk" and her latest book, "Dancing With My Father."