How has homeschooling changed you, the teacher, for the better?

[bnbacademy]

For those who have been homeschooling for some time... have you found that homeschooling has improved... you? 

 

Benefits:

1. organizational skills

2. decision-making skills

3. patience

4. life with more purpose

5. strengthening faith, when I run out of #3, rely on Jesus to complete His good work in me and them.

6. self-educational 

7. understand my dc more

8. control over dc's education

 

Maybe we can write a self-help book... 

Got problems?.... Teach someone something!

[OneStepAtATime]

Well, I've only homeschooled for about a year and a half, but I am a different person than I was when we started this journey.  I have realized that:

1.  There is a whole lot more to life than getting an A on some test, or drilling math facts.

2. Everyone has their own style of learning, their own style of teaching, etc and each person is an individual.

3. Patience, understanding, and lots of love are wonderful qualities to have and I need to be mindful to cultivate them more, and not just with my children.

4. My children have some amazing strengths I never really had time to focus on or even notice when we were trying to just survive school

5. I love learning with them as they learn.

6. Organizational skills are definitely on the increase.

7. Whether a parent chooses to homeschool or put kids in public or private school, we are all parents trying to do the right thing (well, almost everyone I've met) and all of us need support and understanding.

8. There are some pretty amazing people in the world if you stop long enough to get to know them.

9.  Taking time to step back and really LOOK at the world and the people around us, you realize how much you miss when you don't.

10.  I didn't really appreciated all the amazing learning going on when my kids were little as much as I should have, and neither did my kids.  Now, they are much more mindful of the great learning moments going on as they watch other people's little ones.

11. Learning isn't always an easy journey, but teaching resilience in the face of difficulties is just as important a lesson as teaching the material itself.

12.  Truly mastering material is a wonderfully freeing feeling when you finally KNOW what you've been trying to learn and can apply it.

13. pretty much everything that you said above.,, :)

 

Love the self-help book idea.  I'm in!

[regentrude]

I have learned many things I would not have known otherwise.

Other than that, no, I do not see any change.

[G5052]

I came into homeschooling after a number of years of teaching adults, and overseeing various training and education programs.  I also did some graduate work in education theory.

 

I found that teaching my own preschoolers stretched me because *DUH* they're not adults.  I learned to teach phonics to a kid who liked to hang upside down off the couch, and drill math facts while swinging.

 

Now that they're teens, I'm more in my element, but it is still fun!

 

 

[elegantlion]

For those who have been homeschooling for some time... have you found that homeschooling has improved... you? 

 

Benefits:

1. organizational skills

2. decision-making skills

3. patience

4. life with more purpose

5. strengthening faith, when I run out of #3, rely on Jesus to complete His good work in me and them.

6. self-educational 

7. understand my dc more

8. control over dc's education

 

Maybe we can write a self-help book... 

Got problems?.... Teach someone something!

 

1. I was already organized, having worked for many years. Those skills have definitely helped in homeschooling

2. Again, having worked in jobs with some level of authority, I was used to decisions. However, decisions involving my son's education were more stressful. Thankfully, I'm good at asking questions. 

3. patience? Yes. I've had to think about how my son learns, which is quite opposite from how I learn. So, lots of stopping and listening. 

4. Life with more purpose? I bring a lot of my "job skills" to homeschooling, but this may be the most important job ever - as an extension of parenting. 

5. We are more secular homeschoolers, but homeschooling has strengthened my faith in humanity in general. 

6. Self-education - finally I got to focus on my learning too. Now, I'm in college and homeschooling has kept me fresh enough to stay on top of my college courses. 

7. Ds and I have always been close. I felt like I missed part of his growth when he was in prek and K private school. I wouldn't homeschool if I didn't feel this was best for his education though. 

8. He's slowly taking over the reins of his own education, but yes, I've been in control and, again, while stressful there is something empowering when you feel you're making the right decision for their education. 

[laughing lioness]

I can now diagram a sentence- just don't make it too complicated.

I know how many continents, planets in the solar system and parts of speech there are.

I have a pretty decent time line of history in my head.

I got the "outer circle of Dante" joke on Downton Abbey.

I know how to memorize.

I am stil a random global and never organized enough, have too much going on ALL the time and get overwhelmed by clutter. I'll probably die this way, even with having homeschooled.

I understand the difference between writing well and writing with style.

I total appreciate my humor and Star Wars boards on Pinterest way too much, and count it as quality time with my kids, who laugh just as long and hard as I do as visual humor.

Read-alouds make the world go round- they did "then," they do now.

 

[PeterPan]

Yeah.  I'm fatter, more tired, and will be glad when my kids are gone, something I thought I'd never say before homeschooling.  The longer I do it, the more I conclude it's an illogical social structure foisted on us by do-it-alls.  If I didn't NEED to do it to do well by my kids, I wouldn't be.  I'm tired, and it's not romantic.  Done the way our current strain does, we spend our marriages and child-rearing stressing over lunatic things, uncontent to give them the bare minimum, normal education they'd receive at school.  We stress 18 years, and for what?  Our kids turn out well, but kids turn out well from school all the time.  

 

So I guess you could say homeschooling killed the romance of it.  All that's left is the cynicism and hard work, breaking up arguments, wrangling, disciplining diverse age groups who wouldn't even be together under normal situations, taking on situations you're not qualified to take on, etc. etc.  Maybe when I retire my zip will come back.  That would be nice.  

[JennW in SoCal]

Yeah.  I'm fatter, more tired, and will be glad when my kids are gone, something I thought I'd never say before homeschooling.  The longer I do it, the more I conclude it's an illogical social structure foisted on us by do-it-alls.  If I didn't NEED to do it to do well by my kids, I wouldn't be.  I'm tired, and it's not romantic.  Done the way our current strain does, we spend our marriages and child-rearing stressing over lunatic things, uncontent to give them the bare minimum, normal education they'd receive at school.  We stress 18 years, and for what?  Our kids turn out well, but kids turn out well from school all the time.  

 

So I guess you could say homeschooling killed the romance of it.  All that's left is the cynicism and hard work, breaking up arguments, wrangling, disciplining diverse age groups who wouldn't even be together under normal situations, taking on situations you're not qualified to take on, etc. etc.  Maybe when I retire my zip will come back.  That would be nice.  

 

Oh dear, OhElizabeth -- are you just having a bad week or a bad fall semester?  Because it shouldn't be sucking the life out of you!!  I'm sorry to hear you've lost your zip and are feeling cynical about it all.

 

It is so very worth it.  Worth every horrible day because in the long run the really wonderful days will outnumber the awful ones. (And days with 14yo kids can be pretty awful.)  Kids like mine would never have turned out well from a brick and mortar school -- it would have extinguished their creative spark, their love of life and their unique spirit.  They are now lovely young adults who enjoy our company, who appreciate each other, and who are succeeding in life while their peers are floundering aimlessly at community college and service jobs.  

I know you are doing a great job because of how much thought and care you've put into it, Elizabeth.  Perhaps you need to shelve school for the week and just do read alouds and crafts, go the zoo perhaps, and rediscover the romance of homeschool.    :grouphug:

 

 

But back to the original question.  How has it changed me?  I can't really improve on Laughing Lioness's list! Read Alouds DO make the world go round.  I'm still reading and sharing books with my kids.  I'm still going on field trips, only just with dh now, but I still want to be out in the world, learning new things.  But that isn't anything new.  I'm satisfied with the job I did and had no regrets when the kids left for college.  I'm happy for them and proud of them, and in return they have thanked me and told me how much they appreciate all I did for them.  

[Farrar]

Oh, homeschooling has NOT made me more organized or more patient.

 

Yeah, I'm a bit concerned it has made me less organized and patient.  When I was a school teacher, I was famously patient.  I often feel I'm very impatient with my kids now.  Hm.

 

In general, the one thing it has taught me is how to follow someone else's plans.  Every single curricula or set of plans I was given when I was a school teacher was terrible, so I always did it myself.  I always chose my own readings, made my own lessons, my own tests, etc. etc. and ignored the textbooks.  But with homeschooling, you just can't do it all for every subject and I've learned to appreciate when the plans are worth following.

[JennyD]

I feel that homeschooling has offered me an unparalleled opportunity to relentlessly confront my own character weaknesses and personal limitations.  

[austen]

I've definitely gotten a better education--filled in the gaps of things I missed, especially in the areas of world history, grammar and math.

I coasted through math in school, doing okay, but never really understanding the concepts behind the rules.Now I can do mental math. (Thanks, Singapore!)

I think it may have ruined me for ever returning to public school teaching. I think about learning differently, and I'm not sure I could go back to

have to meet other people's standards of what education should be.

I have loved all the field trips and the read alouds....I hope I am still going on field trips after the kids are gone like JennW!

It's opened my mind, that's the main thing. Choosing the road less traveled to homeschool has made me more courageous about taking the road less traveled in other areas of my life.

I care less about what other people think, because I homeschool. I think knowing that a lot of people might not understand my decision (or even think I'm a little nuts) has given me a thicker skin.

[PeterPan]

Oh dear, OhElizabeth -- are you just having a bad week or a bad fall semester?  Because it shouldn't be sucking the life out of you!!  I'm sorry to hear you've lost your zip and are feeling cynical about it all.

 

It is so very worth it.  Worth every horrible day because in the long run the really wonderful days will outnumber the awful ones. (And days with 14yo kids can be pretty awful.)  Kids like mine would never have turned out well from a brick and mortar school -- it would have extinguished their creative spark, their love of life and their unique spirit.  They are now lovely young adults who enjoy our company, who appreciate each other, and who are succeeding in life while their peers are floundering aimlessly at community college and service jobs.  

I know you are doing a great job because of how much thought and care you've put into it, Elizabeth.  Perhaps you need to shelve school for the week and just do read alouds and crafts, go the zoo perhaps, and rediscover the romance of homeschool.    :grouphug:

 

Thanks Jenn, you're right.  We did some Holocaust survivor interviews this week, and that on top of being sick and having a headache I think has me down.  I've sort of gotten in this screwy position where I feel not so much stressed but maybe... overwhelmed or loaded with the idea of high school, like I can't take off a week and say let's clean and get our lives back on track, kwim?  You're always looking at are the hours and working piling up...  And the more non-standard the kid, the more you sorta count those minutes and worry, knowing it's not exactly easy and without consequence to take off here or there.  She works in small amounts, so you have to be faithful.  So then you get piles of this or that and get overwhelmed.  But you're right.  The question is always to go back and ask what needs to change to get back on track.  I just needed to be called on it.  And yes she's blossoming.  It's just that it has gotten harder, more intense (as the mom, not for her, her load is good).  You look at the list of things to do (spiritually, emotionally, vocationally, educationally) and see the ticker counting down...  There is the sense though in which I'm giving my life to this and dying in it.  My kids are 10 years apart.  I'll have homeschooled almost 30 years when I'm done.  Not even that I mind, but I didn't really ANTICIPATE it when I started or think through that.  It was more this glib we could so why not, romantic kind of thing...

 

Yeah, I'm a bit concerned it has made me less organized and patient.  When I was a school teacher, I was famously patient.  I often feel I'm very impatient with my kids now.  Hm.

 

In general, the one thing it has taught me is how to follow someone else's plans.  Every single curricula or set of plans I was given when I was a school teacher was terrible, so I always did it myself.  I always chose my own readings, made my own lessons, my own tests, etc. etc. and ignored the textbooks.  But with homeschooling, you just can't do it all for every subject and I've learned to appreciate when the plans are worth following.

Totally.  Once I added the 2nd, then I got why people would just want open and go.  It's sort of a humbling practicality, a realization that it's ok to be less perfectionist.  But somehow I'm only awesome on hindsite about the past and early grades, not the future, haha.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Homeschooling has encouraged me to fill in the holes in my own education - so that I can be a better teacher, yes, but I have found that this is also the gift, the motivator, the encouragement to keep going with it - the homeschooling - when I get tired or frustrated or discouraged.  If I wasn't homeschooling, I'd be working full time, and I'd have no time for watching Great Courses, Coursera, and the extensive reading I do now to prep for teaching.

 

So I've learned to understand math, at a much deeper conceptual level than I ever did in school, even though I did through calculus in college.  I actually understand it now! That's a gift.

 

I've read (or reread) over 120 classic novels over the past few years of homeschooling.  I have learned about history - all time periods - and I've started to understand the threads, or the big ideas, that tie events, people, and places together.  I've learned chemistry, physics, and astronomy - subjects I never really studied in school.  

 

These things are wonderful.  Beyond making me a better teacher, they have made me a better person.  A deeper and more thoughtful person who sees a little farther than I did before.  

 

But, far more importantly, homeschooling has allowed me to really get to know and understand my children.  I am there, every day.  I see their struggles, I see their triumphs, I rejoice with them in their moments of epiphany when something suddenly clicks, I help them through their struggles.  I really know them - I know who they are, how their minds work, what interests them.  At a time when I see so many of my friends and their daughters growing apart, I feel like I've grown closer to my girls.  This, too, has made me a better person, and a better parent.

 

It's a struggle.  I get tired, and discouraged, and question myself, whether this is the right choice long-term for my family, especially financially as we have to tighten our belts because I'm earning so little.  I worry that I may be sorry when retirement comes and we don't have as much savings as we need.  I worry about my dh who has the majority of the responsibility for financially supporting our family.  I worry that I can't provide the kind of extracurriculars my kids would enjoy because I can't afford them.

 

But then I remember:  I get to spend my days with these two amazing, beautiful human beings.  I get to watch them grow up.  I get to be their safe place, and their launching pad.  I am so very, very privileged.  So maybe that is the biggest way homeschooling has changed me: it has made me so very, very grateful for what I have.  Even on the bad days.

[alisoncooks]

I was just thinking about this last night!

 

I think Homeschooling has MADE me be a better, more involved mother.  Otherwise, I strongly feel (much to my chagrin) that I'd be the mom always sitting on the sidelines reading or fiddling on the phone while the kids are off playing at the end of a school day.  

 

But as it is:  I'm MADE to do the fun seasonal crafts (because otherwise they'll never experience them), I'm MADE to go on nature walks, to the zoo, to the museum.  Because I feel obligated to do so for the benefit of my children -- but somewhere along the way, I realize we do it b/c we enjoy spending that time together.

[bnbacademy]

 

 

But then I remember:  I get to spend my days with these two amazing, beautiful human beings.  I get to watch them grow up.  I get to be their safe place, and their launching pad.  I am so very, very privileged.  So maybe that is the biggest way homeschooling has changed me: it has made me so very, very grateful for what I have.  Even on the bad days.

 

I look back at the homeschooling years in this same way. 

[robsiew]

I would say homeschooling has changed me and our family for the better.  To wrap it up in a neat package... homeschooling has helped me to define the goals of our family and be able to tailor our entire lives around those goals.  We aren't bound by anyone else's ideas of what our family should be doing.  My kids are not strangled by other people's notions of what they should or should not be doing at a certain age.  My kids live life each day according to what God brings to us that day... not what some artificial social institution decides our day needs to look like.  I'm learning as much as my kids are about how to really LIVE and not just be pushed around by society.  We would not be the same family if we did not homeschool.