“I don’t know how you do it”

We’ve all heard it. Probably a million times.  Here’s my response today to a teacher/friend on Facebook telling me: “I don’t know how you do it.”

Well, it really all depends on how you look at education. 🙂

And I fully respect everyone’s right to their own views on education. just as much as I respect everyone’s right to their own religious belief.

There are as many different ways to homeschool as there are homeschoolers doing it. Nearly all of the homeschoolers that I know (and I know a LOT!) are not doing anything at home that even remotely resembles what you see in the public schools.

I worked at an alternative school for a couple years (long before children, before husband even) and it really opened my eyes to alternative ways to educate. Then, since I was already interested in the idea, I ended up over the years seeking out more and more “alternative” ideas and really learned an amazing wealth of fabulous ideas that got me all fired up and excited about the possibilities! (Long before my first child was even conceived.)

If I believed in the public school system to any extent I would probably be doing school-at-home, which would be damn near impossible for ME. There’s just no way.

And from everything I’ve read, school-at-home has the highest burnout rate. Most homeschoolers start off w/this method (since its all they know), but quickly transition to another method.

Anyway essentially I’m selfish because I want to be the one that sees that light in my children’s eyes when they “get” a new concept. 🙂

From the time they were born I wanted to be the one to be there for all their firsts, and that’s just extended itself into their education.

If you’re interested, I wrote [intlink id=”157″ type=”page”]an essay about this[/intlink] when my daughter was very little.

Being that my children’s childhood and home education is something I am absolutely passionate about and have built mine and my childrens’ lives around that passion–its really not hard. Not really.

Not that its easy every day, but I’ve never truly doubted that this is what I should be doing. 🙂