According to the rantings of many an education expert, I am not qualified to homeschool my kids.
I ranked #20 in my class of 200 students in high school. I got a paralegal degree 3 years later. Two years after that I finished college with a BA in Fine Arts with an English Minor. I may be qualified to assist a lawer, oversee evictions for a real-estate firm, process credit applications for a furniture company, decorate houses, and paint murals, all of which I have done, but to homeschool a child... where are my qualifications?
How can someone who nearly failed trigonometry teach higher math? How could someone whose teachers babied her through Chemistry allowing her to draw elements when she couldn't name them, teach higher science? How could a person who never took honors classes, or never took a higher math or science in college, not to mention education classes teach a child?
As homeschoolers, we tend to brush off these questions, but you have to admit that they have a point. Still, the anwer is quite simple. There are 3 basic reasons that I am qualified to teach my children.
1. I have intimate information about my children. I understand their strengths, their weaknesses, and their motivations. I know how to get them interested in a subject, and don't have to spend the first quarter of each school year trying to connect with my students. I am connected to them.
2. I have the ability to learn. When fueled with proper motivation, the desire to teach my kids, it doesn't take alot of effort to brush up on a subject I have forgotten, or to learn something new. Right now, I am teaching myself Spanish along with my kids, so that they have someone to practice with on a daily basis. Estoy aprendiendo español!
3. I know where and how to find help. Like I wrote earlier, I nearly bombed Trig, and struggled through Chemistry, that makes Caluculus and Physics a bit of a stretch. However, as I am connected to many other homeschoolers, and even have educators in my circle of family and friends, I have resources of people who can teach my kids when I can't. There are even local classes they can take to learn what I don't feel capable of teaching.
So before you worry that you are not qualified to teach your own child, sit down and think about these points. Ask yourself, do I know my child well enough to inspire him or her to learn? Am I capable of learning a subject in order to help my child through it? Am I capable of knowing when I need help and finding it? If you can answer yes to these questions, then you are qualified to homeschool... and so am I.
Comments
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Regards
Allen Brown
This is a great post and so true. One of the many bonuses of homeschooling is all the many things I have learned along with my children.
As a home schooled child who went on to earn a BS in Computer Science I can say it is not always about what the teacher knows as much as what you can learn with or from them.
My mother only had a HS education and math was never one of her stronger subjects and when I hit Algebra and Trig there were several times when she did not know what I was working on so she had me explain to her what I was trying to do. There was not a single time were this did not get me over my hump and off and running again. Thus proving the old adage "If you want to learn something teach it." In order to explain my problem to her I truly had to understand it myself and that was what I needed. Public and most private education institutions can't afford to take the time needed for a student to work out their problems on there own or under direction and thus I think their problem solving skills suffer for it. Education needs to be more about using your brain then just filling it with information.
You've written a wonderful piece that makes an important point. Ironically perhaps, having the required credentials does not necessarily make an individual a good teacher. Not having those same credentials does not suggest that an individual would not be an outstanding teacher. Almost anyone can teach a child to think, the be curious, and to seek out information of value. That merely takes desire, time, and a modicum of creativity. In fact we all pass lessons along to our children on a daily basis. Homeschoolers have just learned to be more aware of that fact and make the teaching process a more guided experience rather than the traditionally random situation most children experience.
Great work. I'll watch for more from Andrea in the future.
The fact that most people doubt the ability of a public school graduate to pass on those same 12 years of education to their children says something about the success of credentialed teachers in the education system.
You have just inspired me to cancel my fears and homeschool my daughter. I have been going back and forth for 2 years. I've paid over $10,000 in private school fees because I wanted her to be in an accelerated environment because I feared that I wasn't qualified enough to do it. I am officially motivated!!! Thank You.!.!.! Thank you!.!.!. Thank You!
Andrea, you are another HSing Mom Hero in my book!!
From a HSing Mom!
You'd be surprised to know how little teachers really are prepared for teaching. Like being a doctor, it is a "practice" situation, and hopefully you get better.
I have a degree in Special Education, which did NOTHING to help me parent a "labeled" child. He's a brilliant kid who just learns differently.
Excellent post. Wish everyone who is wondering if they can homeschooling could read this!
I soooo agree with #1. As a former ps teacher I spend from September to November learning the 70+ children's names and where they were in terms of skills. The 3 children I am currently homeschooling are of my flesh- I know what they eat, how much they sleep, what motivates them, what they know, how they best learn.... We cover so much more in 180 days in 2-4 hours a day because I don't have to waste time figuring out who they are.
Wonderful post! Thank you. I've always felt that there is no way to really compare teaching at home to teaching in a classroom. If I were in a school, I would have to adapt to teaching a room full of students in one age group with one curriculum. I agree that is easier than teaching multi-age group. But we have more time to focus on our individual children, flexibility and freedom to find the best way to help our children learn.
Well said! Thanks for taking precious time to put this down on paper.
Eventually your kids will have to go to school (college) and they will not be socially prepared for the experience. You are doing your kids a great disservice by homeschooling.
How many years did you spend in college learning to be an educator?
It's sad that people can think that school is the only way to prepare for college and to be socialized. I'm positive that Ms. Hermitt does not have her children on lock down in the house and uses outside classes and activities as part of their homeschooling program. They will be well prepared and better behaved than their public/private school counterparts.
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