Homeschool nerds triumph

 

It hit me this week: “I really am a nerd after all.” Not that there was a whole lot of doubt on that subject, but this far removed from my own school days, I thought maybe I had ventured out away from my former geekiness. I mean, it’s not like I walk around with a pocket protector or can do complex math problems in my head - we all know numbers are not my thing - but when it comes down to it, I am still that uncool girl. Why else would I be so excited at the prospect of researching curriculum ideas for our upcoming homeschool year? Who else, but a nerd, finds reading history book summaries fun? Well, maybe I’m not alone; maybe I just finally found my niche - homeschool parent.

It takes a certain intellectual curiosity to find teaching one’s own children exciting. As homeschool parents, we often find ourselves learning right alongside our kids, and sometimes, more interested in the subject than they appear to be. As a student, I never thought I’d be able to find algebra remotely interesting, but here I am, at age 42, thinking it can actually be intriguing at times. What a nerd, right? Maybe so, but maybe I’m just like all the other homeschoolers out there who know they’ve made the right choice in schooling their own children when they are the ones begging to read one more chapter of that Newberry Award-winning book. We like learning and want to share that with our kids. In that vein, I stand proudly by my curriculum research fever, even if my son’s eyes are glazing over as I make him listen to one more review of one more literature program. At least he knows I like what I’m doing.

I do love planning for the next school year. It gives me the chance to see what else is out there and opens up new possibilities for us to explore. One problem is that there is too much out there, and an awful lot of it sounds interesting. Consequently, I end up spending too many hours in front of the computer, going from one site to the next, unable to stop reading about just one more idea for science, or history, or even a subject I hadn’t thought we’d cover at all, and dinner is still unprepared, the laundry is wrinkling in the dryer, and the dog needs to go outside. Eventually, I realize that some of those “great” curriculums won’t fit our needs after all, and we cannot add another study to our plans, no matter how wonderful it sounds; so, I narrow my search, take a break, and come back later to look at it all with a fresh mind (or as fresh as my mind gets anymore). Then, I can dig a little deeper into those books that made my cut and further whittle down the list of possibilities.

The excitement remains, though. Just last night, as I was reading about world history books, I could hardly wait for my son to start his study next year, so I could open the pages myself and learn about some of the people, places, and regions that I didn’t absorb the first time around in my own education. World history - who has anticipation for that? Other homeschoolers, that’s who. Just take a look at all the message boards, review forums, and curriculum guides and you’ll find us there, discussing, dissecting, and reveling in the endless scholastic choices out there. We can hardly contain our enthusiasm for learning and with that fervor, we instill in our children that it is fun to learn new things; it is thrilling to discover a book you just can’t put down; and it is alright to find joy at school. After all, it isn’t just nerds who read, solve problems, and express new ideas - it is all of us. Homeschoolers just aren’t afraid to show it.