Homeschool Success is What you Make of it

When people find out that I homeschool my kids, they sometimes will automatically assume my kids must be geniuses.

What pressure!

Can you imagine how I feel?  I feel like my kids should be able to perform like circus monkeys on command. Some people have such high expectations that I wonder if they will be disappointed that my children have not memorized the entire periodic table of elements.

Unlike Doogie Howser, my kids suffer from being normal.  They are average.  I feel like scooting people along with a wave of my hand. Nothing to look at here; move along, move along.

Just like their mother, my kids struggle to learn their times tables. Like their mother, they don't always read the directions carefully and end up doing something other than what is assigned.  And like their procrastinating mother, they rarely allot enough time to do a project the best that they possibly can.

I don't mean to say that they are stupid.  Although, this is another accusation levied upon my unsuspecting students. The pendulum of assumptions swings from slightly flattering to downright offensive.

For some reason, people don't realize that how you choose to school your children might as well fall under etiquette's discretion to avoid talking about politics or religion.

One man told me that he was suspect of all homeschoolers because of his backwards neighbors who homeschool by letting their kids watch TV all day. What he didn't realize is that he was unconsciously comparing my children to these lazy, unlearned people.

Similarly to their counterparts in traditional school, my kids have their favorite subjects and others that they despise. They make me proud when they take advantage of their unique situation by utilizing their extra time to delve into a subject they love.

For example, when we bought our first flock of chickens, we checked out every single book about chickens in the county library system. The kids became experts concerning chicken anatomy, behaviors, care taking, and, yes, their reproductive system. (Let's just say that I completely understand now why they used to call the talk "The Birds and the Bees." Once you learn how chicks are made, baby making is not so scary or weird.)

Each new addition to our zoo prompted the same reaction by my oldest daughter. She's drained the library system of their books on rabbits, dogs, and cats.

Even a trip to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum inspired her to clean out the library's shelf on gems and minerals. When I flipped through the books she chose, I realized she was attracted to the textbooks.  You know, the books in black in white with no color pictures. I couldn't relate.

My son has used his hyper time at night to complete his math work for the next day. Gaining a second wind at 9:30 pm, I give him the option to either read in bed or start on the next day's schoolwork. Loving to sleep in, he has taken this second option on occasion.

What I am trying to say is you will find the same mix of kids in school as you will find being schooled at home. Some will use their peculiar situation to pursue productive hobbies while others will waste their chance for greatness.  Homeschooling might be flexible when it comes to a school schedule, but, just like traditional school, it is up to the student to take advantage of their situation.