Before becoming a second-generation homeschool mom, I was a teacher. I used to teach high school mathematics and statistics and even started the first French Club at one of the schools I taught. I took a non-traditional route to becoming a teacher, but I had to learn how to manage a classroom, write lesson plans and syllabi and even develop curriculum. Even though teaching was never my life-long dream, I’m so grateful for what I learned because I use these skills constantly as a homeschool teacher. But most importantly, what I will talk about in this blog post, is the mindset of seeing homeschooling as teaching – a profession as opposed to an extension of being a stay-at-home mother. It helps me keep perspective.
My Background
I was homeschooled K-12 and have a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a master’s degree in International Relations. I also did extensive post graduate work in Applied Statistics. I never wanted to be a teacher, but when I graduated university, my chosen career path was off the table. There had been a very recent economic crash, a government hiring freeze was in place and job searching for me was going nowhere. Long story short, I ended up becoming a teacher.
After several certifications, I started teaching English and then landed a job as a high school mathematics teacher which I thoroughly enjoyed. I later went on to work at an international language school. In addition to classroom teaching, I worked as a private tutor before, during and after these teaching jobs. In fact, I’ve been tutoring mathematics and statistics off and on for over 15 years now. I even married a former teacher (now engineer). Both of us have never once considered sending our kids to school. Private or public.
I continue to work as a private mathematics and statistics tutor (high school to graduate level), which is my main job outside of homeschooling my own kids. So I get to see how academia is changing. And how it’s not. It continues to pass and graduate students who have no clue what they are doing or how to learn anything on their own, let alone how to conduct serious research.
My Why for Homeschooling
And that brings me to “my why” for homeschooling. The main reason I chose to homeschool my kids was because I have high academic standards that I have not seen upheld in even the private schools that I have taught at. I’ve been pressured to pass students who chose to sleep during my classes. I’ve been lectured for using a school’s required textbook TOO much and not playing enough games (with my ADULT students).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against games and activities that reinforce learning. I use them with my 2nd grader all the time. But that isn’t ALL we do. We also use flashcards (gasp!) and drill things. Learning isn’t always a game. It’s hard work. And helping students deal with that fact and helping them learn how to learn on their own is one of the jobs of a teacher.
How I See Homeschooling as a Former Teacher
So how does being a former teacher effect how I see homeschooling? There are three things that stand out the most to me:
- Homeschooling is teaching and teaching is a full-time profession.
- Teachers should take pride in doing their best, not trying to do the bare minimum.
- Productivity and time management can and should be applied to the work of homeschooling.
Teaching is a Full-Time Profession
It’s work. And it’s separate from the work of being a stay-at-home mother. Teaching takes a lot of planning, preparation and sometimes even trial and error as you get to know how your students learn best. Why do mothers who are new to homeschooling get so discouraged when it’s not easy? Of course it’s not going to be easy. It’s a difficult job, whether you’re teaching a classroom of 30 students or your own child at the kitchen table. You’re still doing the work of educating.
Just like getting an education degree, deciding to homeschool will require you to do research on different education philosophies. It can be overwhelming, but ultimately thought provoking and incredibly useful as you navigate your teaching career. Just like a classroom teacher, you’ll be constantly networking and talking to other “professionals” in your “industry” in order to improve. Planning an academic year, choosing curriculum (classroom teachers don’t usually even get to do this!) and planning lessons all take time and effort. We shouldn’t be expecting our homeschool workday to only last 2 hours as I see people Googling. Should it be more efficient than a public school day? Of course. But it’s still going to take a realistic amount of time if you care to do it well.
Aiming for the Best
One of the main differences I see between former teachers homeschooling their kids and non teachers homeschooling their kids is this trend of “unschooling”. (The stats nerd in me would love to do an official survey on this point!) If you knew anything about the current education system in the US, you would know that’s actually what is going on in the classroom. Watching documentaries instead of doing research. Playing educational games instead of working hard to memorize facts or actually study a subject. So why would you take your kids out of school to NOT seriously attempt to educate them at home?
I’ve seen homeschool mothers on social media lately share that they’re only teaching math and reading because that’s hard enough. I read the comments of other mothers applauding the honesty and saying they do the same and I just cringe. So this is what a lot of homeschoolers are doing all day? And don’t get me wrong – I’ve met many of these people in real life too. Taking on the responsibility of educating your kids is serious and important work. Why are we bragging about doing the bare minimum? As professional educators, we should take pride in doing our best, right? The only thing I can think of to explain this phenomenon is possibly the inability of newer homeschool mothers to separate their teaching work from their role as mother. Which leads me to my last point.
Productivity
As soon as a homeschool mother sees her homeschool work as an actual full-time profession and not an extension of being a stay-at-home mother, she can actually treat it like a job in the sense that she can start focusing on productivity and efficiency. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are so many outstanding books and YouTubers who talk about productivity hacks that you can apply to homeschooling. Time management is key for keeping your sanity and getting everything done that you need to get done. (And yes, you can get more than math and reading done before noon if you manage your time well.) I actually have a whole blog post dedicated to my top tips for productivity as a homeschool teacher that you can check out here.
Shifting Perspective
All this to say, I think some newer homeschool mothers are, in a way, making things too difficult for themselves. I wish I could take them aside and remind them that they are doing two full-time jobs. I honestly believe that if they were to shift their perspective on their chosen career path, since that is what homeschooling is, they wouldn’t be so hard on themselves and could focus on the work of teaching. Efficiently and effectively.
I don’t believe homeschool mothers need an education degree. But I do believe they need to treat homeschooling like the serious work that it is. Education holds the weight of passing on civilization to the next generation. Our work is important. It’s serious. And it’s not easy. But once we see it as the serious profession that it is, I think it will be easier to keep the hard days in perspective and not let it effect our self worth as mothers.
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