One great thing about having a blog is when you have thoughts running around in your head at 1 am, you can dump them out on a “page” and then leave them there until the morning (well, later in the morning anyway). Then, hopefully, go back to sleep. Here are my 1 am musings.
Two things happened recently that prompted this post.
The first involves a conversation I had with a dear Christian friend. Her five year old was starting kindergarten at our local public school in a few weeks. I asked her how she was feeling about this. What I meant was “how are you, as a mother, feeling about your baby bird leaving the nest?” It became apparent during the conversation that what she heard was “why aren’t you homeschooling?” She shared her reasons for choosing public school and how others had questioned this choice. I was saddened that she felt she needed to defend her choice to me instead of finding a friend with an ear sympathetic to the bittersweet moments that are ever present in parenting.
The second is I joined a very large very active homeschool group on Facebook. The support this group offers is invaluable, yet I am disheartened by some of the things I see there. There are several post everyday along the lines of “I am so glad my children don’t go to public school because….” some of which make me cringe and hope they don’t share those thought outside of the private group. But even more disheartening are the posts (or comments more often) judging other’s methods of homeschooling as if there is a wrong or right way to homeschool.
What I wish we were all saying to each other is:
If you homeschool for religious reasons…I support you.
If your children attend public school for religious reasons…I support you.
If you homeschool for academic reasons…I support you.
If your children attend public school for academic reasons…I support you.
If your children sleep until 10 am and start “school” sometime between 11-12…I support you.
If you do the “get up before 6 am, get dressed, find your shoes, pack the lunch, pack the backpack, run for the bus” dance 5 mornings a week…I support you.
If you homeschool because it makes you a better parent….I support you.
If your children attend public school because it makes you a better parent…I support you.
If you spend $1,000 on curriculum for your homeschool…I support you.
If you homeschool using free resources and Pinterest…I support you.
If you homeschool in a designated classroom adorned in primary colors…I support you.
If you homeschool where ever is comfiest…I support you.
If you are an active, thoughtful partner in your child’s learning, however that looks for your family, I SUPPORT YOU.