The world of moms can sometimes be intimidating and scary. Moms have a tendency to judge other moms hence the never ending mommy wars. Career moms versus stay-at-home moms, breastfeeding moms versus formula feeding moms, vaccinating moms versus non-vaccinating. Can’t we all just get along? Homeschooling can sometimes trend towards being another hot button issue, but I think if we could all put ourselves in each other’s shoes we could have a better understanding of one another. While I cannot speak for the entire homeschooling community, there are many things we, as homeschool moms, wish we could tell all of you non-homeschool moms. So next time you meet a mom and she tells you that she homeschools, remember these 10 things homeschool moms want you to know.
- We do not have unending amounts of patience. One thing I hear a lot as a homeschool mom is “Oh I could never have the patience to do that.” I don’t know how other homeschool moms feel about this phrase, but I do not believe I have any more patience than the average mom. Homeschooling is a decision our family made for now, and I try to do my best at it, but just like many other parenting moments, we are lacking at times.
- We, for the most part, know that there are pros and cons to homeschooling. I know that most homeschool moms don’t believe that homeschooling is the best decision or the perfect solution for ALL families. As with any parenting decision, we have weighed the pros and cons and come to what we believe is the best choice for OUR families.
- We don’t all think we are better than you. In my personal experience, when I tell other moms I homeschool, I get the feeling that they feel the need to justify to me why they are not capable of homeschooling or why they send their kids to public school. I don’t think I am a better mom than you just because I homeschool. You don’t need to justify yourself to me.
- We don’t need to justify ourselves to you either. If you are genuinely interested in homeschooling or why I homeschool I am more than happy to talk about it, but if it just happens to come up in conversation, no, I do not really feel the need to explain my decision to you.
- We don’t need to hear all of the reasons why you think homeschooling is a bad choice. Just as I assume you have put a lot of thought into your own child’s education, trust that homeschool moms have done the same. Whatever our reasons for homeschooling, I can assure you that we believe it is, at this moment in their lives, the best choice for our kids.
- Our kids are socialized just like your kids are socialized. For the most part, homeschooling families now have so many supplemental one-day-a week programs, homeschool play groups, church groups, and support groups in addition to the kids’ normal sports and extracurricular activities, that most homeschool kids get just as much socialization as any other kid.
- We are not all the same. Many homeschool moms are Christian and conservative, but some families homeschool to have the freedom to travel more, to provide their children an education different than the public school can offer, or because of a spouses work schedule. Don’t assume you know who we are when you hear we are a homeschool mom.
- Fortunately, we don’t need to be experts across all subjects. With so many homeschool support groups, tutors, and online classes, we do not need to have the abilities to teach all subjects. As our kids get older many of us outsource subjects beyond our abilities.
- We are human and make mistakes. Our kids misbehave. We make spelling and grammar mistakes on occasion. We don’t always remember the quadratic formula. We are human, just like you. We are doing our best, just like you and most of us are having a lot of fun along the way.
- We don’t all love Tim Hawkins. Okay, never mind, that one is not true.
