It starts with the look you get from that other mom at the park.
Your children are innocently playing together and she notices that your older, school-aged kiddo happens to be quietly sitting next to you reading a book. “Oh is school out today?” she asks, “No, we homeschool,” you reply.
Then the look…”Oh,” is sometimes the reply you get, or “My husband’s cousin’s neighbor does that.” And the tone sometimes changes in the conversation.
Sometimes the look turns to the remark, “Wow, you have so much patience, I could never do that.” Followed by the long sigh as she assumes she isn’t capable.
Yep, we are weird. Homeschoolers that is. We are weird parents who, most days, gladly give up a leisurely latte to stand, knee deep in the trenches of educating our children.
The world thinks we have the patience of Job; the truth is we probably have just as many parental melt-downs as the next mom; we just do it and then pray for God to give us the grace to keep going again on Tuesday.
You may have even thought that we were weird too, that is before you joined our ranks. That is likely when you realized that to be weird is not such a bad thing.
Related: 6 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Homeschool Your Child
Weird homeschoolers love to learn.
That’s right, our children actually like to learn, and often they seek out information they want to learn about, and they do it on their own, without our guidance. They grow into young adults who still love to learn, if there is something they want to know about, they will likely teach themselves and seek ways to improve their knowledge base.
Weird homeschoolers are creative.
They have had down time, time to learn to seek out ways to entertain themselves. They have likely not been overscheduled to the point of exhaustion on a daily basis. They are able to see a topic in a whole new light because they have been given the opportunity to build a diorama of the Incan Indians, blow up a two-liter bottle full of science-y potion, and submit their creative writing assignment to a national magazine.
Weird homeschoolers are independent
So many college professors will tell you that the biggest struggle for most incoming freshman is their inability to be independent. They almost have to have all things spoon fed to them, because that is how they have been taught to learn.
Not our weirdos, often because mom may have other children to tend to, a business to run, or a blog to keep on track, our kids get their guidance from us, but they are then sent to the table to independently work on things. This, it turns out, is a very valuable asset in higher education, and you were beating yourself up about it just last week!
So you see, yes, we are weird. But, when I look around at the non-weird kids out there, I think I like it that way.
chris says
The way I explain it to those who ask is this, “Your kid has day after day off, or half day or part day. What do they really learn. My daughter gets to pick so many different things that she wants to learn (she is in 3rd grade) that normally she would not ever be offered even in high school. It is not about how much patience you have to homeschool, it is about seeing your children succeed and be the best they can be and I have yet to find a school where my daughter can do that (we have moved to a lot of different states being ex-military). I also homeschooled my son from 6th grade to his senior year (and did it while I was working for some of it) and he turned out just fine. He went into the military when he turned 19.
Lisa Silveira says
I love this article!!! So on point. Especially the introduction. 🙂 I have been stopped in different stores, just to be asked if we are homeschoolers, and if they could ask us questions. Once, I asked them why they thought we were homeschoolers. They said: ” Well, you dress modestly, and your children are well behaved.” WOW! I was flabbergasted. Something so simple, yet “weird” in our culture nowadays gave it away.
Suanna Sears says
I agree with this for the most part. I would say that there are probably a few homeschoolers who do run themselves ragged attempting to participate in everything because they don’t want their kids to miss out on anything, but usually these same people end up in burnout and have to rethink what they want out of their homeschool, so they have to purposely slow down and allow learning to take place at a slower pace. So for anyone thinking of homeschooling, keep extra curricular activities to a minimum at the beginning of your journey so you can figure out which activities will fit your family best without causing extra stress. I love to watch my children learn on their own and yes we teach them to work independently early, even if it is just giving a simple instruction to someone in preschool or early elementary and then popping back with them in a few minutes after they’ve completed their short task.
Cheryl says
I am now homeschooling my grand kids after homeschooling my two eldest through half their school years, my youngest through all but three early elementary grades, and I all can say is it’s my kind of weird.
Since they (my kids) ended up as a mechanic, an HR manager, and an English teacher in Taipei, and all happy with their choices, I think we did ok.
Weird you say? Oh yeah, and glad of it!
Sandy says
Yes, we are weird. But my kids learn differently from your kids, so why should our schools look the same? We do what God has called us to do, and we stop caring about how we look to others. Be weird, people!
Jana Meyer says
Love it!
suzie homemaker says
the comment above is true. I can pick out homeschoolers often by dress and behaovior. I see a lot of the article happening to us and I only been at this for no more then 5 yrs. I have told people sense she was born 5 yrs ago (her bday was last week) that we homeschool. sometimes I have even gotten looks because I homeschooled prek.lol now as K/1st graderI get looks. and WOWs from the outsiders. the insiders( homeschooler sadly always want to take me to task because she is 1 to 2 yrs ahead of public school at just 5 yrs old). Well here is what I have to say about that…Isn’t part of the beauty of Homeschooling that you can go with the child. When the child is 2 and wants to do 3 and 4 preschool and is bored out of her skull with it by 3 you do K math and go on. realy she loves math. I say reading time, she says, no I don’t want to read. I want to do math. So no mater what, keep being as weird as your kid/kids need you to be and brush off what anyone says.