The Homeschooling Type

Oh- I could never homeschool!

Ha! Or so I thought.....homeschool?  Me?  I just didn't seem like the "type".  You know, religious, modest, uber polite & proper.  That's just not me.  I'm more of a relaxed & cussing type of Mom.  My favorite type of music is Gangsta Rap for goodness sakes!  Followed closely by Country- I know, I'm weird like that.  So really, I just didn't see myself as the typical Homeschool Mom.  Whatever that is...

But now that I'm 5 years deep, I would say that I'm exactly the type.  In fact, homeschooling has become one of the many things in my life that defines who I am.  And most certainly it characterizes who I am as a Mother.  Whoa!  Can you freakin' believe that?!?

There's a few things that I've found that are universal to all us Homeschoolers and I want to share them with you now.

Time.  You simply have more time to devote to what matters most.  Yes, I'm super busy on some days.  But not all days.  In fact, our actual "learning" time is done in roughly 2 hours.  Compare that to the 6+ hours wasted in public school.  I've just gained 4 whole hours!!!

Relationships.  This goes along with time- I have the time to foster an amazing relationship with my child.  I have the chance to watch him learn all day, to love him all day, to guide him all day.  It's truly an amazing opportunity to grow our Mother-Son relationship.  Yes, it's rough at times- I won't lie.  But I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Growth.  I get to be a witness to the everyday changes in my child.  I am there to see his face as he finally learns to 3 digit addition.  I get to experience his frustrations and then his joys.  I don't have to hear from his teacher all the wonderful things he's doing and learning- I get to do them with him.  I am his teacher.

Flexibility.  This is perhaps my MOST favorite thing about homeschooling.  I can change curriculum's.  We can take off to the park or go run errands.  Want to take a trip to Disneyland that's NOT during Spring Break?  If my son wants to spend all day doing geography, we can!  If he's really into sharks one week or dinosaurs the next- we can explore those interests while he's actually interested in them.  It's awesome.

So it would seem that these four things would probably describe the desires for most parents.  Not just for us homeschooling parents.  Funny huh?  Guess you never thought you might be the homeschooling type?