A Mother's Education

Even though homeschooling has become somewhat "normal" these days, it still receives more than a normal share of attention. Questions about legality and socialization have been replaced with questions about ability. "How will you teach them when they get to highschool?" "You must be really smart. I don't think I'm smart enough to teach my children." "You must have a lot of patience." I hear these comments often and they make me smile. In the eyes of the world, I may look like SUPER WOMAN, but I'm really quite ordinary.

It doesn't take a high IQ or a college degree to home educate. In fact, my own mother never went any farther than high school. She didn't know how to do chemistry and algebra was never her strong point. But if she wanted to learn something, she knew how to look it up. My mother was a researcher; and in the days before Google, she was the one to go to when you needed an answer. That is the true secret of home education: parents who love learning passing that love on to their children.

When people look at home education, they mostly focus on the children. Of course, the children are important and I believe that children do benefit from home education. But I think the education the mothers receive is just as beneficial. I'm not simply taking about academics, although there is that aspect. It amazes me how much I learn along with my children; and because I am learning too, it doesn't matter whether I "know it all." I am simply a facilitator, not a teacher. But I am learning other lessons as well.

I am learning to be patient. No, I wouldn't consider myself a patient person, but I hope I'm improving. Trust me, listening while a child sounds out the words of Green Eggs and Ham requires a LOT of patience. (Come on! I could say it from memory!) Explaining how to carry in addition for the seventeenth time (and knowing there are four others who still need to learn this concept) takes a lot of patience. And forcing yourself to ignore how long it took your five year old to fold the towels into that crooked heap (it would be so much easier to do it myself!) takes a lot of patience and continual self reminders these are important life skills he needs to learn. Throw in a three year old who suddenly developed a stutter and "Oh, Lord, did I REALLY ask you to help me learn patience!????" Yes, I am learning to be patient.

I am learning humility. People haven't just started telling me I'm smart since I started homeschooling my children. I was a very precocious child, so I've been hearing it most of my life. But trying to teach children, especially when they are your own children, has a way of taking you down a notch or twelve. I love writing, It should be easy for me to teach writing.  I had a second grade teacher (pre-homeschooling) who taught me to love writing and she made it seem so easy. But my children hate to write and I can't seem to change their minds. The one subject that should be the easiest for me is my greatest failure. I also learn humility when that fun project I planned becomes the worst idea Mama's ever had. I'm also humbled by the total lack of control I have over the lives of my children, by the reflection of my sins in their own lives, and by the realization of just how much my sins hurt them. I know I would probably see this even if I didn't homeschool, but being their primary role model certainly makes it harder to place the blame somewhere else.

I am learning to pray. I pray for patience. "Oh, Lord, did I REALLY ask you to help me learn patience!????" I pray for forgiveness. I pray for wisdom in how to train and shape these lives into lives that would glorify Him. I pray for the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of myself and my children, without whom we can do nothing. Oh, did I mention patience? Home education is a process that continually drives me to my knees, and what better thing to do on you knees than pray?

So, can you teach your children? Are you smart enough? Probably not. Are you patient enough? I doubt it. But if you love your children and have a desire to learn, those really are two very good reasons why you should. You never know what you will learn.