Jan 23 2009
If You Are Busy, You Can Home School
Another objection that many parents have about taking the plunge from public school to home school is that they are too busy. This is a very valid reason not to home school. However, could your active lifestyle really be a great reason to home school? I don’t know very many parents that aren’t busy, but I do know parents that aren’t involved with their children. If you fit that description, and can’t think of ways to include the children in some of the things that you do, then you probably should not home school. On the other hand, if you get out your journal that I encouraged you to start from my first post, you can create a visual aid for yourself that shows not only what your children can do with you at home, but what subjects they will learn simply from daily living. If you missed that first post, please check it out and tell me what you think.
As you get more confident with home schooling, you will learn to use your time wisely. For my family, today was a good example, as we spent most of our day in the waiting room of my teen’s oral surgeon. Rather than let this day pass by without a lesson, I had my tween bring her copywork assignment with her as well as the book that she is currently reading. Therefore, she got some of her most important work done in the waiting room, the baby got to get out and see the interesting people in the waiting room, and we are all getting a lesson on how to care for a person in braces that has just had four teeth pulled. That might sound a little mundane, but we could have just sat in the waiting room reading magazines or counting the flies in the light fixture, which would have still been reading and math.
Are you too busy to home school because you cook and keep house all day? If you home school, your children can help you, and you will soon discover that some of your chores are not as important as others. My favorite educational tool for housekeeping and organization is www.flylady.net. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking your children to do chores and help cook. Believe it or not, most children like to work until you run them off to go play so many times that they decide that they are not necessary.
Are you too busy to home school because your children are involved in too many activities outside the home? That is an excellent reason to home school. Instead of rushing the children from school to activities, you can allow them to study at at their own pace, take time to clean up, take a nap, eat, and arrive at Girl Scouts or little league with energy to spare. It won’t take very long to notice that your children are far more comfortable and productive after school than many of their public schooled friends.
Are you too busy to home school because you work outside the home? If that is you, them guess what? Your children will learn that real women have real careers, and that there is more to the working mother than what they see on television or in the magazines. Of course, you will have to arrange child care, but if giving your children the opportunity to be around other people is one of your many concerns, then having them spend time with other family members, baby sitters, and older siblings will clear up a lot of your misconceptions about home schooled children being “unsocialized”. I personally have been a working mama and am now a stay at home mama, and I feel that it is nice that my daughters are getting to see both sides of the “working mom vs. stay at home mom” issue.
What are the objections that keep you from starting the home school journey or that could cause you to give up after you have already started? Write them down in your journal, and look for creative ways to overcome your worries. I tell all of the people that ask me about home schooling that it is not easy, and there will be days that you wonder why you are doing what you are doing. Those are often the days that you are running so fast that you are kissing your own butt, and those are also the days that you are setting a shining example for other mothers in your midst that wish that they could do so much with their own families. If you are too busy, then that is one of the best reasons to home school.
Have a Great Day!
Laurel Santiago
