So far we’ve covered four school supplies every homeschooling parent should have:

Patience

Thick skin

Sense of humor

Creativity

The fifth must-have school supply is something you might not have thought of, but having it is what will carry you through the hard times, the frustrating times and the miserable times (yes, you will have bad times occasionally.) It is a sense of purpose.

Do you know why you’re homeschooling? Is it because you feel called to do it? Or perhaps you saw your child suffering in public school and you decided no one will ever hurt your child in a learning environment again?

Maybe you feel that it’s your duty as a parent, or a patriot (distrust of the liberal agenda in public schools is high these days). Or it’s possible you see homeschooling as the logical extension of parenting, because you realize that parenting doesn’t stop at age six, or four, or whatever the legal age for starting school is in your state.

The important thing is that you have a sense of purpose. Once in a while I run into someone who’s homeschooling because their spouse pressured them into it, or because their best friend is homeschooling and they decided on a whim to do it, too. Those are the people who end up putting their kids in school sooner or later.

A clear sense of purpose will keep you going even when the kids are cranky, and your mother tells you your stress level would shrink if you would just put those kids in school, and your husband complains that his feet are sticking to the kitchen floor, again. Homeschooling ain’t for wimps, but with a strong sense of purpose, you can keep going no matter what so that your children and you benefit from the many blessings of homeschooling.

One of the most important school supplies for homeschooling parents is creativity. Many people believe they are not creative, but often that’s because their creative selves were snuffed out by institutional schooling and, later, a business world that claims to prefer creative minds but actually finds conformism much easier to handle.

Open your mind: visit other homeschooling parents’ blogs and see what they’ve been up to lately. Take lots of trips with your children to museums and zoos. Paint and draw with your kids. (My son loves when we draw together. We’ve been doing it for so long that it’s just part of our lives now.)

A heightened sense of creativity will help you make changes where needed. You won’t fear dumping a book or curriculum for something new; in fact, if you let it, your sense of creativity will help you put together an eclectic curriculum tailored specifically to each of your children. Feed your sense of creativity and it will serve you well.

Tomorrow: #5

The third must-have school supply for homeschooling parents is a sense of humor. There will be times when the toilet backs up while you’re in the middle of explaining how fractions work, the doorbell rings while you’re up to your elbows in papier-mâché and the baby spits up all over your daughter’s favorite doll, leaving both children in tears. There’s even a good chance these things could happen all on the same day. If you have a choice, choose laughter.

Tomorrow: #4

Another must-have school supply for homeschooling parents is a thick skin. People are going to question your decision to homeschool your children. They’re going to ask whether you have a teaching certificate, as if knowing techniques for handling a roomful of children you’ve never met before has anything at all to do with teaching your own child, whom you know far better than anyone else does except your spouse.

They’re going to ask how your child will ever have friends, and they may even ask your child that question directly. That requires you to have an extra thick skin, because we parents have real issues with people directing nosy and misguided questions at our kids.

The questions and comments may slow down as your children get older and it becomes apparent that homeschooling is working, but they won’t ever go away, because there will always be people who cannot get past their reliance on authority figures and institutions. So start toughening up now.

Tomorrow: #3

While shopping today, I was amazed at the variety of school supplies that are on sale.

When I was a kid, we only needed pencils, a ruler, some crayons and (once we hit fifth grade) notebook paper. Today, schools issue long lists of supplies that include enough inventory to start your own school.

Those of us who do have our own school, at home, find that there are certain supplies we want our kids to have. For instance, I always made sure to keep a stash of notebook paper, pencils and crayons on hand, plus a wide assortment of art supplies.

We homeschooling parents vary in the supplies we think our kids need to have. But we spend less time, I would guess, thinking about the supplies we need to have in order to homeschool our kids.

If I had to pick five school supplies every homeschooling parent should have, I would start the list by saying that a homeschooling parent has to have a good supply of patience.

It takes patience to wait for children to absorb concepts. It takes patience to answer the same question over and over. It takes patience to wait for signs of readiness before introducing a concept or skill you’re dying to see your child master (a good example of this is reading.)

Of course, you don’t start out homeschooling with all the patience you need. It’s something you develop over the years (although after raising a child from infancy, you’ve probably got a good head start.) But the saying “patience is a virtue” was never truer than in the case of homeschooling.

School supply #2

School supply #3

School supply #4

School supply #5