Today’s big news story is making headlines all around the world: shocking video exists of a teacher at a charter school in Texas slapping, kicking and dragging one of her students while other students watch.
I won’t watch the video; I doubt that I could stomach it. But one thing I know for sure: when you homeschool your kids, you never have to worry that a schoolteacher could do this to your child.
When I was homeschooling, one of my goals was for my kids to find really nice friends. I’d had the experience of dealing with mean kids at school, and didn’t want my kids to have to go through it. And while we did have some great neighbors, I wanted my kids to have good friends in addition to their neighborhood friends.
They did make some really nice friends, which was great. But what I didn’t realize was that these kids would have nice moms, too. What a pleasure it was to hang out with people who understood exactly what my life was like! When we started homeschooling, many people thought it was weird. Some of my mom friends thought I’d lost my marbles because I wanted to have my kids home all day. But the homeschool moms understood completely.
Over the years, I’ve met many more homeschool moms through support group meetings, convention booths and workshops, and the Internet (especially my blogs). I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you all! I think homeschool moms are the smartest, nicest and just plain coolest moms there are 🙂
I want to wish all of you a blessed Mother’s Day and also tell you how much I appreciate your friendship. I do think socialization is one of the best things about homeschooling, for kids and their moms. Don’t you? 😉
When I first began homeschooling, I focused heavily on the books we used. There wasn’t nearly as much good curriculum available as there is now, but I studied up on what there was, and once I made my purchases, I followed the directions in the teacher’s guides word for word….at first. Continue reading
Like most homeschooling parents, my husband and I chose homeschooling because we thought it would be good for our kids. We had no idea what an impact it would have on us.
We grew up in the public schools. We were both good students and obedient kids who didn’t really question why we were there until we got older. I can’t speak for my husband*, but my thought was that school was deadly boring but utterly unavoidable. If there was anyone homeschooling in the 1960s, we sure didn’t know about it. Continue reading
….is reader Jill, whose entry was drawn by the random number generator for this week’s giveaway of a copy of my book, The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling.
Many thanks to everyone who entered for sharing your homeschooling challenges. I sure am glad I didn’t have to choose a winner, because I wanted every one of you to win!
Be sure to enter our final spring giveaway for a copy of our new book, a reprint of an 1890 kindergarten story curriculum called Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks With Over 125 Illustrations. Learn more here.