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