Embracing your insecurities

… this is what I heard a few days ago when talking to another parent after I explained why Shammy was not going to attend VPK.  I was a little shocked because this was coming from an accountant and after working in the accounting field for 14 years I can tell you that it’s not a job for dump people.  This was probably just the first excuse that came to her mind and that is fine if she doesn’t want to homeschool, I was just a little surprised that she felt the need to justify herself to me when I don’t care what method she chooses to educate her child.

It could be argued that I am too dumb to teach but the beauty of homeschooling is that it’s so flexible and there are so many resources available that you don’t need a PhD or even a teacher certification to be successful.  You can buy a complete curriculum that has everything spelled out for you and all you need to do is follow a checklist and use the materials or if that is still too intimidating there are online schools that do everything for you and all you have to do is ensure that your child logs on, does the work and you encourage them as they go along.

So that brings to a question I received a few days ago:

Yes there is and you may be surprised….. Art.  A lot of people think that I am artistic because of my taste in clothing and decor but I am not that creative and too much of a perfectionist to create anything and be satisfied with the results.  Thankfully this isn’t a core educational requirement so I will let it be child led and just encourage what they want to do.  Another subject would be PE, it was my worst subject in school, more than one year I had to write a paper on the history of basketball or something like that to earn enough extra credit to get a passing grade on that class.  Thankfully that is also not a big stressor with homeschooling as I scored a PE curriculum for free and it’s easy to find extracurricular activities to supplement that.

When you are new to home education, it’s not uncommon to get bouts of insecurity and wonder “will I be able to educate my child?”. There are so many different ways of teaching and different learning styles so while I have the entire school year planned out with a more “hands on” approach with workbooks, unit studies and activities, the type A planner in me must have a backup plan so I have also registered for the free online curriculum option as a backup in case I find myself falling short and feel the need to supplement or replace if I find myself sinking.  The one that looks good to me is Discovery K12, not to be confused with the K12 online public school that advertises on TV.  Discovery K12 is not common core aligned and offers all subjects but you can pick and choose which ones you want to use.  For Language Arts I also have Essential Skills Advantage (the free version).

I am excited to start this school year, Shammy is excited about it too!  Because we have a 9 day road trip planned for the middle of next month we won’t be officially starting until late August.