Homeschool Expectations

Last week a friend and I took our kids to the beach for the morning. I love those kind of days. The kids get to hang out with friends and explore the beach, and the moms get to catch up and be encouraged. It’s a win-win day.

One of our beach chats revolved around homeschool expectations.

How we thought homeschooling was going to look in our home and how it actually looks in our home. Vastly different! We both remarked that we had dreams of sitting around with our children engaged in deep discussions about the book we were savoring. Our children would always be eager learners and never complain about the assignments they were given.

All I can say is that I was living in fantasy land! My expectations verses my reality? – not even close. I would hazard a guess that we are not the only two homeschooling moms with this experience.

However, it doesn’t mean our homeschool experience is bad – just different.

My kids are not always sitting quietly while we are reading a story. Most likely I have to stop every page or two to remind the younger kids to settle down. When we can finally get settled at the table to do work, then someone has to go to the bathroom, or get a drink, or chase the cat. As frustrating as these interruptions can be at times, okay, all the time, these are some of the very reasons I didn’t want my kids to go to school. I didn’t want them to have to ask permission to go get a drink or only go to the bathroom during certain times, or even to eat a certain times of the day.

I don’t always want to hear them voice an opinion about every assignment that they have to do, sometimes it just has to be done because I say so, other times perhaps it isn’t such a big deal that it’s skipped. I do want them to feel that they have a say in their education, especially as they get older.

Add in all the other things that need to get accomplished during the day to maintain a household, I certainly don’t have a lunch lady, a custodian, a librarian, or a resource room either! So, that means we juggle all of those activities with our school work. Real Life.

I have to take the good with the bad, but the trade off is worth while.

We are a family. Living, working and learning in our home. We aren’t trying to re-create a school classroom, but simply want to help our children get a solid education despite the crazy that life throws at us. Sometimes that looks a bit messy.