I am capable of and confident in homeschooling.

Every time I tell someone we're planning to homeschool (unschool, but shhh!) I always get a million reasons why I shouldn't. Why it's detrimental to them.

There is the typical - "But you're not even qualified to teach, are you!?"

Well, yes, yes I am. I am more qualified to teach my children than any other person in the world is.

If you still view education as something that can only be done in a classroom, by a teacher, then I am only 6 months of student teaching away from being able to be a teacher in our state. That's all I need to get my teaching license here. Which I will never do.

But seriously, people were educating their own children in their homes looooong before any government busybody ever decided kids should be taken from their homes and educated by strangers. I can do it. You can do it. I am the expert on my child. I know what makes B tick. I know how best to encourage H. I am highly motivated to help my children because I want them to succeed. I don't need any special training, any degree, or any kind of certification. And neither do you. All we need is patience, love, and a never-ending desire to field questions and seek answers.

It's so much simpler than most people think. Not half as complicated as I make it out to be in my head some days.

I'm still undoubtedly caught in that place, on occasion, of knowing what I want for my children - a child-lead education where I provide them with new materials and options, but don't force them to do busy schoolwork - but still have that little tick in the back of my head that says, "but education comes from workbooks. Duh! They should be bored doing mundane work, not hands-on, valuable learning."

Obviously that annoying little tick doesn't win out. Because I have J on my team, too. And he helps to set me straight because we want our kids to be so much better than us. To have a better education. A hands-on, real-life education. They deserve it. And they are definitely worth all the time and energy it takes.

Because it would be easy to send them to school, let them sit in a classroom every day, "learn" what someone else says they need to know, but it takes a lot more patience and hard work to be with them every day. Helping, guiding, listening to them. Exploring the world with them. Learning right along with them while they delve into a world of learning that they love and that truly interests them.

I mean. I hear people say, they suck at spelling. Their grammar is poor. They can't figure out what "x" equals. They have little grasp of biology, chemistry, or physics. They're ignorant of basic economics. They don't know a noun from a verb, let alone an adjective. Or an adverb. Yikes!

Then they say, "I can't possibly homeschool my child. I'm not smart enough."

So, seriously, the solution is to send your children to the very same place that failed to teach these skills to you?

I can find "x" most of the time. I don't know anything in the science department. I remember making candy canes in chemistry and ice cream in physics. I have no idea how the ice cream came into play in physics...I made cookies in Health class so I didn't have to take a test. Makes complete sense. The only thing I remember from Economics class is "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

And that's all just high school.

College was the same. I never went to class. I rarely did the readings. I took the tests and passed with flying colors. I wrote 12 page essays over books I'd never read, simply flipped through and pulled out a handful of quotes to bedazzle the paper with. I never got a grade lower than a A- in an English or History class. I took three different foreign languages, and passed them all with flying colors. I can speak precisely one language. English.

But I digress.

Aside from not being able to properly educate my children, I often hear people lament that they will not be properly socialized. Well, first, you socialize dogs. You educate children. And unless you keep your kids locked in a closet, they will naturally be socialized.

"If kids don't go to school, how will they become socialized?"

First, the brand of socialization children learn in school is hardly virtuous. They learn to bully others and to accept being bullied themselves. They learn to fit in or they become outcasts. They learn to conform and obey or they're labeled as troublemakers.

But even if this type of socialization was a worthy goal for a child, what do the teachers always tell the students?

"You're not here to socialize!"

So really, they need school to socialize? I think not.

I know that J and I are both capable of home educating our children. I know our children will be far better for it.

Maybe they won't fit into the ideals of others. I'm sure I'll still have to fight off the ideas of education that have been indoctrinated into me from a very early age at times; like if B isn't reading by the time he's 6 or they don't do multiplication by 7 when I learned it.

But seeing as they're currently "ahead" of their peers in most areas, I don't worry. H reads and writes. She's not yet four. B counts to 10 (in Spanish only, we're working on it in English). He recognizes some of his letters, which is apparently what you learn in kindergarten anyway. No formal schooling necessary for these things.

Academically, the way school does things, H would be an awesome student. She loves that kind of stuff and learns everything like a sponge. B is more laid back. I don't think he'll ever ask to work in a workbook "for fun" like H. I highly doubt he'll be reading at 3.5 And that's okay! Because I have zero doubt that he will learn what he needs to know, when he needs to know it, in the best method that suits his learning needs. Just like his sister.

So maybe H & B won't be able pinpoint Istanbul on a map when they're 8. They might not know their multiplication tables at 7. They might not be able to write an essay over the Holy Wars on command or recite the periodic tables when they're 15. They might have to use Google when someone quizzes them, "What's a gerund?" They might need dictionary.com to confirm the spelling of cacophonous.

But they do and will understand that they own their own bodies. They know an adult nor peer has any right to do something to them without their consent. They will know that authority figures do not always have their best interests at heart. They do and will refuse to accept asinine answers like, "because I said so." They will not resort to aggression and bullying when elementary-aged, but will know that all people should be treated kindly and with empathy. I will never fear that they will be unkind when my back is turned and there is no one there to watch and mandate a certain behavior from them.

J and I read to them a lot. We answer their questions honestly, even when they make us bite our lips and look at each other cross-eyed because we have no idea how someone so young can come to question these things all ready. We expose them to new ideas. We expose them to ideas we don't necessarily agree with, but want them to have the ability to decide for themselves. H and B thrive on this and make fantastic leaps in reasoning, forming complex theories and ideas we would have never dreamed possible. And if this is what they can do now, at 2 and 3.5, the sky is the limit, baby. There is so much possibility for them if we don't force them into conformity with everyone else their own age.

I have no doubt they will eventually learn geography, history, and multiplication (and not because someone threatens them with missing out on a field trip so they give up all recesses to memorize the times table for a week - true story!). They will learn those things when they're ready. But first, they are learning to think. Which is something so few people can do for themselves in this day and age. Creating this environment, allowing them to create and explore and form their own conclusions, has placed them on a course to control their own lives.

 

And what could be better than that?

 

So am I worried about my ability to teach them? No, not at all.

 

Do I fear they will not get socialization? Not even a bit.

 

Do I fear they won't learn everything that other kids their ages will in school? No, because most of those kids aren't really learning those things either.

 

I have different ideas for my kids than a lot of people. Fortunately, I have J who believes in and wants these different things, too. So it's no so scary to be the lone ranger, walking an unpaved path with the little people who mean the most in the world to me.

 

School isn't the devil. I'd never say that. But I do think there is better. That there are better ways.

 

And my kids are worth that extra mile. They are worth taking the walk down the foreign path, even if we're walking it alone.