Homeschooling: Answering Your Questions (Part One)

I don’t usually blog about homeschooling. However, I regularly receive questions about our homeschooling journey. Since the purpose of my blog is to encourage and empower you to tell the next generation wondrous things, it seems fitting to include some posts about homeschooling and answer your questions.

Some of you are seriously considering homeschooling but are apprehensive. You are the ones I want to encourage today.

In addition, perhaps this post will enlighten those who think homeschooling is for weird people. (No worries—that’s exactly what I used to think!)

All Parents are Teachers

All parents are teachers. Every day we teach our children through the choices we make with our words, actions, and attitudes.

Homeschool parents recognize certain needs in their children. We want to guide and equip them to successfully find answers for those needs. There are magnificent mountains of knowledge for them to discover and breathtaking journeys for them to take. Understanding that children are unique and learn in different ways, and at a different pace, we want to provide them with a learning environment that is designed for their individual needs. To do that, we choose to homeschool.

This is part one of a three-part series. Below are a few questions I receive on a regular basis. If you have additional questions, I’d love to hear from you.

How long have you homeschooled?

We’ve been homeschooling since the fall of 1999! I began homeschooling our daughters when they began first grade and third grade.

Both girls went on to graduate from college and are doing well. Our son has been homeschooled from the beginning and is currently in the eighth grade.

But you have a teaching degree, so you know how to teach. Will I be able to do it?

I do have a teaching degree in K-6 Education as well as a master’s degree. I taught in the public-school system for nine years.

However, a college degree is not the key component of what makes a good teacher. Don’t get me wrong. A college education can be beneficial. There are things I learned in my college classes that have helped me as a teacher.

Nonetheless, we all know success usually comes by learning through hands-on training and gaining experience in the field. Wise mentors, hard work, and a determination to keep making progress all promote success.

Do we need a college teaching degree to homeschool successfully? Absolutely not.

Do We Need Teaching Degrees to Homeschool?

I have a teaching degree, but I don’t believe it makes me more qualified to homeschool. The desire to guide our children to learn to the best of their ability and for them to find joy in it is what counts.

The willingness to study and teach ourselves alongside our kids goes a long way. Teaching with their best interest in mind and offering the best we have trumps institutional degrees.

No one loves and cares more about your children than you do. You know their strengths and weaknesses—or you will once you begin homeschooling. You will have the freedom to teach each child based on their learning style and at a pace where they are able to master a concept before moving forward.

If you are willing to diligently seek and provide wonderful educational resources for your child, then yes, you can do this.

That may be through trial-and-error of finding a curriculum that works for your child. It may be your willingness to research and educate yourself on a topic or to find a tutor. It will require some sacrifices. You must realize there will be successes and failures, easy days and tough days. God can reveal great things to us through all of them.

If you have your children’s best interest at heart, you desire for them to grow strong spiritually, emotionally, physically, and intellectually. If you believe God is calling you to do this, then yes, you most definitely can do this—without any formal teacher training. If God is tugging your heart in the direction of homeschooling, He will equip you with the resources to do it.