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Profile of a Homeschooling Parent: How Many Jobs Do You Have?
© Beverley Paine 2006 So many of us fall into the trap of taking on too much as homeschooling parents and become overwhelmed. Our confidence in home education drops significantly and we begin to wonder if our children are disadvantaged. Well-meaning friends and relatives agree: "it's all too much for you" and "your children would be happier at school..." it's time to take a good hard look at how many jobs you have and if you're being reasonable about what you can actually do each day! I am a mother: that's my first job. It doesn't define me as a person, it's just my most important occupation at the moment. As a young mother I believed that there was such a thing as 'good parenting'. As an experienced mother I know that those 'L' plates never come off my forehead! I am still a learner mum: with children aged 25, 23 and 19 I am acutely aware of this truth. So get used the idea early - there is no such thing as 'good parenting': there is only 'parenting'. We do our best but like all other occupations it's largely on-the-job training and the training manuals don't cover all situations. Flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing conditions, together with a healthy dose of compromise, will see you through! Second job: home maker. Why do I place this before home educator? being a wife isn't a 'job', but I believe it is vital to family life for the parents to pay constant attention to the state of their relationship. The children won't always be underfoot. The guy I married is my best friend. He's the one I'm going to hang out with for the rest of my life. Few mums spend as much time with their children as home educating mothers: at times it can seem like our whole lives revolve around our children. We seem obsessed with parenting and education! It can definitely look that way to our partners, so it's important to remember that home education is but one stage in our lives. Our job is to prepare our children for that time when we finally let them go and they fly confidently from the family nest. We do this best by showing by example. That's how our children learn to survive: how to feed and clothe themselves; how to keep themselves clean and free from harm; how to keep the peace and get along with others while asserting our independence and individual rights. We teach our children how to live responsibly by being responsible homemakers. Home is where life is happens. It's where life is nurtured and supported. Home is at the centre of human life. Let's celebrate the work we all do in maintaining healthy homelife, no matter what role, big or small, we each play. What we do each day at home may not earn us a diploma or degree. We may not get a certificate at the end of each term. What we learn isn't tested by others, but by time. We judge our own performance and improve as need determines. It's not about education, it's about living and living well. If you are feeling overwhelmed and are thinking like your friends that homeschooling is too hard, then perhaps it's time you stopped trying to be a teacher. You don't live in a school; your living room isn't a classroom and these aren't students before you. They are your children, this is a home, and you are a parent. Be a parent and a home maker first... You'll be amazed at how much of the school curriculum your children will learn without those carefully contrived lessons once you relax into a more natural learning lifestyle. Click here for a full list of articles and pages on this website. |
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Pioneering members of the home education movement in Australia, Beverley and Robin Paine are passionate advocates of true educational choice for families. They began homeschooling their children in 1986 and three years later started the South Australian Home Based Learners network.
Beverley wrote Getting Started with Homeschooling in 1995-97 and since then continues to write books and booklets on home education. She balances spending time helping home educators with working in her garden and renovating her home, as well as continuing to build her collection of writing on a variety of homeschooling subjects. Beverley maintains an extensive collection of websites as well as several Yahoo groups supporting families teaching their children at home.
In 2007 Beverley joined the HEA and was a committee member for three years during which time she edited and produced the HEA Newsletter, Stepping Stones for Home Educators magazine, annual Resource Directory and other HEA publications.
If you'd like to keep in touch with what Beverley is up to her in her life, sign up for the Homeschool Australia Newsletter or visit her Homeschool Australia Facebook page.nor do they endorse or recommend products (other than their own) listed in contributed articles, pages, or advertisements.