By Janny Jackson
The question of whether a parent without a specific teaching education or degree is qualified to teach their own children versus sending them to a public or private school is one of the most highly debated in the homeschool world.
The supposed qualifications for a “proper” educator involve a college degree. training, and experience in the field of education, and those that question if a parent is qualified to provide an education without those prerequisites would say that we are completely incapable of providing a full and complete education to our own children, therefore crippling their ability to become a functioning and successful adult in society.
If you read about my journey into homeschooling and how I initially had zero intention of doing it, how I had those same questions and doubts, and how I felt forced into this world, you would know I completely understand that argument.
This was not a calling or conviction I had in my life from the moment I birthed my children, like so with a lot of other parents. There wasn’t even a glimpse of a thought about homeschooling once it came time to begin the school enrollment process.
I was just like everyone else in society. Enrolling my kids in school was the thing to do. I went to public school, and I turned out fine, my kids will too. I’d be an involved parent and not let my kids feel like they were being sent away or had a separate life apart from being at home. They’d receive their education from someone who got the “proper education” and is probably still paying off their student loans so they could teach my kids. That was their passion, not mine.
This past year I have done more research than ever in the past 5 years of homeschooling, and one thing I started doing was watching teaching vlogs on YouTube. Mainly because I love watching the organization process of setting up a classroom and to possibly procure some ideas I could put into place in our homeschool.
I started to pick up on some things.
Yes, the start of the school year is fun and exciting. There’s new friends and a newly decorated classroom. There’s having your own desk and learning a new routine.
But there’s also 20-ish other people around. Your education in that classroom is dependent on the cooperation of everyone else around you.
I noticed that a lot of teaching is comparable to herding sheep. If one goes astray or is having a bad day, the whole class suffers. A lot of what a teacher does and is taught to do in their education to become a qualified teacher is learning how to manage a classroom full of little people with different personalities, backgrounds, and home lives.
That being said, the way that the class is taught has to be in a way that caters to all at the same time, in the same moment, to keep everyone at the same level.
There is no individualized education. It is similar to herding sheep, to get everyone to the same place at the same time and in the same way.
Now, before I continue, having grown up in the public school system and watched the vlogs, I want to make it extremely clear that I have nothing but utmost respect for educators in the public and private school systems. They dedicate their education, money, and time to teaching little people because it is their passion. A majority of teachers don’t even have kids of their own, but they love children so much that they want to pour into them by giving them an education.
I am not at all discounting the hard work, physical and mental, of the teachers out there that truly love their jobs and do it for the reward of building those relationships and seeing children grow and achieve goals. Teachers in the school system can change lives, and I would not for a second discount that just because my opinion in how I choose to educate my child differs from theirs.
So back to what I was saying. Teachers are skilled in learning to manage a classroom full of kids.
Another thing I picked up on from watching these vlogs is that teachers are given a curriculum with standards and benchmarks provided by their school district (of which they have no control) that they are required to teach and test on for the year for their grade level. They are not told how to teach it per se. They have been given a college education and training as to how to deliver the education of whatever subject or grade of their choosing, but in the day to day it requires a lot of forethought and planning to actually come up with the lessons and how these skills are going to be taught, again, to a classroom full of kids, yes at the same age, but not necessarily the same level.
So, teaching each skill, again, becomes a herding effort. Their goal is to make a lesson engaging, colorful, and fun enough so that every kid in the class can/must learn that skill and show they’ve learned that skill by passing testing on it.
Which is fine. In most cases it works, right? But what about the kids that have been passed along, moved up in grade yet not quite where they “should be” developmentally? What about those with a hard home life that act up at school for attention? What about those that don’t have active and attentive parents at home? What about those that just don’t care and would rather be on a phone or playing video games?
Teachers that care will do everything they can to make sure that that child has what they need to succeed, but at the end of the day, their time is limited with that child, and they simply cannot provide the structure and help that a parent should be providing at home.
Teachers are not meant to parent.
The education system is not meant to raise our kids. It is not the job of the education system to raise kids to be successful adults.
That is our job as parents.
The success of our children’s education begins at home, not in the schools. It begins with parents that are involved. Parents that conversate with their children and know what’s going on in their little worlds. Parents that set boundaries and expectations. Parents that provide a safe environment for children to thrive in.
When children have these things at home, they can be successful anywhere.
A child’s education is so much more than bookwork and passing tests. It’s even more than “socializing”. It’s about providing a life for our children in which they feel grounded and confident in themselves because of the foundation being laid at home.
Having had my eyes opened to these things it has really cemented my desire and love of homeschooling my kids and wanting to grow myself and become a better educator and parent to them.
But practically when it comes to homeschooling how does that work?
A homeschool curriculum is very different to the curriculum a teacher would use in a classroom.
Where a teacher receives basically a skill or benchmark that needs to be taught then has to figure out how to teach it, i.e. making slides, printing worksheets, playing games, creating anchor charts etc., a homeschool curriculum is often word for word laid out in a way that can often be taught just by opening the book and sitting down with your child.
There is curriculum available that are open and go and don’t require much if any prep time, and there is curriculum available that do require prep time. Advanced prep time might involve gathering books, making sure you have access to a website, finding supplies needed for a craft or game, etc.
The more experienced you become in homeschooling the more prep work you will do, that’s just the truth. You will see what is being taught, plan out your week, then figure out how to spice it up a little. Maybe the curriculum is very black and white and boring, so you want to liven it up a bit by adding videos or picture books. Maybe you want to plan a field trip for a hands-on experience on what you are studying. Maybe you want a tactile experience and find a game or art craft to go along with your lesson. Maybe you have more than one child doing the same curriculum and want them to work together on a project. There are so many ways to spice up and personalize a homeschool curriculum. BUT it is not always necessary or needed.
We as homeschoolers are not “teachers”. Not in the sense that the world would define us. We are facilitators. We facilitate the curriculum we have carefully chosen to meet the needs of our children, and as the years go on and the more experienced we become, we personalize that curriculum and learn how to tailor it even more to that specific child. The most important of this process being that we go at our child’s pace, and not at a pace set by a higher up.
Obviously, we as homeschoolers aim to keep our children on grade level along with other children their own age. To not do so would be irresponsible. But that will look differently with each child and in each home. For example, a child may read on a fifth-grade level, but be on a second-grade spelling level. A homeschool parent can tailor that child’s education to where he or she is, and gradually build those skills at that child’s pace.
Homeschooling focuses on mastery, not just on checking all the boxes and presenting information in order to regurgitate it onto a test.
I heard another mom say this:
“God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called.”
Homeschooling is a journey. There isn’t an arrival. There is a constant ebb and flow that is contingent upon the level of effort you put into your homeschool and your children.
Some seasons may seem easy and go smoothly. Others might be more difficult. But what is most important about homeschooling is that no child gets left behind. No one is passed on to someone else or passed over for not keeping up with the others. No matter the heart behind the teacher, that is something that is not in a teacher’s control. By the end of the year, they must pass their students along to the next person whether that student has kept up or not.
There are many other differences between traditional teachers and homeschoolers, but these are the things I have noticed over the past couple of months that have actually really encouraged me to continue on the path that we are on.
I’m no expert. I’m just a mom that is passionate about her own children and homeschool journey and hoping that I can encourage YOU if you are interested in doing the same.
Thoughts about this subject? Share them below. And as always, thanks for being here!