Editorial

What If YOU Had Been Homeschooled? by Jane Boswell

We are now seeing a new generation of homeschooling parents that were, themselves, homeschooled. This is certainly refreshing. For these, the path of home education is a natural, logical and thus, comfortable choice for them. Now embarking on the adventure with their own young children, they come prepared with valuable experience and are sometimes envied by their traditionally schooled peers.  But does walking the "homeschool experience" automatically guarantee immunity from the doubts that plague every parent? No.  Although the overwhelming majority of "homeschool grads" feel very positively about their own life-experience, they still struggle with doubts as they face the challenges of homeschooling their own very unique children. Obviously some factors help to cut back on stress. Close family members are homeschool-friendly and being homeschooled does provide handy reference points. However, the homeschooling background does not ensure an effortless journey.  Second-generation homeschoolers have to work just as hard as their traditionally schooled peers to figure out the needs of their children.

My now grown, homeschooled children are charting this course with their offspring, through many of the frustrations that I faced. So, what's the difference?  They acknowledge that the benefits received from homeschooling allowed them to realize their potential and radically impacted the course of their lives.  That's what they also want to see passed on to their own children. 

Today, some traditionally schooled parents are choosing to homeschool for that very reason. They were denied the opportunity but have seen homeschooling's fruits, and they want to reap the harvest for their own children. They’ve asked themselves, “What if I HAD BEEN HOMESCHOOLED… how would MY life be different?”  Well those "What if” questions have no answers except in the imagination.  As an adult, you do the best you can with the tools you have, but you can and should reach for the best.  That’s why you are homeschooling isn't it? 

 An illustration...

After starting to homeschool our children, I often wondered about how my life might have been different if my mother had homeschooled me.  Perhaps in a limited way, she did.  I knew how to read before kindergarten because she read to me constantly and I assume taught me, though I don’t remember formal lessons.  I think I learned more from birth until compulsory education laws institutionalized me, than from all the time in elementary school, by simply living life by my mother’s side.  My earliest years in a classroom were, as I remember, annoying and boring.  But since my mother had only been allowed to finish grade school in 1920s England, she had a high regard for education and begged me to work hard and be happy there.  I dearly loved my mother and so I complied.  However, this did not diminish my longing to stay home with her. In kindergarten, I walked home during recesses.  My tearful mother tried to explain why I could not come home.  My teacher was then assigned to chauffeur me back and forth in her car, but it was concern for my mother that kept me from dropping out. 

Later, I actually viewed my chronic bouts of bronchitis and occasional childhood illnesses as wonderful respites, granting the opportunity to stay home with her.  That meant I could curl up on the sofa while she indulged me with books, or tales of family history, or her experiences during the war (she was a wonderful storyteller). Then we would share steaming pots of tea and enjoy hours of classical music.  I probably wore her down with my habitual questioning, but she was a person with endless patience and British stamina. 

Our times spent together when I was still quite young had a great impact on my ability to learn. One year I had pneumonia and I missed weeks of school.  My mother had to help with the piles of work sent home by teachers. That was also the year I was accelerated a full grade level. No one was more surprised than me. So, I often think that if my mother had known about homeschooling and had tried it with me, that things might have turned out even better than they did. Who knows?

As a parent, when I encountered the road of homeschooling and recognized the potential of that less-traveled path – I made the choice and I didn’t turn back.  Taking that road has made many, many differences.

Have you come to that "What if" question?  It might have been the deciding factor in the process that led you to homeschool your own children.  If YOU had been homeschooled, would your learning experience… opportunities… or a life lived alongside parents and siblings... would any of those things have made a difference in who you are today? Perhaps some of those childhood dreams might have been realized…? I think the answer for all of us is, “Yes, I think so.”

Of course, it is still up to each of us to make the best choices we can, given life and its circumstances and to work steadily towards those dreams.  Your children will have to make choices, explore opportunities and work hard for their dreams.

Homeschooling, parenting (and life in general) is a journey with many steep hills, deep valleys and sudden bends in the road.  Along the way, you’ll be tempted to say, “Boy, IF I HAD BEEN HOMESCHOOLED...” to a child less than motivated to explore math or science or  “I WISH I HAD BEEN HOMESCHOOLED...” to the little one who stares curiously at the mysterious yellow bus carrying her friend away. But keep imagining what their lives CAN be and keep the dream alive for them in YOUR heart.  They might not be able to see clearly yet destination, but keep holding that light steadily before them and one day they will.  They won’t have to wonder or question... “What if? They’ll know. You’ll both know.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 ... I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

            from The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost            

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