I feel like this year is finally the year where I fully relax into homeschooling. I have to admit it’s been an emotional journey to actually get to this point.
Homeschooling is an alternative way of life, and doing the work to deconstruct years of indoctrination is hard, especially as a former public school educator. It took quite a few baby steps with plenty of big steps backwards to get to the point where I’m at right now, and I know I still have a lot more work to do.
It’s hard to let go of the idea of being productive and showing proof of learning, because learning happens within an individual person and can’t always be physically or verbally shown.⠀
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It’s hard to stop comparing your homeschool with others (especially on social media), as people always like to brag or show off the good stuff and you never really see the gritty, ugly real life stuff.⠀
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It’s hard to not let the critics get to you, especially if they’re your family and are doing it out of love and concern. Moms never stop worrying, even if their kid is 45 years old.⠀
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It’s hard to not feel like you’re late to the game when you’re surrounded by millennial homeschooling moms that seem to have their shite together, and you’re here still just trying to figure it all out.⠀
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And it’s hard to be fully on and present with your kids 24/7 a day when you’re an introverted, only child used to having lots of quiet alone time. There have been plenty of times when I’ve lost my cool.⠀
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But here I am, finally letting go of so much B.S. and relaxing into our new homeschool year. The kids are doing great and learning lots even if we don’t have much evidence to show to friends and family and the social media world, and I’ve been letting the kids have more tech time which has allowed me to have a little more alone time to replenish my mana and be fully present.⠀
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What kind of emotional constructs have you had to let go of to fully embrace homeschooling?⠀
