And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ~ Deuteronomy 6:6-7
One of the biggest and most discouraging myths concerning homeschooling is that parents are not qualified to teach their children. According to educational guru’s, you must be a graduate from a university and you must be certified by the state to teach children.
And that my friends is just that, A MYTH!
First of all, in my experience as the director of a homeschool co-op, I worked with parents from various backgrounds. Some were certified teachers, many had bachelor’s degrees in areas other than education, and then there was this group of brave mamas who had some college or simply a high school education.
The certified teachers were all great teachers, but tended to teach like a teacher in a traditional classroom. In other words, they taught to the group and not the individual. And when you homeschool, you teach to the individual and not necessarily to the group. When I first began homeschooling, I did the same thing. Even though I was teaching only my child, I tried to teach her like I was teaching a group. Through trial and error, I broke out of the mold and began to teach her individually. And when that happened, my daughter flourished.
The teachers with bachelor’s degrees were also great teachers. They were experts in their particular field and were not tied down by the traditional methods that go along with teaching in a classroom. And the excellent teachers taught from their hearts.
And then there was the third group, the teacher’s with not as much education. And those brave teachers were true gems. They had such a heart for the kids and that love carried them far and in some cases above the teachers who had more education. They also worked a little bit harder. I think they felt like they may have had a little bit more to prove.
As I worked on my teacher certification, I found the majority of my classes were theoretical in nature and while they were worthwhile, it was my teaching experience and the ability to work with children that made me a successful teacher, not taking teacher certification classes.
All teachers, including homeschooling parents, must be familiar with the subject matter they. When I homeschooled, I read ahead and studied the material just as any good teacher would. I did hit a road block with Algebra and Biology. I’m not a math person and simply did not feel that it was in my child’s best interest to continue teaching math and I did not want to dissect animals in my home. As a result, I joined our local homeschool co-op where a math teacher was hired and a parent with a science background taught the high school science classes. My daughter finished her English credits taking a dual credit classes at our local community college and I finished up her history.
Today’s homeschooler is now an educational director for her child. With the abundance of traditional curriculum, online programs, parent driven co-operative classes, outside classes taught by learning specialists, and even dual credit classes where high school students can receive both high school and college credit simultaneously, parents can pick and choose the educational program that best fits their child.
The choices are endless for the parent who want to homeschool in the traditional manner.
- Some choose to teach all the subjects at home.
- Others trade off with their friends. One friend might teach science while the other parent teaches history.
- Numerous families opt for online classes where the child works independently. The parent assigns work and makes sure their child stays on task while the online academy grades the work and keeps up with the transcripts.
- Another option, especially for parents with older children is to farm out some or all of the courses to co-ops or other classes taught by learning specialists where you can choose which classes you would like someone else to teach.
- And probably the best deal of all is dual credit where your child receives college credit while taking homeschool credit.
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school”. ~ Albert Einstein
As you can see, today’s homeschool parent is definitely qualified to homeschool. All you need is the desire, willpower and to be BRAVE!
BraveMama, remember that “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29
What method do you plan to use to homeschool your children? Let me know.
If you need prayer, please message me. I’d love to agree with you in prayer.
Did you know that I wrote a free homeschooling resource entitled 7 Scripture Prayers To Pray Over Your Homeschool. To receive a copy, scroll down and click on the updates link.
