Choosing to Homeschool :: BTS Fall 2020/21

Happy September! Happy Back to school! And you read it right… we are choosing to homeschool!

Was it an option? Absolutely! Was it an easy one? Absolutely… NOT.

I think I spent more time humming and hawing about whether I was going to homeschool Little Mama or not, than actually planning her homeschool year. And believe me, friends, the time and work that goes into planning is nothing to sneeze at. So you can only imagine how much humming and hawing I actually did! In fact, I am writing this post while listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos on all the right steps to take after choosing to homeschool. Essentially… I am pretty much taking the homeschool plunge, with my eyes completely shut, hoping for the best.

The crazy thing is, a week later, after all the schools have already delved right into their curriculum, I’m still humming and hawing (apparently, I do that a lot…) about which curriculum(s) would suit my kiddo and what I can do to avoid ruining her academic career, or her life, for that matter. But even so, there has been an overwhelming feeling of calm upon making this decision. There’s a reason for this. But let me share with you, five.  Hopefully, if you are still going back and forth about whether choosing to homeschool is the right fit for your family, perhaps my reasons might offer some sort of inspiration (or turn you off completely…).

Here are the 5 reasons why we are choosing to homeschool:

• We… have to: I know I know, we’re in Phase 3 of a pandemic here in our province, but we are in a situation that simply doesn’t jive with sharing a bubble with 20+ other families. Don’t get me wrong, if it were up to me, I’d be sharing bubbles with every single one of our good friends at school (show of hands if you simply adore your fellow school mama friends! Gah… I miss our after school chats!). But we can’t. Our family made the decision to keep our bubble very close and tight sharing it with 3 very compromised humans – one in their early years of life (a preemie close to our heart), and two exceptionally important people in their golden years. They’re all family, we see them often, and it’s just not worth taking the risk. Besides, I’m going to keep it real here – let’s just say, when it comes to my easily distracted little student, I will be adding lessons on frequent hand washing to my curriculum this year… 
• We… want to: When lockdown life began in our area at the top of spring break, most members of the human race, that I knew of anyway, were in a tailspin trying to navigate their fears of the unknown. My daughter, on the other hand… not so much. She just rode the waves of uncertainty and smiled from ear to ear, the entire time. It was a vast contrast from virtually every single day after school when she would come home exhausted, moody, and disinterested in anything learning-related. I chalked it up to being just a kid thing – but no sooner did I realize, my kiddo just didn’t love… heck she didn’t even like going to school. The pace was just not her pace. The style just wasn’t her style. She wasn’t herself, and she lost her joy in the confines of a brick and mortar school. I didn’t understand this mindset because admittedly, being a keener, social butterfly myself –  I recall LOVING school. I looked forward to seeing my friends, learning all the things, while blinging out with my interchangeable Swatch Watch bands to match my trendy outfits. But that is simply not the case for my resistant little learner. She loved her amazing teachers and adored her little friends, but she was so caught up in her own feelings of discomfort, that she just didn’t have the interest to interact. And often she kept to herself. The mere act of going to school was draining her and dimming her bright light, and unfortunately, it took a pandemic for me to realize this.
• We can: Being a work at home mom with a relatively flexible work day is a gift. Easy, it is not. In fact, work barely happened when the entire family was forced into lockdown mode earlier this spring, including George who worked from home (who coincidentally, was not a fan, at first). So I am completely aware that working at home while homeschooling was not going to be easy. But I am fortunate that I’m not tied to certain hours, I am my own boss, and I had already chosen a life of close proximity to the kiddos – whether they’re 4 blocks away at their school, or 2 steps away in the playroom. Choosing to homeschool was as much a no brainer (even if it did involve a lot of humming and hawing – oops… there I go again!) – as it was to choose to start working from home – because contrary to popular belief, I actually love being with my kiddos. Day in, day out. I know… you are probably shaking your head and wondering if I’m suffering from mental fog. But the truth is… having them home, full time, is actually appealing to me. Did I mention, this social butterfly keener loves having someone to talk to at all hours of the day?
• My Daughter needs one-on-one learning: I have a very bright and creative little girl, but I have always known that she requires a different approach to learning. A sit down class with a plethora of distractions was just not ideal for her. From the rumblings of the fish mascot’s aquarium, to the giggles of the group of girls in the pod next to her, to the tick tocking of the oversized, colorful clock staring at her from behind her teacher – she just couldn’t concentrate on what was being taught. Every year, the gap would get bigger between what the learning expectations were, and the actual learning that was taking place. Again, it was confusing, exhausting, and led to many-a-daily-meltdown by the end of most school days. However, during the early months of Covid-related homeschooling, I found out very quickly that she thrived in a one-on-one learning environment. It was rather difficult to keep her toddler brother busy (though we miraculously eventually made it work), but I was able to make adjustments to the environment to suit her learning needs, by keeping things as non-stimulating as possible. We were more focused, as noise and external distractions were kept to a bare minimum.
• Mama learns too: Standby for another post on this topic, but as mamas, have you ever felt the need to feed your brain with more than just the lyrics of Peppa Pig, and the names of all the go-to snacks, on repeat? Well, I certainly have, and even something as simple as picking up a book to read wasn’t as easy to come by (that is, until pandemic life started, and that was all we could do). The idea of learning with my child (and yes, we’re choosing to homeschool side-by-side, rather than a more hands off approach), is beyond appealing to me. I’m ashamed to admit that I probably had more “REALLY? I didn’t know that!?” moments while teaching Little Mama, than I care to admit. There are just so many factoids that have been tucked away in my memory bank that needed a little… dusting off. And I gotta say – it was kind of liberating to get my synapsis firing up again. I’m discovering, that helping our kiddo develop a love of learning, starts with me – her parent and educator. I need to love learning again as well.

I have about a million other reasons why we’re choosing to homeschool this year, but I think that will all be uncovered as I embark on this journey with my now eager learner (long gone, are the days of resistance… well that’s the goal anyway…). For now, I’m just going to focus on the very reason why we ultimately ended up choosing to homeschool Little Mama.

We wanted to help bring her “happy” back.

Seeing this mental shift from stress to bliss in our little girl, makes all the extra prep in the wee hours of the morning, the constant worry, and the orchestration of humming and hawing – all worth it. We are extremely humbled that this is now part of our plan, especially since it wasn’t anywhere near what we envisioned for our family. But we are at a point now where we know we did the right thing for us, even if it’s not necessarily for everyone.

When I encounter a moment of doubt, I’m just going to look at this sweet, little face.

What are some adjustments that you’ve made for yourself and/or your family during this pandemic? Have you considered homeschooling your kids (or even your hypothetical kids)

Wish us luck! And Happy Back to (home) school to you!