A Day in the Life

While I’m typing this, my 3-year-old is asking a million questions. 

That’s what it’s really like to be a stay-at-home mom. 

You field all the questions. You handle all the “stuff” that comes up. Someone needs their butt wiped– Mom. Someone went in the woods and got in a thorny vine– Mom. Someone wants to read a book– Mom. Often, especially with younger kids, they don’t pay attention to what Mom is doing when these requests come up. They just know Mom can make things right in their world. 

It’s all on us, Moms. 

But, it’s beautiful and right for it to be this way. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. 

It’s also beautiful and right for you to be the one in charge of your childrens’ education. 

You are the one who is best equipped to make those decisions for your child. You know them. You know the areas they excel in, and you know where they need extra support. You know their limitations and where they need to be pushed. 

You do not have to be perfect. The public schools are far from perfect, and yet, most people don’t think twice about sending their kids to be educated there. Yet, when we choose to homeschool, there seems to be an invisible force that insinuates that if all of your children aren’t Einstein by age 7, you’re a failure and should turn it over to the “experts.” I’m here to tell you that you bring something to the table that the public schools cannot: love. It takes love to educate a child, and if you’re not a raging psychopath, there is no one on Earth that loves your child like you do. 

I know that saying it takes love to homeschool a child sounds like hippie-dippie nonsense. But, let me tell you, it takes love to stick with it when your kid is being a complete turd. It also takes love to see your kid needs a break and give them one. It takes love to relearn the math you did a happy dance over having finished when you were a student just so you can teach it to your child. It takes love to be there every step of the way. Some days it looks like a Julie Andrews style foray into the mountains with the Von Trapp children; other days it looks like Frodo’s journey into Mordor. Either way, you show up. That’s true love.  

You don’t have to have everything figured out to start homeschooling. If you wait until you know everything, you’ll never do it. I’m in the middle of my 6th year homeschooling, and there are things I’m still figuring out. My kids and I are learning how to do this together. Just like every other aspect of parenthood, you cannot know exactly how to handle something until it comes up. And even then, what works for one child may not (and very often doesn’t) work for your other children. This is, in my opinion, one of the reasons why public schooling is so unproductive. It doesn’t take into account the personhood of each student. They’re just cogs in a machine, rolling down the curriculum conveyor belt, and they either get it or they don’t. How is that better than having a mother who loves her children give them one on one attention every day, even if she isn’t perfect and doesn’t have it all figured out? 

Do not be afraid to step into that role and fully embrace what motherhood can be for you. You can homeschool, and if you want to, you should.