Are Parents Qualified to Teach Their Kids?
When someone accuses a homeschooling parent of not being qualified to teach their kids, I have to wonder what that person thinks parents have been doing during all the other years and off hours of that child’s life.
From what I see, parents can’t stop teaching their kids—everything.
They teach them to talk and use a toilet, sure.
But they also teach skills like:
- baking
- playing sports
- camping
- gardening
- bird watching
- appreciating the arts
- driving
- preparing for job interviews
- managing money
- being polite
- being a responsible person
Home educators are simply adults who have decided to expand the categories of what they will teach their kids. And they take the responsibility to learn how to teach them that material. They use their capable adult minds to do it!
The task is possible.
Parents learn to teach math and reading, writing, science, and history in the same way they learned how to give birth and then nurse and wean that baby. They learn how to homeschool the same way they learned how to help a toddler learn to climb safely or protect their teeth from cavities.
In the areas that feel challenging to a parent, that parent might hire tutors, or enroll a child in a specific class (like French or chemistry). Some families use local schools for part-time enrollment to participate in sports and the arts as well.
Home education doesn’t mean being an expert in every subject. Homeschooling is a learning journey for the whole family.
There’s a difference between SCHOOLING and LEARNING.
Schools can be great! But they aren’t the only place learning can happen.
So, treat being a home educator as a career. Keep learning and growing right alongside your kids. That’s the whole job!
