Homeschooling for the Challenged

I am not a teacher. Yes, I homeschool my five children, but I’m not a teacher. Once they reach the third grade, I become the school organizer and facilitator. It’s one of the things that has saved my sanity.

I know some moms are terrific homeschoolers and they do unit studies and all these other cool things. I tried that and it didn’t work for me. I wish it did because I love that concept and I think families who can do that are very fortunate, but it just doesn’t work for everyone.

I know I’m not alone when I feel like I’m a challenged homeschool mom. When I first started doing school the way we’re doing it now, it was out of desperation to accomplish school and keep my sanity, but now that I see the side benefits, the desperation is gone and I simply tweak my plan as needed.

Instead of teaching my children their lessons, I make lesson assignment pages that I can check off when the assignment is accomplished. These include each day’s reading assignment, comprehension questions, pages (maps, charts, whatever) to study, quizzes and tests. Each child has their own row so one piece of paper has a week’s assignments for all my children. With that one paper I can easily keep track of everything I need to for the week and my life is simplified.

The kids are responsible for their assignments. They know exactly what is expected of them and what they have to do. They also know that if they buckle down and tackle the job, they can get it knocked out in a few hours and have the rest of the day to do other things, but if they slough off, they’ll have consequences coming their way.

The children do their assignments and put them at my spot on the table for me to correct. After I correct them, they go back and correct their errors until it’s right. I’m available to help them if they run into problems, but I act as a facilitator rather than a teacher.

Doing school this way has worked wonderfully for my family. It’s made it so we can homeschool even though I’m not a teacher and I don’t enjoy teaching. For my children that enjoy school, it’s allowed them room to stretch and grow and pursue things they want to learn. For the others, it’s provided them the structure they needed to get it done and to learn to be self-motivated.

This method has made it so I can now hand my high schoolers a book, tell them what I expect them to do and when I want it completed and let them go. Through the years they’ve learned how to divide the work and pace themselves so they can accomplish what they need to in the allotted time. It also enables them to naturally assume responsibility for their own education, which is something that they will carry with them long after their school days here at home and elsewhere are over.

Even those of us who are not teachers can homeschool effectively if we want to. The key is organization. But more than organization is knowing that God wants you to homeschool and that both you and your husband are in complete agreement about it. Not everyone should homeschool, but for those of us who know we’re called to it, there is a way to save your sanity even if you aren’t a teacher.

About The Author

Patty Wysong has written 20 articles on this blog.

Since Patty quit running from God's call on her life, she's been happy. Life is never dull for her as she juggles being a wife, a homeschooling mom of five, bookkeeper of their family business, teaching online blogging classes, and her writing. In addition to drinking black cherry kool-aid from china tea cups, she loves weaving lessons that she's learned into short stories and devotionals, most of which can be found on her blog Patterings. You can also find Patty at the Internet Cafe and Adding Zest, a site for Christian women who want to add some zest to their love nest.

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