Our Homeschooling Journey
My husband and I met in high school, dated all through college, and married after college graduation. We spent the first years of our marriage nurturing our relationship as a couple, building our careers, and traveling. After a decade of marriage, our duo became a trio with the arrival of our son.
We celebrated his developmental milestones just like other excited parents. Some occurred ahead of schedule, while others took a bit longer, and required guidance from a wonderful team of Occupational and Physical Therapists to reach.
Our therapy crew became our second family. Our son turned four and we enrolled him in a preschool with a loving, patient staff. From my work, I was familiar with different learning styles. As parents, this was our introduction to “twice-exceptional children.”
Our son had always been a curious child. He explored his world with glee, excitedly questioning anything and everything. He loved being read to and at four begged us to teach him to read. We obliged and he soared!
If you had asked us early on about our educational plans, we would have looked puzzled. We had attended public schools. Wouldn’t our son do the same?
In preschool, we saw our son thrive in a rigorous and challenging learning environment with smaller class sizes and the freedom to move his body as he needed. From my years as an educator, I knew such advantages in public education were simply not possible.
After preschool, we began thinking deeper about our educational options.
Public or private?
Kindergarten was the turning point. As my husband and I researched, interviewed, and toured private schools in our area, none “fit.” Kindergarten revealed new insights into our son’s learning style, both strengths, and challenges.
During class, our son quickly and correctly completed his assignments, eager to learn and happy to please.
Great!
He would then immediately turn to other classmates and disrupt learning by wanting to play.
Not so great.
While this behavior was certainly age-appropriate for a five-year-old, we knew it would be considered unacceptable in a traditional classroom setting.
Even more concerning, he would cry and gnaw the end of his pencil to bits if he had to write, preferring to answer orally. He struggled to sit upright in his chair without falling over. When especially frustrated, he would chew the inside of his lip, his fingers, or his wrists. At the recommendation of our OT and PT crew, we provided the school with interventions and therapeutic supports to help him succeed. The teachers tried. They loved our son! It simply was not enough.
I was in the waiting room at a therapy appointment when I finally gained the courage to ask the homeschooler mom who sat across from me every week a few tentative questions. Her eyes met mine with gentle understanding. She patiently offered details of her journey, answered my questions without judgment, and offered not only resources to help me explore further, but also reassurance that, yes, we could do this.
The kindness of that homeschool mama (and many more moms and dads like her) opened the door to a whole new world for our family.
While I had spent nearly a decade working in public education, I had never formally taught.
Was I qualified to teach my child?
Spoiler alert – of course, I was. And so are you.
What would people think? Family? Friends?
How would I adequately socialize my extroverted only child?
Sound familiar?
I conquered these feelings of doubt and worry.
You can, too.
Take a deep breath.
You are not alone. You have an entire village of homeschool moms and dads eager to walk beside you on this journey.
Relax, it’s only homeschooling.
This website is not a professional counseling website and nothing here should be construed as professional counseling advice. Although Kimberly Bennett, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor, she is not your counselor, and no counselor-client relationship is established unless she has signed an agreement with you. All information provided through this website is for informational and educational purposes only.
