Busting Homeschooling Myths #10

Myth: Our homeschooling days will be filled with rainbows and unicorns.

Truth: Only if you draw and paint them for art every day! If you think your homeschooling days will be all warm and fuzzy, you’re setting yourself up for frustration and heartache.

Homeschooling has many wonderful moments, but there are lots of hard moments, too. Kids don’t want to do their math. You don’t want to teach about silent E one more time. Siblings squabble. The house is a mess, because - gasp! - people live and work there all day.

Sounds horrible, so why go through this pain? The benefits outweigh the drawbacks. I love watching my kids light up when they learn something for the first time. I love teaching my kids to read and marveling at their progress, knowing I played a role in imparting this important life skill. I love that our family can have meaningful conversations about what we’ve been learning, because we’re doing it together and everyone has the same context.

The important thing is to have realistic expectations. If you think homeschooling will set you up for an idyllic lifestyle free of conflict, you’re wrong. If you can learn to embrace the bad with the good, you’ll be much more content and happy with your choice to homeschool.