The Most Underrated Homeschooling Perk: Calendar Control
This past year, I’ve listened to parents who are frustrated with overseeing their child’s education at home. Everyone thinks they’ve had a taste of what the homeschooling life is like, so when people find out I homeschool my kids, they either think I am a martyr or some kind of super mom. Neither is true.
Pandemic schooling looks NOTHING like my family’s homeschooling experience. Hearing people talk about their virtual school experience stressed ME out, and we’ve been homeschooling for five years.
What’s the biggest difference? Pandemic schooling did not grant families one of the greatest perks in homeschooling: controlling their own calendars.
When you homeschool your kids, you’re the ones who decide what your schedule will be. You choose when to start and end the day. You choose when to take breaks, when to eat lunch, and when to go outside. You choose when to take extra time to revel in a study you’re enjoying or when to skip a chunk of your curriculum that isn’t working well.
Pandemic schooling can’t offer that flexibility. You have to show up when the school tells you to be there. You have to stay online as long as the school demands. You have to do the content teachers want you to do, when they want you to do it.
I don’t want to dog on school officials and teachers who have been doing the best they can under trying circumstances. I do want to say, however, that if you think the stress and regimented schedule of pandemic schooling has been a glimpse into what your life would be like if you chose to homeschool long term, you would be greatly mistaken.
In the next several posts, I’m going to highlight how homeschooling has given us autonomy in our schedule to create a home education that works for us, not in opposition to our lifestyle. I hope these quick posts will debunk some of the misconceptions people may have developed during the pandemic about homeschooling, especially as it relates to managing time.
Up next: why we start our homeschool day later than we used to.
