The answer is no. Absolutely not. Uh-uh. Pshhh. Snort. At one point I didn’t even want to be a mom! I was certain motherhood wasn’t for me. It was around the time I was seventeen and my cousin’s third baby had just crapped down the leg of my new gray wool pants. When her mom laughed hysterically at my disgust and then leaned down to retrieve the giggling pooper’s pacifier that had dropped on the floor, and then proceeded to clean it off by sticking into her own mouth and then back into the baby’s, I arrived at absolution. Me? A mom? Ewe.
So obviously that thought lasted about as long as my ability to play coy with my handsome husband. But did I always want to be a homeschool mom? Heck no! When I was five I wanted to be The Last Unicorn. And then a fighter pilot. And then a writer. And then just rich. And finally, I settled on just successful and not cliché.
And yet here I am a model of middle class modesty, married with three kids and not only homeschooling, but writing a homeschool blog. Where did I stray from my pursuit of unpredictability?
Really, I was never unpredictable. That is, until I made the sudden and bold move to homeschool. Ha, no one saw that one coming! Not even me. Now four years later I’m looking back thinking, “Wow, that was ballsy of me?! Good thing I didn’t think that through all the way. Somebody could have died! Or at the very least, not learned to write in cursive?!” Wait…oh, the irony.
Did you know you always wanted to homeschool? Or did you wake up one day and discover you were teaching fractions in your nightgown and enjoying it?
It is amazing how every decision I made to get as far from “housewife” as possible led me straight to what I never knew I always wanted. I mean, I left Texas to go to college in Miami, for crying out loud! And while I was there I armed myself with two graduate degrees and a butt load of student loans to ensure I’d have to work until my ovaries shriveled up and turned to dust. I was running from what I perceived to be a cop-out life; social death by diapers, mini-vans and bonbons.
If you wanted to homeschool from the time you were playing school with your cabbage patch dolls, more power to you. Apparently I had no idea who I was or where I was headed. I’m glad I got here eventually. I mean, I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. I have always been a sort of a Jack-of-all-trades, but an expert at nothing. (Okay, ‘Jackeline’-of-all-trades.) Maybe that makes me a good homeschool mom.
Whether you marched a straight line into homeschooling, or ran barefoot zigzagging through the Amazon and ignoring all the signs until you smacked into your own crying child and a rebellious notion to leap, I’m glad you found your calling. Homeschooling is the ultimate career gamble; pleasantly unpredictable. It’s just so….me!
I had never even heard of homeschooling until me eldest was three, that I never planned to have either. Friends use to joke that I was the eternal ‘aunt’ who visited with lollies and toys and had their children adoring me and falling all over me as I spoilt them so much. Always loved them and enjoyed playing with them but never wanted any of my own … thank goodness my gorgeous wee girls entered my life. I only planned to homeschool for one year until my eldest was ‘ready’ … she decided she was ready 12 years later.
What an amazing story you shared. Life is what happens when we’re busy making other plans. I’m so thankful I was strong enough close my eyes and leap to do what God was leading me to take on. Thank you for sharing your story. 🙂
I had no idea homeschooling even existed! I actually started thinking about it when I witnessed some seemingly sweet kids go off to kindergarten and come back little monsters! That’s when it hit me that I would basically spend the rest of my kid’s lives undoing all the junk at the end of the day, so why not just keep them home and ruin them myself? hehee 🙂
Ha, I always say, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. My kids are always so grossed out by that because ya know…I am soo old. 😛
I always wanted to be a mom, but the idea of homeschooling almost repulsed me. When we started to plan our move from Maine to Louisiana all of our friends from school(a small, 40 kid, private school run by our church) started to ask us about homeschooling.
I laughed, “Why would I do that when there are perfectly good private schools there?!”
…….. fast forward to me storming out of the office of the 3rd christian school because they required a 300 dollar APPLICATION FEE and then it was upwards of 7 grand per kid!
I called my husband, at work, and said, “Looks like we’re homeschooling!”
I had no clue what I was doing. I was scared to death and swore that it would only be until we could afford private, or until they hit highschool(no WAY was I going to teach highschool!)
I purchased a fully put together curriculum with videos of teachers teaching. I put my toe in the water….
I was totally washed away! Here we are, 8 years later. I have an 8th grader and a 6th grader and I’m in it till the bitter end! As I have watched the way they learn and paid attention to the things that they throw themselves in to, I have become more and more convinced that Homeschooling is the way to go. I have become an acolyte! From laughing at the idea to an “eclectic leaning unschooled” mom
I’m so glad that we chose to Homeschool and thank you for bringing some laughter to us mommas!