When my oldest son was three and a half I started thinking about what we would do for school. I thought of sending my son to school while I was still having babies, because who can homeschool with preschoolers and babies around? My oldest loves being around people all the time. He is extremely social. I wasn’t really sure if he would like homeschooling.. I was familiar with the schools in our area because I had worked in them. But, I didn’t know much about homeschooling or many people who did. Someone at church told me about our state homeschool convention. So, my husband and I decided that I would attend and get information.
I left the convention not only haven gotten information, but encouraged and inspired. I learned so much practical information about homeschooling, organizing the home, curriculum, and the law. I was encouraged as a young mom having learned how to prepare my young toddlers and preschoolers for school by training them up in God’s ways and disciplining them effectively. I felt the overwhelming sense of comfort of knowing that there were other like-minded people. I found groups and co-ops I could join. I was inspired to homeschool because I saw that there were tools out there, people that would teach me, and a community that would support me. I came home and could not stop telling my husband how incredible the experience had been! We decided that we were going to do this.
Deuteronomy 6: 7 ...and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie and when you rise up.
When people hear that I have a teaching degree they automatically assume that I am qualified and able to teach my children at home. First, I believe that every mom is qualified to educate their children because God has equipped us (more on this later). But on the other hand, homeschooling brings unique challenges that no degree or teaching experience can qualify you for. Every mom has to manage schedules, children of different ages, discipline, meals, errands, house cleaning, and laundry, but the homeschool mom has some added things to manage. To educate at home means you add a lot more to your list. Even trained teachers don’t have to educate the span of ages that some homeschool moms have. At one point I will have a span of kindergarten to ninth-grade to teach. Homeschooling is done within the space that you live in, around dishes, toys, clothes, diapers and mail. Our dining room table is the school desk. We clean up notebooks and crayons to set the table. It is commonly done with the limited resources of one income. Our budget includes a school line item for books and curriculum. That means that day to day you are managing all the home, plus school assignments, curriculum, questions, and activities to entertain younger children. You have added expenses and less time, You have to deal with educating the outside world about homeschooling, defending the freedom to do it, and teaching your children to respect your dual role as mom and school teacher. A homeschool mom has her children 24/7. We run errands together and go to doctors’ appointments together. There is not much time for yourself or to be with other adults. In a way homeschooling prolongs those baby and preschool years when you are with kids all day, every day. Homeschooling can be overwhelming, lonely, and discouraging.
Just as you never know all of what to expect before you become a mom, you never know everything to expect when you start homeschooling. I had to learn a lot along the way, ask a lot of questions of others, and ask for help. My desire is to share what I have learned in my journey of homeschooling along the way, my failures, trials, and errors so that others can have a smoother way. I want to pay forward what I have gained from others. The experience of others has guided and assisted me, and I want to pass that on. I hope my paying forward can help in stewarding your child's education, so that you may live abundant days for His glory and your good!
Kristin L. Overman
NOTE: The convention I attended is called CAPE. It stands for Christian Association of Parent Educators. CAPE not only encourages and educates parents in their homeschooling, but works at the state level to defend and preserve the freedom to homeschool in New Mexico. If you would like more information on CAPE or would like to support them financially you can find more here https://www.cape-nm.org/ or click on the link.
