Homeschooling: You Are More “Qualified” Than You Think
One of the greatest challenges new parents face when deciding to homeschool is overcoming negative self-talk about whether they are competent to home-educate their children. This is the nagging little voice in your head that insists that you are not up to the task. It says things like:
- “Do you really think you can juggle the responsibilities of managing a household with educating multiple kids? Get real.”
- “You got a C – in 10th-grade algebra; how are you possibly going to teach math to your own kids?”
- “You struggled with reading growing up; how can you show others what you barely knew how to do?”
- “You’re going to turn your kids into anti-social, maladjusted weirdos.”
- “Who do you think you are? You don’t have a teaching certificate.”
- “There are so many formative experiences a young person has in school; how are you going to be an adequate substitute for all of them?”
- “You don’t want to mess your kid up, do you? Better leave this to someone who knows what they’re doing.”
Everyone who has ever taken up homeschooling has faced the same intrusive thoughts, so you are not alone! We really can be our own worst critics—and when our own children’s well-being is on the line, sometimes we can frighten ourselves away from the homeschooling path before we’ve even taken the first step. This negativity can intensify if it also comes from friends or family members who may be skeptical of your decision to homeschool.
In most cases, this sort of thinking is just your insecurity talking. The truth is, you are more than capable of giving a top-notch education to your child at home—and that is true whether or not you yourself were a good student back in the day!
If you’re new to homeschooling but struggling with negative self-talk, we’re going to review three reasons why you CAN homeschool!
1. Connection > Information
I have learned over many years of teaching that connection trumps information every single time. What I mean by this is that having a good connection with a student is more important than possessing a ton of information.
Once in college, I took a history course with a brilliant professor who’d had 30 years of classroom experience and was a walking encyclopedia of history. This guy could rattle off every single person, date, and event for the last thousand years with perfect recall. Even today, his voluminous capacity for retaining historical data puts mine to shame. But you know what? He was boring. Sooo boring. In his 30 years of collegiate experience, he had never figured out how to connect with his audience. He might have been accomplished on paper, but his lectures were mind-numbing. How much do you think I recalled from them? That’s right—almost nothing.
Building a connection with your pupil is vastly more important than having all the facts in your head. And who has a better connection with a child than their parent? Maybe you weren’t the greatest at algebra. Maybe you struggled to get through Pride and Prejudice. So what? Having the most information in your brain isn’t what makes a good educator. What makes a good educator is having a connection and teaching with patience and humility, from a place of genuine care. This is worth more than all the degrees in the world.
2. Learn As You Go
At the end of the day, however, the algebra still needs to be taught. This is where it’s good to remember that you can learn as you go. I think we often imagine teachers as people who “have all the answers”—as if a teacher comes to class with all the information they could possibly need already stored in their brain and teaching is just a matter of transmitting that information to the student.
Often, this is not how teaching works. In fact, most teachers know that the best way to really learn something is to teach it. It is not necessary to have everything figured out ahead of time. If you are going into a science course with your child, it’s perfectly acceptable to say, “I wasn’t the best in science, so I’m going to be learning beside you, and we’ll go through it together.” Your credibility does not suffer from admission that you don’t know everything; if anything, this boosts your credibility as an educator because it demonstrates humility and openness to growth. It is a little sliver of humanity that connects you to your child. This is also a great way to bond with your child. I still remember learning German alongside my son several years ago. Great experience! So don’t sweat it if you don’t have the knowledge base you need; you can grow this as part of the homeschooling process.
3. You Don’t Have to Go It Alone
This last point is perhaps the greatest consolation: you don’t have to go it alone! Homeschooling does not mean all education has to be carried out by the parent; it merely means that the parents retain overall say in how education occurs. There may be some subjects that you are simply not comfortable teaching and no amount of study will prepare you for. For me, that’s chemistry. If I had to teach my kids chemistry, even trying to learn it alongside them, it would take me years! In these sorts of situations, you can outsource content areas to others who are able to teach them more effectively. When my daughter told me she wanted to take Japanese, I hired a tutor from the university. When my son needed calculus, we turned to online courses. This is also an option when your child is interested in a group-based subject (like sports or drama), and you get them involved in a co-op.
The point is, even if you feel totally out of your league, you don’t have to bear the weight of it alone. Outsource certain subjects to other tutors or programs to fill in the gaps, and you’ll be just fine!
You’ve Got This!
So there you have it. A deep connection with your child, a willingness to learn alongside them, and the freedom to bring in outside help when you need it—those three things alone put you in a stronger position than you probably give yourself credit for. The voice in your head telling you that you’re not qualified doesn’t know what it’s talking about.
The parents who succeed at homeschooling aren’t the ones who had a 4.0 GPA or a teaching certificate. They’re the ones who showed up every day, stayed curious, and cared enough to keep going even when things got messy. That sounds like you, or you wouldn’t be reading this in the first place. Every homeschooling parent starts somewhere, and that somewhere is usually self-doubt and a stack of curriculum catalogs. Give yourself some grace. You are going to make mistakes (every teacher does), and your kids are going to be just fine anyway. Probably better than fine. So take a breath, trust yourself, and take that first step. You’ve got more going for you than you think!
What are your thoughts on this topic? I invite you to join other homeschooling parents and me in the Homeschool Connections Community or our Facebook group.
