Parenting Truths

As a young homeschooling Mama, I tried my best to go to every parent event our local homeschool group hosted. I wanted to hear from the veteran homeschoolers about what had worked, and what hadn’t worked for them with their children. It was not an effort to be just like them, but to learn from them and adapt the things that spoke to my heart as possibilities for our girls. Now I am on the other side. After 16 years of homeschooling, our youngest daughter graduated in December, and we are no longer homeschooling. Five months later, that is still weird to see in print!

So what happens when you, the parent, graduate from homeschooling? It varies a lot depending on what else you were doing along the way. Some of my friends and acquaintances have gone through a re-inventing process, others stepped naturally from one role to another. Many of them have gone back to the fields they were in before homeschooling: teaching at the elementary or college levels.

For me, the transformation to life after homeschooling has been a gradual one, occurring over the past three or so years. I have spent a lot more time writing, including a monthly column for our local newspaper. On my blog, I have been sharing more of those truths I learned along the way. There is a rather random series with three posts so far entitled, The End of Homeschooling. The series that has been the most popular is the weekly one on Thursdays where I discuss a #parentingtruth I learned along the way. These are quite varied, and sometimes rather raw, as I want to share both the good and the challenging things we have learned during 16 years as homeschoolers and almost 21 years as parents. Some of the topics that have already been covered include: curiosity, consistency, poverty, and relationships.

The spark that started the #parentingtruth series was a reminder from the book of Titus, where Paul encourages Titus to remind the older women to teach the younger women how to live Godly lives. There is a whole lot of ungodly living going on around us, so if I can in this small way point people to the truths that God teaches about how to love our husbands and children well, it is time well spent.

If you feel like you are homeschooling in a vacuum, or that you do not have the encouragement you need for the daily struggles of life, I encourage you to seek out a local homeschooling group that holds regular parent meetings. If none exist around you, consider starting one. Or at the least, join an online homeschooling group where you can gain insight from those who have traveled a similar road. If you do not already get the weekly emails from the Homeschooling with Heart blog or receive The Homeschool Minute delivered to your email inbox, take a minute to sign up for them both. These shots of encouragement from other homeschoolers can help you, whether this is your first year homeschooling, or your 16th!

Carol and her husband Kurt are in their 15th year of home education. With one graduate and one high school senior, Carol writes with a practical look at the whole journey of home education. Focusing on experienced based education and frugal ways to teach and learn well, Carol offers encouragement that anyone, even working moms, can homeschool successfully. Carol writes for her local newspaper, the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and reviews books for several Christian Publishers. You can find her love of nature, field trips, and lifelong learning on her blog: Home Sweet Life.