Homeschooling support?

Last night Monday was our monthly homeschooling support group meeting.  It always gets me thinking.  A friend last month says that she leaves those meetings feeling more disheartened than encouraged.  Someone else said last night week that she always feels encouraged but slightly overwhelmed. Another new mom agreed with her, and I felt empathy for both of them.

I feel like somehow I have switched sides of the room.  We are in our ninth year of homeschooling and I remember sitting at CCHEA meetings, being a new mom, wondering what I was doing, doubting that I could do it and feeling overwhelmed with this responsibility of educating my child (remember only Ballerina was school age then). I remember listening to all these other moms share curriculum choices and organizing tips and such.  They were scary!

There was so many curriculum choices, ABeka, Bob Jones, Five in a Row, and all these methods, Unschooling, School-at-Home, Unit Studies, Classical, and who the heck is Charlotte Mason anyway?
And all these people had all these kids - surely it was going to be easier for them with the large family, but for me, with only two, who could do this??  Surely they were more organized, they probably never struggled with clutter, and had shelves and cupboards to store all the wonderful education supplies they owned.  I am sure they all had wonderful housecleaning systems, and never failed to have supper ready on time or never forgot to change the laundry over so you have to re-wash the towels for the third time.  They must be more patient, they probably lived to be asked a thousand questions a day, and loved chasing their children around cleaning up after glitter incidents and finger paint. 

Probably they were smarter too, they probably all had university degrees and had all been to Bible College.  They were probably all 3rd, 4th and 5th generation Christians, they probably all had so much knowledge of what it was God wanted them to impart to their kids....WHAT WAS I DOING THERE??
It seems like yesterday really!

But now I know that those moms who told me, "you don't make her do ALL the practice problems do you?" (I actually heard another mom say that last night and I smirked) and reassured me that I would be fine, and that eventually I would settle in to an eclectic style that worked for me, and that my kids really were learning, and that my kids would be smart, well-adjusted, normal people, because if God had called us to homeschooling, He would be sure to enable us to do it, and if I was there, it meant that I was looking for support and community, so my kids would not be growing up in a vaccuum.  That they would be okay!

I know now that they were right.  My kids ARE okay, they ARE smart, they do excellent on standardized tests, even when I don't 'finish' a book or curriculum.  They are social, and becoming accomplished, and have friends - both INside and OUTside of the homeschooling community.  More importantly, they are all professing faith, and reminding ME to pray about things that are seemingly small.  Awesome! 

Somehow I would like to let those new moms know though, that we are not diminishing their fears and insecurities by reassuring them.  Or we are not trying to - we have all been in the same place of doubt and fear.  These are OUR KIDS that we are talking about.  No parent would enter into any education model, be it homeschooling, private school, or public education without considering the options, at least for a moment.  It goes again to the fundamental belief that as mothers (and largely as parents) we have the best interests in mind for our children...no matter if someone else's manifestation of that differs from our own.

sigh

I would like to let those new moms know that some days we are STILL just as scared as they are (like when we consider that next year we start high school home education with some of our kids - eek!).  That somedays we still have the DOUBTS that they have, but we have just come farther down the road and can see that God has truly enabled us to do this - not by our power or might, but by His grace.  That we still have days when we don't get all we want to done (it has taken me a week to finish writing this post for goodness sake) and that we still buy things that don't work for us. But we know our kids, and what we see in them as they grow is enough to keep us on the road we are on!  I would like to let them know that regardless of what education style they choose, and even regardless of what particular curriculum they buy, it will be good, that God is going to enable us to give our children more than the basics of intellectual education.    Which is why we still come to monthly support group meetings after all these years!  Both to be an encouragement - and to receive encouragement.

sigh

Off of soap box now.