Op-Ed: Is Being Qualified To Homeschool What We Think It Means?

“Are you qualified to teach?” That is a common question I’ve encountered when people find out I homeschool my son. I’ve come to the realization that this question stems from two areas I believe many people find confusing concerning homeschooling. The first is the difference between being qualified versus certified. The second is the public’s perception of what homeschooling looks like compared to education in schools.

Yes, I am qualified to teach my son at home. No, I am not a certified teacher. Just because I lack teacher certification does not mean I am not qualified to educate my son. I did begin college with the goal of becoming a teacher in special education. After taking classes in that area however, I decided that there were aspects of the field that did not fit my personality, and I changed majors. Teachers do more than just impart knowledge to their students. There is a lot of preparation involved, plus the grading, communicating with parents, keeping their certifications current, classroom management, and attending staff meetings. Teachers do not leave their work at school at the end of the day. There are tests and homework to grade and lessons to plan. They also do not have summer vacations the way many people assume, simply because they are not in the classroom during those months. For teachers, summer is a time to plan for the upcoming year, and to take coursework to maintain their certification. They put in countless hours beyond the typical school day. Teachers, in my opinion, are both certified and qualified to teach. They have gone through extensive training and testing to perform their job. I have a lot of respect for the hours and time they put into what they do.

In homeschooling, the environment is much different from a classroom. As a parent, I am only responsible for the education of my own child. I do not need the classroom management skills that a teacher in a classroom needs. I am cognizant of my child’s learning styles, and can match those learning styles with the lessons I plan. Homeschooling affords us the flexibility to learn at a pace that fits his needs. Since we are not bound by the state telling us what needs to be learned and when, we can take as much time as we need to master difficult concepts. Because we spend a lot of time together, I know his strengths and weaknesses. I also spent many hours in his classroom when he attended public school, working one-on-one with him. I’ve worked with Occupational Therapists and other professionals who have provided me with tools to help him succeed. I don’t have the added responsibilities that a traditional school teacher has, so my only responsibility in my role as his teacher is to teach. My qualifications come from not only my education, but my access to community resources.

It is interesting to note, when discussing a parent’s qualifications, that it is each state that determines what qualifications that parents must have to homeschool their children. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education provides information about each state’s requirements for homeschooling parents. Only eleven states have specific homeschool parent qualification requirements. Of those eleven states, ten require a high school diploma or GED. One state, Washington, requires college courses (no specifics on degree or minimum number of credits completed) OR the completion of a course in home-based study. Why is this? Could it be that states recognize that there is a difference in skills required to teach at home versus in a school? Does the state realize that homeschooling is not school at home, and that is why they are not requiring parents to have teacher certification? These are questions worth considering.

Are parents qualified to teach their children? I would say yes, they are. If homeschooling is an avenue that you are considering for your child, it is something that you can do, and do successfully. Being a certified teacher is not necessary to teach at home.  Not all the skills learned in a college classroom translate to teaching at home. We come into the role of parents with a wide variety of experiences under our belts. Some of it may be what we learned in a classroom, or memorized night after night for a test. But much of it we have experienced through trial and error, out in the world. This is what we have to offer our children if we choose to homeschool. This is what makes us qualified to teach them.

Radio Essay: Learning As A Journey

As I look back on my educational experiences, I can remember incidents that leave both fond memories, and rather forgettable ones too. I remember trying so hard in sixth grade to learn basic algebra, and being terrified that Sister Callista would scream at me when I shuffled to her desk for the umpteenth time to ask for her to explain it again, because I just couldn’t get it. Sister was a formidable woman, tall and burly, and seemed to always be yelling at someone in class for being stupid. I never wanted to be on the receiving end of that. I also fondly remember in sixth grade my science teacher, Miss Makowski. I took a liking to dissection, and when we dissected a cow’s heart and a pig’s eye, she let me take them to the fifth grade class and explain the parts. However, from kindergarten through high school, I felt disassociated from my education. I didn’t learn because I wanted to learn, to be proud of myself, or because I had any real interest in learning. I wanted to make my parents proud, and receive praise from the teachers. It wasn’t until I went away to college that I began to understand and appreciate learning as something I could find pleasurable for me.

Why do I think about this now that my education is pretty much behind me? Because I’m homeschooling, I now look at education through the eyes of my son, and I find it fascinating to figure out how his mind learns. He learns like I did, yet it’s different as well. I memorized times tables in third grade because it’s what was expected. His working memory makes memorizing difficult. Once information gets into his long-term memory, it’s there to stay, and he can recall information that I have forgotten. It’s just getting to that point that takes more time. Like my fascination with the cow and pig organs, give him something to get his hands on and it’s like there is no issue with his working memory, the information jumps right to long-term memory. There is more technology today than there was when I was in school. I haven’t quite caught up with everything in the tech world. Learning technology for me is like doing worksheets is for him. We can’t wrap our brains around doing something we each view as busy work. It’s a good thing my husband and son share a love of all things technology.

I have to constantly remind myself that school for my son isn’t going to look exactly like school looked like for me. It’s not going to have drilling of math facts. Instead it will be applying math concepts to real-world uses, so he can see why it’s important to learn, rather than memorizing because some teacher said it’s going to be on a test. It’s giving him an old sheet, a pair of scissors, and a bunch of crafting supplies and leaving him alone to construct a Roman gladiator’s costume, and recreating a battle of Roman soldiers with his plastic army men. When we walk into the Farmer’s Market on a Tuesday morning, he’s going to talk the ear off of the guy who makes swords and knives, finding out where to buy the supplies he needs to try making his own at home. I’ve also come to the realization that school for him means that I will constantly have high fines at the library, because no matter how many times I say, “Let’s limit ourselves to seven books this time,” he’s going to bring me a stack of fifteen or more books on whatever interests him this week. My son gets to learn on his own terms, at his own pace. At the same time, he is educating me that learning doesn’t have to happen for him the way it happened for me. I too can take the time to learn at the pace that he learns, even if it means it takes a little longer. We can both enjoy the journey.

Letter To The Editor: How Communities Can Foster Connections With Homeschoolers

As a homeschooling parent, I strive to make sure my child has everything he needs to be successful academically. This not only encompasses his “book learning,” but additional experiences that make homeschooling different from traditional brick and mortar schools. It may be a community art class, a sports group, robotics, an event at the library. I don’t want to raise a child who can regurgitate facts, but who knows how to successfully make his way in the world and interact with others. I want him to be a passionate learner in whatever interests him, as well as learning about topics he might not have considered.

Community involvement is one important way that I have been trying to accomplish this goal. I have always felt that it is important to be involved in some way in one’s community; through volunteering, joining a cause, or just getting to know the people around me. I have lived in my community all my life and as a result, I have contacts in all parts of the community. This provides resources in different avenues. It is important to me that my son learn not only what his community has to offer him, but what he has to contribute to it. I make it a point to show him why being involved in the community is important for everyone.

As a homeschooled child, my son is out in the community during traditional school hours. This gives him the opportunity to see people working and participating in community activities that he might miss if he were in public school during the day. There is a decent-sized homeschooling community in the Michiana area, and I feel it is important to let the community know about this group of citizens. If you see them, engage them in conversation, find out about their passions.

Better yet, reach out to homeschooling groups in the area and offer to mentor. Invite them to your businesses and give them a tour, show them what you do and what skills and education it took to get there. Offer to teach a class to homeschoolers about something you are good at doing. Are you a beekeeper? Show them how you collect honey and care for your bees. Do you run the local donut shop? Show them how you make donuts and invite them to create a flavor of the day. Are you an architect? Take them on a tour of a building you’ve designed or show them how to make blueprints. Share your passion. Engage them in meaningful conversation, ask them what they think would improve our city. See if they want to help make it happen.

So many times homeschoolers are asked if they are off from school when they are out in the community. There isn’t any attempt made to connect beyond that, and that’s a shame. The homeschoolers that I know are eager to learn, excited to share, and have fantastic ideas that need encouraging. If the community would make a step towards getting to know them, I think wonderful partnerships can happen. They are after all, our future.

Wrap Exercise 5: Creativity- Final Thoughts (7)

Creativity needs to be a critical component in education today. While math, science, history, and English are all important subjects that are needed in a well-rounded education, today’s students also need a healthy dose of creativity. They need to be able to explore their interests and passions, to figure out what they enjoy doing. They should have the opportunities to see how their passions fit in with core subjects and make them more understandable, even enjoyable.

In my opinion, communities need to be open to providing opportunities for children to learn. Invite children to see how your businesses are run, share what it took to get where you are in life, share what you are passionate about and how you cultivate those interests. Children need to have the opportunity to see how their community works, how adults work through problems and challenges, how they create and experience life. Allowing children to experience internships, have mentors, or job shadowing can go a long way toward cultivating a link between learning and creativity. They should be given the chance to be exposed to interests they might not have known about otherwise, and may find something they become passionate about.

Mistakes should be embraced as opportunities for growth, not something to cause shame or embarrassment. They are learning opportunities. They are not a sign of failure, but rather a stepping stone to something better. A child who makes mistakes, and yet keeps trying, becomes better for the knowledge that is gained through trial and error.

Sir Ken Robinson stated in his TED talk that;

“Children have a capacity for innovation.” (Robinson, 2006, 2:38)

How can we, as parents, help them achieve this? Give them opportunities to be creative, to get messy, to make mistakes.

Logan LaPlante, at age thirteen, made an excellent point when he quoted Dr. Roger Walsh, a researcher studying well-being:

“Much of education is oriented, for better or worse, towards making a living, rather than making a life.”

We are so focused on the end result: a child who graduates from college or trade school, and is able to support him or herself without having to live in mom and dad’s basement until age thirty. We forget about the importance of the time before college beyond traditional school subjects.

How can we foster that creativity in our children? If it’s possible, through homeschooling. Providing our children whatever resources are available within our communities. If homeschooling is not an option, as Logan mentioned, creativity and hacking education can still be accomplished, no matter where your learning environment is located. We owe it to our children and their futures.