Think Twice: Homeschooling is Hard

By Abby Summers

The year 2020 has been completely full of chaos and surprises (I’m talking to you, Coronavirus). Many schools are still having virtual sessions while the children watch and learn from home. This is different from homeschooling, but I know many parents who have opted to homeschool, in order to protect their children. This year, statistics in a Back to School survey shows that 47% of parents are considering homeschooling, which supports my assumption that homeschooling families are going to substantially increase during this pandemic. 

I didn’t always think education was that important, but I’ve grown to realize the importance in finding ways to enhance our children’s education and learning environment. I don’t have kids, but I was homeschooled, and I want to make sure that others are educated on the risks involved. While parents may think they’re doing a good thing and protecting their kiddos, they may need to weigh out the pros and cons of homeschooling first.

Many people will opt to homeschool to ensure that their children are in a safe learning environment, but if parents are unable to provide an adequate learning environment, their children will be the ones who suffer.

I went to public school until I reached the fourth grade. I was happy to leave the place of misery that I thought no kid ever would enjoy. Homeschooling would surely be easier, I thought. I wouldn’t have to get up early, get dressed, follow rules, and eat gross food. Kids today would probably add the fact that they wouldn’t have to wear constrictive face masks.

For a while after I started homeschooling, I wondered why anyone would force their kids to go to public school if homeschooling were an option. Eventually the answer dawned on me:

Homeschooling is hard.

Since starting college in 2016, I’ve been asked by numerous professors and students if I liked being homeschooled. I always say yes, but I hold back on my enthusiasm to avoid making it sound too enticing. Why? Because homeschooling is hard – for both the teacher and the student. It’s a whole new experience for everyone involved, and there is a lot of pressure that parents may not be aware of. 

One reason homeschooling is hard for parents is because they go through a lot of pressure and stress that doesn’t typically follow public school teachers to the classroom. Homeschooling parents are under direct pressure of household chores, bills, and more while they are sitting down to teach their children – whom they are now seeing 24/7. Public school teachers carry the same stress, but they aren’t at home doing laundry when a student asks for help. 

Another reason homeschooling is hard on parents is the fact that it is such a strange transition. Homeschooling parents go from occasionally helping with homework to becoming the one who gives homework, and that is something that some parents just can’t get used to. Personally, I didn’t feel as though I had a teacher when I was being homeschooled. I told people I was my own teacher, and my best friend felt the same way during her own homeschooling experience. 

Parents should be aware before they choose to homeschool that it is a misconception that all homeschooled kids are smart. They certainly have the opportunity to learn far more advanced concepts – earlier than public schoolers, at that – and they can take on more responsibility in their studies because they lack the busy schedule that public schoolers normally have, but it’s mostly up to the kid to learn what they are willing to learn, because not all parents respect or understand the need for education. 

When I was in the sixth grade, my dad was upset that I didn’t know my times table by heart. I had to count on my fingers to multiply most numbers. I told my dad that I needed more structure so I could learn, but he didn’t understand that the “structure” mom provided involved telling me what to do, but not overseeing it to make sure it happened.

Homeschooling seems simple at first, when you sit your kid down with their schoolwork and they begin to work steadily toward their goal. Parents who aren’t prepared for teaching their child every day without disrupting the peace of their home life, however, are setting themselves up for failure. It seems easy to everyone involved, and that is why it’s easy for homeschoolers to cheat. If your kids know where the score keys are (and they probably will), should they feel lazy enough and don’t want to try, they won’t have to.

A common problem with homeschooling that I have both witnessed and experienced involves homeschoolers who lack knowledge that most public-schoolers know. Heck, I still multiply with my fingers. This certainly isn’t always the case because there are many positive aspects of homeschooling, but when academic neglect occurs, it is possible that it isn’t a result of children cheating, but instead it could be the result of homeschooling parents having little or no education.

I came across a blog that listed reasons parents give for not homeschooling their children, and one of the reasons was not having enough education. The author responded…

“You don’t need an education to teach your kids. All you need to do is care about them and push them.”
Trimble 2018

I’m not completely disregarding what Trimble said. It’s important to care, and it is important to push your kids to do their best. I think they’ll be better employees in the future, they will be more reliable people, and they will be more likely to have good morals to pass on to their own kids.

The part I have a problem with is Trimble’s claim that you don’t need an education to teach your kids. You most certainly do need an education to teach your kids. How does one teach without an education? How can a parent teach if they have not been taught what they need to know, and what their kids need to know?

Think about it this way. What is education, exactly? Well, if you ask the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, you will find that it is “the knowledge and development resulting from the process of being educated.”

More simply put, an education is the result of being taught. 

So how can parents teach their kids without an education? It’s very simple. They can’t. I say this because anything parents teach their kids is going to be the result of something they have been taught, themselves. It seems to me that to ensure sufficient teaching we need to ensure that all teachers have an adequate prior education, whether it be from a training program or a college requirement.

So many homeschooling parents would benefit from a training program that teaches them what will be needed to provide a sound education. Potential homeschooling parents should be required by law to possess a college education or complete an educational program to prepare them to teach their children.

There are many reasons why parents should not be allowed to withdraw their kids from public school systems without the education to do so.

For starters, education has come a long way and it changes constantly. Meanwhile, there are a lot of people who believe their own education isn’t an issue because what their kids are learning is what they learned in high school, growing up.

A concern of mine is that, because some parents didn’t take school seriously, it may reflect in the way they teach their kids. When many people reflect on their school experiences, they seem to have hated every part of it and/or BS’d their way through high school. My parents have dozens of stories about why school sucked, and so do many others, which poses the question: why should people think they will provide a good education, just because they made it out alive?

Some states do require more from parents or guardians who wish to homeschool, but many don’t even require parents to have completed high school. In Arkansas’ case, there are no teacher qualifications. It is one of the states with low regulation.

In order to teach in a public school, according to collegechoice.net, you typically have to get a license in a specific grade level, but requirements for licensure vary. Usually you must hold a bachelor’s degree with a minimum GPA, pass a background check, complete a student teaching program, and pass a subject-specific exam.

If public schools will not hire teachers without a certificate or college degree, how can we expect homeschooling parents to educate their children without experience or education in doing so?

When deciding whether or not to homeschool, weigh out the pros and cons first. Homeschooling is risky and difficult – it’s not something to take lightly. If you’re unable to provide the learning environment your child needs, it will cause a great deal of stress for your family.

Maybe everyone doesn’t value education the same, but the children are our future, regardless. They deserve the chance to build up our nation as our future leaders. It’s up to the rest of us to make sure every child has an undeniable right to the same level of education as those who receive their education through a public facility.