I have to teach WHAT?!

This look can be seen on every homeschooling parent’s face at some point along the journey. The gasping breaths and panicky feelings can start with high school planning or as early as having to give your child Speech therapy when they are young and services are not available. The moment you realize the homeschooling mountain in front of you is not just tall, wide, and seemingly impossible to climb but some yutz poured slime on it, making even more difficult!

I got  THE LOOK! in this funny pic when my husband and teen daughter gleefully decided that spring semester’s literature was not Hemingway but Shakespeare. I have read all of Hemingway and done an in-depth report on him while in school myself. That was safe water. Shakespeare was never my forte. I could never get an ear for the language usage.

Sadly my teen and hubby did not have the same reservations I did. They both love Shakespeare and by the end of the day we had a stack of Shakespeare books and plans to go see plays nearby. Please know I think this is GREAT, WONDERFUL, OUTSTANDING.

.. just not for me!!

I shamefully admit that there was a fair amount of whine in that last bit.

This is where I jump off the comfortable path and into the wilds of homeschooling gone off course. Our plan was always to train up and guide our children through homeschooling so that when they were in their high school years they were more and more independent and self-directed.

BAM! We are here. How did I get here so fast?

This is my lovely daughter that has dyslexia and part of me wants to keep a firm grip on all her reading and language arts. I half thought that she would need me to stay in charge to keep her progressing. The truth is she has overcome her dyslexia or found healthy reasonable ways to work around it so that she is ready to take off on her own.

I am going to teach Shakespeare and provide material for her go as deep into the subject as she feels necessary. Hubby gets to come along too since he was part instigator (he is thrilled). No, really he is 🙂

What to do about mixed numbers and improper fractions? Speech therapy? Physical therapy? Roman numerals? Social skills that come so naturally to us it’s hard to break it down and realize the steps we need to teach out child.

*DIY* I have been there. My middle child had a stroke. When released from Early Intervention therapy the school system turned her down for physical therapy. I was blessed with some guidance from her former PT and we continued the therapy plan until she was released from the need for further assistance.

*Find learning material that does your job for you!* Mixed numbers and all other things fractional… I turned to www.khanacademy.com for assistance and it worked like a charm. I also found a small set of workbooks that are focused on fractions/percents/decimals from Key to….Books series.

*Find outside sources to take over.* I have a friend that does tutoring on the side. If my children get to a point I feel that I am no longer able to find the right learning material or teach it to them in an adequate manner I have made peace with the idea that I can ask for help. At first the idea of asking someone else to teach my child was a sign around my neck that screamed “Bad Homeschooling Mommy”.

I am not a bad homeschooling mommy. I am a wise homeschooling mommy to know when I need help and find the right person to fill that gap in.

*Know your title* You are mom/dad not teacher. Yes, we homeschooling and passing along information to our children through many means whether that is teaching, using a software program, or simply showing your child through life experiences. We are not teachers we are facilitators. Guides along a path towards adulthood and learning.

Wisdom and experience are you best tools to use when facing that impossible mountain or subject. No need to breathe into a paper bag anymore. Your child can succeed at a subject that gives you the shivers. Find the best way to tackle the problem, set a time (such as a semester, 6 months, school year, etc), and have expectations high that your child will do just fine! (you too!)

Now I can show that picture and say it was the Steelers’ playing this year that caused the look of horror. 😉