Secular Thursday: Public schoolers don’t have the market cornered on worry
My friend Heather’s oldest daughter is about to do something absolutely ridiculous: start first grade. I’m pretty sure she’s not allowed to be old enough to do that. In the spirit of preparing for this next stage in academic development, she IM’d me with this cute little message:
So, things homeschoolers never worry about:
1) Will the new teacher like my child?
2) Will my daughter make friends?
3) What if she doesn’t have any of her friends from last year in her new class?
4) Why am I sharpening so many damned pencils?
Oh, sweetie! Have I lead you to believe that the life of a homeschooler is a really so carefree? What a travesty! True, I don’t have to worry about teachers liking my child, but other than that? I have worries! I’m not worry free!
I worry about, on any given day:
1. Will my child be able to maintain his friendships with his public school friends?
2. Will my child have ample opportunities to socialize w/ homeschooling friends?
3. Will we cover all the subjects we need to cover?
4. Will getting in to college be too hard?
5. Does he hate homeschooling?
6. Does he hate me?
7. Would we all be happier if he were still enrolled in public school?
8. How on earth will I cover everything we need to cover?
9. Am I a failure for not having started Latin yet?
10. How about a modern foreign language?
11. Do my kids dress funny?
12. Are my kids well-adjusted?
13. Will my kids manage to actually pass those standardized tests?
14. If they don’t, what does that say about them?
15. If they don’t, what does that say about me?
16. Will I ever get a chance to sleep in again?
17. Do people think I’m doing this because I’m obsessed with Jesus?
18. What would Jesus think about this whole homeshooling business?
19. Am I way more boring than I used to be?
20. Why am I sharpening so many damn pencils?
See, Heather? We worry, too. We probably worry more, because the buck stops here. If our kids are all screwed up, we have no one else to blame but ourselves…and everyone KNOWS it!
Enjoy your babygirl’s first grade year and don’t feel too envious of us homeschoolers. We have it pretty good, but we don’t have it worry-free.
Oh yes… the worry… it is crippling
~h
(but a different Heather than the one immortalized in this post)
I can relate to your list. You’ve pretty well covered my list too. If my kids end up being 40 year olds who still live with me and can’t hold a job or a relationship, it’s a lot easier to blame myself when they’ve been homeschooled. I try to remind myself that there are no perfect choices. I just have to weight the options, and pick the one that is best for us at the time.
It’s good to know I’m not the only one who worries so much. I have asked myself many of those same questions.
Homeschool moms and worry are like chocolate and peanut butter … two great tastes that taste great together! On any given day, I’m fairly certain that I’m both providing a solid, quality education and completely ruining his life at the same time. Not to mention that I’m probably turning him into a socially-awkward, incompetent mama’s boy. Nope … no worries here.
Plus, there’s the whole “what assumptions are people making about me, my beliefs, and my family dynamics” fear. Do they think I’m weirdly religious? Do they think I have 8 more kids stashed at home? Do they think I’m an atheist anti-government radical?
Do they think I’m…FRUMPY?
One lady I met was very happy to hear that I was homeschooling. She said that the public schools had all gone to hell in a handbasket because the government was making the schools hire “all those colored people.” No, I’m not kidding.
People make all sorts of assumptions.
Frumpy is just something that happens when you start smelling like Desitin and baby puke. Just avoid wearing mom jeans and shower at least once a week whether you need it or not!
Damn, you can smell me from way over there?
We use cloth diapers, though, so that isn’t Desitin you’re smelling. It’s one of Babypie’s 8 million eczema creams.
I don’t think your kids dress funny. In fact, I’ve actually had that thought: “Captain Science is very well dressed for a homeschooled boy.” My overgeneralized observation is that homeschooled girls tend to be really creative, cool dressers and homeschooled boys…sometimes not so much. Not that I would be shallow enough to actually think about stuff like that, of course. But if I did, that might be what I would think.
Captain S has a definite sense of style. He dresses a little eclectically at home, but if I tell him to put on something decent, he assembles a hip little ensemble every time.
They are often not wearing underpants, however.
I’m not sure if EG’s outfit today qualifies as creative & cool or just, well, creative.
She was cold (!) so she pulled on a fuzzy pink sweater, over a blue t-shirt. That looks fine. It’s the red shorts with it that give me a bit of pause.
One day, someone’s going to create a self-sharpening pencil that never needs to acquire new lead via a human, and we’re not going to have anything else left to wonder about.
What a delightful list! I love Captain Science’s wardrobe, btw.