Last Spring Wasn’t Homeschooling…It Was School Surviving

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I Have a Rant Today.

Over the past four months, I’ve seen a (welcome) uptick in the number of parents exploring homeschooling thanks to the pandemic.

To some extent, I get it too. In the twelve weeks our kids were home with us, my husband and I held down our full-time jobs, and took turns schooling the kids in math, reading, writing, etc. In fact, our schooling resulted in my two-year-old able to go from recognizing two upper case letters to all 52 lower and uppercase letters (and some letter sounds). 

It Was Not Homeschool

The comments that “2020 is the one where we all became homeschoolers” are harmless … even funny … Though, this former homeschooler feels the need to correct people.

For us, the decision was to take our kids (five years old and two years old) out of daycare on a Friday, six days before daycares were officially shut down was not really a decision, but a necessity. 

Homeschooling, on the other hand, is a decision by both parents, usually to move down to one paycheck and to stay home with the kids as an alternative option. 

The truth is, it’s a legitimate decision that is made over time with a curriculum

The truth is it’s usually not thrust upon you with no planning like the worst pandemic of our lifetime while you’re trying to balance your own emotions and other responsibilities … like full-time jobs.

The spring of 2020 was not homeschooling for 54 million U.S. children … it was emergency schooling at home.

Let’s not forget, that homeschooling also consists of extracurriculars, not being trapped at home for 10-12 weeks without interacting with other miniature humans.

Louder for people in the back! Being trapped at home because you are scared of a pandemic is not homeschooling! 

Now, with another school year upon us, I’m starting to see the real interest in homeschooling come forward. The parents looking for curriculums (or choosing the school curriculums) and planning to stay home with their kids … and I’m excited to see the future of schooling in both forms, even as we prepare for the public school kindergarten class my son is signed up for.

What schooling decisions have you made? How did you decide?