Of course, you gain a lot, too. Besides the memories and the irreplaceable time with your child…besides all that, you also gain membership into a close-knit sisterhood of women working together to see to the education and well-being of their children. You see, being a homeschooling mom isn’t a solo journey. There are heroic partners all along the way.

As we are graduating our third child from homeschool, I want to salute the many homeschooling moms who have created a culture of excellence and camaraderie for our family:

THE CO-OP PRESIDENT AND BOARD who do everything from making sure the church is cleaned after class to recruiting teachers to managing membership (and so much more!).
THE CO-OP TEACHER who shares her special area of knowledge to the benefit of all.
THE TEAM ORGANIZER who knows every gym, every stadium, and the phone number for every athletic director in the state. Because of her hard work, the team has a schedule full of games.
THE CHRISTMAS PARTY PLANNER with her tub of decorations and games that she brings out year after year.
THE YEARBOOK DESIGNER who collects precious memories from the families and organizes them so the kids will have a souvenir for years to come.
THE BAND ASSISTANT who knows where you can get used instruments for cheap…and her kids teach private lessons, too!
THE CHEER SPONSOR who is always sore from practice because she believes in leading by example.
THE HOME SCHOOL VETERAN who had so many people asking for copies of her lessons, that she organized them and published them so families can learn from her even after she’s retired.
THE FIELD TRIP MAVEN who knows exactly how many participants are needed for that coveted group rate.
THE ROBOTICS CAPTAIN that comes home after work and donates his time and a lot of equipment (don’t tell his wife) so the kids can compete on a national level.
THE NETWORKER who listens when you mention a concern, and then comes up with a specialist, a program, an opportunity that fits your need.
THE PIONEER that hears of people doing something somewhere, and asks, “Why don’t we have one of those groups in our area?”
THE HOME SCHOOL RESCUE TEAM who step in when illness strikes to make sure meals and transportation are handled while Mom is down, and then come to help Grandma get through the lessons.

Being a homeschooling family means being a part of a network, having a bond akin to comrades at arms. Together we faced fears of inadequacy, challenges when resources were scarce, and the frustrations that come when we can’t blame someone else for our child’s failure. Together we pooled our talents and our strengths to fill the gaps and smooth the road in our children’s education. Together we celebrated their successes.

So, I’m celebrating you. Homeschooling has many benefits for the child, but one of the greatest rewards for me has been the quality of women I’ve been privileged to learn with, laugh with, and love.

Thank you!

The post The Sisterhood of Homeschooling Moms appeared first on Author Regina Jennings.

“It’s really not that bad,” I assure her. “I can write/clean/cook while they do their lessons. We love all the time we get to spend together as a family.” But she isn’t convinced, so I give up and we move on to less astonishing topics.

If you’ve homeschooled long enough to dull your sharpened pencils, you’ve had this conversation. “I’m not Superwoman,” you insist, but no one believes you, so you go back to your quiet home, cuddle up with your little ones, enjoy your favorite read-alouds and wonder why they are so amazed. Who wouldn’t want this gentle, idyllic life?

Then it happens. For me it’s usually 2:30 when child #2 admits that she’s skipped her science assignments all last week and child #4 is in tears over a writing assignment. The phone rings and it’s a friend on her way home from running her errands. She wants to chat as she heads to her clean house before the school bus drops her kids off. In despair, I look my chaotic children and realize I have a couple of hours of homework before I can work on my edits, or shower, or start dinner. Discontent begins to creep in.

“This is so hard,” I think. “I can’t do this any longer. Who do I think I am, Superwoman?”

Surprise, surprise. The lady was right after all. It is hard. It does wear you slick. It takes incredible amounts of patience, time and nerve to educate your children. Why do we deny this? Why do we pretend it can be accomplished with minimal effort?

We do ourselves a disservice when we “humbly” pretend that homeschooling is easy – that’s it’s for everyone – that it requires little sacrifice. If we trick ourselves into believing that, then we are unprepared for the tough days. We are shocked when the sacrifice hurts. We are frustrated when the price is high.

Guess what. If you are homeschooling, you are a superhero. You are doing a very difficult job with little encouragement or praise. Daily, you deal with fears of inadequacy, but you keep fighting the fight.

They were right. It does take a super strength to succeed, but the power isn’t in one amazing feat. It’s in a million small decisions. Be wary, be prepared, and on those tough days put on your cape and keep flying.

(This article was written for a homeschooling blog in 2011. Copyright retained by Regina Jennings.)

The post I’m Not Superwoman (But I Do Borrow Her Cape) appeared first on Author Regina Jennings.

Case in point – our daughter Reagan.

My kids and I spend a lot of time sharing books aloud. Our homeschooling curriculum (Sonlight Curriculum) is literature-rich, so every school day finds us gathered around a book. And even when school is finished, the kids prefer to hear their favorite books aloud.

By far the best reader of the bunch is our 15 yo daughter Reagan. Reagan’s readings are performances. She has different voices for the characters. She does accents. She draws out the suspenseful portions until I’m tempted to rip the book out of her hands and read ahead. Reagan has talent.

Her sisters and brother will do almost anything in their power to get her to read to them. When they get stuck on a series, they promise to do all her chores, bring her drinks, adjust the lighting…whatever it takes to keep her reading. But before you mentally construct a picture of domestic bliss, children lovingly cuddled around a fireplace, you should understand the negotiations that go into their reading choices.

Currently their favorite series is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordian. Last year when the new book came out, Zeke bought it with his own money…hard cover, full price. He presented it to Reagan and offered to let her read it if she’d read it aloud to him, and not read ahead if he wasn’t there. Just as they were about to shake on the deal, Tabby got involved. If Reagan read to Zeke, there was no guarantee that Tabby would hear the whole book. She needed a way to guarantee that no reading would go on without her. Her options weren’t good. If she bought her own book, Reagan would have the choice between the two of them, and her price might go up. Tabby and Zeke would be stuck doing dishes and cleaning her room for weeks. Negotiations were on. Finally a compromise was reached. Tabby bought Zeke’s copy for $5 more than he’d paid for it and the two committed not to let Reagan read aloud without the other one present.

This year, Tabby got the latest Riordian book, but her schedule is hectic and Reagan and Zeke were growing impatient waiting on her to continue the story. Wanting to read ahead, Reagan tried to persuade Zeke into a deal that would break up Tabby’s monopoly. If Zeke would split the price of the ebook with her, they could both have the book on their Kindles. Seeing the possibility that she might lose her sister’s services, Tabby stepped in to stop that deal. She reminded Zeke that if Reagan got her own copy of the book, she wouldn’t read to either of them. Reagan is too frugal to pay the full price, so even if he did have to wait until Tabby was available, Reagan’s skills as a reader were worth the wait. Seeing the danger, once again he and Tabby banded together to keep Reagan from getting a cheap copy of the book. Thwarted, but she’s still getting to read her favorite author for free while her siblings take care of her chores. Not a bad deal.

Congress could learn something from their negotiation skills.

Once the deal is struck, then, yes, they do cuddle together and laugh and squeal over the adventures of the Olympians. So I get one of those rewarding Mother moments of seeing my children practicing what we’ve modeled for them for years…plus watch them grapple with the concepts of monopoly, supply and demand, and negotiations.

What books has your family read together aloud?

The post How Being a Reader Can Make You Rich and Popular appeared first on Author Regina Jennings.