6 Reasons I’m Not Cut Out for Homeschooling

by Susan Maccarelli of Pecked To Death By Chickens

Whenever I follow someone on Twitter I always read the little description under their Twitter name for a quick snapshot.  I mostly follow women and many of them happen to be moms too.  Lately it seems like a ton of the descriptions include ‘homeschooler’ or some variation of that.  Ditto with Blog ‘About’ pages and Facebook fan pages.  

The only evidence I have that anyone is still sending their kids to public school are the Facebook posts I see complaining about summer vacations or snow-related closures causing kids to be trapped at home for days on end leading to many cases of mommy lunacy.  Education News published an article in 2012 stating that the number of kids being homeschooled has increased 75% since 1999, so I guess I am not losing my marbles and there is a big uptick.

This post isn’t about me having a problem with homeschooling.  My sister homeschools her kids and is fabulous at it.  I imagine it can be especially effective for kids with learning differences or other social and emotional issues who thrive in an environment with lots of direct teacher attention.  I could write a LONG article about the benefits of homeschooling.  My take on parents who homeschool is that they are probably super smart, dedicated and selfless.  As much as I think moms who can do it are the bomb, I think there are a lot of us (like myself) who should run as fast as they can in the other direction.

In much the same way as I feel subpar for not pinning a new gluten-free chia seed scone recipe every weekend or never having come up with a DIY project for how to turn a kids closet into a fun fabulous fairyland, I am now feeling the homeschooling peer pressure.  

I have considered it very BRIEFLY but very seriously because of the peer pressure and also because my husband suggested this would let us travel the world more easily as a family.  I quickly reminded him that my 50 city international concert tour opening for J-Lo had been cancelled due to the fact that it never existed. I think he realized that the 10 hour annual car trip to Hilton Head is about as much travel as we have the time, energy or budget for and laid off of the homeschooling requests.  

I think he also heard my 6 reasons for not homeschooling (and the tone that went along with them) and realized that maybe I was not the best choice to be the kids teacher for 13 years.  Judge for yourself…

ABOUT SUSAN:  As mommy to 2 toddlers, wife to a work-from-home husband and CEO of keeping people in her house alive, Susan Maccarelli derives constant inspiration for her blog, Pecked To Death By Chickens, from life’s little annoyances.  PTDBC is home to many humorous posts about life’s minor annoyances, a Friday series featuring hilarious (and often idiotic) Craigslist postings, and sometimes Susan even writes something to help other bloggers (because once you have been blogging for 6 months you are totally an expert and can start doling out advice to others).  You will also find stories that are a bit more serious/poignant when Susan wishes to show her soft underbelly (sadly this is a euphemism AND a literal description), but most of the time she sticks some humor in there somewhere.

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CONTINUE READING IN THE FAMILY ROOM

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