To the Accidental Homeschool Parent

You didn’t mean for this to happen. You had a plan. Your plate was already full. You need to work. Now you need to manage school too? It might seem impossible at first, but don’t lose hope. Everyday won’t be perfect. In fact, no day will be perfect, but don’t lose hope.

For the majority of the 15 years I homeschooled, I questioned my sanity. And I chose it. You didn’t choose this. It was thrust upon you because of a microscopic global terrorist. The world has changed, literally. Two months ago, you didn’t think you would be here.

It’s going to be ok. Home school doesn’t look like school in a classroom. It’s ok.

Embrace the difference.

It doesn’t look the same with just 1 of each student in a grade as it does in a room full of students who are hopefully close to the same level of learning. It’s ok.

Take courage. Take courage from knowing that your kids will learn just like generation after generation of children learned before the birth of the classroom learning style. Take courage from knowing that even today, some societies in America still enjoy multi-level classroom learning.

Most, if not all homeschool Moms and Dads will tell you that not too many days will go as planned. You know what you want, you take what you can get. And the lessons learned at home in character and discipline often trump science and literature. Embrace all the learning.

Fight the urge to think that learning at home can and should look like learning at school. Take advantage of the differences. You have the outside world at your fingertips. Go caterpillar hunting. Make a reading tent. Even in these long quarantine days, the years are still short. This will be a blip, and even though we didn’t ask for it, we can look back on it fondly.

God equips whom He’s called. Right now, it appears we’ve all been called to homeschool. You’ve got this, whatever your day looks like. Your kids are learning . . . something. These lessons may not be found in their textbook, but my guess is they’re the ones they’ll remember for life.

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Hollie Gilman

I’m a writer with a lifelong passion for learning. I’ve spent the last 24 years momming, teaching my 3 almost-grown-and-flown children, and working with my husband of 26 years. I’m loving country life (being a pretend farmer) just outside my hometown of Richmond, VA. Here is where I’ll spill my guts on the things of the heart we all share: faith, life, love, family, and anything else that tumbles through my mind.