A lot of parents these days are worried about the education of their children because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many parents are considering homeschooling their children to protect them from getting sick because of coronavirus. But many parents are also unsure and feel that they are unqualified to homeschool or home educate their children.
Are you one of them?
Do you also feel unqualified to teach or educate your child?
Some parents say, “I do not have any teaching background.”
“I am completely clueless on how to start.”
Some parents ask, “Do I need to be certified or licensed in teaching to be able to homeschool my child?”
Fellow parents, I have great news for you!
You don’t need to be certified or licensed in teaching to homeschool your child.
I felt sad reading posts and comments of fellow parents saying things like this on Facebook in the past months.
I simply could not remain silent. I felt that I need to say something and share what I have experienced and learned so far after homeschooling my eldest child for almost 12 years now and after homeschooling all three of my children in the past years.
Like many parents, I also felt that way in the beginning.
I told my husband that I will probably homeschool our firstborn until he is 7 years old only after I agreed to try homeschooling.
I was not confident to be his teacher beyond that and to think that I graduated from a prestigious university in the country and I even have masteral units. I had been teaching adults as a corporate trainer for at least a decade during that time. I had been a Certified Training Manager while working in the restaurant industry. I have traveled around the Philippines and around Asia to teach and train employees. I have designed curriculums and training plans for hundreds of employees. I have designed training programs that were used by global companies.
My fears and worry became bigger and more intense when we discovered that our eldest was gifted. I felt insecure.
What if I run out of things to teach him?
What if I am not able to provide the mental stimulation that he needs?
What if he becomes smarter than me?
Am I qualified to educate a child with special needs like my eldest son?
All these thoughts ran on my mind.
I felt a roller coaster of emotions after our son was assessed to be gifted.
I felt small as a parent.
Could I really take on this kind of big responsibility?
What if I sabotage my child’s future?
So, I understand what you are going through right now. I had been there.
Like what I said, I had been homeschooling beyond my initial goal.
My eldest is almost done with his elementary education and I had been his main teacher all these years.
Did he get smarter than me? In some topics.
Did I run out of things to teach him? Not yet. There are still A LOT of things I want to teach him. That’s why I’m praying fervently that I don’t die during this pandemic or die early!
Hear me, fellow parent, who is considering homeschooling your child.
YOU are QUALIFIED to homeschool or home educate your child!
Let me give you 10 reasons.
#1 Reason: YOUR LOVE FOR YOUR CHILD cannot be compared to the love of other adults or teachers out there. No one loves your child more than you love him/her. For most people, no one loves them more than their parents. Because of your great love for your child, you are determined, more than anyone, to help your child to become happy and successful in life.
#2 Reason: YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR CHILD starts from infancy. You know your child more than any teacher out there. Other teachers have limited time with your child. But you (for most people) lived with your child for many years since he/she was born.
#3 Reason: YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CHILD is already established. You already have a rapport. Outside teachers will have to earn your child’s trust and respect. They need to make themselves liked by your child at least to get your child to obey and cooperate. But you, as a parent, have an influence on your child already because you had been in a relationship with your child since he/she was born. Your child loves, trusts, and respects you. Your child recognizes your authority as his/her parent.
#4 Reason: YOU WERE YOUR CHILD’S FIRST TEACHER. Who taught your child how to talk, how to walk, how to eat, or how to take a bath? Who taught your child the alphabet or numbers? Who taught your child how to be respectful or polite? Who taught your child how to pray? Remember that you taught your child many basic things when he/she was young.
#5 Reason: YOU HAVE BEEN A STUDENT BEFORE (even if you didn’t finish college). You have experienced how it is to be a student before. You know, somehow, what a student should do to learn and to be successful. Your child can even learn from your mistakes in the past if you have made a lot of mistakes as a student.
#6 Reason: YOU HAVE MORE EXPERIENCE IN LIFE. Because you are already an adult, you have more life experiences. You are wiser. Not everything that your child needs to learn is related to academics. You can teach your child life skills, people skills, values, and many other things.
#7 Reason: YOU DON’T NEED TO TEACH EVERYTHING TO YOUR CHILD. Although the parent is the main teacher and facilitator of learning in homeschooling or home education, it doesn’t mean that you cannot outsource some of the teaching. You can use videos to teach your child. You can hire a private tutor or teacher for some difficult subjects that you really are not capable of teaching. More often than not, parents can teach the basics by studying ahead or reviewing what the child needs to learn.
#8 Reason: YOU JUST NEED TO BE A STEP AHEAD OF YOUR CHILD. You can learn with your child as you homeschool. But in order to teach something to your child, it would be better to be a step ahead of your child. Study a topic ahead and plan how you will teach it to your child. You can research and look for ways to teach something.
#9 Reason: YOU CAN LEARN AND PLAN HOW TO HOMESCHOOL OR HOME EDUCATE SUCCESSFULLY. You can learn more about homeschooling and how to best homeschool your child before you start and as you do it. It’s a skill you can get better at as you practice it. You can learn even as you make mistakes. Let your mistakes be learning opportunities.
#10 Reason: LAST BUT NOT LEAST, YOU WERE ANOINTED AND COMMANDED BY GOD TO TEACH AND TRAIN YOUR CHILD. And when God calls you to do something or gives you a responsibility, He enables. Look at the apostles and Jesus’ many disciples. Remember Moses, Noah, and Joseph. Remember Mary. Mary must have felt unworthy and unqualified also to home educate the Messiah. What will she teach God’s Son? She’s just an ordinary girl from a not so popular village. How about Joseph? He was just a carpenter. He was not a Rabbi. But Mary and Joseph raised up Jesus successfully and Jesus got to fulfill His purpose here on earth.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” – Deuteronomy 6:6-9
“Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” – Deuteronomy 11:19
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6
If you are a Christian, call on the Holy Spirit to guide you and grant you wisdom as you embark on homeschooling or home educating your child. Remember that your child is also God’s child. You are not alone in this adventure.
Thus, if you feel in your heart that God is calling you to homeschool or home educate your child, trust that He will be with you every step of the way. Remain in Him and He will remain in you and with you in the same way that He empowered and equipped His followers throughout the ages.
I hope these 10 reasons why you are qualified to home educate your child gives you peace in this time of troubles, courage in this time of uncertainty, and confidence knowing that it is by divine appointment that you are called to teach and train your child.
Parents had been made to believe in recent years that they are ill-equipped and unqualified to be their children’s teachers and mentors. But that is not true. As a result of this lie, more and more parents have outsourced and delegated this sacred and beautiful responsibility to other adults outside of the home.
But this also resulted in weaker ties and relationships between parents and children. Parents sometimes have to compete in influence over their children with their children’s teachers. Children sometimes listen more to their teachers in school and challenge their parents when what they say is different from that of their teachers. This will not be the case if the parents are also the teachers of their children. Children will grow in respect, admiration, fondness, and trust in their parents as they teach them and facilitate their learning.
For many centuries, parents taught their young everything. For many centuries, people learned a skill or a craft by being an apprentice of someone who practices that skill or craft. People learned by watching and doing.
It was only during modern times that schools were created and built.
When God gave you your child, He has already equipped you for the role of parent. Homeschooling or home education is an extension of parenting. Home education enables you and gives you a lot of opportunities to be intentional in passing on knowledge, skills, and the right mindset, values, and beliefs to your child.
Believe in yourself! You are enough! You are qualified!
You are the best advocate for your child!
To continue a bit of my story, my eldest continues to learn and advance in knowledge and skills. Since he has become smarter than my husband and me on some topics or fields, we have hired teachers for him who are experts on the areas where he is gifted and strong. We let him read plenty of books and watch videos where he can learn more about his interests and passion or area of giftedness.
Do you now feel at peace? Do you now feel confident? Do you now realize that you are qualified to homeschool your child? Do you now want to homeschool your child?
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