An Open Letter to Teachers
I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Please allow me to introduce myself to you. I am “that home school mom.” My husband and I made the decision to educate our children. I know you feel this is a knock to your teaching ability. After all, why would we purposefully not send our children to you if we didn’t question your abilities? The truth of the matter is your ability has nothing to do with it. I don’t hate you. (I actually married a public school teacher!) I don’t hate the schools. I don’t harbor ill feelings towards you. Please allow me to tell you what I think and know.
I think you men and women do an AMAZING job! (I really do!!!) I think you do something I never could. (Seriously!) I think you have one of the toughest jobs in the world that no amount of education could really prepare you for. Ok, that’s not true. If you got a degree in education, psychology, social work, and a few other degrees you might be prepared to teach. Why? Because I KNOW you do so much more than just teach our children. You feed them. You provide school supplies for you. You counsel them. You give them love. You give them tough love when needed. You stand up for them. You guide them. You treat them like they are your child because...they all are your children. For some children you are their only safe harbor. On top of all of that you teach them too!!! I could never manage a classroom, wear all of those hats and be sane at the end of the day. For that I give you admiration and prayers at night. You are truly amazing even when you don’t feel like it. I know you go in early, stay late and drag tons of papers home to grade on the weekend. I know you give up time with your family to fulfill your work obligations AND to do so many other things to show your students you care...things that aren’t obligations. I am jealous of your skills and abilities. I am worried I will never live up to your standards. So please understand when I say your ability to teach my child has no bearing on our decision to home school I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
My husband and I decided to home school for so many reasons. You were never on the list. Please let me tell you a few reasons why we home school. (It has changed over the years but these are just a few and in no real order.)
1. My husband and I watched our first born child grow from a baby to a little girl. While doing this we noticed something very important. She was a scientist! She experimented every day. She tested her hypotheses over and over until she formed her conclusion. I know you are probably thinking I’m crazy right now but this is true of all children. They drop the toy in the high chair, watch you pick it up to give back to them and they repeat. They are doing science! They have a natural curiosity of learning and base it in science. My husband and I wanted to foster this natural curiosity and let her bloom. We wanted science to be a part of her every day education.
2. We wanted her to love learning. My husband and I full believe that if you foster a love of learning and teach a child to learn freely they will continue both into adulthood. We also wanted her to be able to lead her education. She gets to pick science topics to learn about. She gets to decide how long we stay on a topic (within reason of course). We are able to determine when she has mastered a concept and move on. If she is ahead, great. If she’s right on level, great. If she’s a little behind, that’s ok. We will get her up to level eventually. Sometimes concepts take a little more work.
3. We wanted flexibility in where/how her education takes place. We wanted her to learn inside of a book but also outside of a book. We wanted to learn about elephants right in front of them. What better way to learn about elephants than to spend the afternoon at a zoo or sanctuary where she can speak to the keepers and ask questions? What better way to learn about any animal than to spend time watching them and seeing how they act/what they do/what they eat?
4. We wanted flexibility in when we had class. A year after we started officially home schooling my husband quit teaching. He then went to work in a lab where he worked random and odd hours. Some weeks he worked 6 pm to 6 am. Some weeks he worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Home schooling allowed us flexibility to have longer classes when Daddy worked and to have free days when Daddy was off work. Some weekends we had school on Saturday and Sunday so we could take time off during the week instead. This also allows us to plan things like a vacation during the off season when everyone else is in school.
5. We wanted her to have time to be a kid. I know this sounds silly. The reality is we live in a go go go society. When I was in school I got up at 5:30 to eat breakfast, get ready and head out the door to be at the bus stop by 6:30. The bus ran between 6:30-6:45 at which time I rode for a minimum of one hour. I was in school from 8 to 3. The bus ride ended between 4:15-4:30. Then there was 1-2 hours of homework/studying involved. If there was a ball game I had to attend, practice, or something else school related that would eat up 1-3 hours. Don’t forget church Wednesday night. Then there was dinner time and cleaning up afterwards along with laundry. We didn’t want our daughter to constantly be going. Not to mention recess being cut shorter and shorter to increase learning time.
As you can see, you aren’t on the list of reasons we decided to home school. Our life is why we decided to home school. Society has tried to separate the two of us...public school teacher and home school teacher. However, at the end of the day, we are both the same. We want what is best for the children in our lives. We want to provide a quality education for those children so that one day they will be productive members of society. We may go about achieving those goals in different ways but the goals are still the same.
As I wind down this letter I know the task that waits me...finishing my lesson plans for the week. I know you are probably doing the same this weekend. Know that I pray for you. Know that I defend you when others speak ill of those people who “get the summer off as a vacation”...yeah, we both know you might get two or three actual weeks off that summer if you are lucky. Know that I will always champion and vote in favor of you getting a much needed pay raise. (Doubling your salary won’t even pay you what you are worth.) Know that you are cherished and respected by that home school mom.
Sincerely,
That Home School Mom
