Do you remember those organized desks and huge blackboards from your school days? And do you feel inadequate that you do your school at a kitchen table?
Did you use a large, up-to-date microscope in your old biology class but now feel scientifically deficient because you have a child’s version for your little school?
Do you imagine professionals teaching daily in your local school—and agonize over the educational experience you are giving your children?
Feeling inadequate
I homeschooled for eighteen years, and there was not one year in which I felt I was totally doing it “right.” I always felt inadequate. On some level I always wondered if my kids could have gotten a better education somewhere else.
With logic, I can look back and assure myself that I have given my three children a very good education and a safe and spiritual environment. I was not a slacker: All of my students scored higher than the national average on their SAT scores. My brain pats me on the back and assures me that I ran a good race, but my heart still stumbles with thoughts of inadequacy and failure.
Where I failed
And I did fail in some things. The following are a few areas in which I failed.
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Some kids hate writing essays, and off the top of their heads they can give you 97 reasons why this is so.
Recently I picked up my order at a local bookstore for a Book-of-the-Month Club I teach. The clerk asked me about the books because it was an unusual number, about thirty. When I explained that I was teaching literature to some homeschool teens, she came back with this surprising response:
