Homeschool mom.
All I have to do is say that phrase and you automatically have a picture in your head. Most likely what you see includes a denim jumper, permed hair, a 15-passenger van, and a perfect line of little duckling children following close behind.
While this may have been the homeschool mom image at one time in history, the homeschool community has come a long way over the years. Most families who make up this community are normal people living normal lives with normal children (or at least as normal as they can be).
Let me burst your bubble just a little: there are a lot of myths about homeschool moms that aren’t true or even remotely close to being accurate.
Here are a few you may have thought once or twice:
Homeschool moms know what they are doing. As a homeschool mom myself, I can boldly and confidently tell you this is the farthest thing from the truth. It always makes me laugh when people say, “there’s no way I could homeschool–I wouldn’t have a clue how to do it!” As if I actually do have a clue? There are resources galore and lots of professionals to learn from, but for the most part, your homeschool mom friend down the street from you–she has no clue what she’s doing. She’s aiming to do the best she can for her kids, learning a lot of things right along side them, and just hoping that she doesn’t fail miserably.
Homeschool moms don’t care about having time to themselves. Homeschooling is a choice, so if someone chooses to homeschool their kids, that automatically means that they don’t desire time to themselves, right? WRONG. Just because a mom chooses to teach her children at home does not mean she wants to be with them 24/7, 365. Homeschool moms are in dire need of alone time and have to fight for that time to maintain any level of sanity.
Homeschool moms judge public school moms. While I can’t make a blanket statement for every homeschool mom out there, I can speak for a large majority when I say that we do not judge moms who send their kids to public school. Most of us were public school kids (me!) and had great experiences. Some of us taught in public schools before having kids (also me!) and loved it. Occasionally we envy you and want to join you. But we don’t judge you. We may have opinions on what we think is best for our own kids for various reasons, but we value each family’s choice in making that decision and celebrate your freedom to do so.
Homeschool moms are Pinterest Queens. Somehow the title “homeschool mom” has become synonymous with “homemaking queen.” Meaningful crafts, perfectly decorated homes, homemade recipes, and hand-rolled beeswax candles may be what Instagram and Pinterest make you think our lives like, but that isn’t reality. Some homeschool moms have swoon-worthy talents of cultivating beauty in every little thing they do, but the majority of us hate crafts, don’t have time to decorate our houses, and stick with Kraft mac n’ cheese.
Homeschool moms have more patience than other moms. This one may be the most comical myth on the list. Many people assume that if a mom chooses to homeschool her kids and spend every waking hour with them that they must have super human patience. Spoiler alert: we don’t. If anything, we might struggle with patience more than other moms. We are constantly fighting to have a good attitude, see the positive, celebrate the little accomplishments, and not scream at the top of our lungs when we’ve taught the same lesson 10 times and it still isn’t sticking.
The list could go on for quite a while, but I think you get the gist. If you have a homeschool mom in your life, try to get to know her. I think you’ll be surprised at just how “normal” she really is.
