“Scared to Screw It Up”
I was given the opportunity to mentor a sweet momma who is trying to decide about fully homeschooling her boys. They are currently in 8th and 10th grades and are in a prep school that is structured differently from public school.
She is technically already a member of our homeschool group since the older one is on our baseball team. She has lots of questions regarding how to set about doing all the things she’s afraid they would miss. But what I addressed right away was the fact that she mentioned a couple of times that she is scared she will screw it up.
You will not screw it up!
I reassured her that if she is feeling called to homeschool, she will not be screwing anything up, including her children. The main goal for most homeschooling families is to raise good humans who are happy, kind, and successful by their own measure.
I reassured her that she knows her own kids better than anyone else and that she will do right by them. She will do her due diligence to figure out what’s best for them.
I reassured her that young people learn what they need to learn for their chosen path in college, or tech school, or even on the job. As long as you help them learn how to learn, they will be successful.
We then were able to discuss options for dual credit college classes, co-op academics for credits, and an online program to check out. I always recommend this program (she actually specifically asked what we use) due to the fact that it is totally free! You can check it out and try it out all you want and it’s free forever. It is also nationally used, holds up to standardized testing, comprehensive in that you can take all the classes you need right in the program, and it’s thorough. There is also the added benefit of using only a class or two or fully for your entire program. Plus, you can switch out classes for whatever level your child needs.
Easy Peasy is the name of the program: http://www.allinonehomeschool.com but my daughter says “It is NOT easy peasy!” Well…in reality, no it’s not easy for the student per se, but it is meant to be easy for the homeschooling parent to set up and use.
Anyway, I hope to have more opportunities in the future to encourage those who are afraid to take the leap. This momma says she wishes she would have asked the questions sooner, but I fully believe that we walk the path we were meant to walk. In other words, for whatever reason, they needed the experience they are receiving now.
