Are You Qualified to Teach Your Kids at Home?

A lot of parents are concerned that they are not qualified to teach their kids at home. They doubt themselves and their abilities to homeschool their kids. And, society reinforces that fear. After all, a teacher goes to school to learn how to teach kids right? They get a university degree and then go to teacher’s college. For most teachers, it’s at least 5 years of post-secondary education.

Well, we are two teachers and together, we have 10 years of post-secondary education plus a few extra courses here and there. We have over 14 years of teaching experience between the two of us. Most people assume that we are qualified to homeschool our kids. Well let us tell you, public school and homeschooling are nothing alike and nothing in teachers’ college prepared us for homeschooling.

In teachers’ college, you aren’t really learning how to teach.
My experience was that teachers’ college was like going back to elementary school. We sat in desks and had classes in Math, Science, Language Arts, Music, and Visual Art. We would do activities like we were in school. I painted pictures in art class, did experiments in science class and sang songs in music class. In our Language Arts class, we literally sat on the floor and took turns reading picture books to each other.

On top of those subject classes, we had two other classes. One was ethics and law of teaching. The other class was Methods. Most people imagine that Methods would be how to teach. But the reality is, it’s something very different. We learned about how to set up a classroom so it’s safe and effective for 25+ kids. We learned how to set up a routine and rules and how to maintain order in a class with 25+ students. We learned very little about how to teach a kid to read, write, or do math.
Teachers’ college prepared us for teaching in a classroom, where you have 25-35 students. You’re teaching a large number of kids things they aren’t necessarily interested in. You have to make lessons that are for the average student in your class, find ways to make it more challenging for the advanced kids and accessible for the kids with learning difficulties. You have filler activities for the kids who are done because they can’t be distracting the others.

Homeschooling is totally different. First off, there’s significantly less children. We can teach our kids in the way that they learn best, take breaks when they want and study topics they find interesting. We can read books that they like, rather than following a reading list.

With all that being said, you might still be wondering if you are qualified to teach your kids. Let us make this clear to you and everyone around you…

YES! YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO TEACH YOUR KIDS!

Here are 5 reasons you are qualified to homeschool your children.

Your Kids Are Your Passion

You love your children more than any teacher ever will. As much as teachers care for children, they will never love them as you do.

No teacher will ever love your kids the same way you do. They make like your children but they will never love them and that’s a huge difference.

You Know Your Kids

You know your kids better than any teacher. You know their strengths, weaknesses, and passions. You know what they love, what they hate and what motivates them. You also know about their lives. You know if they were at a hockey tournament all weekend and need some extra sleep or if they had a big fight with their sibling that they are upset about. You know how these things will affect your kids and you have the flexibility to adjust accordingly. That’s not something a teacher can know, or easily accommodate.

You Don’t Need to Know Everything

Many people think teachers know everything, which is why they are qualified to teach. The truth is, sometimes they don’t know anything about a particular subject. They get the textbook and read it before they teach it. They look up activities on Pinterest and cool videos on YouTube to learn what they need to know to teach the next unit.

As a homeschooler, you can do the same. If you don’t know much about a particular subject you can learn it with your child. You can read the manual, watch videos, and read books. You can also find experts all around you to help everyone learn.

And a great bonus to all of this is that your kids get to see you learn. They learn that learning is not a static thing, but something that you can do forever. It helps create a love for life-long learning.

You Won’t Put Your Child in a Box

There are so many ways for a child to be categorized in school. A good reader, a bad reader, one who struggles in math, one who talks too much. But when you homeschool you don’t have to put your children in a box. They don’t have to fit arbitrary grade levels, they can take their time learning something. If they aren’t reading by grade one, that’s okay. That doesn’t make them behind, as they would be labeled in the school system. Without these labels, children aren’t burdened with the stress of being behind or different.

And you can allow their differences to be their strengths. If they are creative, you can focus more on that. Or if they need to be more active, you can build their schooling around lots of movement, breaks, and activity. Rather than label them a problem, you can use this to your child’s advantage.

You Know That School Isn’t Everything

As a parent, you know that school isn’t the be-all and end-all of life. There’s more to life than just work and school. There are hobbies, health (physical, mental and emotional), and life skills.

When you are homeschooling you can teach things that aren’t always taught in the school system, like baking, car repair, budgeting, and taxes. You can teach skills that extend beyond the classroom and focus on raising healthy, happy adults who are self-sufficient and productive members of society.

While I can easily get the attention of 30+ kids with a simple clapping song, I cam no more qualified to teach my kids than anyone else.

You are qualified to homeschool your children. Your love and knowledge of them, their lives and their hearts, makes you more qualified than any teacher.