There Will Be Gaps

Over our years of homeschooling, I commonly heard phrases from others that were often somewhat flattering to me, but quite honestly, mostly unfounded. I heard things like "You must be very patient." or "You must be really smart." There have been many commonly asked questions too, for example; "Are you a teacher?" "What is your education?" "How do you teach multiple ages?" And the most often repeated reaction to my being a homeschooling mom is, - (homeschool moms, I know you've heard this one at least as much as I have) - "I could never homeschool my kids!" That statement is frequently followed by an explanation from them as to why that is an absolutely irrevocably true, beyond any shadow of doubt fact!

My typical response is usually that it really isn't as hard as they imagine. For me, that is the statement of fact that continued to ring true throughout our days of homeschooling. (I may expand on my experience of that in another post.)

If such a conversation continues, (often they don't) and deepens, (less frequently) leading to a real discussion about education, learning and family it evolves into a discussion of who loves and is the best example and teacher to the children in all of our lives, assuming relatively stable families, of course.

Another protest I have also commonly heard is about all of the potential learning gaps that will afflict the poor homeschooled children due to their parents lack of expertise in all the many areas needed for academic success. Again, if the conversation still continues (even rarer at this point), I attempt (trying to remember to do so delicately) to point out that no system of education, public or private, will provide enough exposure and understanding of all of the potential areas and subject matter that will be needed by our children over the next decades and over their own lifetimes.

Giving our children the basics to access the world of academics is vital. Basic math and reading is obviously important so that they will be able to move forward in pursuit of more understanding in any subject area they choose. The basics are necessary so that they will possess the ability to search and discover answers and solutions on their own. A firm grasp of those same basics are important so that they will be able to take the steps they will absolutely need to move forward in their lives with confidence.

However, no matter where they are being educated, no matter who their teachers are, they will have gaps. All of them will have gaps in some area of expertise and without confidence in their own ability to find info, explore the ideas of others and create their own solutions, they will be living not with simple gaps in information but in a chasm of fear and uncertainty. Mostly, they will need to accept that ongoing learning is part of life. Ideally they will possess a love of learning that will not only sustain them but will bring them joy throughout their lives contributing to their ability to thrive in relationships and in the work they choose.

The most important attribute I have observed in homeschooling parents is an interest and delight in ongoing learning for themselves. Whatever your choices are for the education of your children, share your own love of learning with each of them and with all of the children you have contact with. Acknowledge your confidence in them that they will be able to find answers and make decisions. Remind them that learning lasts a lifetime. Celebrate sharing the journey of ongoing learning with them. Provide an example of working diligently to fill in your own gaps!

Community College as a Choice for Higher Ed

Two years of reduced tuition or no tuition = huge savings in acquiring a degree. Choosing to homeschool our children included the decision for us to remain a one income family. As a result we have had fewer financial resources to fund the college aspirations of our kids.

If this sounds like the beginning of a plug for Community Colleges, well, it is. While I continue to have some respect for the reputations of prestigious institutions of higher learning, (I do have a degree from Tufts, after all) that respect has honestly, dwindled over time. As we began to look at the options for our own college bound children, the practical and financial became a major issue in our decisions. Community College tuition in Illinois is 1/3 of the cost of even the more affordable public four year school options in state and easily 1/10 of the cost of some of the private four year institutions in our area. Two year full time study of general education requirements are also available tuition free with the required ACT or SAT test score. That's halfway done with a degree with no tuition. When looking at those financials, the local stay at home for two year opportunities became the obvious one for us as a family.

In Illinois, where we live, I have seen the wonderful supportive resources that are available through a variety of programs at Illinois Community Colleges. The resources are there to assist each and every student to be successful at the community college level and beyond. A student simply has to be willing to utilize the support available to them.

We have known homeschooling families that have taken advantage of the dual credit options enrolling high school students to receive both high school and college credit simultaneously for completing a community college class. These programs can speed the higher ed process as well as preparing a student for a smoother transition to college.


Community Colleges tend to have smaller class sizes. Even in freshman general education classes the student to instructor ratio is low compared to the huge auditorium filled classes that often encountered at big universities. Smaller class size means more available and approachable instructors. All of this makes it easier to become accustomed to attending college level classes.
For life long homeschooling students this makes for an easier transition to classroom learning in general. Community colleges in our area have pre-established transfer programs allowing associate degree earning students to transition to a four year institution with ease and guidance.

I have heard critical comments from student's peers made to community college students about their attending a community college. I remember similar sentiments expressed way back when I was a high school student myself. (Way back in the day!)

Fortunately, for homeschoolers those kind of misinformed comments may have less weight on their decisions. Many homeschooling students are usually less concerned about the opinions of their peers or even the opinions of the general population. The decision about where to begin a higher level education will include a multitude of factors. Family resources, field of study, near home, away from home, student maturity level, how much to take on moving into adult responsibilities while also attending college level classes, all of this plus has been on our a family's list of considerations.

The homeschooling parents I have met, regardless of their approach to home schooling, laid back, un-schooling, rigorous academics, arts based, etc. all have tended to have high expectations for their children. Perhaps we want to see proof of the rightness of our choice to homeschool. Like all parents we want to see our children be successful adults in whatever field the chose to work in.

Having high expectations for our young people's performance is a gift to them but it doesn't require over- priced- out of reach- mega debt- name brand- higher education to accomplish goals and live dreams!

Non homeschooling parents I meet often praise me with wows and kudos for homeschooling and comment that it must be hard to do. While of course there were difficult moments (all parents/families have some). They can't imagine how hard it must be to teach their own children. My usual response is that it isn't really as hard as they are imagining it. It is not like re-creating a classroom. In my opinion, that would be very hard and also, in my opinion, not necessarily conducive to as much learning. Barring any specific learning disabilities, most children, most humans of any age for that matter, are really learning machines, we are made to learn and given the proper supportive and rich environment we will.

Given a sensory rich and supportive environment children, teens, young adults and adults will learn. In a nurturing environment children will learn something! And new college students can learn in the a community college environment with a more palatable price tag and still become high achieving productive adults.

Always working to be and encourage life long learners!