Am I Qualified to Homeschool?

As I've had time to reflect more about the question of should I, I realize that there are a number of parents who additionally wrestle with the question of can I. Am I qualified? Am I capable? Do I know enough? It occurred to me that anyone spending time poking around Homeschool Hoopla will soon discover that Jessica and I both have a background in education, and may therefore assume that we are somehow "qualified" to homeschool our children. So, I want to address the potential feelings of inadequacy that some might be feeling.

In my earlier blogpost, "Should I Homeschool?", I made a statement that anyone can homeschool if they want to, and I believe this applies even when we wonder if we are capable. It's no secret that my family participates in Classical Conversations. I am a director at our local campus, so I've had the privilege of working through some excellent training that is provided by the company. One of the hallmark visions that CC has for us as parent-educators is to assume the role of "lead learner." That means we don't have to know everything that our kids will ever learn - isn't that a freeing thought!? - but we must be willing to learn along with them, and model for them how to attain knowledge, not just pour into them what knowledge they ought to attain. If you think about it, it makes sense that our children would be better equipped to go on and learn anything if they've been shown how, and that their lessons will be more interesting when done side-by-side, rather than sitting under a talking head. And I ponder along with Leigh Bortins (the founder of CC) - why would parents place confidence in an educational system that they feel inadequately prepared them to educate their own children?

When I attended the Great Homeschool Convention in 2014, I remember sitting in a session, listening to Susan Wise Bauer speak. One of the things she said that I haven't forgotten is that we have a tendency to approach education as if it's a finite body of information that every child must attain. In some ways, learning 1,000 years ago would have been much easier - there would be less history to know, less scientific discovery, and so on... But in reality, the amount of knowable information is vast and ever-growing. We can't possibly expect our children to learn everything by the time they graduate. She admitted, there WILL be gaps, but they will be filled as they need to be.

In all honesty, the education I received growing up was fine - excellent in some ways, and poor in others. The college degrees I earned served to prepare me for a teaching career in modern, progressive, public school systems. However, none of this has done anything to make me more or less qualified to homeschool my own children. In working to educate my children at home, I am subscribed to a completely different philosophy and a completely different way of life. We live, we love, we learn - together. I admit freely and often to my children that I'm no expert in particular subjects, but I will commit myself to model good learning habits and help my children grow in knowledge, understanding, and wisdom every day, as I do the same. You can too, if you want to.