by Lynda Schab

Created on: April 27, 2007   Last Updated: May 13, 2007

Teaching in the Technical Sense

This may be a no-brainer, but some of us just aren't cut out to be teachers, at least in the technical sense. I should know; I tried it.

And I failed.

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't go so far as to say I was a failure, although the word did flash through my mind like a neon light more than once.

My two children, then in second grade and preschool, attended a Christian school. Money was pretty tight and we made the difficult decision to pull them out. Since my husband and I weren't thrilled with the idea of sending them to a public school, we decided to homeschool!

What a brilliant idea! Or so we thought.

Homeschooling is super-popular in our area. We even have a Homeschool Building nearby, one of only a few in the country with tons of resources: enrichment classes, a library, bookstore, even a gym for sporting events! Plus, one of my best friends was starting to homeschool too! We could encourage each other, support each other, organize field trips together. It sounded great!

The doubts started almost immediately. Feelings of "what am I getting myself into?", realizations of how awesome this undertaking really was. In the back of my mind I felt scared and unsure but I pushed those thoughts aside, chalking them up to fear of the unknown, hoping they would disappear altogether once we actually started school. I prayed about it, feeling like God was giving me the go-ahead, since there were no road-blocks or warning signs pointing me in any other direction.

I poured myself into school preparations, subscribed to on-line homeschool mailing lists, purchased curriculum and supplies, created daily schedule calendars, even signed up as an Usborne Books At Home consultant to get great books for cheap. By August I was ready to go. I had everything I needed - except full confidence that this was the right thing to do.

It wasn't long before my doubts intensified. Rarely did the day go exactly how I planned (surprise, surprise). Housework was demanding my attention, especially the toys covering the floor like a blanket due to kids home - all the time. The phone was always beckoning, persuading me to make a "quick call", throughout which I would be waving off my kids, or telling them to "do three pages and you can be done." The computer was constantly calling my name, the empty screen screaming to be fed with words from my latest article ideas. My kids probably did an average of one hour of schoolwork per day that year, and I think we went on maybe two

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