I DON'T KNOW WHAT IN THE HECK I'M DOING!!!

Oh! It's so nice to get that off my chest!

When I read my blog from time to time, it sounds so peaceful, so reassuring, so comforting! And then I remember I wrote it..... and I am such a POSER!

I DON'T know what in the heck I'm doing! I have stressful days of tight chested feelings that I am failing my kids. That I am blowing it, royally. And since I'm off-loading, I might add that I am about the blindest guide you could hope to find. What qualifies me to be a voice to listen to? Not only do I lack any degrees on education OR child development, I lack a degree, period! I was a ballet dancer, for heaven's sake! What do ballet dancers know about kids!?!

If you check back in 17 years, THEN I will know what in the heck I've DONE. Then I can report how it worked out, if my kids are doing or did anything you'd like YOUR kids to do. Until then, I AM FLYING BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS, PEOPLE.

All I would like to additionally point out is that no matter where your kids are schooled, no matter who is teaching them and what their qualifications are, we are all on this same page.

"Really!? Are you really suggesting that YOUR lack of a college degree in education is the SAME as a the public school teacher's teaching certificate and YEARS of experience!?!"

No, we are not the same. And, thankfully, I am not the one standing in front of YOUR kids everyday, responsible for their educations, and therefore, their futures. THAT is a HUGE responsibility. What an educator's education gives them is the confidence that their knowledge and skill will be sufficient to progress most children through a year of learning. Additionally, the system in which they teach provides that their failures in teaching will be addressed NEXT year, by someone else, or the year after by a specialist, tutor, or program. IF there is a child one teacher fails, that is still only one out of 25 kids, and that one child will have 40 or more teachers in a k-12 education. Odds are very low that ALL teachers will fail the same child.

That statistical reality is what the heck schools know. And when you look at their success rates, failures are only a small percentage. But for the kids who drop out, who fail to gain even the basic skills of surviving in society - learning to read or do consumer math - the failure is total. Educators can celebrate better test scores, graduation rates, etc. But lives are behind numbers. Kids live the consequences of their educations.

What EVERYONE does in front of a child whom we hope will gain the knowledge and skills necessary to live a productive, meaningful life as an asset to society, is.... THEIR BEST. Good parents and teachers know that if something doesn't work, you try something different. If there are problems, you find solutions. For good parents and teachers, failure is NOT an option, but different approaches to material and pacing ARE.

You and I, and the best teachers, will have days that our plans aren't working - where we feel we don't know what in the heck we are doing. Sometimes I feel rather rich with those days. I'm NOT a professional educator with a skill set and methodologies to draw from to find what will work. But I have - we homeschoolers have - an intimate knowledge of who our kids are. And we don't need to find what will work for 25 different kids every year. We WILL do whatever it takes and find what will work for OUR kids, right now. And we have time, flexibility, all the outside-the-box approaches, and unconditional love on our side too.

If you don't know what in the heck you are doing some days, you are in good company. Thanks for flying, with me, even by the seats of our pants, on this fabulous adventure in love and learning we call homeschooling!