Homeschool Advice from Lisa, The Survival Mom

I’ve homeschooled my kids since they were in kindergarten, but in some ways, I was possibly the least likely homeschooler ever. I started my career as a public school teacher right out of college and taught 4th, 7th and 8th grades over a period of 9 years. Following that, I became a teacher trainer in one of the largest school districts in the Phoenix area. Part of my job was to teach instructional and classroom management skills to teachers, teach “model” lessons for other teachers and administrators to observe, and visit classrooms to give feedback to the teachers themselves.

One might have expected these experiences to have solidified my mindset as a pro-public school employee, but the opposite happened. As an older mom, I couldn’t fathom sending my precious children away every morning and missing out on the golden moments of their childhood. I wanted to spend the best hours of the day with them, not the remnants at days’ end. I also knew I could do just a good a job as any public school teacher, in spite of never having taught a grade lower than 4th.

I was pretty cocky starting out. I mean, who could blame me? I had started a Master’s Degree program in Administration and had held that high profile job as a teacher trainer. I knew it all, or so I thought!

You can read more about our homeschool adventures, and misadventures, and some homeschool advice, in this list of articles that I’ve written for my blog over the years. Homeschooling is my passion, and I believe it would be a very rare family, or child, who wouldn’t benefit from being pulled out of the crowded, impersonal public school and taught at home.