What Happens When Your Homeschooler Wants To Try School?

I haven’t done this in a while. A personal episode. I thought I would to catch listeners up on what has been happening in our past homeschool year.

Like every family, we have had changes and transitions. We are all a year older. This is my second year back to work part-time. It has come with adjustments. Like balancing travel for work and the different demands for my time. I am also a mom, wife, home educating and producing this podcast. It has been rewarding, enriching and also overwhelming.

But I don’t do this alone. Our family is a team. That’s how we choose to approach our life. We also receive a large amount of support from our extended family. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins. We consider them an extension of our unschooling journey. Having that level of support from family and friends helps us to do what we love to do.

Then It Happened…

Then something happened this year. Our daughter approached us. There was something on her mind. “Mom, I think I want to try going to school.”

My beautiful, kind, intelligent introvert wants to go to school. I was surprised. And scared. Sad. Even a little bit embarrassed. There were so many emotions that I went through in less than a minute.

I’ll admit it. I took it personally. What have I done wrong? Have I been working too much? Have I not been there to support her enough? Am I no longer creating a fun learning environment? I saw this as a problem that I had to fix. Possibly one that I had created.

Then the doubt and shame kicked in. What will people think of me? The podcast? Here I am talking about the joys of homeschooling and unschooling and my daughter wants to go back to school. I quickly started to worry about being judged over the needs of my daughter.

Then I took a breath

Then I took a breath. In my head I stopped making this about me. I asked her why she is considering this. She told me. It was something I could tell she had taken time to think about. First, she wants to play school sports. She wants to try out for the volleyball team. She also wants to check out the school social scene. It wasn’t at all what I had imagined- that I was possibly a done a bad job homeschooling.

Then I started to see things in a different light. After talking with my husband I had better clarity. (These are my steps~Taking a breath. Talking things out) This has been one of ours goal as parents home educating. For our kids to have a voice and feel heard. To be able to communicate their wants and needs. To direct their learning journey. This is what my daughter is doing. I am really proud of her. This is her taking charge in her education and learning journey. We will support her in whatever she chooses to do.

Do Our Kids Have A Choice?

“Homeschooling is our journey as parents. Our adventure. It’s not our child’s adventure”

This is a quote from Julie Bogart that hit home when I heard it. Many times homeschooling begins as the parents journey. How many times in life are our children just along for the ride? We talk a lot as unschoolers and homeschoolers about giving our kids “choice”. Are we?

If our child wants to go to school. Are we supporting them? Or is our answer a firm no? Is the no for their good, or is it more about us?

My daughter is considering trying school in 2 more years. For 7th grade. She says this is a maybe. It is a  consideration. No matter what she chooses we will support her. If she does decide to go to school, we do not step back as parents. It means that we really need to be there for her. To help her navigate any changes. To be in good communication with her and the school. We are still home educating. That for us is a lifelong journey.

How about you? Have any of your kids wanted to go to school? What did you do? I’d love to hear more. You can message me through Instagram, Facebook or on my contact page.

Here’s my episode with Julie Bogart that I referenced in this episode. I also recommend Mark Beaumont’s episode. A school principal, an advocate of unschooling with a daughter that attends school.

Stay tuned for upcoming summer episodes: Homeschooling 101

How to get started on this journey. Tools and tips that I would have loved to know when I started my journey.