“So when is Carmella going back to regular school?
“We will do it until, perhaps, high school.”
“WHAT?!!!”
I can understand their shock. Parenting, after all, isn't easy. But to include home schooling in this already complicated task can, for some, make parenthood all the more overwhelming.
Yes, no one is easily convinced, not even the closest of friends or relatives, that I am capable of giving my daughter the mentoring she needs. Once I was yelled at, jeered, suspected, doubted only because I have considered myself as Carmella's teacher.
But it does not surprise me at all.
Schools have always been the safest place to bring our children. They have experts who had it all figured out with data to prove their studies, who know what technically works while we parents simply lack that same degree of training.
The only thing going for us is that more than anyone in this world, we know our child. We are a party to his universe. They are of us.
And inadequate we may be, we are keenly aware of what is really at stake here. For clearly, who they ultimately turn out to be is solely on us.
Hence as homeschooling parents, we do our best to explore all avenues to make our mentoring count. The whole experience may leave us drained, sometimes frustrated, other times in tears. Still we do not delegate and we trudge on. We learn as they learn.
Indeed we are the brave ones. On our own, we fearlessly took the task of preparing our children for bigger things.
We may lack the tools that most trained mentors have but are continuously willing to face all the challenges, learn new things no matter how awkward that may sometimes be, recall stuff we would rather forget because once they were dreaded subjects, sing even if signing was never a gift, all for the sake of being a true hands-on parent.
Can there be a nobler task than this?
