Homeschoolers Are Rocket Scientists - Not!! (Part Two)

When the boy's mother returned, I reported the homework had been finished and that my daughter had enjoyed playing and competing with her son.  She looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears.  Her jaw literally hung agape and she stared at me, speechless, for a few seconds.  Maybe she's astounded by my stellar teaching techniques, I inwardly smiled.  When she continued to stare, I realized that I had overestimated myself and had no idea what she was thinking.

Then she quietly asked, “You homeschool, right?”  More silence.  I was at a loss for why she should respond like this, and then I realized – she thought my homeschooled child should be studying rocket science instead of doing the same level work as her publicly schooled son.  I asked if this is what she was thinking, to which she replied, “Yes!”

I was blown away.

I guess I've never taken the time to think about how others might perceive us as homeschoolers.  Academic snobs?  Educationally elite?  It never crossed my mind until that moment.

My goals have never been to create overachieving children.  I am happy as a flea in a kennel when my daughter achieves skills on-level with her second grade cohorts.  I ask no more.  Our emphasis is on establishing a Christian worldview, good manners, good morals, respect for parents, love of family, a love of learning...but I do not impose any expectations on my children that would produce an academically suffocating environment.  Now, if one or more of our children displays interest in particular subjects, we explore them to the nth degree, or as long as that child's interest lasts, until their thirst for knowledge about the topic is quenched.  As our oldest is in the 2nd grade, that kind of interest fizzles after a day or two.

I suppose whether or not rocket scientist status is achieved has to do with a family's homeschooling goals.  If your goal is to enroll your child in college by age 14, academic acquisition at breakneck speed may be the best method.  Perhaps your child is a prodigy and such speed in education might be comfortable and exciting for him or her.  One of our main homeschooling goals is to let our children develop at their own pace, and to make learning something they want to do because they enjoy it.  So, no – at least in this homeschool family, we are not aiming to produce the next generation of rocket scientists.  We want to produce happy, confident, well-adjusted kids who will one day become responsible citizens, productive adults, committed spouses, loving parents, and servants of God in what he calls them to do.

And if, in the end, they become rocket scientists, that would be okay with me.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."  Proverbs 9:10