How The World Views Homeschooling Mums

Life has been far from ordinary recently as we have moved from a busy suburb to a house in the country.  We are now delighting in the wonderful view we have and being entertained by the lambs escaping from their paddock, running across the lawn and then struggling to get back to Mama, or the sheep getting into the orchard and eating all the daffodils.

There’s mud everywhere because of all the rain we’ve had.  The trees at the end of the drive house about a dozen rosellas which dash about in a flurry of colour.  This morning, when we were out for an early morning walk, we saw a peacock flying!  First time this townie has seen that! I’ve planned a summer garden with the help and advice of my favourite six-year-old who is soon to turn seven, and I am so looking forward to the warmer weather.

After Homeschool

More news: now that my own children have all graduated from homeschooling I’ve had the great pleasure of being a student myself.   In June I finished a diploma course in interior design with a 95% average on my assignments, so officially I can call myself an interior designer.  Very different from homeschooling, you might think.  Yes, it is different in many ways and yet there are similarities.  They are both creative occupations, they are both challenging and they both give very satisfying results.

Homeschooling still figures large in my life, as my daughter homeschools her precious little ones, I meet with my homeschooling friends and offer support to homeschoolers.  But at the same time I am moving in wider circles and after a lifetime of homeschooling it’s proving surprising and interesting.

How The World Views Homeschooling Mums

First of all, as we already know, most people don’t know what homeschooling is all about, but people are less antagonistic towards it than I thought they might be.  Mainly it’s seen as just an odd thing that some people do.

Secondly, being a mother at home for over thirty years is not viewed as of being any value at all.  In fact, when I told my kind, encouraging tutor that I had been a SAHM for 35 years before starting my Interior Design Diploma her response was that she was glad I was able to do something for myself now.  This would be a kind and encouraging comment if you see being a mother at home as an undesirable, lowly role.

How I View Homeschooling Mums

I see it differently.  I see it as a life lived richly. I have been privileged to be a homeschooling mother. Being a mother at home, homeschooling your children is a fortunate and noble profession.  Thank God today for the gift of your life lived richly, and remember, always, to enjoy your children.