I have always dreamed of homeschooling. It just seemed like the ideal, divine, and purposeful way of living. But homeschooling was such a foreign idea to me because I had no one to learn from. There was absolutely no one in my foreign family that homeschooled, understood the idea, or could even comprehend the benefits. I was alone in my thoughts but what was different between my experience and other homeschoolers I have met, is that I truly, from the very bottom of my heart was not disturbed by anyone’s expressed or unexpressed opinions. It didn’t matter to me. I continued to dream until everything fell onto my lap.
The irony is that I come from a semi-religious family who also values culture. I watched year after year, family member after family member lose their roots, lose their culture, lose their appreciation for the sacrifices our foreign parents made and I imagined just how much more watered down our family culture, values, and religion will be if we remained on this same track.
In my mind, I decided against. How and when I would go about it became the next hurdle.
Initially, I wanted to begin homeschooling when my kids were in middle school. I wanted to spend those three very critical years of their development with them and I’m also a career lady—so this idea worked to my advantage. I couldn’t give up my career—it was not for the income or the accolades, it is a serious part of who I am. I thrive off of the mental stimulation and the professional challenges. You can throw me to the wolves, and I promise, I’ll return leading the pack—and I will enjoy every turn. You couldn’t take that away from me. So, due to my ambitious career goals, I wanted to work and strike the iron while it was hot and then retire by the time my first child entered middle school. I thought that would give me enough time to get the workaholic out of my system.
Surely, I was mistaken.
Middle school is an incredibly difficult stage and an important time to dedicate to my kids but the more I repeated that combined with an entire host of discomfort with the school system, I quickly realized the power, the importance, and the most significance in beginning to homeschool when my kids were young. It was also a powerful mental shift—I shouldn’t wait to give my kids what I knew was the best for them. How disturbing…
But, how would I balance work, womanhood and everything that comes with, PLUS homeschooling?!
I still tossed the idea around not sure of what to do but attempted (many times) in discovering a “best time” to begin.
Then the world was taken over by a devastating pandemic—COVID-19 put the world at a standstill. A standstill that I took as a wake-up call.
Schools shut down and we shifted to virtual school. My eldest was four years old in VPK.
When we wrapped up the VPK school year I realized my son learned more from me in those few months than he did the rest of the year in the classroom.
COVID-19 was absolutely devastating but I loved every waking moment I got to spend with my kids at home—exactly where they belonged. There was no more morning rush to get to school, racing to get there on time, rushing back home and cramming just too many things in the few hours we had left before bedtime. And this was VPK…. VPK was 3 hours a day but I was working from home. My schedule was incredibly choppy and that stressed me out a lot.
COVID was rampant when the time came to decide on the next year’s school enrollment.
This was my moment. A big—life-changing moment.
We unenrolled and transitioned to a private-school based homeschool. That just means I do NOT homeschool under the umbrella of a public school. We choose each and every one of our curriculums.
Ever since then I have been introduced to a whole new world, new mindset, new philosophies.
Talk about “woke life”. This is it.
I have been surrounded by people who genuinely love life.
I have met inspirational families that understand we humans are here to serve a divine purpose. They understand that where you spend the majority of your time will influence your perception, values, morals, and understanding of life.
I am so pleased to see families who understand the importance of a wholesome upbringing not solely focused on academics but focused on simplicity, happiness, peace. Don’t be mistaken, most homeschooled kids dramatically outperform their peers academically.
I have been blessed to witness families who don’t just worship God in prayer but in their entire lifestyle. Now that takes intentional effort.
These are just a few examples of the life-altering events I have thus far experienced.
I have NEVER looked back.
Here are my top 3 reasons why I chose to homeschool:
- Better Quality of Life—our whole family is experiencing this. We have a routine; we have structure and we have expectations but it’s not clock-work– I don’t want to live my life like that—this is something my husband and I both agree on. The best way to show our kids that there is a better life outside of the rat race was to actually live it and experience it.
- Raising God Fearing Kids– no I am not super religious, but I am growing religiously and spiritually. I feel an unexplainable connection with the Most-High and know that we are all here ultimately to serve our purpose. Living a robotic, thoughtless life can pull you away without you even recognizing it. Even the simplest of things we do—they add up. Your mindset and perception of others can get you in a lot of trouble. We are here with each other to serve one another with each of our unique gifts and capabilities.
- Raising Well Educated AND Culturally Tolerant Kids—I want my kids to know finance, taxation, religion, accurate history, etiquette, moral decency, different cultures, different professions, sooner and more comprehensively than they would in school. I want them to travel and study abroad sooner, not later. I want to immerse them in culture. I want to spend quality time with them so they understand and value people and family.
Have I thought of sending them to Private school because that might get the job done? Yes, at one naïve point I did. But, I’ll save that for a future blog post.
Until then, remember that, “homeschooling allows you the freedom to step off the highway of learning and take a more scenic route along a dirt road.”– Tamara L. Chilver
Xo,
Fatimeh
Home is the Nucleus 