Why Trying To Keep Up Is Ruining Your Homeschooling Journey

Why trying to 'keep up' is ruining your homeschooling journey.

I always hear: “I just want to make sure they are keeping up” in many different ways from homeschooling parents. 

Which of course, has got me really thinking about it. 

First of all… keeping up with what?! 

The curriculum, the environment, the system you left (for a reason, might I add) 

WHY?! 

In 5, 10, 15 years, NO ONE is going to ask you…

‘What level were they reading at 8 years old?”

“What was their academic grade for science at 10 years old?”

“What was the overall score for year 9?”

"How well did they perform in their assessment at 13 years old?"

And you know why, no one is going to ask that? Because it does not matter. 

The illusion that we need to keep up with others or with a standardised curriculum does not factor in that we are all human beings, on our own learning journeys. We bring differing views, topics, passions, experiences, prior knowledge to the table and if we continue to judge our kids against a system WE LEFT IN THE FIRST PLACE… then we are just rebuilding the same cage for ourselves at home.  

What about if we started asking different questions? Like: 

“What lights your kid up?!”

“What could they talk about for hours and hours?”

“What could they get lost in without even realising?” 

"What do they ENJOY learning?"

And how can you bring more of that into our lives?

We don’t need more kids who can memorise and regurgitate irrelevant facts. We need kids who are brave enough to follow their passions without worrying about anybody else and their expectations. 

That is when we will see change.

That is the change that I want to see in my world, especially in my home. 

What do you want to see?