Homeschool Mom Spotlight #8
Meet Melissa
Every month here at Patterns for Life we highlight an individual homeschool mom through a written interview in order to encourage and inspire our readers. We know it can be helpful to meet — whether virtually or in real life — other mothers who are in the trenches with us here and now, and can relate to our daily struggles and joys.
Today we are very pleased to introduce Melissa, homeschooling mom of 2. We hope you enjoy getting to know her a bit!
1. Tell us about yourself and your family.
I have been married 27 years. My husband works in IT. I am a former librarian. We’ve been blessed with two sons. One is finishing his bachelor’s degree in biology. The other recently embarked on his senior year of homeschool.
2. How long have you been homeschooling and what motivated you to start in the first place?
I began homeschooling at the beginning, 17 years ago. For me, I felt called to homeschool shortly before becoming pregnant with my oldest. It was such a clear calling that motivation wasn’t needed.
3. Describe a typical homeschool day in your home.
It’s mostly me prepping for the week or for next week (pre-reading, creating or tweaking the overall schedule, making sure we’re prepared for upcoming experiments, checking math, etc.) in between chores, attempting to homestead, my own reading, prayer and devotional time,and other necessities while my son does his work.
Usually while he’s making and eating breakfast, I read poetry and a few pages of the Bible and then play whatever piece is next covered in A Year of Wonder. I’m available for narrations and questions, but it’s very independent work for him otherwise.
4. What is your favorite part of homeschooling?
I have two equally favorite parts: being able to expand my own learning and the very different family-oriented lifestyle homeschooling has allowed us to have.
5. Does homeschooling affect the way you parent? If so, how?
It definitely did in the early years as I worked harder at establishing good habits and attitudes. So many traditional-school parents would be half jokingly looking forward to school starting again or for holiday breaks to be over, but I didn’t live that life. Thus I made having a holistically healthy family a priority.
6. What is your least favorite part of homeschooling?
Well, I’m not sure I have a least favorite, but my most challenging part is/has been finding balance between school work and the rest of life for all of us as well as discerning the balance of subjects and materials in the school work for each of them.
7. What have you found to be the most humbling aspect of parenting/homeschooling?
Realizing how little I knew and how few skills I had! My ears are untrained musically, my artistic skills are very lacking, handicrafts beyond cooking & baking are still sparse (compared to everyone else in my home!), I still do not know a foreign language…sigh.
8. Looking back to the beginning of your homeschool journey, what are some things you wish you had known? What would you tell your younger self as she was just starting out?
I wish I had known more about development. The first five years, doctors go through lots of checklists to ensure your children on are track and give you lots of info on what to expect in the next year. But that all disappears when they reach school age – I’m guessing because then teachers take on that task. If I had known more, I would have had more patience with some of the harder seasons.
9. How does your faith affect your homeschooling?
During those hard seasons, I prayed a lot, but I also persevered because I knew I was where He wanted me to be. Also, my faith led me to AmblesideOnline/Charlotte Mason, because even before I had a word for it, I believed in the personhood of my children – even when they were very young. My faith made sure I didn’t use a curriculum that failed to embrace that important concept.
10. What are some of your favorite homeschool resources?
Audiobooks! We listened to so many free reads over the years while driving!
The AmblesideOnline forum and the advice, brainstorming, sharing of tips, book discussions, and more that goes on in that beautiful community.
A Charlotte Mason Companion really helped me envision how to do this.
Field trips – so many memories and learning in a different way. Usually hubby came along for those, so they became family treasures.
11. What do you consider to be the most rewarding aspect of homeschooling?
Spending so much time with my boys! I’ve watched dual-income families and single parents trying to squeeze in life around the school calendar, work, and homework and am so grateful I didn’t have to do that. We could embrace a slower pace together.
12. Anything else you’d like to add?
Homeschooling is a beautiful journey for everyone. Yes, there are many frustrating days and many mundane moments. But just like all the baby steps we take to build better lives, better habits, all the joys and learning together will bring you so much further than you can imagine. It passes by quickly but is so glorious to look back on and see all the love. Being called to homeschool and answering yes to that call overwhelms me with gratitude every day.
Thank you, Melissa! That overwhelming sense of gratitude is so precious. What a treasure!