I just finished looking at a video blog created by a wonderful Black homeschool mom who goes by ahermit.  I find her videos to be very intriguing and enjoyable.  As I watched “Notes from a Black Homeschooler”,  I listened intensely to the points she made.  Then I began to think of my own journey with my girls and wondered if I could remember my main reason for rejecting the school system.

Because I’m Black, some do tend to think that’s why I homeschool.  It has to do with inequality I suppose.  I’ve gotten hints that perhaps I’m over protective or that it’s my wanting my children to have some high level of academic achievement.   I’m far more concerned with their character than I am in their doing well on some standardized exam.  I want to raise quality human beings- I see a huge lack in our society.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want sweet little idiots either.  It goes without saying that I want them to excel academically, however, more than mere academic achievement, I want my children to be great thinkers.    I find that when one has the ability to think critically, they can learn most anything they desire. They are not merely drones mindlessly following the powers that be.

But I digress…

After  thinking it over, I’m happy to say that my main reason for homeschooling hasn’t changed at all.  I enjoy my children!  I don’t need to be away from my children for any extended periods of time in order to preserve my sanity.  Of course they get on my nerves sometimes, I get on their nerves too.  And Sure, I do make time for just me and will go out alone or with friends, Who am I kidding, I mostly go out alone, lol but it’s not because my children are so horribly inconveniencing my life.  I did bring them into this world.  They didn’t ask or beg to be born.  My children were all planned.  I wanted them and I still do.  Besides loving them, I genuinely like them as people.  They’re great! 

I remember dreading the day we’d have to put my oldest in school when she was a toddler.  I enjoyed living and learning alongside her.  I never wanted that to end.  I loved seeing her eyes light up when she’d learn something new.  She always giggled when something “clicked”.   I don’t want to miss that.  I love being front and center for those moments and the moments when she needs some encouragement and maybe a hug because she’s not doing something as perfectly as she would like.  It doesn’t have a whole lot to do with academics or sheltering them or anything like that. 

I just enjoy my babies!