Guest Author - Terri Bittner

Guest article by Terrie Lynn Bittner

When I first began homeschooling eleven years ago, I’d only known one other homeschooler my entire life. I didn’t know anyone outside the limited school district program who homeschooled and had no idea how I would find them if I wanted to. I didn’t even know I could homeschool without the district’s help. When I left the program after one semester, I was alone. When things went badly, when I didn’t know how to teach something, when my child and I were in tears, we couldn’t find anyone who really understood.

Today, the Internet has created a giant support group for homeschooling mothers and fathers. Anyone who is considering homeschooling can put the word into a search engine and find thousands of places to meet other homeschoolers. Within minutes, she can find a forum, a chat room or a homeschooler with a web page and find a friend to guide her through the complications of those first months. Within weeks, she might have a supportive group of new friends, even if she is the only homeschooler in town.

The new homeschool moms astound me with their knowledge and wisdom. They avoid the huge mistakes I made as a beginner and they know so much about education. I had been homeschooling for years before I even heard the word unschool. Meg has a wonderful article on Charlotte Mason. I’d never heard of Mason in my early days. Today though, the new homeschool moms confidently discuss educational theory as if they’d had years of college, whether they have or not. I could not have written Meg’s column when I was at her stage of homeschooling, but she writes as if she’d been homeschooling for decades and already knows more than I do.

Some of this is surely due to the internet, which helps mothers become aware of all the options for homeschooling. Some of it is also due to the increasing numbers of homeschoolers. When I began, people who found out I was homeschooling always asked first, “Is that legal?” Now they tell me they know someone who does that. (However, the second question, both then and now is about socialization. Some things never will change!) We move often, and in the early days, I had to search frantically for other homeschoolers. Now, everyone I meet sends me straight to another homeschooler. In the past three years, my teenagers have finally found friends their own age who homeschool and they are part of a large social group that includes many homeschoolers, who mix easily with the traditionally schooled teens.

Homeschool curricula no longer automatically mimic traditional school curricula. There is a growing understanding that education at home is more effectively accomplished using unique methods that work only when a few children are taught by a loving and involved parent. There are books and materials made just for us.

Sometimes, when I look at the new homeschooling world, I feel jealous at all the world has to offer the homeschooler today. Other times, I’m proud to have been at the tail end of the pioneer stage of the movement. Mostly, however, I’m just pleased to see that the pioneers did their jobs well and millions of children are now enjoying the rewards of a committed family life.

There is still more work to be done, however, and the new homeschoolers, in their own way, have as much pioneering to do as the old-timers did. As the government becomes more threatened by the movement, there are battles to be fought. Opinions still need to be shaped. The homeschoolers now headed for college and the workforce must show the world this is a movement that works. When California faced a recent challenge to homeschool legality, a friend said that those of us who are retiring will have to participate in the fight, because our own children, now graduated, will not be at risk if we cause trouble. As the movement progresses, I hope the new and old pioneers will work together to preserve homeschooling for all the children to come. I’m grateful we have such a knowledgeable, dedicated and caring force of young parents ready to take on the challenges ahead and to help the very newest homeschoolers. Homeschooling is in good hands!