I am a mom of incoming Grades 5 and 10 this school year, and an expectant mom soon to give birth. This is why I get paranoid each time I hear the increasing number of cases in the country, thus, making me more worried if we ever send the girls to school as soon as it opens. So I thought that getting them homeschooled would be the best option for now. My husband and I talked about it, and he’s okay with the idea but after laying down my worries and concerns, that’s when I knew we really need to think about it, and then decide.
Concern #1
“Can I really handle and manage it not to forget that I will soon have a newborn baby to take care of?” Been there done that with my first two. It’s not a joke. In fact, when you have a newborn baby, there’s no night and day, and vice versa. You just got to do other things whenever you can. Having a support system helps, but with the new normal, it just gets harder.
Concern #2
My home-based job at the moment is manageable because of the shortened hours that we currently have, but once it got better in Australia which I feel will happen the soonest, then that’s definitely going to eat up more of my time, and we can only do lessons after when I am done. It’s a full-time job that I am committed with so I better manage my time with no excuses.
Concern #3
In my heart, I also know that I can no longer keep up with my incoming Grade 10 lessons, and that’s actually my biggest fear. With my Grade 5, I know it’s still doable, but then again, that would also require a separate schedule or I’d go crazy. Yes, time management is easy peasy once you have settled with a routine, but of course, I also don’t want to end up having sleepless days and nights just to tend to everything that’s on my plate. I am aware that homeschooling is a full-time job in itself and takes a lot of planning, organization, and time. If only my husband is here with us, it might have been easier. So while I check on homeschool providers that best fit our lifestyle and finances, I am also looking to getting a tutor who can help us with the lessons, at least 2x a week.
Concern #4
Time changes, so as flexibility. My day may not always go as planned, the same with my girls and the little one, so expect the unexpected. I may be ready for the proper lessons, but my girls are not, or by the time they are ready then our little one is not.
Certainly, there are pros and cons of traditional school and of homeschooling, and not everything that worked best for the others may work for us.
I’ll have another seminar to attend to tomorrow for my Grade 10, and let’s see if that would give me a change of mind, or more courage that we can definitely do it. This is going to be a family decision and not just mine that’s why I am being too careful. If only they were toddlers when this problem occurred, then it’s okay.
