I don't know anything!

[Alana in Canada]

How can I possibly have thought I could homeschool?

It's nuts.

I have two Master's degrees--count them--two--and I have never

--studied the middle ages.
I know nothing. Everything I do know I've learned from SoTW2! We start SoTW3 at Christmas and I still know nothing.

--analysed a piece of literature in my life. Oh wait, yes, I have. There was that one unit in Junior High on War of the Flies. Loved it. Why couldn't we have done more?

--learned to write. I still don't know how. (Yes, I wrote a Master's thesis. That's not, ahem, writing.)

--learned any grammar. Never did no how.

--learned my times tables. Sad, but true. I can cross multiply like a fiend (that's higher math, isn't it?) but only with a calculator.

--oh and science! I forgot science. What is science, anyway?

I'd say more but it would be much too embarrassing.

[Karen sn]

That my dear is WHY homeschooling will be so good for your kids....because you are learning with them.
I have never really studied history before and I look forward to our start next week on the ancients.

And when I homeschooled myself for the NLN exam (to get into nursing school) I did it for the better part of two years and I scored (kid you not) in the 98th percentile....(or was it 99th?). Anyway - I did well.

Enjoy your education....

[Alana in Canada]

It sure is fun!

But let me warn you--do a little pre-reading up on the War of the Roses, OK?

[caitlinsmom]

Glad I am not the only one. Everyday I shake my head at what I was not taught. It makes me feel so dumb somtimes!

[Jen3boys]

With two Master's degrees, I'm sure you really know a lot!!
I learn something new every single day w/my kids. Or maybe I'm getting old and I just forgot a lot and now I'm learning it again. LOL

[caitlinsmom]

Oh and you can totally do this! :) It will be just as exciting for you as it is for them, and that will just excite them more. :)

[Parrothead]

Glad I am not the only one. Everyday I shake my head at what I was not taught. It makes me feel so dumb somtimes!
Ain't that the truth! I feel the same way. I've retained more in the last couple years homeschooling than I did through 12 years of school. The little bit of college I had stuck with me. It was all job related though.

[Carrie1234]

My cousin is a high school history teacher. I asked him for recommendations for ancient history. Turns out, he doesn't know anything about ancient history.

And people think we should be certified...

[krazzymommy]

Yeah, um I have all your experience minus the Masters degrees. :D I am super un-qualified! I am very excited to learn with the kids, though!


My cousin is a high school history teacher. I asked him for recommendations for ancient history. Turns out, he doesn't know anything about ancient history.

And people think we should be certified...

:lol::lol::lol:

[Kleine Hexe]

Dh and I were just talking about this. I'm learning so much and it's exciting and depressing at the same time.

Take math....the math curriculum I use is *not* the way I learned math. Simple basic math makes so much more sense to me now. I'm so glad my kids are learning all this now.

[Mom to Aly]

OK, 2 BA's, both with double majors, 2 MA's, and my phd coursework, just not my dissertation. Now, anything with Math, Comparative Religion, Poli Sci, French, French Lit, especially 17th & 19th Cent, and several other literatures & creative writing, I've got it down (all my majors)! But that has not really come up yet, not as much as I'd like.

But, I've learned more history and geography than I think I ever did in school (I took an online test on American geography a few months ago and failed the third grade--my dd, who hadn't studied it yet, got 6th grade level! But I NEVER studied it in school!). World history, at least England, France and India, I'm great at, plus ancients, etc. and American. But the rest? Seemed to have missed it--guess it wasn't that important when I was in school. And, though I loved bio, and remember a ton, chem and physics? My dad was a scientist, so I memorized it for the tests, shook my head hard to knock it out after, and it worked!!!!!

I think I could spend the whole year studied what they didn't teach me in school and barely touch on what I need to learn. Luckily, I have many years to do that, along with my dd. I'm actually really looking forward to it! :)

[Heather in the Kootenays]

We get to learn all this great stuff we missed out our first time around.

:001_smile:

[JennifersLost]

Glad I'm not the only one who's challenged sometimes. I was reading my ds' Biology textbook about atoms and molecules....everything's familiar, but I don't really remember any of it. And it was putting me to sleep!

It's only going to get worse, too.

[jmgconner]

How can I possibly have thought I could homeschool?

It's nuts.

I have two Master's degrees--count them--two--and I have never

--studied the middle ages.
I know nothing. Everything I do know I've learned from SoTW2! We start SoTW3 at Christmas and I still know nothing.

--analysed a piece of literature in my life. Oh wait, yes, I have. There was that one unit in Junior High on War of the Flies. Loved it. Why couldn't we have done more?

--learned to write. I still don't know how. (Yes, I wrote a Master's thesis. That's not, ahem, writing.)

--learned any grammar. Never did no how.

--learned my times tables. Sad, but true. I can cross multiply like a fiend (that's higher math, isn't it?) but only with a calculator.

--oh and science! I forgot science. What is science, anyway?

I'd say more but it would be much too embarrassing.

:) I think most all of us have written a version of your post our first year of homeschooling. I remember thinking I was pretty decent when it came to education - top tier of the class in a good school system, great GPA throughout college - and when I started homeschooling, I realized how I knew nothing!

[PrairieMom]

I learned NO history in school...all we had was "social studies" and ONE YEAR of American history in high school, but the teacher was a joke and wasted class time telling us stories, talking about himself and his family, etc. I know he did occasionally talk about history, but I remember NO history from his class. I even went in after school once to ask him about it. He was surprised because he thought I was so "quiet". He said he told stories, etc., to keep kids from being bored.

Now that I am homeschooling...my kids and I LOVE history...boring??? No way. Well, maybe if all we did was read a dry-as-dust text book.

I always thought I hated math, too, but I've learned the beauty of math from homeschooling my own kids. (I still don't know any calculus, but the ones who got that far in math took it outside our home.)

You are not alone! I read in one homeschooling book that moms who homeschool their kids for years can take up a second career winning money on game shows like Jeopardy. :)

[melissaL]

Yeah, um I have all your experience minus the Masters degrees. :D I am super un-qualified! I am very excited to learn with the kids, though!


same here. in fact, I didn't even finish high school. I started working and left high school after year 10.

[Unicorn]

Yep, this is why it took me so long to pull the kids out of ps. I kept saying "I don't know enough about anything." Then a dear, wise, friend (homeschooling dad of 4) said, "You don't need to know it. My wife just learns along side them." So I called her. She told me about TWTM, I immediately ordered it from Amazon, and here I am. It's amazing how much I don't know, but I love all my little light bulb moments where I finally get it!
:0)

[Sunflower]

Alana, I did your post when I first started homeschooling. Several advanced degrees and yet I don't think I ever learned no grammar. :)

[Tracy in Ky]

Yep. I've got a 96 hour Master's Degree. And in my BA degree, I minored in Writing. WRITING! Grammar? Punctuation? HA. Oh, I can write. But my punctuation and grammar! How in the world did I finish college and graduate school? How did I finish a minor in writing? How am I even composing this post?

And punctuation and grammar aren't the only things I *didn't* learn. I am in the same boat--learning massive amounts of information for the first time. Writing, Bible, Pschology (basically useless information), and a little Greek. That's-about-it as far as what I know prior to homeschooling. :001_huh: