28 May 2012

Homeschooling Grandchildren

Ok, homeschoolers.  Would you do it?

A homeschool group on facebook asked the question and plenty of people responded along the lines of, "I am and I love it!"  And I was tempted to ask why the parents weren't doing it themselves but whatever.  It just seems odd to farm out just parts of your parenting like that, though if you have enough money it would be totally normal to have a nanny and a housecleaner.  That's normal.  Grandma teaching calculus strikes me as a bit wack, though.  Why?  I don't know.  The post made me examine my own prejudices in that regard.

You know, I think I am getting old and lazy when I say that I hope to NOT participate in raising my grandchildren.  I now am (um, finally... after having six) at the point where I can categorically say that I have enough children and do NOT need any more.  I'm done!  Don't even ask me to babysit! Thanks!

So I promise not to play the over-involved grandparent who thinks the kid needs a sweater or shouldn't eat too much sugar.  Meh.

But what the homeschool group question did not ask and I'd be curious to know is what these grandparents did differently the second time around.  I wonder what was not so important after all and what they wish they HAD taught their own children.  And not to mention, grandparents have a different relationship with the children.  On the one hand they're freed from some of those "good mom" expectations but on the other, would they have the energy and organization to homeschool through high school? 

I think it would be fun to teach, say, an elective class but I know how much energy it takes to do the entire homeschool workload and I don't think I'm up to it with grandchildren.

PS.  There ARE no grandchildren presently so no weird comments.  :)

4 comments:

  1. Wow....I couldn't imagine having my parents do the homeschooling. But, I guess if I thought having a career took the front seat to doing it myself, or if we were that badly in need of money...I still couldn't imagine my parents homeschooling my kids!

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    Replies
    1. Me neither! I could picture my parents enrolling my children in the nearest school tho'. Ba ha ha!

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  2. Does teaching my grandson to eat with a spoon count? What about when I sing him the alphabet during his bath?

    No.

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  3. My daughter fully intends to homeschool her kids... and have a career. She's gonna need help. I will gladly oversee their program, but she's gonna have to hire the teacher/nanny. I don't want to be a full time grandma homeschooler. ... one more year and I'm free from one-on-one day-to-day homeschooling.

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Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

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