Daily writing prompt

What are you most worried about for the future?

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I fully expect to come up with my own ideas as life comes at me. I already started an informal blogging experience on my Facebook page based on experiences I was having with my kids that stood out to me. But if WordPress is going to provide me with a daily writing prompt, I see no reason not to take advantage of it.

I am most worried that I will struggle trying to give my kids the experiences they need while homeschooling to be well-rounded people and that they will miss out on experiences I had that shaped me to be who I am today. I have done a lot of research on homeschooling. I made the decision to homeschool during the height of the pandemic when all my priorities changed. Some history: Isabella was born on 31 December 2019. Keilani was planned when the lockdowns started, but not conceived yet.

With so much uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, I, like everyone else on the planet, of course, had no idea what the future looked like. Compounding that with the history of school shootings, the changing laws around public schools, the experiences my step-daughter had had in public school, among many other little things, I scrambled for alternatives. I looked into homeschooling and researched it a lot.

From what I found, homeschoolers actually have higher scores on standardized tests for college and are able to socialize better with all ages since they are exposed to so many different people at different times of day instead of just their own age peers at public school. There are so many separate programs they can experience from sports programs to music lessons to art lessons to martial arts classes to programs I can’t even think of at the moment. And they are not required to exist after school but can be at any time throughout the week. Homeschoolers also have the advantage of individualized lesson planning. If they are ahead, they can move ahead instead of being held back to the class they are in. If they are behind, they can get extra focus instead of being forced to move on with the rest of the class. Plus, lessons only need to be a couple hours a day.

There is so much more flexibility. I can focus on what they want to learn as they grow older and have opinions. I can teach for them to learn instead of to test and forget everything. We can travel, both to learn and just to travel, and in the off season with less crowds. I can teach them what I want them to learn, not just what the state says they should learn.

But will it be enough? Will they resent missing out on different teachers to inspire them? Will they begrudge not having a traditional prom? Will they bitterly complain about a lack of a conventional graduation? I know I can teach them everything they need to know academically. There are so many sources out there with the internet. If one source doesn’t work, you aren’t stuck with it, you just switch. Hopefully, the plans I have to give them experiences most kids don’t get to have with traditional public schooling will make up for those experiences they won’t get. I know I am setting them up for success.

But this is what I am most worried about for the future.