Blogger and homeschooling parent Celeste has written a terrific post, “Show Us the Body,” in which she compares demonstrating the benefits of homeschooling to providing evidence of Big Foot’s existence. She writes:

I still don’t know whether Bigfoot exists, but I do empathize with the poor believers who are struggling to produce evidence. As a homeschooling parent, I’m very familiar with the challenge of working with intangible evidence and trying to convince people that SOMETHING is happening, even though it can’t be seen or measured.

How much do my children know? How much did they learn today? How long did it take them to learn it? Are they ahead or behind? Homeschoolers are constantly being asked questions like these, and it’s really hard to give answers that will convince a skeptic.

Of course, we all know the benefits of homeschooling are real, whereas Bigfoot is just a big hoax.

We do, right?

Celeste’s post resonated with me, not so much because I need to explain homeschooling to others but because I sometimes need to remind myself of our goals. As a new homeschooler (year 1) of children who previously attended day care, preschool, and K-2, I know how hard it can be to trust that homeschooling is “working.” In previous years, I had some level of certainty that the kids would eventually learn to read, write, and do algebra. I was never big on whether they were “on track” with a particular schedule of learning because I believe that kids should move at their own pace and learn when they’re ready. But at least I knew they were being exposed to structured learning opportunities that were covering the basics.

But look who’s supposed to cover the basics now! It’s up to me and my husband to make sure our kids have the opportunity to learn what they need to learn. (Let’s ignore for the moment the huge debate about what kids “need to learn” in the first place. That’s a book-length post.) As I expected I would, I do sometimes panic: Are they learning enough? Am I doing enough and providing everything they need in order to learn? Are they still interested in what we’re doing or am I boring them to tears? Do they still love learning, as they have since they were born, or will I, like so many schools, unintentionally stifle their passion? Are they figuring out who they are and what they enjoy doing with their time?

Taking the Long View

I’m discovering that in the short term — and I consider looking back within a single year the short term — it’s almost impossible to answer those questions. While it’s vital to reflect on the short term and make adjustments to fit the kids’ needs, it’s also important for me to keep it in perspective. These are events or trends that happened during a relatively short, fixed period of time; they don’t necessarily predict future trends or events, nor do they exist in isolation. They exist in the context of everything that came before them and, eventually, everything that will come after them. And they reflect the whole child and all of what he or she was experiencing as a human being during that time, not just subject matter knowledge.

So I think — and I’m sure I’m not the first person to make this connection — homeschooling is a bit like investing in the stock market: its true value will best be seen when examined over longer periods of time. Yes, it can be risky. No predetermined path lies in front of us; we’re responsible for blazing that trail. But the only way we can lose in the long term is if the adults don’t pay attention in the short term, consider the kids’ emotional development along with the intellectual, and make the necessary adjustments as we see what’s going well and what’s not.

Hey, How You Doin’?

“How’s homeschooling going?” That’s a question I hear a lot, sometimes from other people but just as often inside my own head. I don’t mind the sound of it because it makes me reflect and honestly evaluate the short term and think about what we could do differently. But I constantly have to remind myself that we’re taking the long view, that we’re truly making an investment in raising confident, curious, life-learning, and just plain happy kids (and ultimately adults). I don’t know if other people, particularly homeschooling skeptics, will ever see it that way. Bigfoot skeptics are unlikely to look at Bigfoot evidence in a new way, aren’t they?

In the long term, I honestly believe it will become self-evident that my kids were learning all along. Of course, we could measure the tangibles right now. Who knows their multiplication tables? But we’ll never be able to measure — and who’d want to, anyway? — the intangibles: confidence, independence, passion, inquisitiveness, self-directedness, happiness. Skeptics are just going to have to trust me when I say we’re going to reap those rewards of long-term investing.

Tags: homeschooling, stock market, bigfoot, long-term investing