The Beginning of My Journey As A Single Homeschooling Parent

Believe me, single motherhood and homeschooling are two separate and fascinating blog topics in and of themselves. But I believe there are people out there who would be very interested to hear a woman‘s story of how she blends these lifestyles with what she considers, overall, a reasonable amount of success. My name is Wanda Franklin and I’m pleased to meet you.

My journey as a homeschooling mom began when my oldest child entered first grade. She attended preschool and completed kindergarten at a Montessori School. At the time, the building her school was housed in only had room for one classroom. But by the time she graduated from kindergarten, the school was adding on another classroom, therefore making it able to accommodate an elementary level class. But personal issues coupled with changes in my financial situation led me to seek another alternative.

I briefly considered a neighborhood Catholic school, but decided against it because, quite honestly, while I always knew I wanted something different for my child in terms of education, I really didn’t want to go the religious route. Don’t get me wrong; to my mind, there’s nothing wrong with pursuing an education with a religious focus if that‘s your thing. In fact, I thought it was very generous of the school to accept students who are not practicing Catholics. But the religious bent just wasn’t my thing and it would have had to be or my daughter could not be enrolled there. With that understood, I had to move on with my search.

Another alternative I’d held as an option was homeschooling. I didn’t know how you “did” homeschooling and the only person I personally knew that had homeschooled her children (a long-time friend) had moved out of town. But the one thing I did know was that my daughter’s happiness would be key to her educational success. So I presented the idea of learning, at least in part, from home to my daughter. I wasn’t quite sure how it would fly because she had been use to being in a class of around 30 kids daily. How would she adjust to being at home with me, her grandmother and younger brother? What about socialization? What would we do all day? Should I attempt to re-create the traditional classroom in our home?

Whenever I need information, one of the first places I turn to is the library. There were so many books covering virtually every aspect of homeschooling until I actually found myself somewhat overwhelmed. Nevertheless, I was excited and signed out quite a few of them. A librarian also gave me the number for a local homeschooling association, which I had no idea existed. So I had a few assignments of my own to complete: I needed to get busy with my research and contact this homeschooling association.

My children and I were invited to attend the association’s monthly meeting. My daughter was excited about meeting some new kids (my son was still a toddler then) and I, even though I was a bit nervous, was just hoping to make a connection. I really wanted to give homeschooling a try but I didn’t find any real support for my decision. I’ve always been one to operate a bit outside of the mainstream so when I venture into territory unknown to me or my family and close friends, everybody just kind of holds their breath waiting to see how things will turn out. And that’s exactly what happened. Nobody questioned or criticized my decision, but the only thing that sounded remotely encouraging or supportive was when my Mom said “Well, I guess you know if you’re doing the right thing.”

I couldn’t believe how warm and welcoming the members of the association were. Quite a few of them embraced us right off. Before I knew it, my daughter was off and playing with some of the other children and I was engaged in conversation with a number of  people. I hit it off with a couple in particular, “Randy” and “Diane,” and our girls, who discovered they were the same age, did too. Our introduction to the homeschooling community couldn’t have gone any better!

I knew I‘d made the right choice. I had answers to a number of my questions and access to this wonderfully warm, diverse, creative, and knowledgeable group of people if and when I needed help along the way. My daughter fit right in, having actually made a few new friends that evening.

When I join a community, I like to feel as though I can make a positive contribution, bring something unique to the table. I had plenty to offer this group and I was definitely different. For one, I am black, and while the number of black families nationwide that are choosing to homeschool their children is growing, the vast majority of homeschooling families are white. (According to the National Center for Education Statistics, [as of 2007], white students constituted the majority, 77%, of homeschooled students). Second, unlike the parents of many homeschooled children, I am a single parent and that presents a unique set of challenges that some would say make it next to impossible to successfully homeschool my child.