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Happy Graduation, Homeschool Mama!

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This is an open letter to you mothers who are graduating a child from your homeschool. You’ve been working toward this day for YEARS. Now the cap and gown are purchased, the transcript is polished, and perhaps the college applications are complete. Congratulations are in order for your student, right?



Not so fast. This is a congratulations for YOU. For years you have not only been Mom, you’ve taught every subject in every grade level. Letters and numbers, math and reading, writing and grammar, spelling and vocabulary, science, history, and everything else.

You agonized over curriculum catalogs to determine the best history curriculum. You filled out pages and pages of notes and ideas. You debated which timeline to purchase. You researched the most exciting way to construct a pyramid. Maybe you made Pilgrim costumes, and you definitely went on more field trips than in your own elementary career!

You dreaded high school math and as you helped your little guy with basic addition. You explained long division for weeks and wiped tears of math frustration. You may have even cried your own tears of math frustration. You hired a math tutor when it came time for Algebra and Geometry, dutifully driving to lessons each week and thanking your lucky stars that there are other moms out there who actually love math.

You taught every letter sound, checked every spelling test, corrected every math problem, discussed every era of history, explained more parts of speech than you thought possible, explored all the scientific theories and inventions, discussed all the literary classics, and stayed up late looking for answers when there was something your child “just didn’t get.”

You joined co-op classes and park days and teams and clubs. You put untold miles on your car to take your child to their homeschool basketball practices and games (because there is no school bus for homeschoolers). You organized a book club and held it in your home. You paid for lessons in violin, piano, tuba, and drums until your child found their true calling. You’ve started groups and teams when you couldn’t find the one your kids needed.

You were not only the teacher, you were the school counselor, nurse, lunch lady, PE coach, driving instructor, secretary, and janitor. On top of that were probably a church member, wife, neighbor, and friend.

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You encouraged your child when they said, “I can’t do math,” and secretly wondered if it was true. You cried and prayed when you were so exhausted that you felt like giving up and sending them back to school.

Graduation day seemed to be hundreds of years in the future, until one day you’re placing the order for a cap and gown, scheduling senior pictures, and signing your name on that beautiful diploma. How did you get here? You probably had a few days in there when you though it would never actually happen!

You have finally discovered what other veteran moms, seminar speakers, bloggers, and authors told you: slow and steady wins the race. Homeschooling, like parenting, is a lengthy commitment, but the rewards are astounding. And you have completed the race!

Normally, we look down our noses when participation trophies are awarded because, hey, that’s now how life works, right? But in this race, everyone wins. Schooling your own children is not for the faint of heart, and a very small percentage of parents dare attempt it. But YOU did. And YOU finished.

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So, consider this YOUR ribbon, your trophy, and your participation t-shirt, because mama, you earned it! Well done, good and faithful servant!

Now, take a day off, get a latte, a pedicure, and a nap! And then tell the world IT CAN BE DONE. 

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