Patience Is Not A Homeschool Virtue

I have had dozens of people say this to me:

"I don't know how you do it.  I'm just not patient enough."
"I thought about homeschooling, but I don't have the patience."
"I could never homeschool because I'm so impatient."

I can sympathize.  It takes a LOT of patience to be a parent.  My kids drive me bonkers sometimes.  They whine and fight and have selective hearing when it comes to instructions.  They are incredibly noisy and need things from me all the time.  My brain gets so overloaded at times that I don't know which way is up.  If I had no experience with homeschool, I would probably say the same thing.  Our non-school days are often nuts!  However, homeschooling isn't like that, or at least doesn't need to be. 

So, today I'd like to share a little secret.  Patience is NOT a homeschool virtue.  What I mean is that it doesn't require any more patience to homeschool than it does to have your child go to public school.  It might even require less.  Being an extra patient person is not what enables me to homeschool.  Anybody who knows me well (Mom?? Dad?? Jim??) would tell you that I am WAY below average on the patience scale.  It's easily my biggest fault and gets me into all sorts of trouble.  I'm constantly working on it.  (That's why I had kids, right?) 

I'm pretty sure my impatient nature would give me more problems if my kids were going to public school.  I would have to fight them to get ready on time every morning and force them to do their homework (that they probably aren't interested in) at the end of the day when they are already tired.  I can just see the battle that would be.  In the end I'd spend just as much time and energy helping my kids with school concerns without any of the enjoyment we have now.  That sounds so frustrating!  We don't clash during school time.  We have fun and we learn together at their pace.  We have a simple routine that keeps things calm.  It's pretty easy to be patient when my kids are happily cuddled up next to me while we work math problems or read together.  I don't want to lock anyone in their rooms when they are excited to write letters or make a science project.  They want to do our school activities and so they cooperate.  It's my easiest time of day.

It doesn't require an extra dose of patience to homeschool (thankfully!).  The things it does require are bravery, a firm commitment, and extra brainwork (to figure out HOW to make it work).  Most parents could do it if they so desired.