Oh, you are going to miss out on so much!!!
I homeschool other people's kids...for those awkward teenage years. You remember those, right? You hate you mom, your dad's a dork, and everything they say goes in one ear and out the other.
The things you are going to miss are the things YOU, as the teacher, will learn.
I look at "education" as a lifelong process. When I stop learning, I want to have a massive coronary, right on the spot! Of course, since I'm so into learning, I will have at least one student and one grandchild with me at the time, and we'll be in the biology books, microscope out, and that weird skeleton that lives on top of the bookshelves will be dancing and talking!
I hated math, even tho I got thru algebra I & II and geometry in high school, eons ago. But, I teach all those subjects, and have come to really enjoy them. Turns out, I LIKE to mess around with numbers and to find the practical applications for them. I must be doing OK, all my kids tested into college at above the "remedial algebra" level, the level most of the local high school seniors attain.
I loathed science! Slept thru biology, and was surprised to learn, many years later, I had even taken an earth science course, so I must have slept thru that also! But now, with my industrial microscope ($100.00), and lab kit, complete with real animal specimens, tools and all needed chemicals to do all the experiments in our biology book, plus an extra 15 or so to qualify as an honors course ($75.00), I really like biology. The most fun is going down to the swamp to get polliwogs and pussywillows. I can explain why the leaves turn colors to either a 17 year old, or a 4 year old, and they both "get it".
Lit, grammar, history, social sciences are my strong points, my passion. They are the frosting on our homeschool cake. My students usually test into the honors courses at the local college.
I will admit to a lack of foreign languages (the only remaining knowledge of high school French is how to hold a cigarette, and to say "Oui, Papa, dino en ville- Yes, dad, let's eat in town!" and that racy song by the Pointer Sisters!), but there are so many computer classes for that, my kids have always gotten what they wanted in that department. Next year, I'll be teaching sign language. Can't wait to learn it!
So, see what you, as the teacher, will miss out on? You will miss LEARNING! You will also miss out on teaching your kids that, with a little perseverance and the right attitude, a person can do anything!
Do you really homeschool other people’s kids? I’ve always wondered about that.
We have enjoyed homeschooling so much, and been heartbroken actually at times when we meet kids who really *need* to be home, but whose parents just can’t make it happen, that we wondered about homeschooling other kids after ours are grown. Thoughts?