Homeschooling is a buzzword! While the practice is centuries old, the term is relatively new. Gaining ground in the 1970s, with the work of John Holt, Raymond Moore, and Dorothy, homeschooling came to combine life skills and general subjects taught in a school. Homeschooling, in essence, is parents taking up the role of teachers instead of using the assistance of private or public schools to educate their young ones.
Famed personalities like Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi have time and again pointed out the limitations of classroom education and urged parents to equally contribute to the learning of their kids. Oftentimes homeschooling is a reservation practiced by families due to philosophical, religious, or educational differences with conventional schooling.
Nevertheless, the practice is gaining wider acceptance and a large parental involvement, as parents find it satisfactory to invest personally in their child’s education. But no matter how much satisfaction and goodwill a parent has, taking up the role of the teacher isn’t as easy as ABC and it is very normal to feel bogged down by the pressure. So, the blog below consists of inspirational quotes for homeschooling parents and kids that can be used as a daily dose of positive affirmation.
Inspirational homeschooling quotes
Quotes can act as a great tool to motivate and inspire students who are not visiting a regular school but are being taught by parents and educators at home only. Navigate through the below quotes, which talk about homeschooling and how advantageous and powerful the method of schooling can be.
1. “When people ask about the socialization thing in homeschooling, I ask them about the peer pressure in school”- Rebbecca Devitt
2. “The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home.” – Harold B. Lee
3. “Homeschooling allows you the freedom to step off the highway of learning and take a more scenic route along a dirt road.” – Tamara L. Chilver
4. Homeschooling allows you to make the curriculum fit the child, rather than making the child fit the curriculum. – Anonymous
5.” Once upon a time, all children were homeschooled. They were not sent away from home each day to a place just for children but lived, learned, worked, and played in the real world, alongside adults and other children of all ages. “-Rachel Gathercole
6.” The home is the first and most effective place to learn the lessons of life: truth, honor, virtue, self-control, the value of education, honest work, and the purpose and privilege of life. Nothing can take the place of home in rearing and teaching children, and no other success can compensate for failure in the home.” – David O. McKay
7. “Homeschoolers disprove the common idea that parents and siblings cannot be good friends”. – Rebbecca Devitt
8. “Homeschooled children benefit the community because they are not shaped by peers but by parents. ‘– Mary Kay Clark
9. “There is no education but self-education.” -Charlotte M. Mason.
10. “hank goodness I was never sent to school: it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” – Beatrix Potter
11. “I homeschool because I have seen the village, and I don’t want it raising my kids.” – Anonymous
12. “What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children’s growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the schools, but that it isn’t a school at all.” – John Holt
13.”Self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.” –Charlotte Mason
14. “A classroom doesn’t need to have four walls.” – Anonymous
15. “Recipe for genius: More of family and less of school, more of parents and less of peers, more creative freedom, and less formal lessons.” -Raymond S. Moore.
16.”Nothing can take the place of home in rearing and teaching children, and no other success can compensate for failure in the home.” –David O. McKay
17.”If I had to sum up homeschooling in one word it would be freedom.”-Tamara L. Chilver.
18.”The home is the chief school of human virtues.” – William Ellery Channing.
19. “Parents and families are the first and most important teachers.” – Richard W. Riley.
20.”Educating a child is a natural process. Homeschooling is nothing more than an extension of parenting. “- John Taylor Gatto
21.”I homeschool my children not to prepare them for tests but to prepare them for life.” – Tamara L. Chilve
22.” I’ve never met a homeschooling mom who regretted her decision. But I’ve met plenty of school moms who have regretted sending their kids to school.” – Rebecca Devitt.
23.”There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.” -Gandhi.
24.”Any child who can spend an hour or two a day, or more if he wants, with adults that he likes, who are interested in the world and like to talk about it, will on most days learn far more from their talk than he would learn in a week of school.” – John Holt
25.”Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.”- Mark Twain.
26.”Homeschooling might raise a few eyebrows and that’s okay.”-Tristan Devitt.
27. “Education begins at home. You can’t blame the school for not putting into your child what you don’t put into him.” – Geoffrey Holder
28.”You will not reap the fruit of individuality in your children if you clone their education. “-Marilyn Howshall.
29.”We have come to realize that for most men the right to learn is curtailed by the obligation to attend school.” – Ivan Illich.
30.”Homeschooling and public schooling are as opposite as two sides of a coin.” – Gene Royer.
31.”What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children’s growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the school, but that it isn’t a school at all.” – John Holt
32.”Because the issue of homeschooling socialization tends to be overblown, homeschooling parents are very alive of the potential pitfalls of failing to socialize their children.” – Rebbecca Devitt.
33.” We can get too easily bogged down in the academic part of homeschooling, a relatively minor part of the whole, which is to raise competent, caring, literate, happy people. “- Diane Flynn Keith
34.” There isn’t a right way to become educated; there are as many ways as there are fingerprints. “- John Taylor Gatto
35.”Homeschooling will certainly produce some socially awkward adults, but the odds are good they would have been just as quirky had they spent twelve years raising their hands for permission to go to the washroom.” – Quinn Cummings
36.”Do we really need school? I don’t mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? Don’t hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy homeschoolers have put that banal justification to rest.” “- John Taylor Gatto.
37.”People say that homeschooled kids are too sheltered from the real world. At what point did sitting behind desks all day become the real world? “- Anonymous
38.”From the day you became a parent, you also became a teacher, and you are equipped to teach your child.” – Anne Campbell
39.” Homeschooling is like crafting with glitter. It’s messy and scary but so worth it.” – Anonymous
40.” When home education is seen in its proper place, seen as a gift, a blessing, an act of stewardship, and when it’s embraced in humility, it’s a lovely thing.”- Dawn Gregg
41.” The best education does not happen at a desk but rather engaged in everyday living – hands-on, exploring, in an active relationship with life.” – Vince Gowman
42.”Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn
43.”The first real lesson I learned as a homeschool teacher is that … it’s the students that lead the way.” – Patti Armstrong
44.”It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education” – Albert Einstein
45.”The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson” – Prabeena Kalyan
46.”A child only educated at school is an uneducated child “- George Santayana
47.”The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life.” – Maria Montessori
48.”Don’t question your ability to teach your child. Question putting your child into the same system that left you feeling incapable of teaching your child. “- Anonymous
49.”Homeschool mama, you can’t be everything to everyone. You are not taco night. “- Kara Anderson
50.”The idea that children need to be around many other youngsters in order to be ‘socialized’ is perhaps the most dangerous and extravagant myth in education and child-rearing today.” – Raymond S. Moore
Possible ways to motivate homeschoolers
The home-set up can sometimes be the reason for the fluctuating motivation of the little ones. Homeschooling can often be challenging for the parents as well; hence, little tweaks every now and then can help both homeschoolers and parents keep the fire burning.
- Scenery Swaps – Make sure to experiment with the learning environment, as new surroundings bring along new experiences and opportunities.
- Regard for appreciation – If you want your child to be better, learn to celebrate small wins with them. Robbing them of appreciation at necessary points, won’t help them in reaching bigger goals.
- Be curious – A child always has a fresher perspective. Be a keen listener and a supporter, so that the child can master his/her curiosity.
- Make space for socialization – Homeschooling doesn’t have to be deprived of peer socialization. Allow your child to plan out fun learning activities with children of their group, and give them your input and feedback post such opportunities.
Ending notes
Parents are the first teachers and home is our first school. Guided by this philosophy, homeschoolers and homeschooling parents are on a quest to achieve an education that goes well beyond schooling. Given the challenges homeschooling brings every day, it is natural to feel a little low. So, when faced with difficulties, tune into these uplifting quotes on homeschooling.
I am Shweta Sharma. I am a final year Masters student of Clinical Psychology and have been working closely in the field of psycho-education and child development. I have served in various organisations and NGOs with the purpose of helping children with disabilities learn and adapt better to both, academic and social challenges. I am keen on writing about learning difficulties, the science behind them and potential strategies to deal with them. My areas of expertise include putting forward the cognitive and behavioural aspects of disabilities for better awareness, as well as efficient intervention. Follow me on LinkedIn