Homeschooled Kid to Homeschooling Mom

Today marks the beginning of our second week of school!

Some of you may know that I was homeschooled up until high school. That means from 1995 - 2004 (Are you all doing the math to figure out how young I am? Yeah...thought so...) I was in homeschooler land.

The mid-late 90s and early 2000s was a time when homeschooling really started to take off and mainstream a bit. I've watched it grow up and change as a student, and now I'm revisiting homeschooler land as my kids are getting old enough to make us 2nd generation homeschoolers.

Here's some of the big things that have changed since I was a homeschooled kid.

Catalogs are in Color!

Back in the day, the few Catholic curriculum catalogs that existed were printed on newsprint. That meant black and white, and only black and white. 

Eventually, they added red. It was an exciting year.

Now those guys are practically magazines with glossy pages and full fledged articles!

Kids Can Be Around During School Hours and It's Not/Less Weird!

We used to stay inside or backyard only during school hours to avoid the "concerned neighbor" intervening in our home presence during the day.

Now, there are so many homeschooler specific days/events/programs all over the place. It's like people *want* us around!

Though part of me hopes the time honored hobby of watching the school kids come home is still a thing.

Way Better Support - Both Near and Far

I remember homeschooling being a bit of a pioneer adventure. If no one near you did the same style of homeschooling you were just fresh out of luck for method specific support. Now you can probably find a facebook group with hundreds of other homeschooling parents for your 4 category long (Catholic-Classical-Charlotte Mason Inspired-Great Books) specific homeschooling style. 

There are also such things as Facebook groups for Homeschooling with Netflix and Homeschooling with Youtube, that I tell you would have revolutionized my world of ordering past series from PBS. Or, perhaps worse, waiting for them to come to the local video store.
Took. So. Long.

Becoming Teacher

There are some things about being a former homeschooled kid that changed how I'm a homeschool mom.

For starters I have strong opinions about curriculum because I saw a lot of it from the eyes of the student having to use it. I know what I like and what works for me.

Abeka has pretty books, but gets a little weird in the science and history books in the later grades. A bit less than Catholic-friendly I would say...

Unschooling = stressed out Kirby

I love Great Books as a guide for being well-read, not so much as a stand alone curriculum.

I'm a lot less likely than the typical new homeschool mom to worry about things like doing school for more of the day, or socialization.

The dreaded socialization question.

Basically.

I cannot stress enough how much socialization was always going to depend on the kid and family - not the method of schooling.

It is plenty possible to lack social skills while having been in traditional school your entire life. I contend that one has to choose to participate in a society enough to be "socialized", regardless if the child is in public school, private school, or homeschooled. Choose something to participate in and you WILL be socialized. Promise.

Any other homeschooled kids turned homeschool parents out there? Does this sound familiar to you? What did I miss?