Full disclosure: Pre-pandemic me thought homeschooling was weird. Pulling my kids out of public school had about the same likelihood as me taking a rocket to the moon. But then came lock downs and distance learning and a lot of uncertainty. My husband and I looked into switching our daughters to private school, but then one day I had an epiphany that must have come from God himself (because it certainly didn’t come from me). I was going to homeschool them.

I did a lot of research and felt surprisingly calm about the idea. And now, over 2 1/2 years into our homeschooling journey, I can honestly say it’s been one the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s not easy, and there are days I want to rip my hair out, but I have no plans on giving up.

Through the ups and downs, I’ve realized that my kids aren’t the only ones learning. So am I. Here are some of my biggest takeaways.

I don’t have to go by the book (literally or figuratively) for my kids to learn. During our first year of homeschooling, I was pretty rigid. If your math lesson has 20 problems, you’re doing 20 problems. Having trouble sitting still? Oh well, keep your butt in the chair. I felt like I was failing if we didn’t finish what I had planned for the day, or if we didn’t finish their curriculum within the year.

But as an organized, rule-following mama of a creative, ants-in-her-pants daughter, I’ve had to adjust my expectations. If one curriculum isn’t working, I move on to another. If letting her do her work while lying on the floor, do puzzles while I’m reading aloud, or skip some of the review questions in her math lesson prevents a meltdown (her) or an outburst (me), then it’s well worth it. And she still learns everything I’m teaching.

School can happen anywhere. While we have a designated “school room” (aka our office), we also do school work at the kitchen table and on the living room floor. In the car, we practice math facts, listen to audio books, and sing along with Spanish vocab songs. We have brought workbooks to the park and the library. My kids have even done their assignments lying on their bunk beds in our trailer while on a camping trip (don’t worry, most of the trip was spent playing outside). Learning doesn’t have to be confined to one room (or between the hours of 8:00 and 3:00).

Teacher Mom is no different than Regular Mom. My kids listen really well…to anyone that is not me. And although my kids like to jokingly call me Ms. Jayme sometimes when we are doing school, they definitely don’t treat me as a teacher. They might ignore me, talk back, whine, and fight with each other. BUT, I also get the hugs, the “I love you, Mom” drawings, the joy of watching a concept suddenly click in their brains, and all the extra hours with my daughters before they are grown up. Totally worth it.

There are so many things I don’t know. Nothing makes that more obvious than when I can’t answer my kids’ questions or when I open one of their books and discover something that blows my mind. I’ve learned everything from spelling rules and how to read roman numerals higher than ten, to the fact that there is a pink lake in Senegal and that after WWI, the value of German money dropped so much that one American dollar was worth over 4 trillion marks.

I have to say, it’s fun getting to both teach my daughters and learn alongside them.