These skills are listed in no particular order. Some are more fun than others, but all are skills that I now possess as a homeschooling parent.
1. Read backwards. I’m a bit out of practice, but when my kids were learning to read, this was a very useful skill. It allowed me to move more freely while one of my children read aloud. There is a lot of motivation to hone this skill when it means you can get more than two feet away from your child while reading.
2. Write backwards. Same as number one. It helps to have good handwriting to write in the normal way and then work to write the letters backwards. I’ve only mastered printing. Italic would be a challenge, but I know a few moms who can.
3. Solve math word problems while running on a treadmill. This one takes some practice. A large part depends on the word problem: algebra and fractions present certain obstacles. For me, I find that the better conditioned I am, the smoother my breathing is, the better my child can understand what I am saying.
4. Develop theories for the mysteries of history. “Mom, why did Alexander the Great want to take over the world?” or “Mom, what really happened to the Roanoke colony.” Of course, some mysteries will always be mysteries, I am not convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
5. Solve math word problems at the supermarket. This amounts to solving two math problems at the same time, since most homeschoolers I know (including myself) are on a limited budget. Oh yeah, and ignoring all the stares from people who don’t understand what you’re doing or who think your kids should be in school, which is a completely different skill set (those skills are beyond the scope of this post) .
6. Teach more than one subject at the same time. There have been times when I started spelling a word for one child, helped another to find the square root of a number, and then finished spelling the word for the first child. Add a third child with a different theme and you will be at top performer.
7. Have a conversation with someone (usually a spouse) and solve word problems. The degree of difficulty depends on the topic of conversation. Talking about a budget is similar to the number five in that you are solving two or more math problems at the same time.
8. Search on Google! Because nobody knows everything! The faster you can type, the faster this skill will develop.
9. Become a connoisseur curriculum. I never knew a homeschooling mother who didn’t have a collection. Not all curriculum works for all grade levels and / or all children.
10. Teach with a baby on the hip. I’m out of practice on this one too. But it takes skill to keep an infant or toddler busy when you are trying to teach your child about “The Declaration of Independence.”
How of these skills do you have? Do you have any “homeschooling mother” skills?
