From Natural Birth to Homeschooling

“I want to homeschool mainly because I really don’t want to miss out on all that time with her.”

My client hit the nail on the head. There are so many of us mothers who choose to homeschool our children because it does not feel normal to be separated all day from those we love the most and who we have spend years holding close and nurturing.

And that’s when I began thinking about the way homeschooling is really is the natural progression of being attuned to your pregnant body, then your infant, your baby, then your child. Homeschooling is often the result of a path less traveled from the time your baby is born and your protective, nurturing instincts take hold of you. When you choose to follow those instincts and the needs of your baby. When you begin to question the experts who try to teach you the hows of motherhood. How to birth your baby. How to sleep with your baby. How to feed your baby. How to teach your baby.

Deciding to homeschool is the decision to check out once and for all and it is the decision to take matters for and about your child into your own hands because you are the one who knows your child best. You are attuned to them.

And you can see now that it was all a lie. All the times they put doubt into your mind about how you have raised your child. All the times you believed them over your own instinct and you handed them the power. When they told you they had to intervene in your pregnancy and birth. When they said don’t hold your baby or rock them to sleep. When they told you to let your baby cry it out in the other bed/room. When they gave you formula and told you to top your baby up. When they told you your baby was below/above average anything and you believed them. When they reassured you that they can help you and your child to fit back into the standard that they required. When they planted all of the seeds of doubt. And when they told you that they were the best people to socialize your baby and teach your children. And you almost believed them.

When you commit to homeschooling you are committing to keep evolving and keep following an authentic life. You are committing to take back your responsibility of raising your child. You are a mother who no longer believes everything she is told but instead writes her own rules and takes her power back. You are committing to being a conscious mother who refuses to succumb to the mainstream norms and expectations that do not suit her family or her needs.

No, this mother is attuned. She is connected and does her best to follow her intuition and she did so since her baby was conceived. She felt the needs of her child through the early years and overcame all the doubt in order to raise her children with a healthy emotional and physical connection. It didn’t stop when her child turned 5. She continued to want to be with her family. She wanted a life of freedom and adventure with her children and to journey through life together.

As I look back on the last eight years I can see clearly that homeschooling was really the most natural progression of an approach to motherhood that started when I was pregnant with my first child. It was the path that I nurtured with the support of a loving family and partner. One that prioritized my connection with my children over anything else.

Homeschooling is the decision made by conscious mothers who cannot see any other way to live their lives authentically.

Do life with love, Leila A