“Having homeschooled our oldest for a few years before moving to Pearl, we knew what it was like to truly homeschool, and that the crisis schooling that happened in the spring semester of 2020 was not an accurate representation of homeschooling. Knowing another shut down in the fall was possible, my husband and I decided that if I was going to potentially be teaching our children at home, they were going to learn what we wanted them to learn and be on our own timetable.
“We had a lot of good discussions with our oldest child when he noticed some things in his end of the year Covid project that were more like propaganda and repeating a narrative than what we’ve been teaching our children. As a former public school teacher, I already had issues with some policies and procedures already in place in some schools pre-Covid, like taking away recess and special programs, especially around test prep time, fully silent lunches each day, and putting so much emphasis into testing. Knowing that return to school policies were going to be varied and possibly include compulsive hand sanitizing, social distancing, mask mandates, etc., we knew that would not be the best learning environments for our children.
“We want them to love, or at least enjoy learning, not dread getting up and going to school each day. We have already started on our curriculum this summer because they wanted to, and they are enjoying it and the ability to have so much free time once they’re finished.
“I have had to put my own career as a doula and student midwife aside in order to homeschool because the hours and being on call are not conducive to me personally caring for my family of six and homeschooling four children.
“But I love teaching and this is a way I can still teach as well as invest time in my children’s lives. For my children, I want them to enjoy learning, be well educated, be critical thinkers, learn responsibility, independence, and how to make wise choices, and learn life skills instead of how to regurgitate information.”
Heather Roberts
Pearl, Mississippi