Homeschooling Headaches: 5 Challenges for At-Home Teachers

It turned out that all-in referred not only to embracing extensive time requirements, but also to shedding the traditional 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. Monday to Friday school routine. Given that three of her children remained in traditional school, their schedules didn’t allow for that flexibility, so the world she created was essentially a home-version mirror of what traditional schools offer, rather than a whole new experience. Ultimately, the family decided that having one foot in each academic world was untenable; they sent all five children to a small private school.

2. Being parent and teacher is tricky.

Homeschooling means assuming roles beyond mom and dad. Austrew explains, “When I first started, I thought, ‘Oh my god, kids will think I’m doing some weird role-playing from mom to teacher.” Finding a balance took experimentation. “Over time, I realized I don’t have to make that shift. Teacher, mom; it’s all just me. But it takes months until you figure that out.”

“I had to teach myself how to teach,” Gretton says. She researched a half-dozen approaches to homeschooling, bought a curriculum and dug in. “Take spelling, for instance,” she says. “I mean, who remembers how we learned to spell much less how to teach it?”

3. There are almost too many learning opportunities now.

Once you have your framework set, the sky’s the limit. Shannon Jones, homeschooling her seven children, explains how the pandemic impacted her days. “Before COVID, our lives were full. We had co-ops with five or ten families, and we’d plan things together.” During the pandemic, all sorts of organizations —dance, theater, karate — created virtual programming, which many have maintained. “There’s far more available now than we can fit into our week.”

Gabby (11) and Ethan (9) are building a boat out of cardboard and duct tape for a competition they entered.

Shanon Jones

4. “School” doesn’t end.

For Jones, homeschooling exposed a chasm between school and learning. “Our ‘school days’ are never over. There’s no bell that rings and tells us we’re done for the day. There are always opportunities for learning.”

Austrew agrees. “Sometimes they want to keep going, and that’s great. You want that enthusiasm. But sometimes you have to make dinner.”

For Jenna Fletcher, the blur between home and school has pros and cons. “A lot of adults who work from home struggle to set boundaries around work, or struggle to find motivation when they can stay in their pajamas all day. We do, too. If you think of education as a child’s ‘work,’ you can really see how sometimes pjs and cartoons can get in the way. And sometimes,” she admits, “teaching feels like yet another item on my to-do list along with work and general adult stuff.”

5. Mistaken assumptions by friends and neighbors.

Austrew was surprised at the reactions she gets when she says she’s a homeschooler. “One strong stereotype is that homeschooling families are hyper-religious. I haven’t seen that and I wasn’t prepared at how deeply entrenched that notion is. When I say I’m homeschooling, I can almost see the assumptions roll in. It’s like I flipped a switch.”

Yet her homeschooling experience is one of diversity. “I know families who pulled their kids out of public school over learning differences, and LGBTQ kids being bullied. Or families of color who don’t feel that their kids are getting the same opportunities as their classmates.”

Fletcher concurs. “There's a definite stigma around homeschooling. In the beginning I spent a lot of time justifying our choices to other people. If you’re not 100 percent confident in yourself and your decision, [homeschooling] could be really hard since it's something most of society doesn't understand.”

Share your experience: What would be the best and worst part of homeschooling your own children? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.