Pagan Homeschooling

BARBARA HEDGEWITCH

I am a Witch and I am a homeschooler. I used to think that conservative Christians were the only people who homeschooled, and they did it solely in order to pass on their religious views to their children.

I met a New Age woman who changed all that. She had a 9-year-old daughter who she had always homeschooled and she asked me why I didn't homeschool my son. I couldn't think of an answer. A former teacher, I was one of the middle-American masses who did things because that's how everyone else did them. What makes it funny is that I originally became a teacher because I thought it would help me to be a better mother when the time came. Actually, it helped me to be a better sheep when motherhood came.

Soon after this enlightenment I became immersed in the wonderful adventure that is homeschooling. I discovered that there are many families who homeschool and who fall outside the stereotypes. They cross all lines of race and ethnicity, religion, economic class and sexual orientation. Some practice "school at home," with a curriculum; others don't follow any dictates, taking all their lessons from life itself. The latter are called radical unschoolers and are heavily influenced by the writings of the late John Holt, John Taylor Gatto and Grace Llewellyn. Most homeschoolers fall between these two extremes. The Christian stereotype is most commonly accepted because these folks have been the most organized and the most vocal thus getting the most press.

I attended a homeschooling convention the spring previous to our first year and purchased lots of textbooks for spelling, grammar, and math. When autumn rolled around I dutifully pulled them out and started "teaching." This lasted about a week before we lost interest and began simply exploring the world around us. We took our lessons from life, read whatever interested us, baked, built with LEGOs and watched The Discovery Channel and PBS. Our son went to Cub Scouts, took piano lessons and played soccer and baseball. Our daughter was born that fall.

The year flew by and when spring came we had our son assessed by a certificate teacher, as is required in our state. I was a bit worried about how he would compare to his schooled peers. Had I wasted a year of his life/ Had I done irreparable damage? More experienced homeschoolers assured me that he would do fine. Much to my surprise, he assessed right at grade level. This proved to me that my son was learning without formal lessons.

Homeschooling has been a boon to our family life. My husband is a railroad engineer who works on call 365 days a year. He has no set hours or schedule, nor any scheduled days off. Our family fun has to be spontaneous or it won’t happen, since we don’t know until the very day whether he will be home or not. Homeschooling gives us the flexibility we need to enjoy our “daddy” time. We often get to enjoy the zoo, the park and museums on weekday afternoons, when they are the least busy. We go out for lunch together rather than at the more expensive dinner hour. We also enjoy movie matinees, which cost less and have fewer crowds. We take our vacations in September when numbers are down and the weather is still lovely.

Our home life is less hectic by not being tied to a clock. We’ve fallen into a natural rhythm of waking and sleeping at ordinary times but without worrying about having to be up and out by a certain time. Much of my 10-year- old son’s teaching time comes after his 3-year-old sister has gone to bed. We spend our evenings one on one, reading history or novels aloud, working on writing projects, or doing other tasks that are easier without the interruptions of a busy tot. Something that helped me immensely in my home- schooling venture was the support of other homeschoolers. I’d heard stories about homeschool support groups that required members to sign a statement of faith in order to join. I felt very fortunate to find a secular support groupthat prided itself on welcoming all homeschooling families. Our family also got internet access and I met many wonderful, supportive homeschoolers online. It was online that I met some homeschooling Pagans who were forming a small email support loop. I joined them and watched as our loop grew from 4 to over 100.

We began writing an electronic newsletter, “Acorns”, which comes out at every Sabbat. We share homeschooling tips, arts and crafts ideas, and ideas for family Sabbat celebrations. I put up a webpage devoted to Pagan Homeschooling, which seems to be a beacon; I hear almost daily from Pagan homeschooling families who thought that they were the only ones in the country. The relief they express that they’ve found others like themselves is palpable. Some are just beginning to investigate homeschooling for their babies, while others have homeschooled alone for years, without support. Our humble loop has been going for three years now. In that time I’ve gotten to know Pagans all over the country, and from as far away as Japan, France, England and New Zealand! Some of us have met in real life for campouts and gatherings. We’ve celebrated births together, sup- ported each other through illnesses, deaths and life changes, laughed, cried, argued and made up. It is like having a huge extended family at my fingertips.

Since finding this online resource, I’ve discovered many local Pagan homeschoolers in my area. It seems that once I was open to meeting them, they started coming out of the woodwork. Our families now meet informally to play, to learn, to celebrate the Sabbats family-style and for birthday parties. We are a mixed bunch, from many traditions. What has brought us together is our children and our desire for kindred spirits, both for ourselves and for our children. It has been a wonderful journey so far!