Can Homeschoolers Succeed?

Ever tried typing “Can Homeschoolers” into Google? Yeah, I know. You don’t 100% trust Google. There are days when I don’t, either. But go try it anyway. Type just those two words, and then let the search engine autofill the rest of the line.

Go try it!

I did. Over a hurriedly-gobbled breakfast this morning.

And here’s what I found out.

We–homeschoolers, categorically–are TERRIFIED about something. And that something is failure.

We spell it out in a thousand different autofill results. “Can homeschoolers get into college?” “Can homeschoolers play on sports teams?” “How do homeschoolers take tests?” “How do homeschoolers get drivers licenses?” “How do homeschoolers date?”

Guys, I’m not making this stuff up!

These are Google’s top “Can homeschoolers . . .” searches!

And they’re there because . . . ouch . . . that’s what we’re googling. And we’re googling it, deep down, because we want answers to just one question: “Can Homeschoolers Succeed?”

We know we’ve chosen “a different path.” And now, that “different” is causing us to panic.

IS different dangerous? You know the answer to that one. You live in the 21st century, after all. You value diversity. (Even though you cringe at some of the stuff that phrase has come to stand for.) You KNOW God didn’t make all people alike. You even believe He called you to this special brand of different.

Then why does different feel so dangerous?

Why are we afraid it will stand in the way of success?

Yeah, I know you know the answer to this one. I know it, too.

It doesn’t keep me from typing in crazy search questions like “Can Homeschoolers Succeed?”

It doesn’t keep me from cringing at the answers.

But deep down, this word succeed still needs a bit of a reality check.

Succeed, how? By whose methods? By whose standard?

I think a lot of the time, we’re aiming at one target, and hoping to hit another. Or maybe, aiming and hoping for one target, but letting our lives be torn apart by stress because somebody else thinks we should be hitting another.

Deep down, we all know that’s not how we want to live.

This isn’t a post about how successful homeschooled children can be. If you are longing for that encouragement, go google “Can Homeschoolers Succeed?” There are some wonderful, heartwarming posts out there to show you they can do just that.

By anybody’s standard.

You’ll find a couple of them at the end of this post.

What I’m asking right now is, do we have the courage to rewrite what “succeed” needs to look like in the first place.

If you aren’t homeschooling to hit the world’s goals, then why are you measuring your homeschool by their success?

Why are you measuring LIFE by their success?

Why are you measuring YOU?

There’s one other underlying theme that popped up through my adventure on google this morning.

Homeschoolers care. Their family and their friends care.

After all, SOMEBODY is typing “Can Homeschoolers . . .” into Google frequently enough to populate those autofill rows.

And do you know what? Caring is the first, the biggest, maybe even the all-important ingredient for success.

You’re going to succeed, Homeschool Mama! You’re going to succeed Homeschool Student!

Keep your hand in God’s.

You’re going to succeed just fine!

Need some hardcore stats to prove it? Try a couple of the links below:

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