Poverty and Homeschooling

One excuse I often hear from people who would like to homeschool is that they can't live on one salary. Living on a single income in one of the wealthiest counties of the country, I confess that I understood their concern, but always saw it as a cop-out. My feeling was that most people could live on one salary if they budgeted better.

That was before I met a single mom at one of the homeschooling information meetings.

This mom was interested in eventually homeschooling her 2 year old. I later learned that she had moved to NY to be closer to her family and had taken a job as a professor at a local college. Not realizing how expensive our area is, she quickly ran through her savings because of the high rent on her small basement apartment and the high cost of childcare in the area. The college added to her woes by paying her less than they promised when she agreed to take the job. I agreed to help her by babysitting her daughter a few times a week during the spring term and witnessed many of her struggles trying to make ends meet. She has since moved to a college in another state where it is cheaper to live and the college offers childcare.

I feel for this mother. It is always hard to do what you believe is right for your family. For homeschooling families who struggle financially, it is very easy for others to point and say, "Why don't you just put your kids in school and get a job?"

I believe that parents should be able to choose how they want their children to be educated. Public education should not be the only option for middle or low income families. A single option is not a choice. We chose homeschooling knowing that it might be a financial struggle at times and it works because we are willing to make sacrifices, utilize free services such as the public library, clip coupons, etc. But I am lucky because I don't have to do this alone. What choice is there for single parents who want to try homeschooling?

Appreciating the Environment

My parents taught me to love nature.

The house I grew up in was across the street from a park. We had a big picture window that looked out onto the park. It was nice seeing the sunset out of that window. We were close to the Botanical Garden and the zoo, so we spent a lot of time gazing at plants and animals. My parents had some property upstate. They called it the farm, but it was really wild land across from farms. We would go there to pick blueberries, my father blazing a trail with his machete (that’s how a Puerto Rican does it.)

My father is the green thumb. That picture window was always full of tropical plants. In fact, I would say the number of plants in that window has increased since I left home. I think they help him feel a little closer to Puerto Rico. He can make anything grow. Many avocadoes and other fruit were grown from seed by him. My sister has that green thumb as well. Her room was full of African violets. I stick with easy plants. The kind I can ignore for a week and they won’t hold it against me.

My mom learned to love nature from her family. Her dad was in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC’s) and had lots of pictures from places like Grand Teton National Park. I remember seeing a picture where he attended mass at an outdoor chapel and thinking, “Yes, that makes sense.” I always feel closer to God when I am enjoying the natural world. Mom showed us home movies from my grandfather’s collection. There were some movies where he (or my mother?) would film the clouds as they drove along on road trips. He wanted to film the clouds because of the impermanence of them. Little did he know how equally impermanent the landscape would be!

I can’t imagine life without plants. My parents gave me a strong appreciation of God’s creation. My greatest pleasure since moving into our home has been to garden and to fill my own picture window with house plants. And since I know the kind of gardener I am (plant and ignore) I have learned a lot about native species and low care houseplants. My own children will also grow up surrounded by nature. That’s nice. Each generation teaches the next. I want them to love nature as much as I do.