Another is sounding out spelling words from the backseat of a vehicle on the way to baseball practice. Someone else is learning about wildflowers on a hiking trail, or reading aloud from a library couch while their younger sibling colors nearby.
During Teacher Appreciation Week, I think it is important to recognize that classrooms in Mississippi come in many different forms.
Mississippi is filled with incredible educators in every type of classroom, including the ones happening around kitchen tables across the state.
I had considered homeschooling for years before we ever officially started. It was always somewhere in the back of my mind, but like many parents, I questioned whether I could really do it. The idea felt intimidating. I worried about whether I would choose the right curriculum, whether my children would fall behind, or whether I was somehow unqualified to take on something so important.
It was not until we moved to Goodman that homeschooling stopped being a distant thought and became a real decision for our family.
My daughter learns a bit differently than others, and the traditional classroom environment was simply not a positive place for her. Like many families in rural Mississippi, we were trying to figure out what made the most sense for our children and our circumstances. For larger families especially, private school tuition for multiple children can quickly become unrealistic, and homeschooling becomes a practical way to provide a more personalized education.
At first, I was anxious almost all the time.
But once we found our rhythm, something shifted. I realized homeschooling did not have to look exactly like a traditional classroom in order to be successful. I could slow down where one child needed extra help and move faster where another child thrived. I could adapt lessons to fit their personalities, interests, and struggles individually instead of trying to force everyone into the exact same mold.
One of the things that helped me most in the beginning was the homeschool community itself.
Before we ever figured things out on our own, there were already experienced homeschool parents willing to help guide us. Many of them were former educators themselves who had chosen to homeschool their own children. Others had simply spent years learning through experience and were eager to encourage families just getting started.
One thing I quickly realized is that homeschoolers are everywhere in Mississippi. No matter where you move, it never takes long to find other families doing the same thing. Whether it is through Facebook groups, co-ops, library meetups, field trips, or word of mouth, there always seems to be a community ready to welcome new families in.
And no two homeschool families look exactly alike.
Some run highly structured schedules with color-coded lesson plans and routines that resemble small private schools. Others take a more relaxed approach where learning happens through gardening, hiking trails, art projects, baking, road trips, and everyday life. Somewhere in the middle is where most of us probably land.
For a group of people called homeschoolers, we sure do spend a lot of time away from home.
Between hiking groups, field trips, library days, co-ops, park meetups, and outdoor activities, some weeks feel like we are constantly loading kids into the car and heading somewhere new.
That was another thing I did not fully understand before homeschooling. Learning does not only happen sitting at a desk between certain hours of the day. Some of the most meaningful lessons happen outside, in conversation, through experiences, and alongside other families doing life together.
What stood out to me most was how much homeschooling is often a family effort.
There are grandparents helping with reading lessons, dads adjusting work schedules so moms can stay home, mothers sacrificing careers they loved, older siblings helping younger siblings with schoolwork, and entire communities stepping in to support one another along the way.
Homeschooling is not the right fit for every family, just like every school setting is not the right fit for every child. But for our family, it brought flexibility, closeness, and a kind of peace that I did not expect when we first began.
Some of our best school days have happened far away from a desk.
They have happened on hiking trails, inside museums, at local libraries, during long conversations in the car, and through creative projects spread across the kitchen table.
During Teacher Appreciation Week, I think homeschool educators deserve recognition too. Not because they are trying to replace traditional schools, but because every day across Mississippi, parents and grandparents are quietly pouring themselves into teaching children the very best way they know how.
