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See those Childcraft books along with the medical encyclopedias? These formed the core of my personal home library from the ages of 4 to 18.

Having spent the last several months preparing to “formally” launch our Little Homeschool in Suburbia just as I rifle through the contents of my childhood home, I keep running into the same realization:

All parents homeschool.

Pretty much from birth, we’re filling our kids with knowledge–whether we realize it or not. Admittedly it’s not always good stuff. (“No, Johnny, Mommy didn’t really call that other driver an ‘idiot.’ She really meant that his driving is idiotic.” I will neither confirm nor deny that this scenario is based on my life.)

But whether you call it “homeschooling” or “after schooling” or if you don’t even have a name for it, most of us are tailoring content to fit the needs of our youngsters. It’s not a new idea. My paternal grandmother–who never completed high school–purchased encyclopedias for me.  She recognized a curious little girl and put aside precious dollars to give me suitable, age-appropriate content. My mother brought home wonderful, unusual books from Goodwill and estate sales. (Any wonder that I’m a Half Price Books fan?)

As I reflect on these memories and what they mean within my own family, I’m trying to grapple with how we grown-ups can connect and even celebrate this common bond of “parent as teacher.”  I figure it’s worth putting that idea out there so maybe a few of us can poke at it with sharp sticks.

And so I’m dusting off SlowBurbs.com temporarily and planning to stash some articles along these lines–and about  our homeschooling experience in general here–for a few weeks. I know there’s some interest in homeschooling/afterschooling within my own circle because I’ve gotten a lot of questions from friends about if we can share what we’ve learned so far. Notably, I get these inquiries from parents of homeschoolers-to-be and public-schoolers-to-be alike.

Of course, to come together for a conversation we’ll have to loosen the grip on our stereotypes about “the other side.” And I’ll confess upfront that I thought for many years that all homeschoolers were suspect from the simple fact that they rejected the public education system. Then along came a kid with a severe peanut allergy, a dearth of preschool options in our area, and… well… hello, homeschooling.

If you’d like to follow along with this exercise, plan to check this blog as well as my Twitter feed and the SlowBurbs.com Facebook page. If you’re on Pinterest, you can watch this board, too.

Let’s see where this takes us…

Pamela Price is an award-winning blogger, writer, editor, and homeschooler in San Antonio, Texas. She’s also forever grateful to the third-grade public school teacher who taught her that good stories matter. (Thanks, Mrs. Bolton!)