A Homeschool Uniform

This week I’m posting five different laid-back ways to add structure to your homeschooling life. Today, I’m suggesting that you embrace a homeschool uniform.

Wait — really?

Honestly, it’s not something I ever would have come up with myself, but last year my oldest daughter River told me that she would like to have a homeschool uniform.

You couldn’t have paid me to wear a uniform when I was in fifth grade.

River insisted, though. She said that a uniform would make her mornings easier because she wouldn’t have to decide what to wear. Then she said that a uniform would make her lessons feel more like “real” school. And then she said that some of her friends wear a uniform when they homeschool and she thinks that’s neat.

It’s true. One of my favourite homeschooling friends has her kids doing school work in full uniform at her dining room table each morning before I even have all three of my kids out of bed. She’s kind of my hero.

When I asked her why her kids have uniforms, she told me that it helps her kids distinguish between school time and free time. She also likes that her kids look like they’re in private school and so they get fewer questions when they go out during school hours. The final bonus is that the clothes double as “fancy” clothes when the kids need to get dressed up.

Makes sense. But choosing a homeschool uniform doesn’t really feel “laid-back”, does it? I think it could be —  but first, we need to let go of our ideas of what a uniform has to be.

We don’t have to put our kids in a collared white shirt buttoned right up to the top, and we don’t have to put our kids in navy blue jumpers (even though they would look super cute). Homeschool uniforms can be absolutely anything we want them to be.

For example, last year, after hearing that some homeschooling moms use a family uniform on field trips, I thought I would give it a try. I picked tie-dye. I thought that the brightly-coloured shirts would make my family stand out in a sea of kids at a busy science centre. It worked, kind of. But then my middle child wandered off into another room entirely, and even a shirt made of fluorescent tubes wouldn’t have helped me see her once there were several concrete walls between us. Next time I’m just going to stick one of those Tile Mate key finders on each of my kids. That will be our uniform.

Just like my tie-dyed shirts, your uniform can be anything that you want it to be. It could be a plain white t-shirt with your school motto ironed on the front. Or, better yet, your Hogwarts house motto. In Latin, of course. To be extra pretentious.

Like this.

Hey, I’d wear that.

Or maybe you’re not into Latin or random Harry Potter references for some reason. You could go even less formal and just pick some pyjamas that are different from the ones your kids sleep in. No judgment here. The idea is simply that you have a set of clothing that you specifically associate with school time.

Another thought: why not try a uniform of sorts for yourself, the homeschooling parent? You could embrace the idea of a “mom uniform” that was all the rage seven years ago, or you could take a cue from Waldorf teachers and wear something like a simple apron during school time.

I actually have one of those waldorf-y aprons. It’s in tatters because the straps got caught on the agitator in my washing machine, but I refuse to throw it away. I love it. I have every intention of sewing another six or seven of them once I find a pattern that I like as much. Goodness knows I have enough linen in my stash.

I don’t know what it is about that apron, but when I put it on, I immediately feel more patient and kind. I know that sounds crazy, but I’m not the only person to notice this. In a post called The Kindergarten Apron, Waldorf teacher Annie Porter writes:

“An apron can also influence the posture, attitude, and warmth of the teacher, influencing the manner in which he or she moves in the circle, sits at the table, walks, stands, and interacts with other adults. This is an interesting experiment that each teacher can try, as an exercise in self-observation.”

She also writes,

“I have also found that the simple act of putting on my apron is a step in my morning routine that helps me prepare myself for teaching. In donning the mantle of the kindergarten teacher, I am physically enacting the meditation

Dear God,
Make it so
That as far as my personal ambitions are concerned,
I may completely extinguish myself,
And Christ make true in me
The words of Saint Paul:
‘Not I, but Christ in me,’
That the holy spirit may dwell in the teacher,
This is the true threefoldness.“

I love this meditation. The act of putting on an apron or whatever uniform you choose can change your frame of mind and influence your children.

OK, really at this point I might just be trying to justify buying another apron from Etsy. I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to think that I’m doing my children an injustice by not having a few of them. Right?

I suppose that if I do that, I’ll have to give in and let River have a uniform as well.

What about you? Do your kids wear a uniform? Do you? How has it helped your homeschooling days?

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Check out the rest of the iHN Hopscotch posts here…