I believe that there are certain things that make me, or anyone else homeschooling their children, a good teacher. Patience really isn't one of them, surprisingly. I believe that patience can be overrated. You gave birth to the children, you spent countless sleepless nights with them when they were teething or feverish, you raised them up, taught them to walk, taught them manners.... I could go on, but I think you get the idea. So I suppose you have done enough parenting? Is there a cut-off age when you don't have the "patience" required to educate them as well? I think not. I'm pretty sure that if you really thought about it, you have all of the skills and ability to homeschool, just as I did. Let's look at the most important of these here.
One thing you must have in mind in order to be successful at homeschooling is a goal. I see a lot of people who start off homeschooling with no particular goal, and then they wonder why nothing seems to be working for them. You must have a goal in order to meet a goal. Makes sense, doesn't it? When my oldest child was in preschool, I began the search for a better education for her. Before there were problems in school, before we even really had a reason to not LIKE public school. I always felt that there was something more for her, for all of them. So I began looking into my options in my spare time. I researched curricula, I researched the core standards for different states, I looked at the possibility of private schools, and what they had to offer. Years passed before God made a way for us to school our children at home, but that gave me a chance to see what worked for others and compare it to what I thought would work best for our family, and in such research, I was able to set a goal. Ask yourself what you want your children to get out of their education, year by year. Ask yourself why you want to keep them home. I believe that a large part of the success we have experienced in our schooling so far has been due to this fact. I KNOW what I want my children to understand and grasp, and I enforce all of the things that it will take for them to reach those goals.
The most important thing that I can muster up to face each day is- determination. I set a goal for each week, and I am determined to meet it. This sometimes means that we have to school through our weekend to get it done, or perhaps work later into the evening. Things often come up in our day to day that interrupt the regular flow of events, and therefore, mess with the schedule I have made, but I have to be willing to push through and get it done anyway, no matter what the sacrifice. Determination and motivation truly go hand in hand. If you don't have the motivation to get up each morning and hit the ground running, then perhaps homeschool ISN'T for you. On the same token, I find that by having a defined plan causes me to make myself stay on task, as does seeing the results. Having a goal does no good if you don't have follow-through. Determination should be something that you can see before you start the process- if you don't have a true drive to educate your children from home, with determination and passion, then you will either give up too easily, or you will struggle through, and that does no one any good.
The only reason that people might need patience for homeschooling is because, perhaps, their children need to be disciplined. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, because my children are always in need of some discipline, but their behavior is the only thing that I have a struggle with. However, you may note that when they are not behaving, it is almost always the same rules they are breaking, meaning that I have to figure out a way to get through to them; it is more my fault than theirs. I am not saying that I am taking the blame for the choices that they make, because I do punish them, but there has to be a disconnect somewhere, either in the way that I choose to discipline them, or the desire to make the choice is stronger than the fear of discipline. In other words, patience is not what you need, but a strong backbone and a firm decision to educate and discipline your children is what you need. Mind you, it is a personal decision how you go about it, I'm not even going to touch the spanking or not spanking debate, but let me just say that if you are having trouble with your children, maybe you need to change the way you go about it, but be consistent- only time will tell if that method is working or not.
In review, patience isn't really something that must have in order to homeschool, all that you need is love for your children, compassion for their plight, passion for the cause, and good old fashioned discipline. I promise that even though it may be rocky at times, it will change your relationship with your children. It will also make you feel so grateful every time you hear on the news about a school bully, a school shooting, or a school child's suicide, because it could have been your child, instead, they are safe in your arms. The rewards far outweigh any of the frustration you may feel at times, I guarantee you they will.