New To Homeschooling? A Few Tips To Get You Started.
There are so many ways to homeschool.
- Online combined with a school's curriculum.
- Completely on your own with a purchased or guided curriculum.
- Completely on your own with a curriculum created by you.
- On your own with no curriculum with more of a free-flowing approach.
- Unschooling where your kids learn from everyday life experiences.
No matter what direction you are choosing for your family, I support you.
I homeschooled my sons through their middle school and high school years. It takes tenacity, resilience, and confidence knowing that you are doing what’s best for your individual child based on their learning needs. Some kids thrive being homeschooled and some don’t. I’ve seen families that had some of their kids enrolled in school and some were at-home learning. It truly boils down to what's best for your child.
When you’re first starting out it can feel intimidating and overwhelming. If you are not tied to a set schedule with a school, try and relax on preconceived time constraints. Find ways to make school work for your family. For example, some parents like to work on different subjects on different days and use real-world events and experiences as their learning and teaching tools.
You can incorporate field trips to local museums, parks, insectariums or go on nature walks together.
Some kids learn by repetition, through writing, listening, movement or music. Kinesthetic learners are typically hands-on learners. They need to be able to touch, see and feel. Some kids need to be moving constantly while learning for them to fully be able to embody what they're exploring.
Consider joining some local homeschooling groups to bounce ideas off of and to be able to get your kids together for group activities and peer support.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to community members and other parents or offer to share your own expertise. A team approach can make it fun and supportive. Maybe one parent is really great at teaching cooking skills, while another loves to do crafts and art. Do you know someone who loves music and would like to gather with your group of kids to teach certain music skills or just sing, shake, rattle and roll?
When my son Josh was in his middle school years a local community member recruited from our local university gathered once a week with a group of students at a local coffee shop to learn writing skills. The kids had a blast getting together with other kids their age while going over the previous week's writing assignments. Creativity Abounded!
Be willing to think outside the box and share responsibility with adults you trust. Homeschooling doesn’t have to be reclusive or lonely. Quite honestly some of my fondest parenting memories are from our homeschooling years.
I know homeschooling is a big decision. I want to leave you with some of my favorite homeschooling articles on Medium.
No matter what direction you are choosing for your family, I support you.
Homeschooling: A Primer
What happens if you don’t put them on the yellow bus?
