Ever thought of homeschooling?

What do Albert Einstein, C.S. Lewis, and Serena and Venus Williams have in common?

If you guessed that they were all homeschooled, then you would be correct!

Have you ever thought of homeschooling?

Our family’s homeschool journey began over 6 years ago when my oldest son was in the first grade. He was attending classes in a traditional school environment. Every morning, Monday through Friday, my husband or I would drop off our bright-eyed boy and leave him in a noisy gym where he would wait for the teacher’s aide to take him to the classroom. Every afternoon, I’d join the long carpool line and inch along until I was able retrieve my 6 year old. He would climb in the car, completely exhausted. Ugh! It finally dawned on me that I was giving away the best part of his day.

What’s your WHY?

Why are you considering homeschooling? For our family, we wanted the freedom to learn outside the box, reclaim some of the day, and fill it with profitable learning experiences that would lead to a lifelong love of learning. What’s your “why”? Write it down! Go ahead, it only takes a minute. I will wait! It seems like such a small thing but I promise it will serve you in a big way at some point on your journey.

WHY this post?

The current pandemic has many families reevaluating schooling options. By offering some veteran homeschool mama insight, my thinking is that it might be what you need to consider taking the leap for yourself, especially if you have been seriously considering homeschooling.  Imagine you and your child/children being liberated from zoom meetings, virtual PE, and a plethora of worksheets. You can already feel yourself relax, can’t you? It’s time to love learning again!

What about socialization?

If we have learned anything from the past few months, we have learned that we are social by nature- some of us more than others, of course. But what is socialization anyway? The word socialization by definition means; “the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society” (Oxford Languages). Well, I’m not sure about you but given the current state of society, I’m not convinced acceptable is really the goal I want to set for my children. Another definition of socialization: “the activity of mixing socially with others.” (Oxford Languages) Rest assured, homeschooling offers multiple opportunities for your child to not only “mix socially with others” but actually develop meaningful and lasting relationships with others.

What homeschooling is NOT

Homeschooling is not school at home. You aren’t recreating what is done within the four walls of one building into the four walls of your home. It isn’t a checklist of assignments (more on that later), a zoom call to log into, or endless worksheets to be completed and scanned in. In our early homeschooling years, I came across a quote by Steve and Jane Lambert that brought into focus what homeschooling truly is…

“We’re not trying to do “School at Home.” We’re trying to do homeschool. These are two entirely different propositions. We’re not trying to replicate the time, style of content of the classroom. Rather we’re trying to cultivate a lifestyle of learning in which learning takes place from morning until bedtime 7 days each week. The “formal” portion of each teaching day is just the tip of the iceberg.”–Steve & Jane Lambert

Homeschooling IS….

spending time with your favorite people!

learning together.

a front row seat for the light bulb moments.

fostering a love of learning.

time to breath.

freedom to choose what is best for your children not merely what is acceptable.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” – William Butler Yeats

Let’s get started!

First check your state to determine what is required for you to homeschool. Thankfully, in many states the requirements are few. In NC, where our family homeschools, the only requirements are to file a notice of intent online (the hardest part for me was to pick a name for our homeschool), keep a record of attendance (my kiddos joke, isn’t every day a school day?) and yearly testing (CAT test and Woodcock Johnson are a couple we have used) This website is user friendly and will serve as a good guide: https://hslda.org/legal

The Big Picture–Goals! Yay!

I highly recommend writing down individual goals for each child. It only takes 5 minutes- 10 minutes. Write what comes to your mind without overthinking it. You can even ask your children what they would like to work on. It is not an exhaustive list and it doesn’t have to be solely academic. Sometimes character training is just as important! Just 1 or 2 things to work on for the year. Here is our list for this year:

O (12 years old)- Hone/Refine writing skills, take more ownership of daily assignments, work on being tidy!

L (9 years old)- Master math facts, gain confidence with daily work, encourage and support independent reading time.

N- (5 years old)- develop reading skills, hold onto enthusiasm for learning

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” –Aristotle

My practical tips

Lists! I love them! I’m not sure I could function without them (yes, plural- my husband jokes that my lists have lists- ha!) Being a list lover, my advice is to go ahead a make your list. Now, hold it loosely. I’m telling you, those days when you veer completely off course and don’t check a single thing off your list will be some of your best days! Lists can be wonderful tools but it’s important that we don’t give them more power than they deserve- we are in control of the list, the list doesn’t control us!

Speaking of lists, I created a daily assignment sheet (one for each kiddo) that I fill in with the target assignments for the week. My ultimate goal is to have each kiddo fill in what they want to do each day. With my oldest, this is helping him take ownership in planning out his week. If he wants a light day or a day off, then he can do extra assignments another day. See, what I did there? I circled back around to the big picture- encouraging my oldest to take initiative!

“I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” ― Albert Einstein

The Three E’s

I often get asked how we get everything done every day. The short answer is we don’t. Maybe someone is struggling with a math concept or we are reading a really good book about the Revolutionary war that we just can’t put down. It could be that we just aren’t firing on all cylinders and need a light day or the day off. I’ve learned to give grace to myself and my children and do what we can do and no more. I use the 3 E’s principle- Essentials, Electives and Extras. If I can only pick one, we go with “Essentials” (reading, writing, arithmetic)

Essentials– *Reading, Writing, Math, Play!

Electives– Latin, Science, History, Geography

Extras– Art, Music, Typing

*Reading together is like a bomb diffusor in our home. I’m serious! It never ceases to amaze me how curling up on the couch with my kids and a book can restore the peace. A disagreement between siblings, a new concept that is a little challenging or just a few moments to refresh our spirits, reading aloud to my kiddos is like magic. I strategically leave books scattered around the house (To think I was once accused of being a neatnik- haha!). The picture below is a smattering of books currently on our coffee table. I love to watch them explore the materials I choose without being prompted. Even my 9 year old, who would prefer to play Legos, picked up a book this morning! Yay!

What about the hard days?

There is a joke in my house that I love sunshine and roses…I like happy, neat, and tidy! I really do, but I also know that hard days are part of life and I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit that there will be moments that you will really question why you wanted to homeschool in the first place. Remember when I said to write down your “why”? I’m telling you it will be your light on a stormy day. You’ve likely dealt with stormy days with traditional school- they come in the form of a bully, school safety concerns, and peer pressure.

Teaching from Rest

I also, highly recommend the book “Teaching from Rest” by Sarah Mackenzie. It is a small book and easy to read but there is so much good stuff packed in those pages. It will bless you! I try to read it at the beginning of each school year, it always proves to be refreshing and encouraging.

What are you waiting for?

So, if you have ever thought of homeschooling, I hope this post will serve as an encouragement to you. You can do it! Homeschooling has come a long way, even in the 6 years we have been homeschooling. There are some amazing resources out there, which is a great thing, but don’t get so overwhelmed by the choices. Trust that you will make the best decisions for your children and your family. Lastly, enjoy! It is a journey but a journey worth taking!