Incredible Homeschooling Tips for a Smooth School Year
Thinking about homeschooling but don’t know where to start? Looking for advice to make things simpler? In this post I’ll share why we choose to homeschool, and the best advice I have to make the process as simple as possible.
I know homeschooling isn’t for everyone. This post is not meant to try to convince anyone, just to encourage and give advice to those who feel like homeschooling is the best decision for their family. No judgment here!
It’s officially been over 3 years since covid forced us home, and in many ways, it changed our family for the better. The worry and fear were a struggle to face, and I wouldn’t ever want to go through that again, but it brought us together as a family. We ate dinner together every single night, tucked our children into bed together, and cultivated an incredible closeness as a family. We learned to garden, taught Lucas how to read, and slept in way too much. I am grateful for the season we had together, even if the circumstances weren’t the best.
My Background in Homeschooling
I was homeschooled from 2nd-9th grade, and we spent a lot of time together as a family. Getting to experience that with my own children has been one of the greatest blessings. It didn’t come with its own challenges, though. It took a while to get my husband on board with the idea of homeschooling until we had no other choice. Now, we don’t want to send any of our kids back. With homeschooling, we have total control over what our children are exposed to and what they are learning. There is also no fear for their safety when they are in our home. It’s unfortunate that these are things we have to think about, but as parents, we don’t have a choice.
When our children were in public school, our schedule revolved around their school calendars. Start times, release times, holidays, and teacher service days. It was stressful trying to plan any trips or family time around how much they were gone. Between their start time and how long the school day was, there were a lot of days when my husband wasn’t even able to interact with the kids because of his work schedule. It was frustrating that they all were missing out on time together. Homeschooling takes all that stress away. Sure, it adds stress in other ways, but we’ll get into that later!
Why We Choose to Homeschool and My Best Homeschooling Tips
I touched on this a little bit, but we chose to homeschool for many reasons. Homeschooling has always been something I’ve thought about. Luke’s leukemia diagnosis and the pandemic just solidified our decision.
More control
Homeschooling gave us more control over what our children were exposed to. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the controversy in our country is a bit much right now and I would rather my children come to my husband and I for advice than a school counselor.
We choose What They Are Learning
This goes along with the whole control thing, but being in charge of what they are learning is so important to us. I feel like public school has given our kids a watered-down version of our country’s history. We want them to learn about all of it. Not what best fits the agenda of the public school system. Keeping them home has allowed us to choose the best curriculum for our family.
Safety
It’s no secret that the safety of our children is a huge deciding factor in choosing homeschooling. School shootings are at an all-time high, and no matter what your opinion is on the matter, I think we can all agree that the way things are being handled (or not handled) right now is unacceptable.
More Time Together
Having our children home has given us an incredible opportunity that not everyone is given with their kids. Sending them to school full-time and then after-school care for both of us to work outside the home just doesn’t make sense financially. Finances are always stressful, but keeping our kids home and out of childcare makes more financial sense for us. It also allows us to be together more. My husband can spend more time with our kids, help with dinner and bedtime routines, and on his late nights, he is able to see them before he leaves which wouldn’t be possible if they were in school.
The decision to homeschool didn’t come easily. As familiar as I was with the concept, homeschooling my own children was a completely different story. I knew I needed to do some research on curriculum, scheduling, state requirements, and things like extracurriculars. I searched for homeschooling tips for beginners, and between my own experience and those tips, we came up with a plan and curriculum that we felt best fit the needs of our family.
Here Are My Best Homeschooling Tips for Everyone
Research at least 3 curriculum options. I was most familiar with Abeka and PACEs from when I was homeschooled as a child. Abeka is one of my favorites because it includes a lot of reading in the curriculum and forces kids to strengthen their reading skills. For a kid who loved to read, I enjoyed that, but I have learned with my kids who aren’t strong readers that it can seem overwhelming. PACE workbooks are the size of a magazine, and each subject has a handful of workbooks to complete for each school year. I enjoyed this one when I was younger because it felt encouraging when I finished a workbook and moved on to the next.
Our family has used Abeka for the last 2 school years for all of our kids, but after some research, we may transition to The Good and the Beautiful. I really love that they encourage group learning for a few of the subjects, with each grade level splitting off for things like math and grammar. It encourages us to be together as a family for a few subjects and simplifies things even more.
You don’t need a ridiculous number of supplies.
Curriculum, paper, and something to write with are really all you need. Science can be as simple as studying the life of a tree and gradually become more difficult with age. P.E. can be going for a walk a few times a week as a family. Don’t get overwhelmed with what you have to buy. It’s manageable! The world is literally your classroom.
Here’s a homeschooling tip that might surprise you: you get to make the rules.
Want to use bread baking as home economics? Awesome! Science class is making more laundry soap? Fantastic! As long as you are following the requirements of your state, and your kids are learning, that’s what matters. That’s the beauty of homeschooling. You are in charge.
Join the HSLDA, The Home School Legal Defense Association.
It protects our legal right to homeschool. It is a Christian organization, but if CPS, a school district, or a member of the Board of Education questions your decision to homeschool, they can help. Their website also provides information on homeschooling specific to each state. For example, in the state of Colorado, I am required to provide 172 days of instruction for at least 4 hours a day.
If something isn’t working, switch it up. This homeschooling tip saved me from so much unnecessary stress. When we started homeschooling in 2020, we were originally with Connections Academy. It’s a great option, but my oldest son was struggling. There was no live instruction, and he needed that support. He started to fall behind, and the only way to bring his grades up was a written paper explaining what he did wrong, how to find the correct answer, and how to avoid getting another wrong answer. It was too much. He needed a different curriculum immediately, while my daughter and younger son both loved this program. It’s okay to change your plan.
Technology can be really helpful but don’t become reliant on it.
As I mentioned before, we used a completely computer-based curriculum in our first year. It was great for a few of my children, but a complete disaster for another. Any time there was a technical error, my kids couldn’t get any assignments done. This became another added stress that was completely unnecessary.
Make sure your kids have some sort of social outlet.
This was the hardest part for my husband and I to figure out. We have been secluded for so long because of Lucas’ cancer diagnosis, but our kids need to socialize, too. They have each other, but we still try to encourage friendships with others, so they aren’t struggling with loneliness. This homeschooling tip can be tough to figure out, but research co-ops or church organizations in your area for help.
I could talk about homeschooling tips and why I love it so much for hours. The decision that we made for our family is great. I am working on a list of the best resources for homeschoolers, and homeschooling tips from other families but for now, I’ll leave you with this. Choosing to homeschool is a big decision. There is no right or wrong answer, but if you are playing with the idea of homeschooling, I hope these tips have helped you with your decision. You can’t do it ‘wrong’, and it’ll look different for every family, so don’t compare! If you need more homeschooling tips or resources, stay tuned for my next post. If you’ve found this helpful, please share and pin it to your favorite Pinterest board.
Thank you for being here!
-M
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