This is a guest post from a faithful Top Ten Tuesday-er and bloggy friend, Angie at Many Little Blessings.
Homeschooling is not something that I ever thought I would do. Having spent seven years in college to earn two teaching degrees, I always assumed I’d be teaching in a school, and not at our dining room table. However, about four years ago, I felt called to bring my children home. While it hasn’t been easy, here are some things that have made it easier:
1. Plan/Schedule Ahead of Time – When I have made sure that I have everything planned out at least a week ahead of time (although I planned a whole year once), I am more relaxed. This, of course, makes the children more relaxed too. On the flip side, when I am rushing around trying to schedule everything that morning, we all end up frazzled.
2. Find Local Support – I don’t think that I could have made it this far in our homeschooling journey if it hadn’t been for the families in my local homeschooling group. Not only are they wonderful friends, but many of my kids’ closest friends are children of people in our group. Within our group, we also have a co-op that meets twice monthly, and that is always a favorite activity for my children.
3. Find Online Support and Ideas – Even if you don’t have a local group (or if you do!), you can still find great information and support online. There are many homeschooling forums, as well as wonderful homeschooling blogs such as Heart of the Matter Online, Simple Homeschool, The Homeschool Classroom, The Homeschool Village, and Hip Homeschool Moms.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Change Your Curriculum – The first year we homeschooled, I tried to use the curriculum that I bought even though it just wasn’t working for us. I struggled through with it until we were all miserable. Since we spent the money on it, I didn’t want to be wasteful. In retrospect, there was a much larger cost that we payed — our happiness. I wish we had changed sooner.
5. Don’t Change What Works – While you shouldn’t be afraid to change, you also shouldn’t be constantly looking for the latest and greatest curriculum or resource. If something is working, then stick with it. There is always going to be some other program that sounds great, but the best curriculum for your family is the one that works for them.
6. Get Dad Involved – If your husband is anything like my husband, he is generally happy to help do some teaching. However, he would never just walk up to me and say, “Do you want me to teach something?” Instead, as things come up that are appropriate for that situation, I go to him about doing the teaching. This summer, he worked with the kids on woodworking and electricity projects for 4-H.
7. Outsource – Dad isn’t the only person that can help you with teaching. If there is a subject that you’re not comfortable teaching, look for lessons or classes in your area (or online) that might meet those needs. Another option is to join a teaching co-op, where you might teach or assist in a class while other parents teach classes as well. (My children are taking classes like sewing, cooking, entomology, simple machines, and more.)
8. Worry Less – I worry sometimes when we review a concept and my kids stare at me like they have never heard of the things I’m talking to them about. My stress level has gone down when I have remembered two important things. First, even children in school do that. It’s not because they’re homeschooled. And second, it is not vitally important that they remember everything we study. I have had to remind myself that I probably don’t actually remember much of what I studied in fifth grade social studies. If they can just remember the big ideas, then they’ll be fine.
9. Teach Life Skills – Homeschooling can take up a lot of time. This sometimes means that house work can suffer because of it. Instead of just letting the house go, train your children (boys and girls) in the art of homemaking. It will probably mean even more time spent as you try to keep up with the house and teach them how to help. But, when they are finally proficient enough to really help with things like laundry, cleaning, and meal preparation, that extra time spent will seem like time well spent.
10. Ask Your Children What They Like – One of the single most important things that I have done in homeschooling that has eased my mind was to sit down with my kids and have a serious talk about what they liked about our homeschooling and what they didn’t like. That conversation was more helpful than all the books I’ve read on homeschooling.
Angie is a university trained teacher turned homeschooling Mom to her three children. She writes at her blog, Many Little Blessings, about the things that happen in life between all those loads of laundry. Angie has a heart for relationships and community, so she founded (and is a contributing writer and editor at) The Homeschool Classroom and Catholic Mothers Online. She is also an artist and designer.
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