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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great list! I agree, being prepared is a key element- when I am not, the day does not go smoothly and we don’t get much done.
I’ve been working this school year and last school year to try to stay ahead and plan. Nobody likes it when I get frazzled or don’t know the plan.
Getting Dad involved is always a lot of fun! 🙂
Do you have a resource that you use (other than common sense) to teach life skills — particularly for boys. Everything I look at is geared toward girls and I actually need something to teach us both 🙂
I hope you don’t mind, but instead of trying to answer myself, I thought I would try to get you more suggestions. I posted this to the group on The Homeschool Classroom’s Facebook page. Here is the link (but I only just posted it now, so be sure to check it later): http://www.facebook.com/HSClassroom/posts/10150291083477612
Hope that helps!
Thanks for hosting this. I love link ups! They’re helping my baby blog grow.
I won’t be doing structured homeschooling for years yet, but I still enjoy reading about it.
It’s always great to get dad to help out with the kids in homeschooling. We are not really doing homeschooling but we often do crafts and activities with the kids at home.
Great list of resources for homeschooling. I don’t plan on homeschooling, but I definitely will be supplementing with lessons at home, so those websites should come in handy
This is really great. We plan to homeschool our kids. Perhaps doing more of a homeschool co-op. This year we have decided to do a “test run” with our oldest who is 3.5. I have our semester planned out {in what I would like to accomplish; learning numbers/counting, ABC’s and writing her name, etc}, but then we have her going twice a week to a Christian preschool. We’re praying that this year will give us better direction on how we want homeschooling to look for us.
I have tossed the idea around several times to homeschool…I dont think its for me. BUT I do like some of these ideas for being more organized for helping a toddler learn his ABC’s and 123’s :0)
Great list! I don’t have kids yet, but I’ve always thought I would enjoy homeschooling. I have a teaching degree like you, and I hope that will make things a *little* less overwhelming when I start.
I think in some ways, it makes me feel a little more confident. But, in other ways, I really think it holds me back. It has made me more centered on a public school model. Which is fine, I suppose, but I’d like to break free of that more than I feel like I am able to.
Great tips Angie! I am so with you on “Outsource”. A wise veteran of homeschooling told me once, “You don’t have to be the only source. For example, if you don’t paint well, hire a high school student you know and trust to come by for art class in the kitchen.”
We start up this week! Ahhh! I need to get my ducks in a row!
I never would have thought about a high school student for some of those things. What a smart idea! Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks for these great resources. Our daughter is still preschool age and I wish I was able to make more time to do teaching stuff with her — but I just haven’t gotten there yet. Struggling to get a business off the ground, so hopefully mom and dad can be at home with her eventually 😉
Great tips! Although I’m fairly certain we will do a public school, lots of these tips can be used even when everything iisn’t being taught at home. Parents still have a lot of responsibility!
Thanks for the linky!!!!!
Thanks so much for the tips! My daughter is starting 3rd grade and we are starting homeschool this year. We’re a military family, and are approaching her 8th move in December. I finally decided this was the best thing for our family. I’m nervous and excited all at the same time! I think my biggest concern is how to keep my 3 year old entertained! Thanks again for the tips. I look forward to visiting your blog! 🙂
Great, great tips. I was trained as a teacher, too, and if you’d asked me about 7 years ago, I never would’ve thought I’d be homeschooling either! But now, it’s all I want to do for and with our family.
We’re just getting into more “serious” homeschool since my son is still young, so these tips really help a newbie like me!
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