A Typical Day

Is there a typical homeschool day? 

I doubt it!

Yesterday we were at the table doing lessons at about four in the afternoon, but that is because we were running around visiting friends that morning! Why not have dessert first!

Today we were doing lessons, then played some “cup bowling” (as we call it), when a HS friend dropped by and spent the afternoon with us! There is nothing like a homeschool friend!  They think NOTHING of all kinds of stuff piled up in the living room, simulating a bowling alley!  lol Then there was a little sprinkler play…When people ask me about homeschooling, one of the first questions is usually “what is a typical day like”?

That’s a tough one. 
And a simple one.  

Our days vary so much, as do the days of most families that I know. We are busy, active, rarely sitting still. But when lesson time does come, we’re at the table learning decimals, prepositions, and American history. We have a nice little spot with markers, paper, books, stickers, a timer, rulers, scissors, pencils, and snacks. There we will follow our math books, have discussion about ethics, or letter writing, or friendship, or politics, or discoveries, or plans for the year/month/week/day/moment, play games, science experiments (our favorite!), growing up, kindness and fairness, maturity, history, other cultures, biographies, computers, or just about anything!

In fact, one of the best things about homeschooling is that it is so very CURRENT. If something is happening in the world, we want to know about it!

“Harry Potter” coming out tomorrow? Let’s learn about special effects in the movies. Let’s discuss the controversies that some families experience regarding the films. Let’s get excited that our countdown is nearly over!

President Obama in town? Let’s check out how various news sources around the world discuss his activities for the day. Let’s watch his speech or event. Let’s learn more about a president’s duties.

You get the picture!

We have our math books. We have our language lessons. We read our history. We are avid science book readers. We love learning about art and music and dance.

BUT! We can get up anytime, run out the door, and follow our bliss!

BTW, kids spending the night tonight and tomorrow night...just the usual!

Information, Help, Encouragement

We aren’t the homeschool pioneer generation. 
We don’t have to struggle with legality of homeschooling.
We are standing on the shoulders of giants!

We don’t have to be isolated.  We are no longer considered “strange”.  Homeschooling has proven time and time again what a success it can be, what wonderful adults it can build.   We no longer have to try to homeschool our children without decent materials and NO INTERNET!  (How did they do it?)

Today, the internet is almost TOO full of information.  It is almost TOO easy to find opinions and facts and figures and materials and answers and questions.  But we are the lucky ones.  The families who are able to bask in the work of our forefamiles, the pioneers of homeschooling.  The families who broke the ground of this current ground swell of families who have taken this wonderful road, a road that used to be pathless, now, a wide two-lane highway…construction ahead!

Those families, our homeschooling wise ones, were at a loss for three major things.  Three key elements that homeschooling parents today STILL need, but can now find more readily:  information, help, encouragement.
As homeschooling parents, one of the things we are constantly doing is educating ourselves.  Bookstores, the internet, and community support groups now about and we are surrounded by education sources and wonderful success stories.  Resources are endless and I, for one, find the internet to be a major source for my own education.  I love it!

As for help, no longer are we alone in our wagons on the prairie with miles between us and the next homeschooling family.  With some exceptions of course, we are the lucky recipients of assistance lovingly offered by homeschool veterans and kind-hearted parents who have been there!  Additionally, if we have a question, we are no longer alone AND, there are often a number of answers from which to choose.
Encouragement?  Each family and friend group has their own unique personality, but I have found that encouragement is abundant and available whenever I need it!  In fact, our homeschooling community is a vital and safe place to explore the grand expedition of being a homeschooling parent.

One of my dear friends IS of the homeschool pioneer generation and I can’t even compete with the passion that is this woman!  Nancy Clavenna is an energetic, vital, , learning, adventuresome, blue-eyed wonder of a mother who is now the grandparent of two homeschooled grandchildren:  Evey and Jonas!  Nancy is a first class example of the type of person who has seeded our homeschooling adventure and made it possible for we relative newbies to move forward with confidence and pride that we have taken this road less traveled, yet traveled for a millenia!

No More Guilt

GUILT!!!!!!!!!

I have it. You have it. It must be some sort of invasive thing that enters our body when we have children. I just can’t remember feeling it so often BC (before children)! Not enough fruit. Not enough baths. Not enough sleep. Not enough awake time. Not enough reading. Not enough fractions. 
There is just no end to it!

At the same time, I see guilt as one of the least productive of all emotions. Guilt grinds us to a halt. It weighs us down until we can barely lift our primate knuckles off of the ground and it makes us long for hibernation. The thing it doesn’t do, however, is inspire us to do better!
So, in order to make a dent in the homeschool parents’ overload of guilt, I have created a list of rules. Strike that.  Suggestions!  Evaluate them and decide for yourself if they make sense for you!

Never, EVER, when feeling particularly down in the dumps read a “How to Homeschool” type of book. Most of them can bring me down from the pinnacle of a homeschooling buzz! They effect me even worse if I am doubting my ability to explain exponential notation properly. These books can offer some truly wonderful and inspired ideas and guidelines.  But that is what they are.  Ideas and guidelines. Not rules.
There. Are. No. Rules. Your. Way. Is. Correct.

If your child were in school, he or she would have at least FIVE different adults offering instruction or supervision during a single day. Of course you can’t to all of that!

You can do better. You can be a single, consistent adult, who truly sees and cares. That always trumps the numbers.

Knowing HOW to learn is more important than knowing everything. I have NEVER memorized the state capitols and I will never know how to speak Spanish or French. But, I DO know where to find all of this information (AND MORE) and that is even more important. At any given moment as an adult, none of us know it all. But, happily, we know our resources and we use them.

You didn’t even know what an iPod was three years ago. You won’t know everything that there is to know about homeschooling…well, ever! But you can do your very best today with that you know today.

And that phrase that I remember hearing so often when I was a kid, that phrase that means so much to me now: Tomorrow is another day. 

I honestly have to remind myself of that. Do you?

We don’t have to do it all today! There will always be a tomorrow for us to learn more, do more, or even use for relaxation. Art, music, biographies, creative writing. Let’s plan on doing some of that stuff tomorrow. And if tomorrow never comes, well, I have to say, I only read about three true pieces of literature throughout my entire high school years. Most of my literary reading came as an adult and by choice. You really don’t have to do it all. Sometimes it is enough to say, ‘Hey, there are some cool things over there…wanna go have a look? Well, maybe another day.”

Your family is a team. YOU are not the work horse and PLEASE don’t think that you can be or should be a super mother. Every member of the family can help plan and carryout a meal. And, if your children are like mine, some of them will happily cooperate and feel proud for doing so while some of them will feel like it isn’t fair and life stinks! That’s normal.

If at all possible, take mental health vacations. You alone or the whole family. Go to the park and just lie in the grass. Stay up late and look at stars. Sit by a creek and collect insects. These activities are perspective-givers. Sometimes we all need a reminder…

Peace.

You KNOW you are a Homeschooler When…

 

• Someone asks what grade you’re in and you’re not sure. 
• You always have snacks with lessons.
• You go to Target HOPING someone will ask you why you are not in school today.
• You don’t need permission to either teach evolution or leave it out
• You have already done the grocery-store-as-a-field-trip thing
• Your best vacations are in September, October, November…
• Socialization is NOT a thing you worry about as you get so much of it!
• You stay up past midnight to see the stars on a Monday night.
• Your favorite tool is the computer
• The librarian knows your children's names.
• Your child asks for a reference book for a birthday.
• Your children can occupy themselves for hours.
• Your favorite author is Avi, Jane Austin, Willa Cather, Herman Mehville, or Alexander Dumas.
• You own the entire “Planet Earth” series on DVD
• You can mix a batch of home made play dough from memory
• Your children wear clothing that they have designed
• You don’t have room for all of your books
• You know many genres of music.
• You ask enough questions at the dentist office that you get some “Office time”!
• You are no longer offended by the “Is it legal?” question.
• You have multiplication posters taped across from the potty
• If you forget your homework you can go get it in a minute.
• Your birthday is an official school holiday.
• You work when you are sick and take “sick days” when you are well.
• You are completely unaware of the current fads, fashions, and “cool” slang terms.
• You have no idea what a wedgie is.
• When you watch a movie, you can compare it to the book because you’ve read it.
• You dress up as historical or literary characters for Halloween, or just for fun!
• You exchange home made valentines.
• You have your parent/teacher conference in the dark before going to sleep.
• You have a rock collection, a leaf collection, a bone collection, and an insect collection.
• The librarian knows your name and suggests books to you.
• You have ever attempted to teach yourself algebra, sentence diagramming, or physics.
• You learn something new every day
• Your dictionary is dog-eared and tattered, and well used!
• Santa brings you craft books and science kids and you are happy!
• You know what Latin roots are.
• You visit website you would have NEVER found had your children not asked a question
• Your board games all have names like “Scrabble”, “Trailblazer”, “Game of Knowledge”, and “Geo Bee”.
• You have created a newer decimal system for organizing books
• You told the librarian about it and she was impressed
• You have homemade timelines and maps on your walls
• You know all of the planets’ names and have seen them
• Your favorite place to study is outside on a blanket, under a tree, anyplace flat!
• You can quote lines from Shakespeare, but not from the Disney Channel.
• You play math games and language for fun
• You own a bingo game
• You have “Not Going Back to School” parties
• The only bully you ever run into is your brother
• It takes you less than a minute to walk to school.
• Your school bus is a mini van.
• You keep paper, pens, a dictionary, Peterson Field  Guides, binoculars, compass, rock hammer, collection kit, snacks, and a change of clothing in your car.
• There are only four students in your class – and all of them are your brothers and sisters.
• You have a 12-year-old, an 8-year-old, and a toddler in the same class.
• The school nurse, principal, librarian, bus driver, and lunch lady all tuck you in at night
• You have mold growing in your refrigerator on purpose
• If you have EVER studied the contents of the vacuum bag
• You own more than one of the following:  telescope, microscope, binoculars, fax machine, copier, video camera, black board, or compass
• Every day you are thankful to have spent that day with your children
• You will NEVER regret not having spent enough time with your children
• You actually look forward to “PTA meetings” with other parents!
• Your teens make valentines for YOU.

Choosing Curriculum

 

Homeschooling parents want to know three things:  What are the best products?  Can I do better?  And Am I doing enough?

Choosing homeschool materials can be time-intensive and can require much research on the part of parents. Some years ago, parents had to deal with the dilemma of having very little to choose from.  Today, we are lucky enough to be homeschooling at a time when the choices are amazing and when more becomes available each year.  Of course, the yin to this yang is that it requires more time and attention on our part to sort through the available curriculum and materials in order to locate and aquire the “right” materials for our family.
It helps to talk to other homeschooling families, but each family you ask will have different answers!  At first, thosesewing-1 early years of homeschooling, this can cause a parent to lose heart.  Eventually, the fact that every homeschool family is unique becomes one of the best things about homeschooling.

When it comes to choosing curriculum, remember, your family’s needs are more important than any expectations you will read/hear/feel from outside sources.  Trust your instincts where materials are concerned.  Why buy “Spelling, Level 3″ when your child, regardless of age, needs “Spelling, Level 2″?  Ignore those “levels” and “grades” that are attached to most material and choose each subject based on the level of your child, rather than the other way around.  Think of it as a quilt.  Choose the materials, sizes, shapes, textures, and quality that appeals to you and make it your own.quilt-11

There is no reason why you can’t combine materials from across the spectrum into your homeschool day.  A book from here, a film from there, workbook from a third place.  Happily, we are living at a time when our options are open and we are the seamstresses of our children’s education!  Choose pieces that you love, pieces that appeal to them, pieces that are unique.  Blend them into a work of art that is your child!

A father was shopping in the store this morning.  He and his wife are fairly new to homeschooling and they had come to shop, browse, educate themselves.  He asked me something along the lines of “what are the benefits of homeschooling”.  My Top of the List is the fact that I can teach my children at their level, rather than at the level of their peers.  In this way, we can zoom forward or stay in one place for awhile.  Flexibility.  Accept it.  Love it!

Will you use secular or Christian materials?  Again, this decision is one that wants to mesh with the goals of your family.  And it is possible to combine the two in order to find the materials that make sense to you.

I realize that these aren’t answers, per se.  But no one can tell you what is best for your family.  You will know it when you see it.  So, take some time, browse, educate yourself, ask around.  Eventually, you will find the materials that feel like “home” to you.

Are you still feeling confused?

Wanting more concrete assistance?

Check back soon.  I will talk more about various homeschool approaches and some materials that “fit” each one.

At Least TEN Good Reasons to Homeschool

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What are the top ten benefits that homeschooling has to offer that your friendly, neighborhood public schools may not offer?  Well, the way I see it:

10. Your child can have an individualized education.

• As the parent, you can skip the child any number of grade levels and there is not one administrator bending over backwards and trying to explain why it is not possible. Does your child know it already…then SKIP IT this time! Is your child interested in a particular subject…spend lots more time on it!
• No classroom bells ending the period: ample time to complete, investigate, explore more, follow your bliss, surf, continue your learning!
• If a child has asynchronous development (and what child DOESN'T?), you can customize the work for acceleration in one area and remediation in another. My two children vary in their levels of skill in each subject…and we can accommodate each of them easily!

9.  Homeschooling can give a child the gift of time because it does not generally take 6 or 7 hours for a days’ work.

•  A child can follow his interests for hours a day!
•  There is plenty of time in the day for expanded exploration and extending fun and interesting activities on any given topic.
• There is time for household chores, play, hobbies and guilt-free reading for pleasure
• We take 1-3 hours per day for structured lessons…all of the rest is for following individual interests.

8.  The classroom has no walls.

• Field trips can occur at the parent’s discretion and can be spur- of-the-moment decisions.
• Pick up and move outdoors whenever you can.
• Follow up activities from a field trip can last as long as the interest lasts.
• Instruction can take place at the library, park, or even in the car on the way.

7.  The family can travel and not be subjected to a school calendar decided by the schools.

• A trip to a favorite tourist spot with all the educational value of the monuments, museums, and tours can be considered “unexcused” absence in the school system, not so if you are homeschooling.  
• All homeschoolers LOVE the off-peak travel benefits!

6.  Most homeschoolers have freedom from bureaucracy.

•  No rules about who can participate based on geographic location.
•  No rules about who cannot participate.
•  No rules about when to begin and when to end.
•  No rules about WHAT to teach WHEN.
•  No rigid rules to get in the way of your child’s needs.

5.  There is a short commute time from home to classroom.

• There is no strange zoning where your child is bused to a school on a 45 minute bus ride when there are two schools closer that the bus drives right past.
• NO WORRYING about that stranger that you heard about on the news who has been seen handing out near bus stops and schools.
• No car line in front of school for those that live too close to ride the bus.
• No tardys, no missed recesses, no lunch bell.
• No bus at all.

4.  Curriculum can be presented in a manner that suites the child.

• Parents can choose a traditional method or non-traditional.
• Curriculum can be modified without worrying about the implications it has on an entire group of students.
• If materials or approaches aren’t working a homeschooler can immediately try something else.
• Parents and children can learn together what method of learning WORKS for that child!

3.  Mastery learning is possible.

• Your child can master the content of a lesson before moving to the next lesson without inconveniencing others. Take as long as you need to on integers.
• Homeschoolers know that all kids get "A"s in all subjects.  Why? Because you don't more forward until your child is ready!

2.  There are no afternoon and evening homework battles.

1.  The PLACEMENT TESTS are not mandatory for a homeschooler.

• Woo Hoo.

Homeschool Co-Op Ideas

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Many areas of the country now have wonderful homeschool support/educational/or co-op groups. These groups are a great way to share your skills and to learn more from other families around you. A Co-Op means, Co-operative…sharing your passions and learning about the passions about others…for free or cheap! For example, our family is heavily into the hobby of astronomy. We offer observing nights on a regular basis to our homeschooling friends, while they offer their skills to US!

As a family new to this form of sharing-the-love, you might be experiencing anxiety trying to think of something to offer your group. I know the fearful questions in your mind:  Do you have a skill? What are you qualified to teach? What can you do?

LOL…listen, we have all been there. Fear not, you have plenty to offer. Later you will think of things that interest you and that you wish to share with the group. For now, here are a few ideas you might like to borrow, keeping in mind that your children might have ideas of their own!

Homeschoolers are all about field trips, though it can be difficult to think of unique, educational, and fun places to explore as a group. I am certain we have all had our share of trips to the museums, parks, zoos, nature areas, theaters, and cultural events. Although I have created this list mostly from my brainstorming, I have also included wonderful ideas that I have seen or heard of through my own or other homeschool groups. Have you thought about some of these places:

• Attend civic meetings
• Use Public Transportation to get around town, use the posted schedules
• Swimming
• Creek or Pond Exploration
• Peterson Guides and Nature Walk
• Answer the phone for public television or radio fund drive
• Visit the state capitol
• Local History Field Trips
• Our community has some great hobby clubs that have meetings open to the public, including rock club, robotics club, astronomy club, ham radio club, and rocketry club
• Political Rally
• Go to the Airport
• Visit a Nursing Home and Sing
• Pick up Trash on an Empty Lot
• Daytrips
• Attend public lectures at local libraries, community center, community colleges
• Explore the Library
• Walk downtown taking pictures of interesting architecture
• We once visited a control tower at a small airport…very cool!
• Follow a creek and discuss how it oxbows, erodes, changes
• Tour the local university or college
• Mini Golf, create your own!
• Local tv/radio stations/firestation
• Tour of a local quarry, water treatment plant, utility company, city hall

I have found that one of the benefits of these unique field trips is that our children become familiar with and interested in the general functioning of our town. Since some of our trips, my kids now follow local news that mentions these place and they have really formed an attachment to our town; they have a real sense of belonging. Additionally, many of the people who work at these places are delighted to have visitors. Something I learned from a friend, if you interrupt a days’ activity at some places, it is such a kindness to bring a platter of brownies to thank them for hosting you!

ART

The Arts:  another place where homeschoolers excel! Parents would LOVE to have the mess at your house instead of their own and children love messy projects…serendipitous for you! There are so many ways to explore the arts. This list is not at all inclusive! In fact, it is only limited by my imagination at this moment. I’m sure that your imagination can come up with many more ideas. Turn your hobby into your next co op class idea.

Art work can be expensive or free. Use the resources available to you within your homeschool co op to find others who are interested in exploring the arts and combine your talents and resources. A clever method of offering good co op classes is working with another family within the co op in order to offer the best of both of your resources!

Here are some ideas for exploring the arts:

• Preschool Arts and Crafts
• Guitar Folk Singing in the Round
• Skits
• Tie Dye Extravaganza
• Woodworking
• Embroidery
• Study Abstract Art or Artists
• Visit Local Art Galleries or Local Artists and Artisans
• Gourd Decorating
• Beading
• Mendi, Henna
• Foreign Film Study
• Film Noir
• Paint a Room
• Weave
• Make a Movie
• Play Dress Up
• Dance With Bollywood (or other cultural music and dress up)
• Beginning Music Lessons
• Organize a Dance
• Photography
• Explore Poetry Types
• Sewing/Knitting/Crochet
• Explore an Artist or Musician or Historical Figure a Month
• Knot Tying
• One Family we know has the kids PAINT THEIR CAR!
• Finger painting
• Anything with Glitter and Glue
• Face and Body Painting
• Teach knitting from yarn purchase to finished product
• Study 30s films, early films, 50s films, any genre!
• Friendship Bracelets
• Make your own soap
• Design a logo for your co op
• Design and put out a newsletter or poetry booklet
• Campfire songs
• Write and perform a one act play
• Karaoke
• Paint t shirts
• Scrapbooking
• Creating art out of scraps and junk
• Make Paper
• Nature Crafts
• As for art projects, the sky is the limit!

OUTDOORS

While the weather cooperates, we all love it that we have the chance to take our children outdoors all day. It is a great way to get that sense of “this is why we homeschool” when you are able to find a great destination and give over totally to the outdoor experience. There is more that you can do than just play while you are in the parks! Try some of these ideas for free or very inexpensive co op class ideas at a local park, your home, or other public location:

• Orienteering
• Create an Obstacle Course
• Archery
• Cooking with Nature
• Create a Map
• Bring Binoculars and Microscopes
• Rock Collecting
• Hayride
• Basketball
• Bike Riding
• Clean a stretch of road or a favorite park
• Perform on the stage
• Scavenger Hunt of nature items (don’t remove them!)
• Photographing the letters of the alphabet in nature
• One wonderful woman I know stages a full out Olympics at the park!
• Power Ranger Day
• Spy Day
• Rocketry
• Group Games
• Jump roping and Jump rope rhymes
• Fly Kites
• Water Play Day
• Adopt a Family, Adopt a Road
• Plant a veggie, flower, or specialty garden

ACADEMIC CLASSES

Some obvious classes to offer are scholastic skill building. Classes that might be offered every week for the duration of the semester. Ongoing educational sessions that build on certain skills. Of course these classes require more planning. Some of this type of class might be a reading group, poetry writing, or math tutoring. But have you thought of these ideas?

• Current Events Review
• First Aid
• Homework Help, Tutoring
• Toastmasters, Public Speaking
• Bookkeeping, Personal Finance
• Study the Constitution
• Science Experiments
• Babysitting Skills
• Ethics Discussions, Socrates Cafe
• Pet Care
• Learn a President a Week
• Electrical Circuits
• Beginning Typing
• History Chapters
• Price Comparison Shopping
• Ethics Discussions
• Budgeting
• Creating a Resume
• Historical Fiction Reading Group
• Have a pretend Store and use real money
• American Sign Language
• Other Language
• Math Games
• Measuring
• Preschool/Early Book Reading with small project
• Baking Cookies/cake/cupcakes
• Write and produce a newscast
• Research a third world country each week
• Using your PC
• How Does it Work? AKA DESTRUCTION!
• Learn about propaganda
• Show and Share
• Board and Table Games
• Rock Club
• Create a Service Project
• Explore Southern Cooking
• Reading Time: Have the big ones read to the little ones
• Card Games
• Pokemon/Yu-gi-oh/Other card game day
• Yoga
• Volunteer at a local charity or soup kitchen
• Exercise class

EXTENDED FAMILY

Make sure to get your family involved! Groups of families working and playing together are a part of what makes the homeschooling lifestyle so remarkable. Talk to your relatives and see what skills or hobbies that they are willing to bring to the group as a way to participate in the education of your little ones by sharing their passions and interests. How about planning some activities that include extended family members…perhaps the ones who are curious about the homeschool decision.

Create activities that fit your family, your group, your home. In general, keep it simple and fun! Try some of these fun activities that are family-pleasers! Your family members will find them irresistible and feel proud to be a part of educating their loved ones!

• Bowling
• Play Bingo
• Grandma and Me Tea
• Make Fruit Salad
• Tell Family Stories
• Make Stone Soup
• Host a formal dinner party
• Go Caroling
• Camping Trips
• Raise funds for the community, donate for a community project
• Create a garden on a bulletin board from construction paper
• Have a yard sale
• Talk about Careers
• Collect books for your local library
• Have a car wash to earn money for a charity
• Manicures
• Bake Bread

COMPUTERS

As the wife of an IT guy, I would be remiss if I didn’t include some great computer class ideas! There is no doubt that the internet is a wonderful tool for our children. Why not use what is at our fingertips to improve our skills and to increase our knowledge? There are practical and fanciful ways to use the computer.

• Create or update the Webpage for your Co Op
• Edit the Co Op Member List
• Learn how to use MS Publisher or Paint
• Learn how to create Power Point Presentations
• Contact a HS group in another state and create a pen pal network
• News Reviews
• Robotics
• Create a Youtube channel
• Letter Writing
• General WWW Usage and Safety
• Contacting Political Figures by mail
• Creating petitions
• Surveys for your co op
• Designing Personal Books
• Resume Writing
• Design a Menu for an Upcoming Meal
• Write a Newsletter
• Create Origami
• Learn Photoshop

The key is to keep is simple, make it fun, don’t overburden yourself, and follow your own bliss! Include your children in the brainstorming and planning phase! My children have come up with some wildly successful co op class ideas, from a Power Ranger Party to swimming at the local pool to scavenger hunts across town. Children enjoying getting messy and creating things and most parents would be THRILLED to have these fun events happen at someone else’s house! Volunteer activities promote wonderful growth in our children and are much more fun when done in groups. Check out idea books at the library for even more ideas. If possible, get your hands on Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or other Scout handbooks for more great ideas, skits, and projects.

Can YOU think of any ideas to share?

Ask the Experts

Are you struggling to figure out why certain materials don’t work with your family?

If you have to stand over your child and help them with almost every item in a text or workbook, then you need to figure out what is wrong.

Either:
a.)  the work is too hard,
b.)  the work is too easy,
c.)  your child knows that he or she can finish quicker if *you* answer the questions for him
d.)  your child does not learn well using this material
e.)  your child may have a hidden learning disability or
f.)  none of these!

It is a tough call – but you CAN figure it out.  Luckily, you’re in the right spot to do just that!

Having various materials in the house doesn’t guarantee that they will be used.  So why not sit down with your child or children, go through a stack of books and materials and ask them to RANK them, comment on them, CHOOSE them.  Which are their favorites?  Which do they not connect with?  What is appealing about the things that they choose?  And what can you fit into the materials to fill in the gaps?

Include your child in the choices and you will see better cooperation and more motivation!

Putting the "Home" back into Homeschool

Choosing to be at home: A crucial step in creating a better homeschool environment is to be…at home! We need the long stretches of time that go uninterrupted by doctors, trips to piano lessons, vet appointments for the pet, post office, and grocery shopping are essential to create a feeling of time and space to learn. Just because you are at home, does not mean that you are “available”. Schedule “at home” days that are inviolable, fixed, and respected.

Pick up your calendar and mark large “X”s through one day each week. This is the day that you are not available! This is the day that you and your children will be at home. Being at home.
Oh, you will find many, many reasons why you can’t keep this little sacrosanct day. We’re not used to putting ourselves first! But keep yourself disciplined! Keep this once-a-week schedule firm. Be together at home. Cook. Lessons. Chores. Movies. Games. Hang out. Talk! After those first few times when you can’t keep this little promise to yourself, you will find that it becomes easier to say “no” to all of the outside activities and to put this family time first! You and your children will look forward to the “home” in homeschool again!

Eventually, you will be surprised at how carefully you protect that day!

Be smart about outside activities. There is no doubt that homeschooling families can find many, many opportunities outside of the home. Lessons, play dates, classes with friends, field trips, museums, et al. I am sure we can all point to dates on our calendars from this month that have all seven days FULL of fun and great activities outside in the community.

We all feel the pressure to do more! Go more! Participate more! Schedule more!

It’s not that I don’t appreciate what prodigies our children are! I know how important these events can be. I also know how important lunch at the kitchen table is. Food that didn’t come through the car window. Juice boxes scattered in the car. Movies and music collections strewn about the vehicle as you drive, frenzied, from here to there. Schlepping! Yes, we have all been SCHLEPPING!

Remember the free time we promised ourselves? Remember the dream of allowing our children to fill those hours with activities of their choice? Remember playing for the sake of playing? Remember the fun of just “hanging out”? We promised ourselves that we would provide a happy childhood to our children. Let’s keep that promise!

Trust

You have probably figured out from your reading that there is no “right way” or “wrong way” to homeschool your family.  In fact, there are as many styles of homeschooling as there are families who do it!  In the beginning of the road to homeschooling, these statements scare the heck out of you!   Later, they will comfort, encourage, and sustain you.  Promise.

You will find books by many leaders in the homeschooling field who seem to have “answers”…and many things that they have to say are very sound and helpful.  Of course, the truth is somewhere in the spaces.  Somewhere in there is the space that works for you and your children.

Whether or not you have determined what style of homeschooler you are, there is one thing that we all have in common.  We all love our children and are striving to do the right things for them.  All of us spend many hours agonizing over this decision and came to this decision due to strong conviction.  Trust that.  Even if you can’t put it into words immediately when being asked, you have reasons and they are valid.

For this post in the ENCOURAGEMENT department, I have five words for you.  Words that I believe with my whole heart.  Words you can tape on your refrigerator.  Words you can remind yourself anytime the anxiety hits.  Words that live at the heart of being a parent:

TRUST YOURSELF.  TRUST YOUR CHILDREN.

You CAN trust yourself to do the very best that you can do in any given moment.  You will change, improve, add, subtract, move forward, continue to learn, and you will make mistakes!  And in each moment, you will do the very best that you know how to do in the moment.  And that is OK!

And Trust your children because they will learn.  They ARE learning!  They learn while they are playing, sitting quietly, riding in the car, or are frustrated with the correct way to hold a pencil.  They are learning every moment.  This is good.  This is as it should be.

You can do this.

You are a very capable adult and you can do this