It will be exciting, scary, overwhelming, and beautiful to start your homeschooling journey!
Terrified, overwhelmed, and fueled with intense emotions, I walked my letter of intent to homeschool (whaaaaa…!!!!) straight to the principal of my son’s school. Then, I marched right into his first-grade classroom and handed a copy of the letter to his teacher. My son and I emptied his cubby, said our good-byes, and left. Byeeeeee!!!!
🤭 Gasp! Gulp. NOW WHAT????
Momma, I know the fear, the overwhelm, the anxiety. I know the hesitation mixed with all the curiosity. I know the racing thoughts… “can I do this?”
😏 SPOILER ALERT: You CAN!
Here is how I got started…
1. Research, Research, Research
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please visit my Disclaimer page.
Look into your homeschool options…all of them. Check out books, listen to podcasts, read blogs, websites, etc. I spent countless hours perusing writings of veteran homeschoolers and reading how-to books. If other moms could homeschool, I must be able to, also, right? Take lots of detailed notes. When you first start out, it is a lot to process. Take it slow and breathe….and remember, you can do this. You will find what method of homeschool works for your family and it’s important to know your options. Once you choose a method of homeschooling, you can then choose your child’s curriculum.
➡️ PRO TIP: It is easy to chase endless rabbit holes while researching. Remember to steer clear of the strongly opinionated sites (i.e. Facebook groups) during your research while you are finding your personal place in the world of homeschooling. Once you have your feet a little more firmly placed on the ground and you have built a bit of confidence in your homeschool ventures, then you can return to those Facebook groups (which I will discuss below) to find your support group.
Download this FREE Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Workbook
2. Learn the Law in Your State
Homeschooling is 100% legal in the United States, however; each state has different laws. Be sure to understand what the laws and requirements are in your state.
- The Home School Legal Defense Association maintains a list of requirements by state which you can find here.
- If you are a fellow Washingtonian, here are our homeschool laws.
3. Find Your Personal ‘why’?
This is so important. Your reasons for homeschooling might be:
- to avoid peer pressures
- to tailor education around your child’s learning differences
- to have your child learn at their own pace
- religious reasons
- to allow child-led learning
- to preserve your child’s individuality
- to travel freely without limitations on your schedule
- to cultivate a love of learning
- to avoid Coronavirus
The reasons you choose to homeschool are very personal and remembering your own ‘why’ will keep you focused and on track, especially in the overwhelming moments. This will come up again and again on your journey.
My Personal ‘Why’
I watched my son’s bubbly personality change in the six weeks he was in first grade. He became depressed, angry, and started having nightmares. His teacher’s method of educating scared my little boy and he was too frightened to go to school.
In addition to this, the school district shortened the children’s lunchtime from 30 minutes to 20 minutes. (What 7-year-old can get food in the lunch line, find a seat in the cafeteria, visit with their friends, and eat a reasonable lunch in 20 minutes??) Plus, If my son does not have the proper nutrition in his body at specific time increments during the day, it magnifies his ADHD symptoms to levels unmanageable. Trying to comprehend the district’s decision was maddening.
The final straw was when my 7-year-old son asked me to ‘”please kill him” instead of sending him to school ever again. My SEVEN-YEAR-OLD said those words. Seven. Years. Old. That was it. I was done. I immediately printed my letter of intent to homeschool, signed it, went straight into the principle’s office, and withdrew my son. Liberating? Yes! Terrifying? Also, yes.
Remembering the joy on my son’s face the day I chose to pull him out of school continues to drive me on this homeschool journey. It serves as my own reminder of why we will never go back. I made the decision that day that I was going to raise my children, not allow someone else to do so.
Additional reasons have been added to my ‘why’ over the years. While my son’s ADHD diagnosis came during his kindergarten year, it wasn’t until I began homeschooling him that I learned how challenging a traditional setting would be for him. Giving him the environment he needs to maximize his learning, allowing him to move his body when he needs to, or eat when he needs to, has benefited him considerably. Receiving my daughter’s dyslexia diagnosis added yet another ‘why’ to my ever-growing lists of reasons I homeschool.
Your reasons may not be as severe as what happened to my son, but whatever your ‘why’ is, hold it close to your heart. It is important and it is yours.
4. Find Local Support Groups
I mentioned above we’d be getting back to discussing those Facebook groups. Join a few local groups and introduce yourself to start building your homeschool support tribe. Look into joining a few local MeetUp groups and attend their local events as well (after COVID-19, anyway).
➡️ PRO TIP: Be sure to join the groups in line with your homeschool methods and family beliefs. If you are a secular family, joining a religious homeschool group may not meet your needs. If you have chosen the Classical Homeschool Method, joining an Unschool group will not fit. You get the idea.
5. Get Organized
Being organized is essential for homeschooling families. You’ll put methods into place only to tweak and change it up later but, strive for being organized to save your sanity.
Start off with an academic calendar for the year, weekly assignment lists, and color-coded checklists.
- Academic Calendar: Add your family’s schedule, field trips, vacations, holidays. You will plan your lessons around this.
- Weekly Assignments: Log your child’s upcoming assignments and necessary materials needed.
- Daily Checklists: I utilize a daily list to help my children manage their time throughout the day. Not only do my kids have schoolwork, but they are responsible for chores as well. Blocking out time during their day and providing boxes to check, offers a visual reminder of what needs to be done.
➡️ PRO TIP: Your schedule will change because some weeks you will get through all the lessons and other weeks, well….you know how well laid out plans can go when we have ADHD and Dyslexic kiddos.
- Shelves or Drawers: Choose an area to keep schoolbooks. I use these multi-colored drawers. I label each drawer with the subject so there is no confusion and it’s a quick grab and go.
Binders: Keep all assignments in binders in chronological order throughout the year. Assign one of the binders for your long-term record keeping. This will be for legal documents, letters of intent, assessments, etc. I like these binders for assignments and record-keeping
➡️ PRO TIP: Remind your kiddo to always put assignments and textbooks back where they belong. We have lost plenty along the way so we now keep them in one spot!
➡️ EXTRA SUPER BONUS PRO TIP: Don’t worry too much about the location in your house where your child will learn. You’ll see photos of beautiful entire rooms dedicated to homeschooling. Kudos to those Mommas! But, honestly, your child will learn at your dining room table, on the couch, in their rooms, laying on the floor, on the back patio, etc. Sometimes my daughter is literally upside down while we learn history. We’ve even learned in hotel rooms and in the car!
6. Discover the Learning Style of Your Child
Does your child learn best by listening? Reading? Hands-on?
When I first started homeschooling, I used the Classical Homeschool Method. Well, that was an epic fail on my part. My son’s ADHD means he needs to get up, move, eat, run, sit back down, get back up, do a somersault, tell me 12 and a half stories, drop his pencil, and repeat this all 6 times before getting back to his schoolwork. Sooooo, this was a giant learning curve for me. He studies best when he can use his hands, move his body, and take breaks often. I had to quickly change my expectations of him and change my strategy on how I facilitated his lessons.
Later, as I started digging deeper into curriculums with my daughter, I learned she is Dyslexic so, I had to really change things up with her. My two children could not be more different when it comes to learning styles. Taking the time to understand how your child learns is a blessing and you are giving them the gift of a safe environment to learn at the speed that is right for them.
➡️ PRO TIP: There are many different ways of homeschooling (Classical, Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Unschooling, Unit Studies, etc.) As you move along on your journey, you will weed out options that do not work for your family.
7. Y’all Need to ‘De-school’ Yourselves!
This was my biggest mistake as a new homeschooling Momma. When I pulled my then 7-year-old son out of public school on Halloween of his first-grade year, I tried to mimic public school with the Classical Homeschool Method. I tried to maintain the 9:00a – 3:00p schedule, teach all the same subjects, quizzes, worksheets, common core standards, and I quickly lost traction, energy, and hope. I felt like a gigantic failure and wondered if I had made the right decision.
I regrouped myself and refocused on my ‘why’. After a big, long, cry, I headed back to my online tribe to learn what I was doing wrong. Attempting to recreate the school environment I was desperately trying to get away from was doomed to fail. I took a week off, shook off all the expectations of public school, and started over. In that week, my kiddos and I laughed, snuggled, and chose to learn whatever our hearts landed on.
Deschooling was a fantastic journey for us. Children are natural learners who are curious about the world around them. Over the following years, we took journals outside and recorded animal tracks on forest trails and returned home to research what they might be. We played with vibrations in the water when we played loud 80’s hair metal. We took road trips to various states (road-schooling is the best!) In Arizona, we saw a meteor crater from 50,000 years ago and at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, we saw a globular cluster made up of over 150,000 stars through the Clark Refractor telescope (built in 1895). We visited the NASA Space Center in Houston, Texas. We visited the Grand Canyon and learned about its formation, life forms in the canyon, and desert life. We drove up Highway 1 from California to Washington and explored the Redwood Forest, played on the coast beaches, and discovered lovely mom and pop restaurants. In sharp contrast to the desert life, we walked on the Nisqually Trails in Washington and learned about tides, Pacific Northwest life forms in and around the water, and various plant life. These are lessons and experiences impossible to learn in a classroom or in a book.
8. Trust Yourself, Momma!
You are going to change the curricula a dozen times. It’s okay. You aren’t going to break your child if you try one and it doesn’t seem to fit. Don’t give up…you’ll find it! You are your child’s best advocate and you know what is best. You got this!
✨ BONUS! On this incredible journey, you’ll make discoveries about your child you would never have had the opportunity to if he or she was in a classroom away from you. You will learn your child’s way of learning and allow him or her to slow down or speed up as necessary for the most effective learning. You’ll experience such joy when you witness first hand, your child learning and gaining new skills. Are there sacrifices and is it hard? Absolutely. But, it is a priceless and magical life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything….and neither will you!
You got this, Momma!
While there are sacrifices and frustrations that accompany homeschooling, the benefits far outweigh this. My son is happy and is thriving through middle school. My daughter is making significant progress with reading and she avoids the pressures of public school standards to move faster than she is. I’ve developed stronger and closer bonds with each of them beyond what I could have had with them if they were in school six + hours a day.
Momma, our precious kiddos are only with us for a short time. Witnessing their successes, learning patterns and growth is a priceless and irreplaceable journey. The lifelong memories you create as you bond with your child will be cherished for a lifetime. You can do this.
Veteran homeschoolers, please share your ideas here on the advantages of homeschooling. I’d love to feature you on my blog on an upcoming post and share your insight with other Mommas!
If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, please share or leave a comment below.
XO for now!
