Where to Begin When You are New to Home Schooling
Are you new to home schooling? Have you ever thought about home schooling your children, but you were not sure where to start?
I have another Guest post for you! We have Amanda Wilson, author of Heading into Homeschool: A Faith-Based Step-by-Step Plan for Beginning to Homeschool . You can also find Amanda at www.maestramom.com. She blogs about home schooling and parenting, and she has many helpful resources on her website too.
Amanda’s book is all about getting started with your home school. She is here to share her journey with us.
It was the last week of May, and I was staring at my classroom wondering how in the world I was going to be able to teach again for another year.
I loved teaching. Kids were my life, but two of my own were at home struggling and really needed me. I rubbed my big, 8-month pregnant belly, knowing I had to get my act together fast – before this little one made an appearance.
The truth was my heart wasn’t in the classroom anymore. It was at home – with my daughter who had been struggling in school last year and my little son. But my school principal had to know – this week! – if I was coming back to school next year. And I had no idea.
Honestly, I desperately wanted to stay home and homeschool my kids.
My daughter had just gone through a terrible school year in 2nd grade, and she had already decided she hated math forever. My son was slated to begin kindergarten, but he was a firecracker and I wondered if he’d be able to even make it in a classroom. I didn’t love what I was seeing from the inside at public schools, and I knew I didn’t want my kids in that environment.
So, after a whirlwind, impulsive we-have-to-make-a-change conversation with my hubby, we decided to totally upend our lives and homeschool the kids. What?!? Now, I had 3 days to completely pack my classroom and get out – and don’t forget I was big, fat pregnant! Then only a few weeks until baby girl was born. Then a few more weeks and – poof! Time to start homeschooling.
The trouble was, I was completely lost and overwhelmed.
How in the world do you just start homeschooling? I felt completely unprepared but with my typical knock-it-out attitude, I jumped in with both feet, determined to conquer and slay!
This was My Homeschool Prep Plan of Attack:
1. Talk to friends
The first thing I did was make a phone call to a friend in another state who I knew homeschooled. I begged her to tell me everything she knew about homeschooling. She was a dear and helped me create a daily routine as well as explaining how she scheduled out the lessons. More than anything, she was super encouraging and my biggest cheerleader during this huge change. I was doubting myself and spinning in circles, so her support at that time was a tremendous blessing.
2. Hit the internet
Second, I started googling. I had a thousand questions, and the internet was a wealth of information! I spent many hours looking up curriculum, diving into legal requirements for homeschooling, and figuring out the nitty-gritty how-to to make it happen. The problem with the internet is that there are so many voices and often conflicting information. I still struggled to make sense of all the homeschooling advice and siphon out what was the most important.
3. Learn from the pros
I knew a few families who had homeschooled in the past and now had older kids. I figured they already had this whole homeschooling thing figured out so I picked their brains, too, and tried to glean all the wisdom I could. They were helpful to recommend books, curricula, and practical tips. One of the ladies even enlisted her entire family to come help me pack up my school classroom and move everything home (elementary teachers have a LOT of stuff).
4. Join a co-op
I thought my kids might need a community – and knew I definitely needed some mom support – so I started researching about homeschool co-ops in my area. The challenge here, I learned, is that many homeschool co-ops are sort of under-ground. What I mean is, that many co-op groups operate without any kind of online presence or even official organization, making them very hard to find except by word-of-mouth. The first group we found and joined didn’t really work out, but after a few years we finally found a fabulous co-op that is a good fit for our family. Being around like-minded mommas is a huge win!
5. Read homeschooling books
The other thing I did was get a list from homeschooling moms about the books they had used to help them and inspire them as homeschooling mommas. I bought a few and dove into summer reading! While several of the books were truly inspirational and foundational in helping me establish my own homeschooling philosophy, none of them really got down to the actual how-to of homeschooling. I felt sort of helpless in that area and rather on-my-own. But I buckled down, leaned into my teacher know-how, and put together a plan for how we were going to homeschool.
Heading into Homeschool
Now, eight years later, we’re still homeschooling and loving the adventure! My oldest is now in high school, the second one is in middle school, that little baby is now in elementary, plus God sent another tiny bundle to the family who is just beginning preschool this year.
Along the way, I started blogging about my journey at www.maestramom.com and wrote the book I wish I could’ve read at the time. Yes! I actually wrote a book about homeschooling! It’s called Heading into Homeschool: A Faith-Based Step-by-Step Plan for Beginning to Homeschool. It dives into both the philosophical, inspirational side of homeschooling like finding your teaching style and your kid’s learning style AND goes into all the nitty-gritty how-to homeschool questions.
This book answers every possible question that’s likely to come up!
Heading into Homeschool totally covers all your bases and is the perfect book for anyone who’s even considering homeschooling. Grab a copy on Amazon and share!
Pro tip: get the eBook Kindle version of Heading into Homeschool because it contains over 70 links to online resources so you don’t have to find them all yourself!
Thank you for sharing this informative post. This information is very positive.
When you’re starting a home school, you need to figure out where to begin. You’ll need to find out what curriculum you’ll use, but you’ll also need to find out what your school day will look like. As a first-time home schooler, you’ll need to get everything set up on your own. However, you’ll need to get a little help from an experienced home schooler. The best way to find and contact a home schooler is through a local home school or homeschooling group. These organizations can be a great resource and help you get started with your home school…. When you’re starting a home school, you need to figure out where to begin. You’ll need to find out what curriculum you’ll use, but you’ll also need to find out what your school day will look like. As a first-time home schooler, you’ll need to get everything set up on your own. However, you’ll need to get a little help from an experienced home schooler. The best way to find and contact a home schooler is through a local home school or homeschooling group. These organizations can be a great resource and help you get started with your home school…. When you’re starting a home school, you need to figure out where to begin. You’ll need to find out what curriculum you’ll use, but you’ll also need to find out what your school day will look like. As a first-time home schooler, you’ll need to get everything set up on your own. However, you’ll need to get a little help from an experienced home schooler. The best way to find and contact a home schooler is through a local home school or homeschooling group. These organizations can be a great resource and help you get started with your home school….
First, just realise the good you are doing simply by not putting your kids into the public school environment is a good motivator! Seriously! You are doing your kids a big favor already!
Every homeschool is going to look different, but that is how education is supposed to be: personalized, so it works well for you and your family. We tried different things every year as our circumstances changed. My mom read to my brother and me a lot because that was our favorite way of learning and the most versatile for our big age range (I am 16 years older than my youngest sibling). It is okay to push your kids too, but do it in a loving way. The key is to develop a love for learning so that your kids never hate learning, resist learning, and want to stop learning as soon as they can.
I loooove reading to my kids too!! Sometimes I feel guilty because I do so much of the reading but oh well. It works for us.
As a parent it’s normal to worry about the education of your child. The best thing to do is always review and study the type of education you want your child to have.