As a parent educator, you have the freedom to weave your family’s values, your educational goals, and your children’s passions into the vivid journey of homeschooling. You get to take a step back and look at the big picture. You don’t need to get bogged down or overwhelmed by what the school next door is doing, because you have the ability to design a program that’s a perfect fit for not only each of your children, but your entire family as well.
To be a successful homeschooler, you need a foundation, a plan, and sheer determination.
Base
This is the most essential piece of the homeschooling puzzle.
You need to lay a solid foundation for your children and your family.
- What is your ideal homeschool environment like?
- What do you imagine your daily routine would be like? How will the house work in the middle of your homeschooling day?
- Will your children help around the house?
- What role will both you and your spouse play in your education?
- Will you incorporate your faith into the school day?
If you’re a new homeschooler, you should take a few days to consider what your foundation should look like. If you’re a new homeschooler, understand that your ideas may be laughed off in a few months, but that shouldn’t stop you from establishing an idea from your foundation.
Plan
It is true, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
The good news is that in homeschooling the plan is fluid and ever-changing. You don’t have to stick with plans that are failing, but you do need a plan.
- What grade levels are your children?
- What subjects are required in your state?
- What subjects would you like to teach your children?
- Will you be designing your own course materials or purchasing them from a large curriculum company?
- How long will your school day/year be?
- Where will you find training, mentoring and encouragement?
sheer determination
Homeschooling is wonderful, but it’s also wonderfully difficult. It’s a big task to not only educate your child, but also keep your home from falling apart at the same time. There will absolutely be days when you will question everything. There will be more than one day, week or year when you fear you are ruining your child’s education. This is normal.
Before you delve into this thing called homeschooling, you should:
Determine that you will stay the course.
Resolve to never give up out of frustration. When those days come around that make you think you should quit, declare it a play-off day, hit the library, visit a veteran homeschooler, or head to the zoo.
Just decide to never give up out of frustration.
Understand that homeschooling is hard, but just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you’re not qualified. Honestly, there is no one more qualified to teach your children than you. You know their strengths, weaknesses, and passions better than anyone.
Homeschooling can be extremely fun, rewarding, and exhausting. It is worth every effort to watch your child become an inquisitive learner.
If what you’re currently doing isn’t working, go back and look at your foundation and plan.
As a veteran homeschooler, I can assure you that it is all too common for homeschoolers to go off on tangents. It’s also common to discard topics or entire curricula that aren’t right for your family.
Change is good.
Homeschooling is good. It’s not for everyone, but it’s good!
