Before you homeschool...

You decide.  

My goal with this blog is not to tell you what you should choose for your family. You might read something like "There were too many complicated projects" and think "That would be great! I would love to have projects to really make history come alive!" As the teacher, YOU have to determine what will work best for yourself and your students. The beauty of homeschool is that you have the freedom to decide WHAT to teach your kids and which approach to take. You can choose something based on looks, cost, number of projects, reading materials, etc. Whatever works for your family! 

Do your research. 

In our "school", I do all the research and then run things past the principal, aka my husband. He was homeschooled through high school, while the only homeschoolers I knew were the ones who came to our high school to take one class and play sports. He can offer outside perspective and help me figure things out from a firsthand point of view. We don't do one particular method of teaching homeschool (meaning Classical, Unschool, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, etc.). We have chosen a math program that teaches by concept, not by rote memory and approaches the materials with a mastery program as opposed to the spiral approach. Our Language Arts program is similar in that it does not teach reading by memorizing word families, it teaches spelling and grammar rules that provide a clear path to reading comprehension. You can read more about our curriculum choices here.

Homeschool is about your family. 

Homeschool is an opportunity for you to learn more about yourself and your children. Learn what gets through to them, learn what areas they struggle with and what they excel in. When a concept is difficult and you see them struggling, you can come alongside them and struggle through it together. When success comes (and it will!) you're right there to celebrate those victories with them.

Before choosing a curriculum, some questions you need to ask yourself are: 

• how much time will we designate for school each day?

• how much time do I want to spend preparing?

• is my child a visual, auditory, or hands-on learner? Or a combination of these?

• does my child enjoy reading? Writing?

• are they a wiggler who has a hard time sitting?

• are they checklist driven and want to have their worksheets each day that they can complete and feel accomplished?

• is there a big gap between my students ages that I will have to choose different curriculums or can I choose one that can be taught to multiple levels?

• how much money do I want to spend on curriculum and supplies each year? 

You are the teacher.

Teaching math and English are very involved. Meaning you will most likely have to sit there and explain the difference between the subject and predicate or how to regroup when multiplying double digit numbers. If you are looking for a curriculum that does all the teaching -- that I cannot help you with! I have heard there are several but don't know the names since this isn't something we wanted to pursue. This also means you will have to wear the hat of teacher in addition to all the other hats you wear BUT remember that during school, it's okay to ignore the housekeeper hat to finish the important work set before you.

Teaching your children is something that is so uniquely special. Wait until you hear your child read through their first book and the light in their eyes as they realize they've unlocked the code. Wait until you see your 3rd grader get through that hard math test with zero mistakes. Wait until you walk in on your kids reading a book together just because they wanted to learn more about the amazing animals in the ocean. Those small moments will make all the work worth it!