What to Cover

When people are new to homeschooling they get so overwhelmed that they tend to do too little or too much their first year. Here are the subjects to cover and the ways we approach them.

1. History
The classical approach to education puts history at the center of the curriculum spiral.  While we don't follow the classical model of a four-year world history cycle done three times over the course of grades 1-12, I do agree with putting history at the center.  History is the context and reason for pretty much every experience of modern living.  The older I get the more I realize this is true.  Solid historical education is essential to be a competent citizen of the world.

We use Sonlight for their history/literature curriculum, with a few modifications.  I love their use of historical fiction for bringing history alive.  There are several really good history books that we use as spines, which Sonlight also uses.

• Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer.  These four volumes covering all of world history are well written and engaging.  There is an excellent activity guide for each book with more supplemental learning than we've ever been able to do.  In grades 1-2 we use this as a read aloud while the kids do the coloring pages.  In grades 6-7 our kids read them again, completing the tests that go along with them.
• History of US by Joy Hakim.  This 10 volume set is so good that my husband read it along with the our daughters and sometimes would fight with them about time with the book.  My 8th grade daughter, after reading the series and reviewing an AP prep book, took the U.S. History AP exam and got a 3.  I just discovered that PBS has a companion site for the series.
• History of the World by Susan Wise Bauer.  My older daughters used Sonlight through high school, but I'm so impressed with Bauer's high level history texts that I think we'll be using these when the next kids hit 10th grade.

All of these history approaches include a social geography component, so we don't study geography separately.

2. Literature & Reading
In early grades we call it Reading.  In later grades we call it Literature. 

Teaching our children to read was one of the things that we had to go through several children before we felt like we've figured it out.  We tried Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but only made it to about lesson 50 before the child melted down.  We tried k12's reading program and it was OK but dealing with k12 was enough to make us re-evaluate educating at home.  Finally, with our 6th child, I feel like we've found a curriculum that works well.  We are using Primary Arts of Language and I'm really pleased with how easy it is to slow down or speed up and how enthusiastic my defiant little boy is about reading.

After they learn to read, everything changes.  Sonlight has an excellent reading list that corresponds to the history study.  From about grade 2 on, we use Sonlight's "Readers."  In high school they include a good study guide with reflection questions.  Sonlight asks for a lot of reading, but the novels they assign are so interesting that even my reticent readers stayed motivated to keep up.

We use Sonlight's literature right through high school and the difference in what my children experience and what the average student experiences is stark.  My oldest attended a local high school that is considered the best in the state.  He read 4-5 novels per year.  My homeschooled children read 20+ novels per year.  Not only does this expose them to much more great literature, it also builds up their reading endurance so that the very high volumes of reading that will be expected of them in college is not difficult. 

3. Writing
I have written professionally for most of my adult life, but I could not figure out how to teach writing to my children.  My poor oldest daughter had to endure lots of, "it's too wordy" or "it's too vague" with no direction how to actually address the problem.  I had my children do lots of writing, but it seemed that instead of improving, they were just getting lots of practice writing badly.

Then we found Institute for Excellence in Writing.  Their approach is quite simple and very concrete.  I give the child a checklist of specific things to include in each paragraph and their papers are graded on whether or not they did those things.  Period.  No more ambiguous, subjective feed back from me.   My children's frustration went down and their writing quality went way, way up.

4. Language Skills: Grammar, Usage, Vocabulary, Spelling
Language skills are necessary, but they are my least favorite part of homeschooling.  Workbooks make it worse.

Spelling is a skill that I never personally learned in spelling class, so I tend to discount the value of teaching it.  I learned to spell when I learned to type in junior high.  But, OK, children do need to learn to spell.  The problem is finding something that helps them learn to spell in their writing, not just on spelling tests.  Weekly spelling lists didn't work.  Sequential Spelling was OK for a while, but after we got up a few levels, it ceased being effective.  Now we are using All About Spelling and having success with that.  I like that it is multi-sensory, that it includes patterns, but also gives children rules to memorize.

Susan Wise Bauer has an elementary grammar program called First Language Lessons that is built on the classical model.  I find it a little dry, but my sons like it.  Institute for Excellence in Writing has a grammar program called Fix It and that my 8th grade twins like.  My twins asked to do Vocabulary from Classical Roots, so I let them, but I never actively teach vocabulary.  When children read lots, like mine do, they learn vocabulary naturally and effectively.

5. Math
Math is a subject that should be covered every day and every year, but how a child progresses will be up to them and their aptitude.

In the early years, you hardly need a curriculum because children are leaning the basics of counting, adding & subtracting and how to write it down.  Different curriculums cover things in different orders so if you switch between curriculums, take a hard look at their placement tests to make sure you're moving into the right level.

I really like the approach of Singapore Math in elementary school.  It's the national curriculum of the country of Singapore, whose students regularly score at the top of the world.  Singapore moves from physical (manipulative), to concrete, to abstract even at the early stages.  It leaves some concepts for the child to figure out, which has been shown to lead to the strongest learning.  I really like Singapore Math for elementary grades, but we tried it in high school with my oldest and it was a complete fail.

We then had success with Teaching Textbooks beginning with Pre-Algebra.  My children liked the approach and were generally successful, until my very math-competent daughter took Calculus and nearly failed.   I've read that Teaching Textbooks isn't as comprehensive or delve as deeply into the material as they should and I wonder if that's the reason my daughter struggled with Calculus.

So now we've moved to Math U See.  I like it as well, if not better, than Singapore Math for the younger kids and I'm finding that my 8th grade twins are learning Algebra deeper than my older daughter did with Teaching Textbooks.  It has some content review but not too much, and moves kids into deeper understanding along the way.

6. Science
In the schools, science is barely touched in the elementary years.  There is so much focus on reading, writing, and math that there is little time for much of anything else.  But not for my kids!!  They do science every day.

In the elementary years, I'm convinced there is no wrong way to do science, as long as the child is engaged and enthusiastic.  You can read science books aloud; Usborne and DK have lots of great ones.  You can do experiments & activities, Science Activities have lots of good ones.  You can follow a curriculum so your activities reinforce academic content; Real Science 4 Kids have good ones.

And then children hit the junior high years and it's time to get serious.  They need to learn the scientific method, lab skills, and comprehensive content, but so far I've not found a curriculum that I'm really pleased with.  The curriculum that are pedagogically (oh, I love big words) good have weak content, and those with strong content are pedagogically taxing.  When my older daughters went through high school we used Apologia, Singapore Science Matters, Kolbe science, NROC courses (which aren't around any more), and Christian Light Education.  Of them all, Christian Light Education was the best for both solid content and good instructional approach, but the lay out is so boring.  My twins are 8th grade and reading through the Story of Science by Joy Hakim right now, but I'm still searching for good high school science for them.

7. World Languages
When we are busy and/or stressed, we give up world languages, but I remain convinced that learning a second language is an important part of being a citizen of the world and a thinking human being.

There are several different software approaches to learning language.  We've spent lots of money and haven't had great success.  My children made it through Rosetta Stone's Spanish Level 3 and then complained that they were finding lots of errors.  We've tried Learnables, but my kids said it was boring.  We've used George Public Broadcasting's Salsa with younger kids.  It was fun, they liked it, and they learned some.  The only thing that seemed to be genuinely effective was Destinos, hosted by learner.org.

This year we are changing focus to Biblical Greek.  I just love a language where you're not working up to conversation fluency.

8. Logic/Critical Thinking
In elementary years, the Critical Thinking Company has lots of good resources for learning logical thinking.  The also have resources for things other than critical thinking, which don't impress me as much.  In high school, the Analogies series is great for getting ready for SAT analogies.

In high school my older daughters did The Fallacy Detective.  I thought it would be a good subject for them with such a high use of fallacies in our culture in advertising, politics, and now even news.   But I had no idea how powerful it would be.  Shortly after they finished it, the 2012 presidential election got into full swing.  After watching a presidential debate, they spontaneously started naming all the fallacies they spotted.  Yeah, I think that learning will serve them well their whole lives.

9. Art/Music
Before I had nine children, I had such a commitment to art and music, and now it often gets laid aside like world languages.

Artistic Pursuits has been wonderful for art history & instruction from Kindergarten all the way through high school.  My kids learned how to look at art and how to incorporate new techniques into their own work. 

Making Your Schedule Fit Your Life

Having a set schedule really is essential in a successful homeschool.  I've heard people say, "oh we can do school anytime," and then later discovered that they gave up and sent their kids back to school.  Schooling "anytime" is a myth!  Don't fall for it!  You need a set and predictable schedule.  But how to establish that set and predictable schedule is totally up to you.

Time of Day
Our lives include milking and caring for farm animals, so while we don't start school until about 9am, it's because we've already put in two full hours work before we start.  Other families like to start early in the day and get done early.  I know families who love sleeping in and don't start their day until 10am or 11am.

Most children have better mental stamina in the morning.  Take advantage of that time.  Morning is when children should do the subjects that take higher mental energy, like math or reading for the younger ones.  We do our heavy seat work in the morning and save the afternoons for science activities and read alouds.

Some families schedule their day to be finished by 3pm.  In my family, we work through the morning, have lunch, and then EVERYBODY takes a nap.  We've always had little ones who needed a nap, so we discovered by accident that naps are good for older ones too.  Our 6 and 8 year olds are nicer boys if they've had that two hour quiet time.  They only sleep occasionally, but the alone time really does work wonders on their disposition.  Our teens spend naptime reading on the couch or occasionally sleeping. 

The typical day at the local public school is six hours long with about an hour of homework, but at home, that same learning can be accomplished in about 3-4 hours.  Some families do the 3-4 hours and call it good.  My poor children do the full 6-7 hours and study twice as much.  There are just so many interesting things to learn!

Days of Week
Early on we tried to replicate the school experience and do school five days a week.  After a few years of frustration, we went to a four day week and we've stayed with it ever since. 

Don't get me wrong, my kids don't have it easy.  Those four days we do school are four really full and intense days.  I discovered that it works better for me and my kids to do four full days with an extra day for field trips or catching up, than do five mellower days.  We do school Mondays through Thursdays and then Friday is our library/field trip/catch up day.  With as much farm work as we have, it often turns into the day to get projects done. 

Weeks Per Year
The local schools do 36 weeks per year and so do we.  Sonlight, the curriculum we use for history and literature, is designed on a 36 week year so we follow that. Well, that's our intention, but every year as we get the end, rather than sprint to the finish line, it's more like a collapse.  We combine weeks 35 and 36 and call ourselves done.

The public schools have 180 "instructional" days.  They do five days a week and 36 weeks a year.  But a quick jaunt around town in May lets you know that not every "instructional" day is equal.  Those 180 days include lots of spring time field trips, classroom management, assemblies, etc.  Don't hold yourself to 180 intense learning filled days in order to be "as good" as the school system. 

Some homeschooling families follow the traditional school calendar, running August/September through May/June.  Other do a year-round schedule.  That's what we do.  With a year-round schedule we don't lose learning over the summer, which alone pushes my children ahead of their age peers.  That's a good reason to do year-round school, but the real reason we do it is because I just can't do more than six weeks of school at a time.  By the end of six solid weeks, I need a break from planning, scheduling, working with kids, and correcting papers.  I just can't do it!  So after about every six weeks, we have a week off.

Except for September.  We take a six week break in the fall, beginning right when the local schools start up.  Here in Idaho, we have some of the best camping in the country, but the mountains are full of people all summer, until the day school starts.  In September the weather is still fantastic but the campgrounds are empty.  It is a glorious break that we relish. 

6 Problems You Will Avoid

After homeschooling for a while, I forget about the problems we no longer have.  Then I get around  friends' kids and am reminded how peaceful our lives are compared to theirs.

1. Peer pressure
Group think has always been strong in schools, dictating the proper clothes to wear, the way to look, and the toys that kids "must" have.  Because my kids aren't exposed to that every day, they don't put much energy into making sure their clothes/makeup/electronics are up to par.  Instead, they make decisions about what they like and are interested in.  When I get around other kids I'm shocked at the strength of the shoulds-in-order-to-be-good-enough coming from them.  By contrast, my kids seem to have a strong sense of being good-enough just in their own skin.

2. Age peers are only peers
In schools, the kids one year (or less) younger are WAY younger and the kids one year (or less) older are WAY older.  The only real peers are those who are exactly their same age.  Of course, that dynamic exists no where else in the world except in the schools.  In fact, in the working world, our children will suddenly be working with people decades older and younger who will be considered their peers.  Homeschooling prepares them for that reality. 

3. Late night surprises
When we first started homeschooling there were some things I was so happy to leave behind, especially the 9pm, "oh, I need a dozen cupcakes tomorrow, sorry" while pulling out a crumpled paper from their backpack. Yep, I don't miss that.

4. Lack of self-direction needed in college and adult living
Colleges are increasingly noticing that homeschoolers are much more successful than their schooled peers, regardless of academic level.  I think one of the major reasons is that homeschooling requires children to learn self-direction.  In the school environment, a child can just follow the flow of traffic and keep up — move when the bells tell you, turn in work when the teacher tells you, take the class your counselor tells you.  But in homeschooling, there is no, or little, flow of traffic to follow, so children have to learn how to do something just because it needs done. 

5. Teachers misunderstanding or not following directions (IEP)
My operating assumption was that teachers were required and did follow such formal documents as IEPs and parental instructions on food.  That may be the rule, but I hear from many that it is not the practice. My adopted children have attachment disorder and a key part of their healing is that sweets come only from parents.  My daughter's counselor reports that many parents have problems with teachers violating that rule by giving children candy as incentives.  Others I talk to scowl about teachers scoffing IEPs and failing to follow any of the provisions their special needs child requires. 

6. Siblings who don’t like each other
When I was younger I saw siblings who treated each other more like enemies than friends.  I thought, my kids will never be that way!  And then they went to school.  The taunts amplified and the cold shoulder hardened.  And then we started homeschooling.  After a few years I realized that all that aloofness was gone and my children were each other's best friends.  They were their play mates at "recess" and their buddies on field trips.

6 Problems You May Have

Many enter homeschooling worried that they'll be unsuccessful, just to have to problems arise and prove them right.  Homeschooling, like parenting, can be pretty challenging, but just like parenting, a lot of love, creativity, and commitment will turn that around.

1. Resistance
The number one issue I hear from people is resistance.  The child doesn't want to do the work.  They complain.  They take forever.  And they do it all day long.  What parent wouldn't want out of that nightmare?

We had lots of resistance when we started but we rarely deal with it now.  What changed?  We got to the root of the resistance and turned it around.

The biggest issue turned out to be curriculum.  At first we got textbooks and workbooks, things that looked very school to me.  The kids made my life miserable and I responded like it was an obedience issue.  They finally wore me down and I figured I couldn't do worse than try something different.  Everything changed!  Then I realized how important curriculum is.  I also realized that textbooks are just not fun.

Pushing too hard or not hard enough turned out to be a problem.  Children learn at different paces.  Homeschooling provides the freedom for children to learn at their own pace, but I didn't put that into practice at first.  I kept pushing them, even when they had trouble, or I held them back when they had already mastered concepts.  Relaxing and letting them set the pace removed many obstacles.

Learning disabilities can be lurking under the surface.  I used to worry about this.  Well, I mostly worried about how unprepared I felt to deal with them.  But if you pay attention to your child, you'll notice naturally where their difficulties are and how they learn.  Learning disabilities not only compromise a child's ability to learn, but often fills them with anticipated failure so they don't even try.  After lots of banging my head against the wall, I realized that my oldest child learns with creativity.   Reading several paragraphs and then filling out a worksheet just killed him and the next day he couldn't tell you a thing about those paragraphs.  But if I gave him an assignment to draw an Oregon Trail wagon train and then handed him a big sheet of paper and a book on the Oregon Trail, he learned deeply.

Frankly, resistance can also be a good old fashioned obedience issue.  Homeschooling amplifies parenting problems, so if your child is generally defiant or disrespectful, homeschooling may be a wonderful blessing because it will force you to deal with it in a constructive and life-giving way, rather than let it fester until they are grown and gone.

2. Failure
I worried so much about failure in the early years and now I never worry about it.  If a child doesn't master a concept, just do it again.  My second child had a hard time with math.  When she failed a chapter, I just had her re-do it.  If she failed it again, then I knew the curriculum wasn't working for her so we tried something new.  Done.

3. Isolation & Loneliness
Kids used to the constant social interaction of the classroom can experience some serious sensory deprivation when they start homeschooling.  Some of this can be dealt with by joining homeschool co-ops or play groups.  Many cities have homeschool meet ups where kids get together and play or do activities together.

But homeschooling will be more social isolating than going to school, and I don't think that is a bad thing.  In fact, I think the volume of social time in schools is artificial and even unhealthy, as attested to by the many social problems including bullying present in schools.  After leaving school as a young adult, I never again experienced the sheer volume of social interaction that was typical and normal in the school setting.

4. Money
Homeschooling is not free.  But, let's be honest, neither is public school.  Public school requires school supplies, backpacks, packing or buying lunch, locker fees, school pictures, sports fees, and many fund raisers.  I also experienced that it required a different level of clothing & shoes than what my children were happy with at home.  I know families who spend thousands and thousands of dollars on homeschooling curriculum, on-line classes, and community classes.  I also know families who buy almost nothing and use the internet and the library as their information source.  We spend about $1,500-$3,000 per year on our seven children.

5. Spouses Disagree or Are Unsupportive
Some people staying at home to educate their children (usually women) report that their spouse is unsupportive with either negative comments or complete uninvolvement.  Just like homeschooling amplifies parenting problems, it can also amplify marriage problems.  If your spouse is unsupportive, you've got a marriage problem that needs attending to.

6. Parents Don't Like Being With Their Kids
Some would laugh at this as a problem, but I think it's the number one reason people don't homeschool when they think they should.  I've heard people say, "if the kids were home all day long they'd drive me crazy," but I've never heard a homeschooling parent say that.  Now, maybe the only people who homeschool are people who really enjoy being with their kids (symptom), but I think the opposite is true, that homeschooling creates an environment where parents learn to genuinely enjoy being with their children (causative).

10 Secrets of Success

Over the years, I've discovered some "secrets" that work for all my children, regardless of age or ability, and seem to be present in other successful homeschooling families.

1. Find curriculum your child loves
I've forced my children to muscle their way through curriculum, kicking and screaming the whole time.  I thought it was a discipline issue.  When I finally gave up and changed curriculum, the sudden and long-lasting change made me realize that the problem was the curriculum not the child.  Find curriculum that your child loves.  My children love the historical fiction of Sonlight.  They enjoy the concrete/abstract flow of Math U See.  They love the projects and activities of Telling God's Story.  My little boys enjoy the tiles of All About Spelling.   Try different things until you find the curriculum your children love.

2. Pay attention to energy level
Children's energy levels and flows are different from adults'.  Don't ask for more than 60 minutes of seat time for a child age nine or younger.  Don't ask for more than 30 minutes sustained on a single subject.  Do things to break it up.  Build in "recess" time and snack time.  Alternate subjects that take significant brain energy (math) with subjects that take less energy (listening to a history book).  You can also add "jumping jack breaks" in between subjects.

My youngest son gets worn out quickly with reading.  I let him color for 2 minutes, then read 10 words, then 2 more minutes of coloring, then 10 more words, etc.  If you spot any signs of sagging energy, like making more mistakes or moving slower, then you know you've gone over limit with energy.  Stop what you're doing and try something different.

3. Read alouds
Reading a good book aloud is a never fail proposition.  There is something significant that happens when a child hears a good story in the voice of the person they love most in the world.  Find a book that is age appropriate for your child, and then read aloud to them every day.  Many parents allow children to color and build with blocks while they listen.

4. Homeschool in pairs if you can
Our oldest homeschooled alone.  We never did that again.  When we buddy our children up, they do so much better.  The quiet, lonely ones have a sibling to be with.  The competitive ones push themselves to stay up with their sibling.  Sometimes we have to differentiate for math or reading, but all other subjects are easy to combine when kids are three or fewer years apart. It just works.

5. Teach to weaknesses and strengths
If you have a child with specific academic weaknesses, it can be tempting to focus on that area.  But then the child is spending huge amounts of time on something that is difficult and usually unpleasant.  It works better to also give them time with a subject they are really good at.  It builds their confidence, and may strengthen underlying skills that help the area of struggle.  My little ones love doing Visual Perceptional Reasoning.  They are crazy good with visual intelligence, but we do it anyway because it builds them up.

6. Keep a predictable daily schedule
I think scheduling issues are one of the biggest reasons families give up on homeschooling.  The people who say things like, "we don't pay attention to the time, we can do school anytime," are usually the ones who end up doing nothing and giving up.  Resist this myth!  Set up a schedule for yourself and keep to it.  It doesn't have to match anybody else's schedule, but it does need to be consistent.  Our kids do better with high brain energy subjects in the morning and then activities in the afternoon.

7. Naptime
We've always had little kids in the house who need naps, so it was by accident that we discovered how healthy & helpful it was for older kids (and me!).  Everybody benefits from some quiet time after lunch.  Our younger kids lay in bed, awake is OK but they often fall asleep.  Our older kids lay on the couch with a book, and also fall asleep regularly.  And I get two hours with no one talking to me.

8. Do activities — art, science, cooking
With seven children at home, this is a challenge for me, but every time I take the time to do an activity with the kids, I'm rewarded with solid learning and big smiles.  Artistic Pursuits has great art projects.  There are many great science activity books for younger kids like Science Activities.  Story of the World has a fantastic activity book that goes with it.

9. Don’t compare your hours to the school system
Many parents, new to homeschooling, worry if they finish before 3pm.  I know it's hard, but don't compare yourself.  The homeschool environment is so different from the classroom environment.  Classrooms spend lots of time on lining up, taking attendance, attending to group dynamics, going to assemblies, etc.  Your home environment may spend extra time on the child helping to make lunch, or going grocery shopping.  Worry about your child's academic progress, not the hours you keep.

10. Believe in yourself
The last one is the most important.  While I disagree that *every* parent can homeschool, I do believe that *most* parents can.  Believe that you are capable.  If you feel unsure, fake it till you make it.  If you feel frustrated, try a new curriculum.  If you feel tired, take a break.  Keep experimenting, keep learning, and stay connected to your child.  Nobody is as invested in your child's future as you are. 

Homeschooling After A Bad School Experience

We started homeschooling the same way as many, school just wasn't working for us.   Actually it had gotten really bad.  Our son's behavior problems had become so common that I barely paid attention any more.  While he tested in the gifted range for IQ, his standardized test scores came back in the 15th percentile.  I started reading about underachieving gifted children and their higher rates of criminal behavior, drug usage, and suicide.  It scared me.  It scared me more than homeschooling.

Our story isn't that different from many who start homeschooling after a bad experience in the school.  Many of the children who aren't successful at school have special needs that are better met at home.  However, those special needs require special attention from their parent and it's rarely easy or simple.

Here are a few suggestions in your transition from classroom to home:

1. Take one month off for each year the child was in school.  Your child needs time to recover from the negative stuff they've lived through.  By the time your child was performing badly or acting out in behavior, a lot of water had already gone under the bridge.  They have to unlearn all the harmful methods they now associate with learning so they are ready to learn new methods that will be exciting and wonderful for them.
   
   
2. Focus on anxiety reduction more than academics.  Most parents are terrified of their children getting behind, or getting further behind, so they focus on academics.  When we first brought our son home, I did too.  In hindsight, I now realize that I needed to worry more about his anxiety and less about his academics.  I put pressure on him that kept his anxiety up which slowed his capacity to learn.  I've since discovered that children are hard-wired to learn. ALL children are hard-wired to learn.  They don't need pressure, they just need a nurturing and exciting learning environment, and they thrive!  In the first year, if your child shows any resistance or anxiety with school work, just set it aside and do something fun.  I know it's hard, but it will pay off in the long run.
   
3. Pay attention to sensory issues.  Many children who have trouble at school have sensory problems.  The classroom is too loud for them.  The visual is too overstimulating.  Create a low-sensory study space for your child where it's quiet, the walls are subdued, things are pretty sparse.
   
4. Have fun together.  Homeschooling is so much fun but it's going to take a while to find your fun.  Go on field trips.  Do art/science/history activities together.  Read books out loud to your child (even your teenage children).  Play educational board games.  Let your child choose a topic they are interested in and do a unit study on just that topic.  Skip everything else while you focus on learning to have fun learning.  Celebrate your homeschool adventure with a big "Not Back To School" picnic on the first day of the local school. 
   
5. Read aloud.   One of the fastest ways to help your child realize that homeschooling is not classroom-at-home is to read aloud to them.  Find really good novels and read aloud while they sit in your lap, draw, and build with blocks or legos.  Sonlight excels at historical fiction that ties in with history study.
   
6. Don't spend too much money.  Buying curriculum is a lot of fun, but stop yourself.  Spend the first year figuring out your approach, what works best for your family, what academic level your child truly is at.  I have lots of workbooks that were a complete fail for my children.  Instead of buying up a year's worth of curriculum, I wish I had a little more patience so I had money to spend later on the things that really excited them.
   
7. If child had academic problems, move backward a few years.   Even brilliant kids can get frustrated and overwhelmed in the classroom environment.  If your child had academic problems, assume there are feelings of failure and low self-esteem you need to confront.  The easiest way I've found to do this is to go back a few years so your child gets lots of confidence-building "you did it!" experiences. 
   
8. Commit to some real time.  Your child needs lots of time to see if homeschooling is right for them.  Often, one year is not enough time for a full transition.   Many people pull their children out of school mid-year, and then give up on homeschooling by the next fall.  It's like giving up on running a marathon when the training is only halfway done.  There aren't many people who have homeschooled two or more years who don't have good things to say about it.  Give yourself a chance.
   
9. Find your child friends.  Many cities have homeschool co-ops or park days or meet ups.  Take advantage of these for your child to make friends who homeschool.  Chances are, you'll need the support of the other homeschool parents too.  ...Unless you don't and your child prefers the introverted life.  Then glory in the space that homeschooling provides you.

All those years ago when we pulled our son out of school and started our homeschooling journey, he homeschooled through the rest of 4th grade and all the way through 8th grade.  In high school, he decided to return to public school.  Now in his twenties, he says he wishes he had kept homeschooling through high school.

A Learning Lifestyle... or why we homeschool

When we started homeschooling it was because of problems at school.  But after many years, it's no longer about problems at school for us.  If the local school was stellar, we'd still homeschool.  It's not about anti-government conviction either.  If that was true, we'd be okay with private schools.  It's not about religious formation.  If that was true, we'd be okay with Catholic schools.  Our conviction about homeschooling is about something much more central to our family life and the well being of our children.  It's about the rich environment of learning at home with people who love them and are invested in their long-term future.

Homeschooling provides a rich learning environment.  Because my kids skip all the time used in organizing and managing a classroom, their education time is concentrated and potent.  As a result they are able to study more without additional time or energy.  Because I've had kids in school, I have a general idea of what is covered.  In addition to what they would learn at the local public school, my children study foreign language beginning quite young, religion and Bible, history and science everyday, and read a lot more.

Homeschooling provides individualization.  Lower classroom sizes are the hallmark of excellent education.  Our classroom is pretty small — only seven (OK, that's crazy for homeschooling, but you get my point).  It allows us to individualize and customize based on our children's interests and aptitudes.  When my third child, a math whiz, was in the eighth grade she decided to study both Algebra II and Geometry in one year.  When my second child, not so good at math was in the tenth grade, she once got to the end of a chapter and failed the test.  We simply went back to the beginning of the chapter, did it again.  The second time she did much better.  This same child finds foreign language nearly effortless — she's studied Spanish, French, Japanese and German. 

Homeschooling sets up realistic expectations for adult life.  I remember the transition from the school calendar to a working calendar in my young adult years.  Suddenly I was working over Christmas break and spring break and summer break.  It truly was a shock to my system, and I realized how my expectations had been skewed by my school experience.  Our homeschool schedule is year-round with breaks for projects like spring planting and harvest, with only occasionally vacations.  Learning has become an intentional part of everyday living.  Because my children don't have the physical shift from home to classroom, a homeschool day isn't significantly different from a break day; we're just working on different things.  When we do truly have vacations, like over Christmas, they savor the time.

Homeschooling is about healthy family relationships.  My children treat their siblings like friends, which seems different than the average family.  It's not because they are inherently nicer kids.  It's not because we are exceptionally better parents.  It's because they spend their days with their siblings.  Their brothers and sisters are their peers at "recess."  They have the time and motivation to develop strong relationships.  They have become each others’ best friends.

Homeschooling is about better parenting.  Because my husband and I are with our children so much, it's made us deal with problems in our parenting.   We've had to deal head on with minding, follow through, and being good role models.  You don't have to be with children 24/7 very long before lack of minding just has to be dealt with.  If my children were off at school and day care and activities, I think we could have avoided dealing with those problems and just complained a lot, as I see some others doing.  But homeschooling has made us resolve these issues and we are all happier as a result.

Frankly, it's not all about the kids.  Homeschooling is a lot of fun for me.  I'm reading really good novels that I never read when I was young.  I'm learning history again as I go through it with my children.  I'm watching eyes light up as they figure out math problems.  I'm sharing the joy of discovery in science experiments and the delight of creation in art projects.  And I'm spending my days with the people who mean the most to me in the entire world.

Since we have started homeschooling we are are happier people and happier with each other.  My children can explore their interests and know they are safe in their weaknesses.  In the end, no one is as invested in our children's future as those of us who expect to be part of it.