Finding yourself in a new homeschool year, whether it’s your first, fourth, or beyond, can be daunting. I am in my fourth year of homeschooling. I am here to tell you it can be amazing, but I have also made many mistakes. That is part of the learning process. However, if I can help you with a little “how to start homeschooling 101” or better yet, “how not to homeschool 101, ” I am here to help.
Honestly, that last statement is not accurate. There is no one way to homeschool, no right or wrong, black and white. There are some mindsets to get into, though. I will help you start wrapping your mind around some of those. These are things that I learned the hard way. I want you to avoid them as you start your new year.
Start Homeschooling and Avoid These Pitfalls
Textbooks are not required:
Textbooks are usually described as a dry and uninteresting depiction of facts or information. Find out your state’s homeschool requirements before you start. Each state can be different. You can curate your curriculum to your family’s needs.
Consider an open-and-go curriculum. Open and go is just as it sounds. You open the book and it is all provided there for you. Here is what we use that is considered an open-and-go curriculum.
Give living books a try. This subject could be a whole new post in itself. However, a living book can be described as a story told by someone who lived through the event. (There are many definitions for a living book, but I will keep it simple here.) Use living books in place of textbooks to get more of an insider viewpoint of things.
Take time to learn your child’s learning style. I know the temptation of all those fun curriculums can be tempting. Trust me. But consider taking the time to learn your child’s interests and unique learning styles. You can adjust as time goes on to their learning style.
Don’t Compare Yourself With Public School
You’re not a public school, so don’t hold yourself to their standards. Again, find out what your state requires, and keep it simple.
Their schedule is not your schedule. This goes for the time you spend during the day and throughout the year. When I started homeschooling I kept the same schedule as the local schools…it was too grueling for us. There were times I went 6-9 weeks without a break. NO THANK YOU. I got burnt out, likely you would too. Take my advice and make your own schedule. This leads me to my next point.
Be flexible. Take breaks as needed. For instance, there is no need to expect your child to sit and have a book open in front of them for 8 hours a day. Homeschooling can take as little as 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on your child, and their age.
I used to be a die-hard on our schedule. I have learned through the years to allow for flexibility. If someone is just not feeling it that day, or if we are sick for instance (like we have been this week) we take a break.
Don’t Compare Yourself to Other Homeschoolers
Your homeschooling experience is your own, don’t compare yourself to others. It can be easy to see others on Instagram or Pinterest and get it into our heads that their homeschool life must be perfect.
I love looking into what others are doing with their homeschool, but also struggle in thinking I need all the do-dads, and thingy-mick-bobbers to help me out. It’s just not true. You just need yourself and a kid or two (preferably your own) and see where it takes you.
I will tell you a little secret. Most days at the beginning of the year are rough. At the start of last year, we had some tables and chairs overturned by a certain 3rd grader. It was not pretty. But you know what? That ended up being the best year we have had so far. Though this year is going well, we are still in our first month and it has not been all rainbows and butterflies. Give it time, it will get better, but it won’t be immediate.
If Possible, Don’t Grade Your Child’s Work
Again, some states may be more strict about records, but I advise if possible not to keep grades. (I live in a very low/no regulation state, so I am not really familiar with the higher requirements. I just know there are more records to be kept.)
Generally, there would be no reason to keep records of a child’s grades if it’s just for personal use. I started out doing this, but it just put unneeded pressure on us both. It was a way for me to stress myself and my son out more, and it was just not making our homeschool a happy place. There is so much more to homeschooling than grades.
Make it a judge-free zone. I used to worry about every misprint or misspoken word when writing or reading. Again, this just made it more stressful and less enjoyable. I felt the pressure to teach the lesson and felt that if they didn’t learn it right away it would never be done right. Again, this just isn’t true. As you continue on your homeschooling journey you will find that things spiral back and lessons are learned over and over again, most of the time it’s just time that is needed.
Some Days Will Be Better Than Others
When you start homeschooling it may seem that things are going great, or maybe you will also have overturned tables and chairs. (Welcome to the club) It is really easy to remember the bad days over the good days.
If you keep track of your days by a color-coded system of some sort, try to color good days one color and bad days another color. By the end of the week or year, you will likely see you had more good days than bad. Or you can see a pattern, perhaps the first few weeks are more rough than the rest. (Then you can reflect on that the next year when it seems you are having a rough start.) Hey, that is a great idea, I should take my own advice!
Remember Your Why
Keep in mind why you wanted to start homeschooling in the first place.
I had no plans to start homeschooling prior to the pandemic. However, my “why” has become to keep my kids safe at home with me. That is really all I need to motivate me to keep going.
What is your “why”? The flame that inspired you to homeschool in the first place? What were the reasons you had to give to your spouse to convince them this was the right choice for your family? Think about these things on the hard days. The spark can go out quickly on those difficult days. It can be reignited with just a simple change, such as a good day when your child is eager and ready to learn alongside you. Keep going, you never know when overturned tables can overturn your school year for the better.
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