Homeschooling: Would It Work For Your Family?
Who would have known that in 2020 a lot of families would be looking at the option of homeschooling? Are you wondering about homeschooling: would it work for your family? You may be surprised how well homeschooling can work for your family.
However, I want to walk you through the ups and downs of homeschooling and why it might just be something for you to check out! In case you missed this post, 15 Valuable Skills I Learned In Home Economics
Homeschooling: Would It Work for Your Family?
Homeschooling isn’t a journey that is the same for every single family. For example, one family might choose to use a school district provided curriculum, and another family may choose to put together their own curriculum.
There is no right or wrong way to do it, which may mean it could work for your family.
Flexible Schedule
I think there is some kind of negative connotation that homeschooling has to be from 7-3 during the day. If there is one thing that could make homeschooling work for any family is the flexible schedule. Here are a few options you can choose for homeschooling:
- Homeschool in the morning
- Homeschool in the afternoon
- Homeschool in the evenings
- Homeschool on the weekends
You don’t have to homeschool for a certain amount of hours in a day. You don’t have to homeschool a certain number of days during the week. As long as your child is learning and progressing that is what really matters.
Choose Your Subjects
When it comes to homeschooling, you get to choose your subjects. While most homeschooling families choose reading, writing, and math, you can choose some special subjects your kids would enjoy.
This is a great time for your high school student to learn coding or even learn how to sew.
If your younger son or daughter is infatuated with LEGO, then they can spend time doing LEGO challenges. Choosing your subjects is a major draw for families to homeschool.
Take Time Off
The public school system has the tendency to dictate what time you have off with your children. Homeschooling means that you can take time off when you need it most.
Schooling is hard whether you’re homeschooling or not, which is why time off is so essential. You can take time off to go on vacation or just sit around the house and enjoy each other. It’s so nice to be able to enjoy life without someone else dictating your schedule.
Switch It Up
Perhaps one of the most satisfying things about homeschooling and deciding if it’s right for your family or not is the ability to switch it up. If you don’t like something, you can change it.
Don’t like the curriculum you’re using? Switch to something else. If you don’t like your current schedule, go ahead and switch to something else. You have the power to do what you want, this is your homeschool.
Socialization Naturally Happens
Okay, so we are in the middle of a pandemic, so socialization is not as big of a deal as it would be on a normal basis. With social distancing, we’re all trying to stay further away from each other.
With normal homeschooling, socialization naturally happens. Socialization isn’t going to be happening in public schools, so this isn’t something to get hung up on.
How Long Should I Homeschool?
Homeschooling: would it work for your family? One of the biggest questions to consider whether or not homeschooling would work for your family is how long you should homeschool.
There isn’t a set number of hours in which one should homeschool, but I wanted to give you a rundown of what could be the best-case scenario.
- Elementary students: 2 hours a day
- Middle schoolers: 2 – 3 hours a day
- High school: 3-4 hours a day
Of course, this is just a guide and you can change things up as you’d like!
How Do I Know if Homeschooling is Right For My Child?
I’m not here to convince you to homeschool your child, that is a decision you need to make. However, there are some ways to evaluate if homeschooling is right for your child or not. You may need to make some adjustments to help keep your child on the right path.
However, just know that nothing is ever perfect at the beginning, sometimes it takes time to adjust. Homeschooling is right for your child if that’s what you determine because you are the parent and you get to make the choices.
What Time Do Homeschoolers Wake Up?
This is one of those questions that is going to be different for everyone. Some homeschooled kids prefer to wake up early and get their schooling over and others prefer to sleep in. The same applies to the parents doing the schooling.
The beauty of homeschooling is that you get to decide what you do. You may find that staying up late and getting up late is more suitable for your lifestyle. You’ll have time to figure all of this out.
Where to Start With Choosing Your Homeschooling Subjects
After you have chosen to start homeschooling your children, you may be wondering where to start with choosing your homeschooling subjects. I wanted to give you a basic rundown of what subjects to start if you’re new to this.
Here is a simple rundown of some subjects to consider to get started with and then you can add or delete to it as time, family needs, or your curiosity allows.
- K – phonics, math, and handwriting
- 1st grade – reading, phonics, spelling, handwriting, math
- 2nd grade – reading, spelling, math, phonics (you can also add in science and social studies)
- 3rd grade – reading, spelling, math, phonics ( history, social studies, and science)
- 4th grade – reading, spelling, math (history, social studies, science)
- 5th grade – reading, spelling, math (history, social studies, science)
6th grade through 12th grade starts to get more specific. You can look for YouTubes to start giving your kids a different mix of subjects. Stay tuned, I will be putting some lists together for you.
Kids in middle school and high school take courses like math, English, science, social studies, literacy, language arts, foreign language, and history. The great thing about homeschooling is that you get to choose which subjects your children take based on their general interests, and also your ability to teach various subjects.
That may be one reason you decide to follow a curriculum provided by your school district.
Final Word
Is homeschooling right for your family? You’ll discover if it works for your family or not by jumping in and giving it a try. Homeschooling: would it work for your family? I say, yes! I’d love to hear your thoughts on homeschooling. May God bless this world, Linda.
Copyright Images: School AdobeStock_300139812 by Krakenimages.com, School Tent Learning AdobeStock_328777310 by Krankenimages.com
I love this. We are starting our homeschool journey this year.
Hi Jess, I think this article will help those that may be on the fence about homeschooling. I LOVE hearing you are starting your homeschool journey this year! Linda
We were a first generation Homeschooling family. I taught my son, Grade 2- High School Graduation. He was accepted at Virginia Tech, completed 4 years, and graduated. He is now 32 years old. He works in banking. Homeschooling was the best experience! We enjoyed it so much! My son very often, thanks me for the high quality education he received at home.
Parents, do not be afraid to home-school your children. Who knows them better or loves them more? If you find something isn’t clicking with your child, feel free to try something else. If something is easy, you can move on to something more challenging. Your student will progress naturally. The wealth of materials is staggering today. Explore & enjoy! I’m still on the look-out for school supplies.
My daughter has been homeschooling my grand-kids for 2 years. I’m delighted to be teaching “life-skills.” Cooking, baking, sewing, canning, laundry, cleaning, and household management, all skills they will use on a daily basis and most especially, when they are spreading their wings into adulthood.
You will find, that after the initial settling in, a routine will develop and calm will descend over your home. You are free to set your own hours and follow your own rhythms. As seen in the chart above, the actual hours of instruction are very short, especially in the lower grades. This leaves plenty of time for enrichment crafts and skills. There is time for the kids to learn self-reliance by helping you with household chores. You will also be passing along your values and wisdom to your kids.
The home-school community is very vibrant. Other homeschooling families share generously, make suggestions, and offer support. Before Covid-19, there were kids meetings, enrichment outings, and sports for homeschooling families. Hopefully, these will resume. Be sure to check out your local home-school associations.
HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) has a wealth of resources. From getting started, your questions answered, choosing your curriculum, links to your local home-school associations, your state’s laws, current educational requirements for your state, forms to submit, and legal protection.
Their online academy, offers courses for students grades 8-12, in English, math, foreign language, science, AP courses, and several others. Subjects that parents may feel out of their depth to teach in upper grades. I was out of my depth, after arithmetic! There are many resources and work a rounds to help you teach a subject that was not your best! Parents, you can teach your children!
I really encourage you to explore teaching your children at home. Be not afraid! You’ve got this! Godspeed & Happy Homeschooling to all!
Hi Judy, I LOVE LOVE LOVE your comment! I have watched a few of my grandkids being homeschooled and wow they are so far ahead of the public school! They have learned more and in less time. My heart is full of excitement Yes, we can do it! Linda
Yes you can do it!! You are spot on! The kids learn more in less time! I see this as a wonderful opportunity to take back your children’s education and formation. Parents, you do not need special training and years of education to teach your children. You will get more learning into them, in 5 minutes, than in a whole school year ever could! Relax and enjoy your kids!
HI Judy, I love the statement, relax and enjoy your kids! Yes, we can do it! Linda
I did not have the opportunity to homeschool my daughter full time. I was a single parent and it was a toss up: homeschool full time or eat and be housed!! The latter won out. BUT that being said, as a single parent who had to work full time, I still homeschooled my daughter. All responsible parents do as well. We just don’t “call” it homeschooling. For example: I taught my daughter: how to cook, how to take a recipe for 6 servings and cut it down to 2 or 3 servings; how to garden; how to can and preserve the foods we grew or were able to forage/purchase; how to clean house. I also remember a time when I came home from work and found my middle school daughter in tears. She had a paper due in a couple of days. She was not able to bring her school book home – long long story and there were no extras in the library. When I found out what the subject was, I told her that I had studied that very subject in college and I still had my college text book. So, we got that text book out, she wrote her paper AND she got an A+. She learned 2 things that time: 1) there are ways around the difficulty and 2) mom knows a thing or two!! So, I homeschooled but not in the “conventional” sense of what most think of homeschooling. NOTE: we did not have the internet as we do now. We start at birth and continue to when we die!! My daughter still calls me or texts me if she has questions about something.
My daughter and son-in-law homeschool all of their kids (9, 7 1/2, 6, 20 months). My daughter is not a really crafty person so her mother-in-law teaches the kids crafts/art. My daughter is also not a science person so I teach the kids science. They call me the Science Grandma and ALWAYS ask me if I have a science project for them. My daughter and SIL also enroll the kids in a Christian based course called Classical Conversations that typically meets one day a week. With the pandemic, unfortunately, that has been shut down. But she does have the curriculum for that course and uses it along with the reading, writing, arithmetic. She recently found an on-line cooking course for kids and has them enrolled in that. Each age has a different “course”. The 6 year old is learning basic skills like peeling, chopping, and that sort of thing; the 7 1/2 year old is learning how to prepare simple (raw and cooked) meals; the 9 year old is learning baking. So, one of the things the 3 are doing during this course is one is the sous chef – prepping the veggies, fruits, etc.; one is cooking the main part of the meal; and one is making the dessert – pie, cake, cookies, etc.
I think the main thing to keep in mind with homeschooling is keeping the kids engaged. If they are struggling to keep their minds on math or reading at a particular time, it might be a good idea to engage them in another activity. You can very easily incorporate all the subjects into a single learning activity. Nature hike – incorporate science, writing and art – have the child keep a journal of the hikes, and have them draw the things they see. If you want to also have the child take photos on the nature hike, you can incorporate photography and perhaps with the computer, teach them how to manipulate the photos – larger, smaller, different coloring (full color, sepia tones, black and white) for contrasts.
Hi Leanne, I LOVE LOVE LOVE your comment! You were such a good example for your daughter that she knew what to do, and how to do when she married and started raising her kids! You know this melts my heart! Thanks for sharing, Linda