Is Homeschooling Right For Us?

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Homeschooling can be an overwhelming idea. As the summer begins to wind down and Covid remains ramped up, many moms are stressing out about what school will be like this fall and in the future. My kids are only 4 and 19 months, but I had already decided we were going to homeschool. This can be a tough decision and with the concerns over going back to school, many parents are considering homeschooling. Since I’m already a stay at home/work from home mom, I thought it would be a good thing for me to take on. It is important to consider that homeschooling is not for everyone. Take the following into consideration if you’re considering this option for your kids.

You have already taught your child.

As you consider homeschooling, you may have doubts in yourself being an adequate teacher. It’s important to remember that you have been your child’s teacher since the day they were born. You have already taught them so much just going through day-to-day life. They ask so many questions and your kids retain these answers.

My daughter’s grandma came to visit recently and we went for a walk. During the walk my daughter was telling her everything she could think of. One day she wanted to know about ticks, so we looked up some information. She told grandma all about ticks. She also told her about the road and how some of it was concrete and some of it was asphalt just from talking about it with me on another walk. Kids absorb what you tell them. If you don’t know something, look it up and you will learn it together.

You get more options.

A really great thing about homeschooling is that you have so many options for learning. You can go with a structured curriculum or you may consider unschooling. Unschooling refers to following your child’s interests. This is a great option, especially for younger kids, and it’s what I’m currently doing with my daughter. I ask her what she wants to learn about or she asks me a question and we learn more about it together. We’re still working on writing, reading and math, but through making a card and writing her name or putting together certain puzzles.

You get more freedom.

While it’s difficult to do a bunch of outings right now, things are starting to reopen with restrictions. I love taking the kids to the zoo and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to get back there soon. Homeschooling offers you the freedom to schedule your day however you want. Want to go to the zoo or a park for a couple hours? Go ahead! There’s some zoology and PE! Are the kids being crazy? Send them outside to run around for 20 minutes!

There are also many different ways to learn something. Sometimes it may be through a book, other times it may be through a video or an activity. I find that baking is a really fun way to reinforce numbers and the concept of measuring. Plus, it’s just fun.

It’s different than virtual learning.

When schools closed earlier this year, many parents had to adapt to working from home and getting their kids to do virtual learning. This was a shock to everyone’s system that they had in place. Homeschooling is a lot different. You will be responsible for your child’s education and can plan it accordingly. You won’t be trying to follow someone else’s lesson plan or logging into a platform at a certain time of day. You will be able to plan what you want to do ahead of time instead of being thrust into something unknown.

It will try your patience.

Kids are hard and sometimes you will need to be flexible. This means that you may need to adjust what you had planned for the day, but you should probably be used to this if you have kids anyway. Ha. Adjusting your schedule doesn’t always have to be a bad thing!

A love of learning helps.

As you consider whether or not to homeschool your child, think about your own style of learning and attitude toward learning. When I began to think about it, I actually got excited at the idea of re-learning things again. Not necessarily everything, but for me, I’m excited to go over science topics and writing mostly. I love science and the thought of learning that stuff again is fun for me. I’m also looking forward to my kids writing their own stories because I love writing and reading. What subjects did you love in school? You can share that love with your child and learn some new things in the process!

Getting organized ahead of time is important.

Trying to plan a curriculum for your child can be really intimidating. It’s important to plan ahead at least for the week. Keep in mind that things could change, but think about what printables or other items you may want to have on hand for that week and get them ready. Once you’re into your week, you may forget what you had planned or get distracted with something else, especially other children. My toddler easily derails things that I want to do with my preschooler, so having things set up ahead of time really helps.

You can dive deeper into what they are interested in.

This piece is one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling. In school your child will get taught information in many different subjects. While this base knowledge is important, there may be other things that your kids are interested in. When you homeschool, you can take some time to dive deeper into things that your child likes. This not only grows their knowledge, but both of you have more fun. Making learning fun will be invaluable as your child grows up. My daughter is really interested in dinosaurs right now, so we take the time to talk about them and learn more about the different types. She loves learning more and trying to piece together information about these creatures.

There are also some great shows that you can seek out depending on what your kid is interested in. For us, Dino Dana and Bill Nye the Science Guy are helpful in helping both of us learn.

Homeschooling your child can be an overwhelming undertaking, but it can also be so rewarding! Are you planning on homeschooling? Comment below!