Advice to New Homeschoolers
Are you a brand new homeschooler? This advice will help you structure your home and focus on what matters.
The Best Advice for New Homeschoolers
With every new undertaking, there is a learning curve.
This is true for homeschooling as well.
It is especially true if you attended traditional school (whether public or private) growing up. Homeschooling is so different!
You can ascend the learning curve faster by following this time-tested advice for new homeschoolers.
We’ve been where you are. Now let us help you!
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Solid Gold Advice for Brand New Homeschoolers
Here is the advice we wish someone had told us when we started!
Babies and Toddlers Don’t Need Formal Schooling
You don’t need to start formal schooling with babies and toddlers.
For the young, play is learning and learning is play.
When should you begin “school time”? Preschool. You can find fun, effective, and FREE lessons plans on HomeschoolingPreschool.
Remember, homeschooling littles does not take much time.
Read books, take a nature walk, and do some seat work. The whole thing might take two hours.
Make a Budget and Stick to It
Have you ever been to a homeschooling convention to check out curricula?
You will see aisles of books, kits, games, and manipulatives that will tempt you to spend thousands of dollars.
The internet is even worse!
With so many choices in homeschooling materials, you can easily click your way to a serious hole in your bank account.
Make a list of the subjects you plan to teach and find a curriculum to match.
Start with free or inexpensive items. You can homeschool on a budget.
Insist That Your Kids Help
As a homeschooling parent, you have to manage many tasks. You can’t do all these by yourself!
Your kids, no matter how young, can do their part to help your house and homeschool be orderly.
Teach your kids to get out their books and papers and put them away.
You can even use homeschool work baskets (for elementary and older students), so they can do some of their work independently.
Make a bin of healthy snacks, and teach your kids to grab a snack themselves.
Insist they clear their place at mealtime and put their dirty clothes in the hamper at the end of the day.
You cannot be responsible for everything. Delegate! You will teach responsibility and self-sufficiency in the process.
Gather a Support System
You need a support system if you are going to homeschool.
That begins with your partner. It is immensely important that they be on board with the decision to homeschool.
You will need your partner’s help and support when there are tough days (and there will be some tough days).
You also need support from fellow homeschoolers. Join a homeschooling social group or co-op. Make homeschooling friends!
This is important for you and for your kids.
You Can Outsource Subjects If Needed
You don’t need to be a master of a subject in order to teach it.
Rest assured you will learn alongside your child. It’s amazing how much you will learn!
But if you worry that some subjects may be out of your depth, you can always hire a tutor or sign your child up for a class.
Homeschoolers are resourceful! Your job is not to know everything.
Your job is to help meet your child’s needs. You can do this!
Let Go of Grade Levels
Just because your child is in third grade does not mean they need to be in third grade math and third grade reading.
Your child is an individual, and their education will move at its own pace.
Once you start homeschooling, you will find that your 8 year old (the typical third grader) may be in fourth grade math, second grade spelling, and completing a unit study on ancient Egypt.
What grade are they in? Who cares! They are learning at their own pace. This is one of the beautiful aspects of homeschooling.
Let the pace (and even the content) suit the child.
Face-to-Face Works Best with Littles
There are a host on online homeschooling classes, videos, and learning apps. Many are wonderful ways to enhance your homeschool curriculum.
But with little kids (preschool and elementary), face to face instruction works best.
By all means use a couple of learning apps, but stick with face to face instruction as the cornerstone of your homeschool.
Learn When to Push Through and When to Regroup
Every students gets frustrated. And since you are the parent, your child will feel safe expressing their frustration when they encounter a challenge, whether that is reading or long division.
How do you handle when they are discouraged? First of all, you need to keep your emotions in check.
Then use some discernment. Is this an opportunity to teach tenacity?
Or should you take a break for a snack, a walk, or try again another day? A night of sleep works wonders.
It may also be the curriculum. If your child is frustrated every day for three weeks, consider looking at another curriculum.
Homeschool Is Still School
While you want your homeschool to be fun and engaging, sometimes it won’t be.
Sometimes your child will have to finish that page of math problems or spell that list of words.
Sometimes they may complain that school is boring.
That’s okay. Homeschool is still school. You are not “doing it wrong” if your child is not having fun 100% of the time.
Teach Growth Mindset
The most important lesson you can teach your child is how to learn.
While part of that is learning strategies and study skills, the other piece is teaching them to believe they can work hard and be successful.
Emphasize effort and teach growth mindset with your homeschooled child.
Go to the Library
The library should be a weekly field trip in your homeschool.
Get each child a library card and let them check out a stack of books each visit.
It’s fun and free!
Get into Nature
One of the biggest advantages to homeschooling is that the outdoors can be your classroom.
Your child does not need to be always at a desk.
Talk nature walks, read in a hammock or on a blanket, collect bugs or make art with natural materials.
Your classroom does not need walls.
The Best and Final Piece of Advice
The best piece of advice for new homeschoolers is this: give yourself grace (and lots of it).
Homeschooling is incredibly rewarding, but it can also be incredibly tough.
There will be days when your house is a disaster, the baby won’t stop crying, and you lost it at your whiny or sassy kid.
You will wonder, “Do I really have what it takes to homeschool?”
You do. Give yourself grace. Allow yourself to have some hard days without it being a sign that you should throw in the towel.
Call one of your homeschool mom friends, read this letter of homeschool encouragement, go outside, or drink a steaming cup of coffee with the decadent creamer in a quiet space for five minutes.
The first year is always the hardest. It gets better. You get better. Sprinkle some grace on the path.
