Homeschool And What You Need To Start You Off

/ Homeschool Season / By

You have decided to start Homeschooling. That is a big decision in and of itself.  You are probably thinking…

“What do I do now?”

“What do I need?”

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My Journey Into Homeschooling…

Well, I would like to share with you what I did and what I used when I started homeschooling and what I still do and use now. 

I started homeschooling back in 2018. We had just moved to a southern state and so we were new to the area. Homeschooling had been on my mind for a couple of years and the state that we moved to was more laid back about what homeschool curriculum you used and what paperwork you had to turn in. 

Nevertheless, it was a big step for me to finally make that decision. I just didn’t realize how hard it was going to be for me. At that time I had three of my daughters in upper elementary and one in middle school. I also had two daughters that were little and not in school yet. I thought “okay” how hard can this be. I love to learn and did pretty good in English and Math.

Let’s just say I was in over my head. I did so much research. I watched a whole lot of YouTube videos. I was trying to find out as much information as I could. 

I became overwhelmed. I had all these questions…

Do I need a schoolroom? 

Do I need desks?

What curriculum do I want to use?  

What supplied do I need? 

How was I going to plan out my school day? 

How was I going to get to all of my girls in different grades?

The more I found out the more I was ready to quit before I had even begun. 

I was very overwhelmed and very frustrated. I couldn’t understand why the other mom’s that I saw on YouTube made it look so easy. I thought if I don’t use what they are using and if I don’t have a schoolroom then I will probably not be good at homeschooling. My girls won’t get a good education.

It was much later that I realized how wrong I was. I shouldn’t have compared myself to those other mom’s who were homeschooling. It was okay that I wasn’t like them and didn’t have what they had. It was okay to decide to do my homeschool differently. 

It is okay for you to decide to homeschool however you choose and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

I figured some of these things out eventually, but even to this day I have to remind myself not to compare myself. I still go through and see what is working and what isn’t. I am still homeschooling and probably will be for a long time. 

I want to share with you what I realized and what I wish I had known sooner to save me so much stress and headache and not to be so overwhelmed.

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What should you do? 3 Things to start you off.

First of all, before you officially get started on your homeschool journey, you need to know what your State requires of you as a homeschooler. The education department in your county should have that information on their website. Please be informed so that you don’t have any problems down the road.

Second of all…and this one is very important, “please don’t compare yourself to anyone else“. I can’t stress this enough. You and your children are unique. You get to decide how you want to homeschool your children. You know better than anyone else what you need and what your children need.

Third, take some time to figure out each of your children’s learning styles. I will mention three that you can start with: 

  • The first one is visual (they learn through seeing). These are usually books with lots of pictures.

  • Second one is auditory (they learn through hearing). Reading out loud and talking about what you read will be one of the best things you can do.

  • Third is kinesthetic (they learn through doing and moving). Finding lots of hands on activities and keeping kids moving.

Learning about your kids learning styles will benefit them and you. It helps them to learn better and helps you to be less stressed about teaching them.

What you don’t need? 

You don’t need all of what you see others have. It’s okay if you don’t have a school room and decide to work at the kitchen counter, dining room table, or even the couch. There were days when my girls had clipboards and did their work on the couch.

It’s okay that you don’t have the expensive curriculum. I wasn’t able to afford expensive curriculum and even to this day I still can’t afford it but neither do I feel like I need it. There are so many free resources out there whether at your library or online. Your children can learn all that they need without the expensive curriculum. 

Your homeschool does not have to follow a typical school year or day as that of a public school. You have the choice of scheduling out your year or day however you want and what fits best for your family.

You don’t have to stress yourself out by doing all the subjects especially in the younger grades. The most important subjects for your children to learn and to learn them well are Language Arts (reading and writing) and Math. If they are proficient readers then later on they can read a variety of different books on different subjects. 

The beauty of homeschooling is that you make the decisions for your child’s education. You cater to their learning style. You can slow down and take the time to learn about something that really interests them. You can speed up if your child is ready to move on. There is so much that they can learn. 

The world is at your fingertips. Learn and explore with them. Make it fun and enjoyable. Make it your own.