How About Homeschooling?

Posted by Phyllis Wheeler

May 21, 2008

by Phyllis Wheeler

Perhaps you are not happy with your other options, and you are starting to toy with this idea. But you can’t imagine yourself doing it. After all, doesn’t it take a superwoman to juggle lessons and all the other things moms have to do?

As a homeschooling veteran, I can tell you this: you CAN do it IF you love your kids. That’s what it takes: dedication to your kids. You will develop the skills you need as you need them. It’s like juggling. When you first learn to juggle, you juggle just one thing. Then you ad another. Then you add another.

You’ll be happy to hear this. Homeschooling may actually be easier than not homeschooling. Soccer moms are constantly driving, getting their kids to lots of different same-age activities. If you were homeschooling, you’d be able to find and do activities that work for all of you together.

Instead of spending evenings helping with homework, you will spend mornings going over academic subjects, using curriculums that are tailored for self-study. Your evenings will open up.

If you have a large family, you’ll probably want to rely on unit studies. These are studies of large topics, such as ancient Egypt, which can be treated differently for kids of different ages. You can read all of them a novel about ancient Egypt, for instance Mara, Daughter of the Nile. A younger child would write a sentence about it, and an older one a three-page paper with bibliography. The kids can do art projects and learn about measuring the height of pyramids using similar triangles. The unit might last a month or so. There are many available for purchase on the homeschool curriculum market.

You will probably want to use workbooks and curriculum to make sure your child is learning what he should be learning for his grade. Homeschool curriculums typically include an answer key, so you don’t need to be an expert. Actually, homeschooled kids usually learn directly from the book or workbook, not from a lecture. This reading skill is great for preparing for college.

Correspondence schools will teach your child, too. These can take the form of videos, workbooks, or online.

Structuring your day is a question for you to ponder. Many homeschoolers get all their less-fun schoolwork done in the morning, leaving the afternoon for projects, goofing off, housework, or whatever. If you want to include your child in an organized activity, you can join regularly schooled children in their sports teams in the late afternoon. But there are daytime activities too. You can also ask around–some of these activities providers are creating daytime classes (in gymastics, for example) for homeschoolers. You do have to be careful to avoid burnout here, though.

People who don’t homeschool always ask about socializing. Are the kids getting enough socializing? One of the best things about homeschooling is that you get to choose whom your children socialize with. You can make sure the socializing is well supervised. Bullies are not a problem. In fact, you can even choose adults. I have observed that most homeschooled kids are very comfortable talking to adults, much more so than schooled kids.

Your kids will enjoy a homeschool co-op. These might meet once a week for classes, or go out for field trips periodically. Kids learn appropriate social interactions because they are well supervised. You can find a co-op by networking with other homeschoolers. Your local homeschooling convention might be a good place to start. Keep networking until you find the co-op that is right for you–or start one.

Something else you will need is support. You need someone to talk to who is going through the same challenges. The Internet has been quite a blessing to homeschool moms, who can support each other online. There are many discussion forums attached to homeschooling Web sites, for instance, www.welltrainedmind.com. There are email groups for homechoolers too–look through the groups at groups.yahoo.com.

Can you homeschool? The answer is, “Absolutely!”

About the Author:

Phyllis Wheeler creates fun computer science curriculums for homeschoolers. Check out her free short e-book on Internet research, the Internet Scavenger Hunt! And see a sampling of articles on homeschooling she has for you.

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