I want to have a great homeschool summer. I don’t really want to do full-blown academics every day, but I do want to keep the kids’ curiosity alive and well and fuel their brains with lots to chew on. It turns out that I’m not alone. I’ve heard lots of homeschool moms say recently, “We’re…
Lots of folks wonder if you have to be a teacher to homeschool. Or, if you’re not an actual teacher, they figure that the homeschool parent actually has to do most of the teaching. When I mention homeschooling, one of the most common objections I receive from strangers (second only to socialization) is that homeschooling…
Mamas who are home with kids all day, especially homeschooling mamas: You know how hard it is to keep up with the messes. Toys, curricula, books, dishes, crumbs all over and under the table, that Lego brick you’ve stepped on for the umpteenth time… Tidying up with young kids can feel nearly impossible. I, too,…
A solid homeschool routine can sometimes feel like an unattainable prize. It’s like a beautiful fruit dangling just out of reach, tantalizing you with how good it would taste, how perfectly satisfied you would feel once it was in your possession, how you would never again long for anything different. I hear it so often:…
Welcome to the second discussion in our Homeschool Stories Collection! Today we meet an elementary principal who left her career in education to become a homeschooling mom. If you’re new here, let me introduce my young Homeschool Stories Collection to you. I am gathering these stories to help us gain perspective, inspiration, and encouragement from…
As the holidays creep closer, I find my calendar filling up faster than four crazed children can fill their take-out containers at the local community holiday cookie walk. Despite my bloated schedule, my inner type A, list-making, box-checking self still finds ways to pressure us all into making sure we do all the school things…
My very first steps in homeschooling started way back when my firstborn would have been going into pre-k. I had a teacher certification, I had worked at a daycare with a preschool already, and I was already warmed up to homeschooling thanks to a some friends and family members. Why pay money for preschool when…
Let’s talk about a challenge that parents are experiencing in greater numbers than ever before: working and homeschooling at the same time. It used to be that homeschooling was only associated with families who had at least one parent staying at home– usually the mom. However, an increasing number of parents find themselves working in…
Welcome to Homeschool Stories! This video is what I hope will be the first of many. Part of my dream for this website was to create a hub for homeschool moms and dads of all backgrounds to be able to share their experiences and perspectives with others. Why do I think this is so important?…
As teachers and musicians with four kids, we know what it’s like to homeschool on a budget. Our income has never been high and we’ve had to be pretty resourceful over the years to pay for the growing needs of our family. This has been true in homeschooling too. A short foray into curriculum research…
I’ve always been a check-off-the-boxes girl. Give me a list, and I’ll work to cross everything off. Give me a deadline, and I will sacrifice my sanity to get the job done in time. In school, I was the kid who worked to get 100% on every test and always did the extra credit projects….
The Homeschool Parent’s Learning Curve is part of a How to Start Homeschooling series. If you would like to have more help getting started with homeschooling, check out How to Start Homeschooling, a comprehensive guide to establishing your homeschool. When we think of homeschooling, we so often think of parents teaching children. Teaching them Algebra…
This post on how homeschool looks different is part of a How to Start Homeschooling series. If you would like to have more help getting started with homeschooling, check out How to Start Homeschooling, a comprehensive guide to establishing your homeschool. Homeschool looks different from school. I think that everyone recognizes that to a certain extent….
Deciding What to Learn in Your Homeschool is part of a How to Start Homeschooling series. If you would like to have more help getting started with homeschooling, check out How to Start Homeschooling, a comprehensive guide to establishing your homeschool. You’ve decided to homeschool and you’ve made it official by registering as a legal…
This post, How to Homeschool Legally, is the first of a How to Start Homeschooling series. If you would like to have more help getting started with homeschooling, check out How to Start Homeschooling, a comprehensive guide to establishing your homeschool. When you’re first thinking about homeschooling, you might wonder if it’s even legal. After all,…
“God bless you, honey. I would never have the patience to homeschool.” “You must be really special to homeschool. I could never keep my cool.” Most of you mean well. I know you do. But you have it all wrong. You envision us as Susie homemakers, the picture of composure and tidiness. We direct the…
This post, How I Homeschool Multiple Grades, is part of a How to Start Homeschooling series. If you would like to have more help getting started with homeschooling, check out How to Start Homeschooling, a comprehensive guide to establishing your homeschool. We homeschooled from the very beginning with my eldest. As a former education major,…
If you’ve ever tried to keep a preschooler occupied all day, you know it’s no easy task. I am not a preschool whisperer, nor will you frequently find me doing perfectly Pinteresty projects for the sake of keeping the little people busy. I’ve got four kids, and as anyone with four kids can tell you,…
What you actually need to homeschool during a school closure. Due to the recent coronavirus outbreak and subsequent school closings, I have been seeing more advice than ever about how to homeschool, how to set up a routine for your child, and countless ideas for fun activities at home. As a homeschooling mom myself, I…
We may talk a lot about how to homeschool, homeschool mistakes and stumbles, things that we’re learning as we homeschool. I know I have plenty of struggles, worries, and bad days. They’re all valid conversations. But today, I just want to talk about how homeschooling makes me happy. (Chesapeake Bay, 2013) Homeschooling makes me happy…
Yesterday’s announcement from our governor? All public schools in our state would be closed for the next two weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak. Among all the other concerns that could possibly surround a global pandemic- contagiousness, severity of the virus itself, food supply, flooding of the health care system, and most of all, protecting…
A bad homeschool day… we’ve all experienced it. I don’t care how perfect their Instagram feed looks or how well-behaved their kids are at the grocery store. If you EVER think that another homeschool mom has it all together, you need to rid yourself of that delusion immediately. Every single homeschool parent has bad homeschool…
I know how very important it is to get outside more, and especially to get outside more with kids. Being outside can relieve stress, strengthen immunity, calm anxiety, and improve short term memory, to name a few benefits. (Source.) Playing outside also helps build children’s physical health, cognitive and social/emotional development, improves sensory skills, increases…
What are your most common homeschool questions? Have you always wished you could homeschool, but didn’t know if you were qualified? Are you curious about what the homeschooled neighbor kids do all day? Are you a new homeschool mom, worried about how your kids will turn out? I know when I was first looking into…
Homeschooling and socialization can seem non-compatible when you’re on the outside, looking in. Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be true. It was about 2 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon. I was in the hallway, sending my kids into their respective bathrooms at our local grocery store. An older woman came into the hallway just as…