I didn’t want to be that mom. That weird mom. That was what I thought about homeschooling before I started 8 years ago. All of the stereotypes of what that looked like ran through my head, and I didn’t want to be her. I wanted to work. I wanted a career. I wanted….well FREE TIME. And as selfish as it sounds, the thought of homeschooling my daughter (I only had one at the time), it freaked me out. And then God spoke, and He made it abundantly clear that I was to homeschool. And here we are…entering our 9th year of homeschooling, and I’m so thankful and so grateful for this opportunity to homeschool NOW four children.
Our youngest daughter, begins Kindergarten this week! We chose to stagger homeschool (I’ll explain what that means in a later post) to give each of our children an opportunity to have a special moment and a week of just Mommy time of homeschooling. A time to adjust to a new curriculum without the distractions (well at the table) of a sibling. For us, we are excited to start a brand new year! Even in July! So how in the world do you homeschool? How do you even start?
Some of our Kindergarten Curriculum! We are so excited to start Everyday Learn and Play Curriculum! You can find ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt here!
So if you are moving from a traditional school, then you will need to contact the district and/OR choose a Homeschool Association that will contact them for you saying that you plan to homeschool.
Research the homeschool criteria/guidelines for your state. In our state South Carolina, we have three options to homeschool. A more strict option 1 where the state chooses your curriculum, and the least strict option 3 where you have options and choose what curriculum and plan you use. We chose option 3 because I wanted to be able to choose what curriculum and plan we wanted to use based on the state’s guidelines and our kid’s individual needs and goals!
Once you research the homeschool guidelines and requirements for your state, decide what option will fit your family’s goals and lifestyle! If you choose option 3 in South Carolina, you will need to join a homeschool association to keep you legal. We use Faithful Scholars, which is super affordable, user-friendly, and it fits our family’s lifestyle! We choose our own curriculum and decide which days we homeschool as long as we homeschool 180 days! Because we are in the restaurant industry, some days, we need the flexibility to just be with dad if he’s home during the day. It works for us, and we make up the work on other days, or work during the summers/holidays. That’s the flexibility and beauty of homeschooling!
If you choose an option where you choose the curriculum, research curriculum options based on how your child learns best. I am more eclectic in our homeschool approach choosing different books from different sources based on our children’s learning styles. For instance, last year, we used Monarch Academy for our oldest for 7th grade, but for our youngest, we chose Singapore Math, BJU for other subjects. Here are some of my favorites:
Math: Saxon, Singapore, Teaching Textbooks, BJU (Bob Jones University)
Language Arts: The Good and the Beautiful, Master Books, BJU, Abeka
Reading: Reading A-Z, Reading Eggs, BJU
Science: Apologia, BJU
History: Story of the World, Mystery of History
Writing/English: BJU, IEW
If you choose an option where you choose the curriculum, then budget for the curriculum you choose and/or see what books your local library has available. I like to purchase some homeschool curriculum and material over the span of 2-3 paychecks. For example: the last paycheck, I budgeted $200 for some of their curriculum. I purchased some Math, Language Arts, and Handwriting. It adds up if you have tons of kids like me. So give yourself time to set money aside for homeschool materials.
Ask for wisdom from homeschool veterans in your local community. We have a huge homeschool community here, so it’s nice to chat with other moms about what they are doing. Sometimes (before Corona) we would meet up at the park, zoo, or museum.
Choose a start date that fits your schedule or if you chose an option that follows the school schedule, prepare ahead of time.
Adjust your expectations for the 1st week, 1st month, 1st year. It takes weeks, months, years, to find a good routine! So give yourself a ton of grace! Try to choose a morning routine that works for you!
On the day that you start homeschooling, wake up at least an hour to 2 hours before your homeschool day begins. You need time to really wrap your head around and prepare for the day! What time do you want your day to start? You should decide and try to keep that general flow. Our kids do better with routine so we generally try to start at 8:30am for the three youngest, a little later for our almost 8th grader! But if they have late baseball games and don’t get home until late, we can adjust our start time, because as influencer Tabitha Brown says, “Because that’s our business” haha. She is my favorite. If you’re not following her on Instagram, you should be! She is so funny!
Lastly, adjust your schedule as necessary. It’s your homeschool day/year! If you decide your child doesn’t do well with Math first thing in the morning, do it in the afternoon because that’s your business. :) Some days, you’ll get two subjects done by 12, and other days, all of their work will be complete by 11. And that is fine! If you get two subjects done because you were dealing with attitude issues, deal with the character issues and what God is trying to teach through those teachable moments. You do not have to get it all right friend. But if God called you to homeschool, YOU CAN DO IT!
Goodness, there is so much info on homeschooling to cover! So if you have any questions, let me know! I had no clue what I was doing when I started. No clue. And many years, I felt like I was failing as a homeschool mama having three kids, three and under. But you got this friend. If you’re here, you’re considering homeschooling for whatever reason! And guess what, you can do it. No one knows your child better. God chose you to parent and He will give you everything you need to homeschool if you feel He is calling you to homeschool this year or even semester! You got this friend! You are the woman Or man for the job!
PS. Just in case you are wondering! We are using Carla’s Everyday Learn and Play for Arden for Kindergarten Curriculum! Everyday Learn and Play Curriculum and Calendars are perfect for preschool and beginning Kindergarten review! I’ll be sharing more about our Kindergarten curriculum soon!
