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If your children thrived while learning at home last year, you may be ready to try your hand at traditional homeschooling. Five million American parents have decided to homeschool permanently this year — some making the decision because of surviving COVID-19 cases and the absence of masking and other precautions in place at their local schools.
If you're wondering exactly how to homeschool your kid, here's what to do next if your family has opted to not go back to in-person learning.
How to find homeschool requirements for your state
Before you begin homeschooling your child, research the homeschool state laws. It’s best to investigate your state's government websites for specific laws and requirements. Facebook groups specific to your city or state are also helpful resources. Chatting with a variety of experienced homeschooling families in your area is a great way to get a feel for the homeschool culture.
Which homeschool curriculum should you use?
Once you've figured out how to legally homeschool in your state and you've committed to homeschooling your child, you may be wondering which curriculum you should use. It can feel overwhelming just thinking about where to start. You may have questions like, "How much does homeschooling cost?" or "What should I use for math?" but knowing how to homeschool and which books to buy shouldn’t be on your radar just yet.
Your focus in the first several weeks of the brand new nonvirtual schooling, homeschool year, is to get to know your child's learning style. You may have made the decision to homeschool based on how well your child fared this past year during virtual learning at home. The difference now is that as a traditional homeschooler, there's no right or wrong way to do it. You can finally take a step back, get to know your child, and let your child explore his interests.
What is deschooling?
New homeschooling families should take time out to deschool. Deschooling is simply ridding yourself of the public school mindset. Take time to watch documentaries, visit libraries and local museums together. Nature walks and poetry tea time are two of my favorite non-schooly, homeschool activities to do with my 10-year-old. After a period of deschooling — typically one month for every year of public school your child has attended — you can start thinking about curriculum.
Leah McDermott, M.ed, is a homeschooling advocate and owner of Your Natural Learner. In a recent video, she explains the importance of taking time to regroup after deciding to homeschool permanently. "Deschooling is a period of time when you step back from the academic pressure and you simply allow your child to be who they are," McDermott said.
Homeschool methods and styles to consider
Many homeschool families embrace an eclectic mix of homeschool styles. This helps to create an individualized learning environment. That is the beauty of homeschooling — it's not a one-size-fits-all approach. You can tailor the experience to your child and switch things up when necessary. Here are a few of the most popular homeschool methodologies:
- Charlotte Mason homeschoolers adopt a living books approach to learning. Nature journaling, exploring nature, and narration and dictation are the hallmarks of this methodology.
- Families who adopt a Waldorf homeschool methodology incorporate music, art, dance, theater, and writing into their homeschool days. Children create their own textbooks called main lesson books and are encouraged to express themselves through their art.
- A Classical homeschool approach incorporates Latin grammar and is based on the trivium method designed to engage a child through grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The popular Classical Conversations program uses this method as do many cottage schools.
- Traditional homeschooling can be a school-at-home environment but with a curriculum that you choose for your child. You can create your own lesson plans or follow plans laid out within the curriculum.
- Unschooling is simply child-led, unstructured life-learning that may or may not use curriculum. There are as many ways to unschool as there are families.
If you like the idea of unschooling but feel uncomfortable letting your kids have the run of the house, consider a free online curriculum like EasyPeasy Homeschool or an inexpensive option like Time4Learning. Each of these provides the structure your school mindset craves with the flexibility of homeschool. Of course, it's not unschooling but, coupled with your own version of child-led learning, it's a great way to dip your toe into the homeschool lifestyle.
Brave Writer curriculum founder Julie Bogart offers sound advice to new homeschooling moms. "Don't take it to heart when you try your best to apply principles that work for everyone else. Always find your own or your version of the ones you admire," she advised on her website.
There are, of course, pros and cons to homeschooling. Some days will be amazing and you'll feel as though you did everything right. Other days you'll barely get any schoolwork done because life happened. Rest assured, learning happens all the time, even when you think it's not. Just take a breath and look for those organic learning moments; they're everywhere.
