How to Homeschool
So, you’ve decided to homeschool, now what?
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You’ll want to make sure you are enrolled in a public homeschool program or registered as a homeschooler with your state. For detailed information, check out our Homeschool Privately post.
Once you are officially set, you can start the much more fun process of setting up and planning your homeschool adventure. It may seem overwhelming at first (in fact, we did a whole podcast on feeling overwhelmed!), but read through this, and you should feel inspired to begin!
Deschooling
Whether your child is leaving a traditional public school or you yourself went through public school, we highly recommend deschooling - the period of time a child (and parent) need to adjust going from traditional (government or private) classroom schooling to homeschooling.
Deschooling is just a temporary transition period to allow the student and parent to adjust to a new style of education. If your child never attended a traditional public school but you did, then deschooling is an opportunity for you to change your “school mindset” and learn about education differently. You may want to research the many ways that children can learn beyond the traditional public school model.
“The public is indoctrinated to believe that skills are valuable and reliable only if they are the result of formal schooling.”
Ivan Illich
Recommended Reading
Deschooling Society - Ivan Illich
The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling - John Taylor Gatto
Learning Styles - Intelligences - Homeschool Approaches
We have prioritized this section, because it may go a long way to helping you with what comes next. In this post, we just want to give you a brief overview - we have more in depth information available using the links at the end of each section.
Learning Styles
A learning style is the way in which we prefer to take in information. It is very helpful to know the learning style preference of your children. They include:
Visual Learning
Auditory Learning
Kinesthetic/Physical Learning
Social Learning
See our page on Learning Styles for more.
Intelligences
Intelligences are the way in which we process the information we take in. In the 1980s, Howard Gardner offered the theory of multiple intelligences rather than a singular intelligence. The intelligences include:
Verbal - Linguistic
Logical - Mathematical
Visual - Spacial
Musical
Naturalistic
Bodily - Kinesthetic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
If you want to learn more, visit our page dedicated to the Intelligences.
Homeschool Approaches/Methods/Philosophies
This is a fun section to get lost in. Every homeschool method has its merits and can be so appealing! It’s really just a matter of personal choice, values, and priorities that will can lead to a decision.
Classical - one of the most popular homeschool styles, which often employs “Great Books” and the “Applied Trivium” and orders them into a chronological reading plan to study subject areas historically. Often included in this philosophy are Greek and Latin language learning.
Charlotte Mason - based on the teaching of Charlotte Mason, a 19th century homeschooling pioneer. Charlotte Mason focuses on short study periods, nature studies, memorization, and reading - especially “living books.”
Eclectic - the most popular method of homeschooling, and is often called “relaxed homeschooling.” Eclectic homeschoolers may pull from many other methods as the main objective is to educate their own individual child rather than to ascribe to a method.
Montessori - a humanistic student-based approach to learning developed by Maria Montessori in the 20th century. This method utilizes large-unstructured time blocks, free movement, multi-grade teaching, and individualized learning plans.
School-at-Home - basically taking the traditional school approach and implementing it at home. If is often centered around complete curriculum packages based on grades and school years.
Unit Studies - thematically related lesson plans that span multiple subject areas. Unit studies are often an instrument used within other homeschool methods.
Unschooling - a student-centered, free-form learning model based largely on the work of John Holt. Unschooling is unconventional and individualistic and encourages a learn-as-you-go education.
To dive deeper into these approaches, visit our page Homeschool Approaches, Methods, and Philosophies.
Curriculum
This can be one of the most stressful parts of homeschooling. There is so much to consider along with the unknown of what exactly your children might want to pursue academically when they are young adults. Having an idea of your child’s learning style and intelligences, and a homeschool approach that fits your mission statement, will make things a lot easier in your decision-making process.
Curriculum types
Out-of-the-box - curriculum package offering all subjects. Most are grade level based and are complete with lesson plans, assessments, and tests.
Single Subject Curriculum - a mix and match of curriculums! You can pick and choose which curriculum you want for each subject. For example, you may choose Right Start Math for mathematics, Story of the World for history, and Moving Beyond the Page for language arts. These are all from different publishers and can be purchased individually.
Supplementary - Unit Studies, subscription boxes, etc.
Curriculum Method
Online - fully online curriculum program
Offline - usually no (or minimal) online component, focusing on physical books, workbooks, or parent taught learning
Hybrid - combination of online and offline delivery of curriculum and instruction. There is a spectrum or range of which subjects are delivered online and which ones are taught in-person by a parent or co-op community. Also, some curriculums are a hybrid within itself - i.e. a DVD or online for instruction, plus an offline workbook for practice.
Free Curriculum - there’s an amazing collection of free online curriculum resources for homeschoolers. A quick google or Pinterest search will give you plenty to peruse!
Curriculum Design
Grade Level - curriculum designed on the state standards for each grade level in accordance with the traditional public school education model.
Mastery Learning - ensures complete comprehension of a concept before introducing the next.
Spiral Learning - allows students to move ahead to a new concept before mastering the first, then “spirals” back to the first for continued practice.
One of the biggest gifts of homeschooling is your power to observe what is and is not working for your child. If the curriculum you choose isn’t a good fit, try something different! Ask around for advice and suggestions based on the observations you made. Did you invest a lot of money into a curriculum? Fear not! There are MANY curriculum buy/sell/trade websites, Facebook groups, and in person events. The live events are great opportunities to look through curriculums and talk with parents who have tried them.
RESOURCES
Cathy Duffy Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
Planning
One big piece of advice that we love to give when planning out your homeschool is to write a mission statement. It may seem silly, but it goes a long way to help you determine a primary objective and set goals that keep you focused. We wrote a whole post on Writing Your Homeschool Mission Statement to help you!
Depending on your personality, you can plan your entire year out, or you can start with your first day of school! The sky’s the limit - so don’t just plan lessons and curriculum, plan:
Field trips
Adventures
Social learning opportunities
Theme days (we LOVE theme days! Check out our Theme Day How-To for some ideas)
Family learning
Involve your whole family in the planning, they may have some great ideas to add.
Setting Up a Space
This is the fun part! A homeschooling “space” could just be the coffee table and couch or a whole room dedicated to home education. It is not necessary to designate a space to “learn.” This is just another part of homeschooling that is totally up to you!
“Children learn from anything and everything they see. They learn wherever they are, not just in special learning places.”
John Holt
Since setting up a homeschool space is such a visual task, we thought it might be most helpful to offer you our Pinterest board of fun ideas!
Community & Support
We always keep community in our top recommendations to families new to homeschooling. Community is essential for support not just for you, but for your children. This topic is so important in fact, that we have an entire post dedicated to Creating Co-Ops and Community.
Support is also a huge necessity and commingles nicely with community. There are organizations whose mission is to support homeschool families. There are also many homeschool support groups on Facebook, including our very own Homeschool Hub. We also have a spreadsheet of Support Groups listed by state.
Another amazing resource for support are homeschool conventions. Conventions are a resource most new homeschoolers don’t even know exist! Well, they do exist, and are often loaded with amazing speakers and classes, and usually have an exhibition hall to browse curriculum, educational tools, subscriptions and more!
Your homeschooling journey will be unique to your family! You will have seasons of thriving and seasons of struggle. You will have moments of celebration and moments of failure. The beauty of homeschooling is your ability to change course, change mindsets, or change everything whenever you need to - connecting with your children, all along the way.