FIRST: I would write out my reasons.
You may have been hovering around the homeschool pool, daring yourself to dip a toe in for a long time (dive on in – the water is just fine!). Or perhaps you’ve always insisted you would never, but these are unprecedented times, and now you’re seriously contemplating the unthinkable. No matter how you arrive at your decision, you owe it to yourself to understand and articulate what exactly is driving it. Everyone around you is going to have an opinion about this choice. But how you respond to them is not as important as how you respond to yourself when you have doubts or challenging days.
SECOND: I would send a certified letter of intent to homeschool to my ESD*.
Your county’s ESD (Educational Service District) can usually be found online with a little hunting around. You can also often find local homeschool support groups on social media that can offer this kind of information. Or ask a local homeschooling friend what she did.
*Note – This is a requirement specific to Oregon. The HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) offers information about your state’s specific homeschool laws.
THIRD: I would ask every homeschool mom I know for a list of curriculum they use.
Most homeschool moms have poured countless hours into researching what and how to teach. That first year I pulled the trigger, I looked at curriculum every day for a whole summer. But what narrowed my search down were a few practical suggestions from helpful friends. I made a short list of specific curriculums that had been mentioned to me, poured over any online review of said curriculums I could find, and finally made a purchase. Many home educators began their journey in a polite email to their homeschooling friends asking for curriculum advice. I now love getting these emails, as I view answering them as a type of pay-it-forward for all the help I received from my own experienced friends. And here is my bonus advice: a boxed curriculum (also known as all-in-one, complete, or packaged) is an invaluable resource for the new homeschool mom. Do yourself a favor, and make this next year a little easier for everyone to navigate. Get something that will cover all your bases and provide a teaching manual.
FOURTH: I would purchase curriculum.
Curriculum prices range from free to thousands of dollars(!). Creative and frugal moms have been known to raise Ivy Leaguers on little more than a library card and a heightened sense of curiosity. But that is not for everyone. For many of us, curriculum ends up being a modest investment that we scrimp and save for. If you are teaching multiple kids, you can likely include them all in at least some subjects; there are in fact specific curriculum programs out there that aim at this kind of family style of education. Most of the time curriculum can be used later on with younger children, and I can personally attest that it is possible to earn back some of the cost by selling it used.
FIFTH: I would hash out a weekly schedule.
Now is the time to sit down with all your school books, supplies, and teaching manuals, and work out which subjects to teach each day, estimate how long each one will take, and plan margins as much as possible. Start imagining how you and your kids are going to enjoy your days. What time will they want to go outside to play? Can you work in a midmorning hot cocoa break? Should park day be on Wednesday or Thursday? Should you read a fun book out loud during your picnic or in the evenings when Dad is home? Yes. You’re completely in charge of that schedule, and you can do whatever you want. Let that realization dawn on you like a crisp, clear, apple-scented Fall day on which you will not be loading everyone into the minivan to make the customary school run.
SIXTH: I would prepare myself for the possibility of a seismic shift in perspective and lifestyle.
I can remember the uncertainty – that wobbly start seven years ago. When the calendar page flipped to August, I began a trial run of working through our new curriculum with two energetic little boys, a tornado of a toddler, and a nursing baby. Every day I adjusted expectations, rhythms, schedule, and snack times anew. The baby would cry, the toddler would come in from the kitchen ominously covered in peanut butter, and I would fold mountains of laundry in the hasty moments that the older boys took on their little bit of independent work they could do at that age. But we mustered and muscled through. Near the end of that month, I sent in my notice of intent. All the while I worried about the usual objections: socialization, teaching calculus and chemistry one day, that weird homeschool kid you knew growing up that lacked any kind of tact. But friends, the years have put those fears to rest.
Our life changed drastically that first year. Perhaps yours will too. You may gain an improved understanding of who your children are. You might thoroughly enjoy their sense of humor, what delights them, what sets their curious minds aflame. Perhaps you will start to realize that you are now spending the best, most productive hours of the day together. You’ll feel a thrill when they let out exclamations of wonder at a kitchen science experiment. A glorious walk in the woods identifying local plants and wildlife could grow into daily outdoor adventures. It’s possible you will relish giving movement breaks to the active kid, enrichment to the gifted kid, and extra attention to the struggling kid. You might find that you have more opportunity to disciple your family and nurture your relationships. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll start pondering a long-term homeschool plan.
No, it won’t be perfect, or easy. Increased time together tends to bring problematic character and discipline issues to the surface (in Mom as much as the kids). These things suddenly have nowhere to hide, and they will have to get dealt with. Along with the joy and delight, failure, humility, discouragement, and desperate prayers have all accompanied my seven years of teaching at home. You see, I cannot bear up under the weighty responsibility of seeing to the education of my children. I cannot in my own strength produce what I want to see in my kids. I am in need of Divine help, always. And this is the seismic part of the perspective shift: God is so kind. He answers those desperate prayers, always in His timing and His wisdom. He is the infinite, endless, incomparable wellspring of help for the homeschool mom.
So get started, friend! The water is actually quite nice. Email me with your questions.
The Type B Mom 