I’ve known for years that I wanted to at least try to Homeschool my children someday but I’ve always had some apprehension about doing so. That is mostly because I feel way under qualified to teach the higher grades in a comprehendible way. I mean, the kids have to actually understand and grasp the material and in order for that to happen, I have to have a good concept of it myself! And I’ve never been overly confident in my grasp of certain subjects; math for instance. 🙄 I absolutely loved Science, Biology, and History but I’ve been far less excited about English and Math in the upper grades. So all of this has made me worried over the years, until recently….

 

 
My SIL found a great curriculum which we actually used bits and pieces of over the years when I was a kid. I liked it pretty well myself back then but we never had a set curriculum. It was always some of this and some of that. Which worked out alright I guess but personally, I think I’d rather teach with a set course that is all laid out and organized. And one that will give my kids a real diploma at the end so they don’t have to get their GED like I did! The curriculum my SIL is using looks really simple to teach from and comes with all the teacher answer keys. I like that it is a Christian based program too and is affordable. DH and I have also talked about using online schooling at some point. I think that would be a really good option for the higher grades but when the kids are younger, I prefer the flexibility of schooling on my own time. I will definitely still want to keep a schedule with it but if we need a day off or something, I think it would be nice to make it up as we go along. I’m not sure at what grade I would want to switch to online but I’m sure I’ll be able to tell when the time has come. 

 

 
The other pro to doing a curriculum that isn’t online (at least for the first several grades) is the ability to tweak the lessons to fit the learning styles of each child. For example, I can sit with Tru and read him books and watch educational videos with him and he soaks it up like a sponge! He also loves to work on projects with me and has a pretty high level of patience for hands-on learning experiences. Levi doesn’t learn as well this way though. Sitting still and reading isn’t his thing. He has never liked watching videos very well and he doesn’t have much patience for sitting down to do a project. Of course, he’s 3, so I expect his attention span will grow with age. I just want to make sure that I present lessons and projects in a way that my kids can learn from as individuals with their own learning style.

One thing that is extremely important to me is that we get involved with a Homeschool group and that my kids have the opportunity to play sports if they want to. It’s absolutely not negotiable. It’s the one thing that I always said I would do differently for my kids so that they don’t feel left out or cut off from their friends. We are already scheduled to go on a group outing next week and I’m super excited! I have also found another group that does hiking adventures and I know that is definitely one I’m interested in with my boys. 😉 
 

 
There is a possibility that Tru and Levi may be able to do the same grade at the same time since they are only 17 months apart in age. I’m not sure how that would go over but I would really like to try to start them both in kindergarten at the same time and see if it works. If it doesn’t, we won’t worry about it. But can you imagine how much easier it would be to teach them 1 class together? YAY! If they were going to school, that probably wouldn’t be a good idea but for me at home teaching them, it may go over alright.

 

 
We started preschool last week (officially – we have done preschool workbooks with Tru for the last couple years but now we are doing it for real) and both boys are absolutely loving it! We do a worksheet or two from a preschool workbook and follow that with an art project that incorporates the lesson content. We also like to use dry-erase tracing books just to make it more fun. We look for numbers and letters everywhere we go. Both Tru and Levi know all the primary colors and most shapes. I have lots of flash cards that we play with to help reinforce the things they have learned. I try to keep it short and simple (about an hour at a time) and as fun as possible. I hope that we continue to enjoy “playing schoolwork”, as the boys say. 😉

 

 

What about you? Do you think Homeschooling would be fun? Any insight or tips?