Someone very precious to me “dropped a bomb” on Sunday.  She told me she was seriously considering homeschooling.

I remember when that was me.

In February 2007 I started getting the itch to homeschool.  It was very overwhelming and scary, but I knew that if I didn’t at least try I would someday wish I had.  We ended up moving from Texas to Oklahoma in August 2007 and the fact that we had prepared to homeschool actually made things easier on me.  That first year we didn’t start school till the beginning of September.  Already a perk to homeschooling.

My Precious Person asked me for some advice.  Anything, really, that I could share that might help her navigate these new waters.  So I decided to share it here for two reasons.  1.  It will be in print and can be easily returned to.  2.  Sharing it publicly might allow it to be of help to others as well.

This will definitely be a multi-part series over a few weeks.  I start school March 12th and I really want to have it done by then so I’ll be hitting you pretty heavy with homeschooling stuff for the next few weeks.

I have been homeschooling for almost 5 years.  That is not very long and there are others out there with much more wisdom and experience than myself.  But I will gladly share what I have learned and what works for our family.

So here is my first piece of advice, and in my humble opinion it is the most important piece of advice because it can direct all other decisions you make.  You will probably read this in every homeschooling book and on every homeschooling website, but that’s because it really is that important.  (but in the case that you don’t ever find this advice anywhere else, then be super glad you read my blog becasus it really is the most important thing =))

You must know what you want to get out of homeschooling.

There are a gazillion reasons to homeschool and I would say that 95% of them are good reasons.  But knowing why you are homeschooling (ex: I believe the Lord wants me to, I don’t like the kids my kids are around at school, I don’t like the school teaching to standardized tests, my kid struggles and I can best give them what they need, etc) is only part of the equation.

R.C. and I love homeschooling.  We love the time together  it affords our family.  What we want out of homeschooling is a very close-nit family.  We want family conversations about what we are studying, we want inside jokes from shared experiences, we want flexibility to schedule anything, we want our children teaching each other.  That is what we want out of homeschooling.  So when I am faced with deciding on curriculum, or planning activities, I have a very good road map to help me make the best decision for our family based on what we want to get out of homeschooling.

Do I want bright children that excel?  Of course!  Really, who doesn’t?  But I’m not wanting Ivy League Scholars out of my homeschool so I choose curriculum and experiences that we can share as a family compared to finding curriculum and experiences for getting my child into Harvard.

Knowing what I want out of homeschooling has greatly impacted my ability to discern what will be best for our family and to leave all the other really good stuff alone simply because it won’t give us what we want out of homeschooling.  Because, truly, there are TONS of options out there.  Stuff out the wazoo!  Talk about overwhelming!

I didn’t get a grasp on this till my third year of homeschooling.  I can’t say that the first two years were wasted, but they were much trial and error.  Even the third year consisted of much trial and error while I learned what worked for helping us get what we want best.  But possibly, maybe, if you head my advice, you can shave a couple years off that time.

Love,

Bridget