If you are new to homeschooling, you may be dealing with the initial overwhelming feelings of just how much information is out there.
When I first considered homeschooling my oldest, I stressed about so many aspects of the process. I could not stop myself from researching it to death, following every rabbit hole, reading every blog, dissecting every detail. As a result I created a slew of worry that did not need to be there.
Now that we have several not-back-to-school calendars behind us—we recently began our tenth year—I can look more objectively at those initial feelings of being inundated with information, and hopefully pass on some wisdom to newbies.
This post focuses on dealing with the initial overwhelming feelings I experienced at the outset, and how I learned to control those runaway thoughts. I hope you can gain insight from how I overcame them and benefit from my hindsight.
Note: We began our at-home adventure from kindergarten with my oldest child, so what I share is from the perspective of someone who chose this path from the beginning.
Some tips and recommendations may not apply if you are considering a switch to homeschooling for an older, already established student. Also, I do not work outside the house, so I am writing this as a stay-at-home-parent of three children.
You Can Do This
Much of what made me anxious at the beginning was {falsely} believing I lacked the skills and discipline to pull it off. Who did I think I was, assuming I had the qualifications to teach anyone anything? How would I organize lesson plans when most days I could barely organize lunch?
I had no idea how to create a do-able schedule to follow. Making even short-term goals—let alone a long-term agenda—seemed an impossible feat. I definitely needed more time to get my act together, or so I thought.
The truth is, I needed to let go of the teacher/student mindset. Most of us grew up accustomed to the system where an adult {teacher} imparts specific knowledge to a child {student} at what society {schools} deems an appropriate time. But really, learning is a process that happens organically.
Yes, it is nice to have goals, and list-making is pretty much my life. However, when you are with one student—or even a handful of students—it presents a whole different scenario that doesn’t require a rigid set of skills.
Both parties are more intimately involved. You can interact one-on-one. You can go off path. Falling behind becomes a non-issue, because you set the pace together. They will naturally guide you as much as you will guide them, and that’s okay.
You Will Find Your Groove
Equally worrisome at the start was how I would balance everything now that “going to school” would not anchor our days. Both girls had attended preschool {the oldest for two years} and we had already settled into a rhythm of following a certain pattern based on this outside calendar.
How would I get anything done with all three kids home all day every day? When would I run errands? Would I regret not having long stretches with just my youngest {about 10 months old when we started} while his siblings were at school?
I’m not going to lie: If you are used to having a few hours alone each day to take care of basic household responsibilities, suddenly having a kid {or two, or three} in tow will be annoying at first. Everything will take longer. Making appointments for yourself will require more effort.
But as with most things, thinking about it is always worse than actually doing it. Once you power through those first couple of outings, activities with your mini-entourage will become second nature. Somehow everything that needs to get done, gets done.
The Kids Will Be Okay
Of course I stressed about the Agents, and how homeschooling would affect them in the long run. They enjoyed preschool very much; would they be “missing out” by not attending elementary school as a natural next step?
Would they be sad as they saw their friends all excited to head off to kindergarten? What alternative social opportunities would they have? Would all the togetherness be a bad thing? How would their sibling relationships develop if they spent all day with each other instead of heading off to different activities?
We had already registered Agent E for kindergarten—building up the excitement as parents do—and the school year was only a few weeks from starting when we decided to not send her after all. She was very matter-of-fact about it when we brought it up. Neither of us had any idea what to expect, but we went into it with a positive attitude.
Would she have been perfectly happy at public school? Probably. Did she thoroughly enjoy and thrive during her year of homeschool? Definitely.
As an added “bonus” my children truly ended up appreciating all the extra time they have together. They have become friends. They would miss each other if they spent a significant chunk of each weekday at different schools.
Your Routine Will Fall Into Place
Logistically, I wrestled with how we would fill our days and develop a set schedule to follow. Would we do the same thing every day? What subjects would we cover? Did we need to have a specific number of minutes for each lesson? When would we start in the morning? How would we know when we were done?
Spoiler alert: Most of this will not matter, and it is almost impossible for you to screw it up when you first start out.
Heavily structured learning in the early years is simply not necessary. Consider it a grace period where you can try out different things and see how it fits your student, and maybe work on some basics {math and reading}, but not get too jazzed up about “work” just yet. There will be more than enough time to go back and tweak specifics.
At this point you may be thinking: Now that I have made peace with dealing with the initial overwhelming feelings, what do I actually need to do to get this party started? Where do I go from here? If not the aforementioned components, then what should I concern myself with at the beginning of this journey?
All of that and more will be addressed in the next post: We’ve Decided To Do This, Now What?
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