Thinking of homeschooling ✨

How to begin.

We are in the season when parents are contemplating if they might want to homeschool next year. Whether they are facing kindergarten or sixth grade, as the summer dawns and next year sounds hazy, the idea is percolating. I know this because I keep running into people who tell me they are thinking about it!

Note: if you know someone like this, this is the newsletter to forward them.

By way of encouragement, before we dig into all the resources I’ve put in this newsletter: keep in mind that homeschooling can start very, very small and build from there.

Regardless of what grades you are contemplating, here are my two steps to begin:

Step one: Look at what you have already noticed your child is interested in, and begin there.

Step two: Imagine what would be most encouraging to you as support and write down to begin to manifest it. So if it would be most encouraging to have friends doing the same thing as you, think of some places it would be fun to meet them with their kids. A playground? A park? A library with an indoor play area? Then post on whatever local spots you can to ask if anyone else wants to meet there.

If the thing you would be most encouraged by is some help, think of a subject for which you could find and afford a class, or a tutor. An art class, a music class, a horse class, etc.

If you think you would just need time everyday to have a break, think about how to structure for that and build slowly toward that plan with your day-to-day schedule now.

So, to summarize: take note of what your child is already interested in, and take note of what you are interested in, and begin there.

I can’t think of better advice than that.

photo by Maureen_sill

Video Crash Courses

If you are thinking of homeschooling and want to spend some time researching the how-to this summer, and you love an overview approach to learning something new (I am totally this type of learner) a video crash course may be just the thing.

Two crash course video suggestions:

• Jessica Smartt’s Homeschool Bootcamp $29

• Homeschool 101, which I talk more about in this newsletter. $75

A Year of Playing Skillfully

A Year of Playing Skillfully comes highly recommended by many people, among them Farmhouse Schoolhouse who has homeschooled four children. You can read her affectionate posts about it here and here. It is designed for PreK and Kindergarten, or ages 3-7. Check it out! I’m thinking of trying it this year for our 4yr old.

What about a co-op?

If you already have a gaggle of other families that are considering homeschooling and seem to have similar interests to yours, think about forming your own co-op and taking turns leading classes. Here’s a great podcast episode to listen as an overview.

How Many Hours Per Day Though?

Those who love to do things by the book might enjoy seeing a recommendation of how many hour per day should be spent on academics, per grade. Of course this is highly personal, but it could be reassuring to reviewing this table (and reading the post it is set within).

Spoiler: the total time on academics for a kindergartener per day is 1h 20m. And that includes reading aloud time.

A medley of inspiration for you to click through...

Cloistered Away's posts on the preschool years, in particular this post.

Farmhouse Schoolhouse’s posts about kindergarten

Jodi Mockabee’s Getting Started Manual

questions | questions | questions 

You are welcome to post questions of any type on this post! If I don’t have a good answer, someone else will.

pretend we are discussing this over espresso

And finally, a quote for you

“On some intuitive level, I knew that learning had to be more than the mastery of facts. I've experienced it as an adult. I become consumed with a subject like quilting or preparing yogurt cultures, and that topic takes over my life - fabric scraps scattered on the floor, little jars of white sludge cuddled by blankets on my kitchen countertops. When I learned to play guitar in my thirties, no one had to schedule my practices. My guitar lived on a stand in the living room and I tormented our ears multiple times a day until my fingers bled. Passion for learning has that fiery, consuming, can't-stop quality.”

-Julie Bogart, The Braver Learner. Click here for more quotes from her great book.