How Can I Educate My Children at Home?

If you are thinking of homeschooling your children you may have fears about starting on the homeschool journey. Here are some common fears and responses and some good general homeschool advice.

I’m not a teacher, I can’t teach

Schools are turning parents into teachers by giving children so much homework that the parents end up teaching the children. If you think you can’t teach your own children and you currently help with homework, then you will be able to homeschool.

What if I can’t teach a subject?

I think most people can teach the elementary subjects. There are a lot of books that help you teach your homeschool children and more are coming out all the time. There are math programs on video and computer. There is curriculum coming out all the time that is specially designed for homeschoolers.

There are now many homeschool coops and charter schools. You can use a tutor, although that can be expensive.

My preschoolers are difficult, how can I cope when they are older?

Children change, and preschoolers can actually become reasonable people after a few years. I think the preschool years are the most difficult and just as the child becomes nice, they are sent to school for someone else to look after.

Can I homeschool, I didn’t graduate high school?

I had a friend who didn’t graduate high school and she really wanted to homeschool. She told everyone that she was “just homeschooling Kindergarten”. She had a successful Kindergarten and homeschooled 1^st grade, after 1^st grade she homeschooled 2^nd grade and then her son started public school in 3^rd grade. She wasn’t confident to homeschool, but each year she had a successful homeschool year and so homeschooled just one more year.

Think of the age of your children currently. Could you have coped with children that age a few years ago? I think not. You grow with your children and educationally you grow too. Many people fear homeschooing high school and a large number do go to school for high school, but it is possible and more acceptable to homeschool high school now.

Aren’t teachers professionals?

Personally I read a lot of books about homeschooling and I wanted to be the primary influence in my children’s lives and not trust it to someone else. Studies show that the more involved a parent is in a child’s life, the more successful the child will be later in life.

Do I have to homeschool for ever?

Just because you homeschool for Kindergarten, doesn’t mean that you are homeschooling all the way through to 12^th grade. There is always the option of putting them in school after a few years of homeschooling.

My children talk to me all day

Young children talk all day and that is how they learn. But when they start Kindergarten they are encouraged to be quiet and listen. It squashes their natural curiosity. My homeschool children talk and ask questions all day and that is how young children learn. When you drive around they ask what and why to everything. It’s a really healthy way of learning.

Quiet together

Daily we did do what I call “Quiet together”. When the young children needed a nap and the older children didn’t, the youngest wouldn’t sleep if the older ones were still playing, so they all went to their rooms and lay down for an hour in the middle of the day. The older children were encouraged to read and even if they couldn’t read, they could look at books for an hour.

With the three boys, they could be running around a lot and they had to sit still for an hour after lunch and it changed the atmosphere of the day and made them calmer in the afternoons.

I did let my children talk a lot, but they learned to be quiet as well.

You have control of what your child learns

Homeschooling gives you the parent the freedom and flexibility to teach more of one subject and less of others. Parents want a say in what their children are learning in school and you have the ultimate say.

Don’t over schedule your child

There are many opportunities for our children that we never had. Just because a class is offered doesn’t mean that your child has to take it. When my 4 children were young, if one child did a class then the other 3 had to tag along. At one point they did ice skating because all 4 of them could join in together. I never became a soccer mom because I just couldn’t handle the commitment for one child and leave the other three doing something else. It’s not important that your child plays soccer and you watch every game, what is important is that you build relationships with your children and you don’t do that my watching them play sports. You build relationships by doing things together as a family.

Homeschooling Boys vs Girls

I do believe it is easier to homeschool girls than boys. My three boys wanted to be like daddy who went out of the house every day. There was something in them that wanted to do the same. With a girl, however, they are copying mom, staying home, I feel that’s more natural. I’ve seen many people homeschool and I think the hardest is a single boy being homeschooled by mom. Also difficult was my friend who had two girls and then a boy, she said it was too female an environment for her son.

Look after yourself, look after your marriage

It’s really important now and always that you are well looked after and your marriage is strong. Little children will come between you and stress your day, you need to make it a priority that you get some “me” time and some “couple” time.

Homeschooling is not the easiest route

Did we have children in order to have an easier life? I don’t think homeschooling is the easiest option, but I do think it is the best. What do you know of that is easy to do and also the best thing to do?