As you try to work around your school districts plans for this fall (or you prepare to continue homeschooling) think through these three steps:
- How can I have my child in the best space for learning?
- How will they make incremental progressive steps toward mastery in all of their subjects?
- How can I help them to be inspired to excel?
A Great Space for Learning
As a parent you are always striving to provide the best space for your child: plenty of fresh water, food, clothing, shelter; love; a connection to extended family, friends, and community; a connection to something larger than themselves to which they can contribute. This fall is no different, you have the power to arrange the best situation for your family. If your school district is offering part-time in-person school, can you arrange your work (or both parent’s shifts) to be home with them during those non-in-person school hours? Do you have a competent babysitter to help them accomplish online or non-in-person schooling? Is a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or trusted neighbor available to extend that great learning space to your child when they are not physically in school? If you are instead ready to home educate your child, here’s how:
Progressive Steps Toward Mastery
Your path to helping your child become a successful young adult begins with the bare essentials and extends to their fullest excellence! This Quick-Start Guide from Homeschool Legal Defense Association will help begin that journey: https://my.hslda.org/groupsearch .
Beginning with the bare essentials includes knowing your state law for homeschooling; find that here: https://hslda.org/legal . Find local homeschoolers or parents looking to supplement public school by searching online sites like: https://my.hslda.org/groupsearch
Next, decide what would give you and your child the most joy:
- Taking on the teacher role through “school-at-home”: https://www.homeschool.com/homeschooling-methods/#school-at-home
- Enrolling in an online school: https://www.k12.com/online-public-schools.html
- Buying a complete curriculum to work through: https://awefilledhomemaker.com/boxed-homeschool-curriculum/
- Joining a co-op with other parents who teach different subjects to a group of homeschooled children. I’ve found these opportunity by joining online homeschool groups like the ones listed here: http://www.askpauline.com/hs/homeschoolgroups.html
- Hiring an online or in-person tutor to teach more advanced subjects: https://www.eaglemomsquad.com/services
- Choosing an eclectic mix of curriculum to explore together: https://www.homeschool.com/homeschooling-methods/#relaxed-eclectic-homeschooling There are so many resources to you to explore together and even for your child to use and then teach you, thereby reinforcing that material. Check out the many possibilities on our resource page: https://www.eaglemomsquad.com/more-homeschool-resources
- Classical Education: https://www.homeschool.com/homeschooling-methods/#classical
- Purchasing or creating unit studies that dive deep into specific areas of interest.
- Using the Charlotte Mason Method: https://simplycharlottemason.com/what-is-the-charlotte-mason-method/
- Unschooling: https://happinessishereblog.com/what-is-unschooling/
Inspiring Your Child to Excel
Whether your child is completing work for their public school teacher or fully homeschooling, what holds your child’s attention? Can you orient what you do at home toward that interest? Because they are curious, kids learn from every experience. They search out skills to do what they are interested in, thereby training themselves to use those skills in the future, therefore they will be prepared to do what they are interested in in their adult life. Turning toward child-led education during our homeschool journey, I was encouraged by this video: https://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_kids_can_teach_themselves/transcript?language=en
As you decide what educational style works best for your family this fall, don’t feel that you have to commit to a particular program or curriculum for a whole year, you have the freedom to adjust your resources as you go along. As you can tell by the many links above, if it is not working to adjust to your public school’s fall schedule, there is so much support available for you to try fully homeschooling. If you use these resources to supplement your child’s public school assignments it will only enhance their experience!
A member of the Eagle Mom Squad, a group of experienced homeschool parents and teens seeking to provide information to parents about homeschooling.