Any good parent cares immensely for the future of their child/children and part of that is thinking ahead for their educational path. While it is not for every family, homeschooling is a great option to consider. My family had its own journey and came through the other side, seeing success for our children.
We want to share some homeschooling tips from our personal experience. Your experience will and should be different from ours, so please don’t think of this article as a complete recipe for success.
Decision making
Early on, my wife and I decided that public school was not the path we wished to put our children on. Neither of us had great experiences in public school; my wife’s public school experience was so bad, and since her parents couldn’t afford tuition, she opted to work her way through private school by washing dishes in the cafeteria.
Different states have different rules for homeschooling so please check your state before assuming anything. We are blessed to live in Missouri, which is one of the most favorable states for those who choose to homeschool. Homeschooling is a blessed path because you can tailor each child’s education to their God-given traits and personality.
Where to start
Tip 1:
Do not start from scratch!
We decided for the benefit of the family to begin each child with at least two years of private school before we endeavored to home-school them. We used this to establish basic order and teach them to read. Part of this journey is realizing where you need help and expecting to pay for that help.
Regardless of what avenue you choose, there is a cost. Public and private schools have fees, wardrobe expectations, etc. Private schools have high tuition.
Tip 2:
Designate roles.
I highly recommend that one parent be the designated breadwinner and concentrate on that while the other concentrates on the schooling.
Both parents must realize that the parent doing the homeschooling is a human with limitations. There came times when my wife needed a vacation or just a couple of days off. The concept that being a housewife or home school mom is somehow not a job is absurd. My wife even went to a hotel for the weekend a few times just to have some alone time and unwind.
Prior to sending the kids to private school, we enrolled them in daycare for a couple of hours a day, a couple of times a week. My wife was the teacher and, frankly, sometimes she needed to be alone to get some chores done, or just run errands without the clan in tow. Daycare also helped the kids to learn order but was a necessity for sanity and for the house to generally operate.
Tip 3:
Be realistic.
The bread-winning parent needs to set realistic expectations of what the running of the household will be like.
I traveled for work extensively when the children were young and I would come home to a disaster of a house sometimes. If a child or my wife had gotten sick, if an appliance had broken down, or if a kid had had a tantrum, sometimes the place would just be a hopeless mess. I had to learn to see that and realize she did not intend for the house to look like that, rather than becoming part of the problem by getting upset.
Tip 4:
Academic discipline.
Remember how I said this path isn’t free? We had a rule that each child had to master something like a sport or a musical instrument. This teaches them at a very young age how to achieve long-term goals and the satisfaction of mastering a skill that nobody can ever take from them.
Because of our geography, we were a bit limited as to what they could choose. Each child started with gymnastics and then had a choice to try one other activity or stay in gymnastics. My son and one daughter left and became black belts in martial arts. One daughter stayed and entered competitive gymnastics. Both daughters added music to their repertoire, one becoming a classical pianist and another learning guitar.
The point of this, and the private school, is to realize that accredited teaching is very valuable. It teaches the children to respect genuine authorities and then to become genuine authorities on subjects. A big drawback of leaving the public school system is the lack of authority-led instruction so we have to find a way to achieve this. The kids must understand how important it is to respect those who have put in the time to master things and how to recognize people in life who are, frankly, charlatans.
The curriculum is also very important. These can be purchased online or at stores like Mardel’s (Mardel Christian & Education). These cost a couple of hundred dollars and will walk your child through entire subjects or entire grade levels. They come in workbook forms and in computer forms. Alpha Omega (Homeschool Curriculum – AOP Homeschooling) and Teaching Textbooks (Teaching Textbooks — homeschool math curriculum free trial) were two resources we used to significant effect.
Tip 5:
The public library is your friend!
Libraries are a splendid resource for homeschoolers. They will host homeschooling events, offer classes, and host movie nights.
My girls were into reading and developed remarkably advanced vocabularies at a young age. Our library card offers online resources that rival the Library of Congress. One huge perk was free access to a language learning website called Mango Languages where you could learn any language on earth for free (if you linked up your MidContinent library card). This program is worth quite a bit of money and meets a graduation requirement: Remember, foreign language is a requirement for high school graduation, and entrance into most colleges and universities.
Mango Languages (Home – Mango Languages) is a program that excels because it teaches grammar, not just how to speak a foreign language.
Tip 6:
Transcripts are required.
Keeping track of what the kids learn is generally important but becomes crucial once your child starts high school.
Transcripts are required to enter community college. We used TranscriptPro | EdPLUS® (homeschooltranscripts.com) for our daughters and it was accepted without question. Granted, you have to fill it out yourself, so our experience may have been uniquely blessed. What’s great about this program is that extra-curricular activities like music and karate can count for credit as do jobs if you enter information properly.
While transcripts were required for our kids entering college, my son went into a trade upon graduating from high school and has not had to show a diploma to anyone. He just enters that he graduated from homeschool on his applications and it has worked for him. We do recommend providing transcripts though, in case anyone ever does ask.
Tip 7:
Encourage independence.
I just touched upon entering the workforce or a trade. One great thing about homeschooling is the flexible hours. Our children started working the moment they could. They wanted out of the house and we wanted them to start earning money on their own so we could teach them about money management (a skill I don’t think public school will ever teach).
Because of homeschooling, they were able to work during the day pretty much anywhere they wanted during the school year. This has helped them immensely as they have progressed into other jobs and my son entered a trade quite young. This is because they possess basic employee acumen and communication skills that most people don’t develop for a few more years. Our children are frequently mistaken for being much older than they are because they acquired experience and work skills at such young ages.
Tip 8:
Prepares students for real life!
With respect to college, homeschooling prepares a student for college while public school simply doesn’t.
Our kids have been studying like college students since middle school. The two who entered college are excelling because they are already independent studiers who are comfortable expressing themselves.
Final BIG tip:
Dual enrollment.
The biggest tip I want to share:
We graduated our older daughter a year ahead to start community college early. She had earned it and we thought she had to be done with high school to enter college. While she had earned the honor of completing high school, this was a financial mistake. Because we live out of district, her tuition ended up being full cost from day one. Our younger daughter enrolled in community college at age 15, and we learned that she did not have to be graduated from high school to take community college classes. In fact, being technically “in high school” qualified her for a 50% discount; this is called dual enrollment!
There you go! The biggest tips we gleaned after homeschooling three children, all of whom grew through it into productive, mindful, young adults. Blessings!
If you have questions or comments, I welcome them. You can either comment on this post or contact me here!
(This blog post has been updated from an earlier version.)