So you want to homeschool this year...

I have a number of friends who are planning to homeschool in the coming year. Distance education is not the same thing as homeschooling, and I get that it is overwhelming to take your kids' education into your hands. In Utah, where we live, it is frighteningly easy to homeschool. You write a letter saying that you will be responsible for your child's education. You have it notarized. And you take it to your district office so they have it on record. That's it! You will receive an affidavit stating that you are completely responsible for ensuring that your kid learns all the everything, and you can show that around town for discounts to things (like the aquarium) or to access educator days/discounts (like at Barnes and Noble). Some districts will send it to you by email, which is the best.  That moment when you get the affidavit feels a lot like when they let you take the new baby out of the hospital with you and you think, seriously? You are trusting me with this?

The first and most important thing to do when you set out to homeschool is to take a big calm breath and think about what is important to you in your kids' education. This is not a question that you have to frequently consider when in public school, and it is fine to not have an answer right away. Just think about it. Do you want your kids to be on track with their same age public schooled peers so that their return to the classroom might hypothetically be seamless in the future? This isn't as much of a concern anymore, in my opinion, as distance learning and Coronavirus and all the excitement of 2020 have pretty much put all kids on their own track, but it is something that is very important to a lot of people, and it will guide your curriculum choices. Most of the books your kids would use in the classroom can be obtained, from Amazon or from the publisher, and you can keep them on the exact same track that they might be using in an ideal, virus-free, issue-free classroom.  If you need help figuring out exactly what your kid might have been using, I'd suggest emailing your child's former teacher for guidance.  You can also call the school secretary, who should be able to tell you the exact titles and publishers of the books. 

Do you want your kids to have a Charlotte Mason style education? Waldorf? Montessori? Don't know what any of these things are? Spend some time with the Google, and lmk if you are still stuck. Do you like some combination of these things and but want it to be completely secular? Or would you rather incorporate your religious beliefs in some way? All valid positions, and they are important because they will guide your choices.

Once you've done a little soul searching (and you can change your mind later!), you can start to read blogs and Facebook pages and explore Facebook groups to learn about the options. Search on those pages for what people like for math, or English, or diverse books, or whatever you are interested in. Let me know if you don't know where to start or can't find what you need, and I will help track it down. You may find that you, like me, like buying curriculum as much as using it. I am happy to help if I can.  I would start with the SEA Homeschoolers group and go from there.  While evaluating a possible curriculum, look for a FB group - there is at least one for almost every curriculum option out there, and reading the posts can help you decide if this will be a fit for your family and see where some of the pitfalls might be.  (The Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding group, for example, is full of posts from people who are wondering about how to break it down into manageable chunks.)

We prefer a relaxed homeschool environment. I don’t do much tablework and I don’t adhere to a set schedule; I prefer to give the kids a list of what I’d like to see accomplished and let them decide how to make that happen. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes I don’t have a list (and in that case, we just do the next thing). Sometimes, they are playing together really nicely, and it isn’t worth interrupting their happiness to move on to math. We get to everything eventually, I think, and if we are consistently skipping things, then we need to reevaluate our curriculum choices. (For example, the science curriculum that is so highly recommended but that takes forever for me to set up and assemble supplies for; the literature curriculum that I like the idea of, but which points out to me that I am not heavily invested in a real Charlotte Mason education, no matter how picturesque it might be; the idea that even if Dickens is at my oldest’s reading level, he is not enjoying it, and my telling him how great it is isn’t going to persuade him.) In the interest of showcasing what a relaxed but thorough homeschool might look like, with three kids at different grade levels, I’ll try to journal some of our days. My kids are S, who is finishing 6th grade; M, my rising 3rd grader; and C, who is finishing preschool. I have an ambitious document for each of them that details what I want them to complete to be considered in the next grade. If we get to August or September and the document isn’t completed, we will reassess.  For context, my kids have been diagnosed as gifted and have ADHD.

9 a.m. - younger kids are up, dressed, ready for breakfast. M takes a shower. C cuddles and asks me to read him a book about firefighters. After tooth brushing and breakfast, M starts coding with Bitsbox, and C listens to read-to-me books on Epic while cuddling.

10 - M is supposed to stop coding and move onto other activities, but he is still really engrossed. We compromise. I open the Wishtree audiobook in Libby and he listens while he continues coding. He has set a goal for the day and really wants to finish it. I check in occasionally to make sure he is also hearing and understanding the book. S is still asleep, and I never wake up sleeping kids if I can help it. C is playing with magnatiles, building amazing creations, and using the Cuisinaire rods in his work. It is recommended that the kids get half an hour of playtime with the rods before math lessons begin, so this is perfect. Just before 11, S emerges, eats three bowls of cereal, and retreats to take a shower. I tell him that I want him back before 11:20, and he agrees.

11 - S emerges around 11:25 and settles into playing with his youngest brother with the rods and magnatiles. They are both very happy, so I leave them to it. M is still coding and has to be pried away.

12 - kids help with dishwasher, washing machine, lunch, break for M. Math for M.

1 - S and C go for a bike ride with their dad. M moves on to Prodigy for fun math (his choice) while listening to the Lord of the Rings audiobook (also his choice). When the other two get back, they go play in the backyard for awhile. When they come inside, C moves on to Hale’s Tale for reading practice and S works on Beast Academy online for math.

2 - S finishes wrangling his way through three units. I worked the problems in tandem with him, and we talked through the spots he was stuck on. He asked to do CodeCombat afterwards. He’s learning JavaScript and is really excited about it. M sits next to him and talks about the coding challenges. M checks on his moss garden (from the B&R life science wonder 3) and documents it's progress in his science notebook. He is comparing how the moss from our yard does in the jar moss garden versus the (much more lush) moss we gleaned from a neighbor’s yard in an identical moss garden. C and I do his math, which is the storybook math from Play Discover Learn right now (free on her website!).

3 - S asks for a little more coding time, and then moves on to reading. He’s working through the Best Babysitter Ever. M does his Spellbook, which goes very well and doubles as art and handwriting practice. C and I do a little more math. S is done with Babysitter.

4 - C wants to build a magnatile pirate ship, filled with Cuisinaire rod treasure, so he moves on to that. While he yells about “yo yo yogurt!” S reads and M watches a video of Finding Winnie from Hoopla. M wants some CodeCombat time after his video. I think he has had more than enough screentime, educational or not, but he is also calm, focused, and working hard, so I am willing to be flexible.

5 - M helps me cook dinner. S does some science. The kids play their instruments (trumpet and clarinet) and go for a bike ride with their dad.

7 - screentime for 1 hour. We haven’t gotten everything done that I wanted to do, but we have gotten in a reasonable day. The kids have been doing school stuff pretty much all day, without fighting or complaining, and the household feels calm and relaxed. We’ll start tomorrow with the stuff we missed today. I run to the library for a remote pickup while the kids have their time.

8:30 - the bedtime slog begins. Podcasts for all. By ten, all of the kids are sleeping.

I'm sure that I've missed things. Please let me know if you have questions, or if I can help with anything. It's an adjustment, but this can be a fantastic option. Keep in mind that with COVID19, many of the groups we usually meet with aren't meeting, and many of the places we usually visited aren't open (libraries, museums, parks, etc.), so try not to worry too much about the socialization part. It will come as things open up.