Beginning homeschooling can be overwhelming. Where do you start? Will your child succeed? What will others think? Can I even do this? All those might be questions running through your mind as you make a critical decision for your child and your family. Homeschooling isn’t for the faint of heart. It requires love, dedication, persistence, effort, and a lot of prayer. Below I have outlined some tips to help you organize your curriculum and get started.
Tips to Start Homeschooling
Educational Goals. What are the goals you have for your child? What goals does your child have for themselves? Write down what you want to achieve with homeschooling. Why are you choosing this in the first place? This way you can come back to it when you feel defeated (and that day will come!). Setting goals will also help guide your curriculum choices.
The Right Curriculum. There is no perfect curriculum. Let’s get that out of the way. Every curriculum works differently for each family. Select a curriculum that meets your educational philosophy, the learning style of your child, and that meets your goals. Do you want it to be flexible? What subjects should it include?
Feel free to mix and match curriculums. You may want to use one curriculum for math and language, and another for science and history. You’re in the driver’s seat now and can choose what works best for you and your child.
Planning. It may be best to plan your academic year. Select the day you will start and set a goal end date. The end date may change depending on needs, family trips or emergencies, and other life circumstances. Don’t beat yourself up if your end date needs to change. Decide how much time you will take off for Christmas break and other holidays. You can either match the school calendar of your school district or make your own! Go with what works best for your family.
Schedules. It’s helpful for many to have a weekly and daily schedule. It doesn’t have to be broken down into time blocks, but have an idea of which subjects you will do on which days. You can look online for samples, and I will also share some that I have created below:
Homeschool Schedule Template
Kindergarten Homeschool Schedule
Sample Homeschool Schedule
You can adjust the daily schedule to include specific lessons, activities and breaks. Allow for flexibility and don’t feel confined to a schedule. It is there to guide you to ensure that you are meeting the homeschool requirements of the state/province and of your own.
Organize Materials. This is an area I struggle in. My friend, however, is an organizational queen. Her house has a system and I am aiming to be more like her!
Make use of bookshelves, bins, or digital folders to organize textbooks, manipulatives, and other resources you have. I like to have a bin for each of my children. When I had my private school, each child had a drawer or two of an organizational bin like this:
Do what works best for your family. I suggest label everything! This makes it easy to see what you need and grab it. It can be a pain to be digging through items trying to find the resource your child needs right then and there.
Digital Organization. Perhaps digitally organizing works better for you. Having a calendar on your phone or computer allows you to quickly access and modify your schedule. You can also use programs to store curriculum and worksheets. If your child prefers to work on their computer, perhaps include a way to store their work digitally. There are several online curriculums that are available to access.
This doesn’t work for all students and families, but if it does, use it! The options are endless with how far technology has come. Also, you will have less physical clutter ;).
Lesson Plans. I want to say that you absolutely do not have to lesson plan. Some families prefer the “open and go” type of curriculum (personally my preference as well). I have other friends, however, who love lesson planning and getting materials ready.
Lesson planning also helps you to be organized in what topics and subjects are getting covered each day. You can use a binder, folder, or a digital program to organize each day. It may be helpful for you to have a binder for the month with each day’s work in it with dividers. Or, you may prefer to have a file folder for each day. Feel free to play around with different options until you find something that works for you. Everyone is different!
Track Progress. Some states and provinces require you to keep records. Or, you may want to keep them for yourself to ensure that your child is advancing. Use a spreadsheet, planner, or an app to track what your child has learned. Personally, I just jot down what they have learned that week. In Ontario, we don’t have any requirements to keep track of progress, but if you live in a place where there are more requirements, please ensure that you are meeting those.
Keeping track of progress also ensures that your child is growing and learning. It helps you to see that they are, whether you notice it day to day or not.
Adjust. This ties in with tracking progress. Adjust things if they are not working. If you or your child is not thriving, change it up. Don’t feel confined to stick with what you started. What works for some people may not work for others. You may need to change your routine, use different activities, or even change the curriculum. Modify things as best meets the needs of your family.
Involve your Child. Depending on the age of your child, they can be more or less involved. An older child may love to be involved in planning the schedule, picking curriculum electives, or having a say in which math program they wish to do. A younger child may have a say in what animal they would like to learn about next month.
Homeschooling allows you to focus on your individual child. Meet them where they are. If they are interested in learning about something, they will be more prone to be eager to complete the work. Do your best to incorporate their interests into the program you are doing. This is very empowering to your student! As a homeschooled student, I loved having a say in what curriculum and electives I got to pick. When the new school books arrived, I was so excited (nerdy, I know)!
Involving your child also gives them responsibility. They chose what they wanted to learn, and now they get to learn it! Treat your child as an individual and watch them thrive.
Summary
Homeschooling allows for much flexibility. Use it! See what works and what does not work for you and adjust as needed. I want you to feel empowered to teach and do life with your child. You are their mom and know what is best! Lots of people will tell you otherwise, but at the end of the day, you’ve known your child the longest and know their needs, abilities, and desires. Use homeschooling to grow that deep bond with your child.