What I Wish I Knew Before We Started Homeschooling
There are so many lessons I’ve learned from teaching at home! Since we began our journey years ago, I’ve discovered some beginner tips that might help new parents get started. So let’s talk about what I wish I knew before we started homeschooling.
I wish I had been more familiar with home education pros and cons when we began the adventure. There are a few homeschooling myths I believed before starting that definitely didn’t make things easier. For example, learning opportunities really are everywhere!
Check out some of the lessons learned from Emily’s educational path thus far and get my favorite homeschooling tips for new parents beginning the journey. Plus, grab some grade-level printables to make teaching easier this year.
When Did We Begin Homeschooling?
Before sharing my homeschooling advice for beginners, I’d like to share a bit about how we got started. Let me begin by telling you that I was incredibly nervous to start.
I felt scared to teach an only child at home. Everyone was asking me about socialization, and it was a real concern for me with an only child. If you’re pursuing home education with just one child, check out the best resources for homeschooling an only child.
We started our adventure when Emily was in preschool. I began by setting up a traditional preschool in our playroom. We had bright primary colors, an adorable desk, and centers just like a traditional classroom.
Every day, we did worksheets. I taught my four-year-old how to hold a pencil and insisted on practicing handwriting daily. Our homeschool curriculum was rigorous for a preschooler.
Eventually, I realized we didn’t have to recreate school at home. Get more details about our homeschool preschool do’s and don’ts before you begin to see what worked for us and what I wish we had skipped.
Then, we adopted methods that work better for our family, but that’s not how it started. Now, I’m excited to share what I wish I knew before we started with you.
What I Wish I Knew Before We Started Homeschooling
I wish I had known some of these key things to know before starting homeschooling. Over the years, this homeschooling advice has helped me embrace the journey, let go of my fears, and helped our whole family fall in love with learning together.
Embrace Flexibility
One of the best things about home education is the ability to be flexible. We don’t have to wait for “Spring Break” to plan our family vacation or schedule our appointments around a traditional school day. Instead, we can do what works best for our family.
This flexibility doesn’t just apply to appointments and travel plans. We can be flexible with our learning too. Instead of forcing Emily to focus on topics she’s not interested in, we can dive deep into subjects she’s naturally curious about and explore her passions as we learn together.
The ability to pursue interest-led learning and choose activities that appeal to us has increased retention, kept everyone excited about learning, and led to some very cool learning adventures for the whole family!
It’s Not School at Home
For parents who grew up attending a traditional school, it’s challenging to adopt the idea that homeschooling isn’t school at home. However, I really wish I’d known this before we began. Trying to recreate traditional school at home isn’t realistic.
You can drive yourself crazy trying to create a classroom in your home, forcing textbook-style learning, and insisting on endless math worksheets. Ultimately, we can save ourselves lots of money and headaches by remembering that homeschooling is different from traditional school and that’s a good thing!
So, what do homeschoolers do all day? We play games, watch movies, do science experiments, and dive into learning all day long without feeling compelled to complete worksheets, endless essays, and hundreds of math problems.
You Don’t Need a Homeschool Room
Social media wants us to believe we need Pinterest-perfect homeschool rooms filled with bookcases, desks, and craft supplies. While bookcases and craft supplies can certainly be useful, you don’t need a dedicated homeschool room to learn at home.
Ultimately, kids can be found learning everywhere in a homeschooling home! There’s reading books together on the couch, playing board games on the floor, nature journaling in the backyard, and reading poetry in the kitchen. Let go of the idea that you don’t have enough space to homeschool.
Homeschooling Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive
While we’re on the subject of things you don’t need, a big budget is another thing you don’t need. Yes, it’s possible to homeschool without spending thousands of dollars. In fact, you can teach everything with a library card and an internet connection.
Learning how to homeschool without a curriculum has been so freeing! Ditching the boxed curriculum won’t just save you money. It will also make it easier to pursue an interest-led learning approach that keeps your child invested in their education and excited about homeschooling.
Every Day Is a Learning Day
Remember, learning opportunities are everywhere! We don’t have to recreate traditional school at home and we can make any day into a learning day. This has got to be the best thing about homeschooling!
Ultimately, we want to cultivate a family culture of learning. Embracing the idea that every day can be filled with learning has made it much easier and more fun to pursue learning opportunities together as a family.
A day spent walking through the woods, beachcombing, or hanging out at the local library can be filled with nontraditional learning. Playing board games and watching movies together as a family can be an excellent learning day too. We can even embrace learning at Disney!
The Perfect Curriculum Doesn’t Exist
There’s no such thing as the perfect curriculum. Chasing after the ideal curriculum can lead to lots of frustration and expense. Spending too much time researching and comparing curriculums can make us feel stuck in an endless loop of “what ifs.”
No curriculum will check all the boxes. There will always be gaps in education. Part of the beauty of homeschooling is getting to choose the gaps we’re okay with.
We get to keep the parts that work and leave behind the things that aren’t serving our family. Besides, over the years, we’ve discovered that the best learning happens outside the classroom. Real-world experiences, books, hands-on projects, and conversations have taught us more than any textbook could.
Flexible interest-led unit studies can help make it easier to meet your child’s unique needs. Check out our unit studies for kids of all ages to find something your child is passionate about and dive right in!
Your Confidence Grows
Homeschooling is scary in the beginning, but over time, your confidence grows. You’ll come to realize your child is learning amazing new things every day. Then, you’ll start to relax just a little.
Teaching kids how to read and multiply can be a real challenge! However, when they finally get it, you’ll gain confidence as a homeschooling parent and realize just how amazing learning at home together can be for the whole family.
It’s the Best! Enjoy the Journey
The greatest piece of homeschooling I’ve got for new parents is to tell them that it’s the best! Enjoy the journey because these will be the best years ever, learning together as a family in new and exciting ways.
You’ll get to learn so many cool things and see amazing lightbulb moments as your children learn about everything from chemistry to ancient history and composition to algebra. I promise you don’t want to miss this!
Just Getting Started Homeschooling?
Are you just getting started homeschooling? I have a treat for you! Grab my free Grade Level Checklists to ease your fears and help you stay on the right track from preschool through twelfth grade.
So what do I wish I had known before we started homeschooling? Ultimately, I wish I had known that it would all be okay. I wish I had known that this journey would be amazing!
What do you wish you knew before you started? Share your homeschooling advice for new parents in the comments. I can’t wait to read all your great ideas!