Are You Considering Homeschooling?
3 Tips to Help You Decide if it’s
the Right Fit for Your Family
So, you’ve heard about homeschooling; maybe you’ve been considering it for a while and wondering if it’s something you can do or if it’s the right fit for your family. If you’re nervous about the idea, here’s some great news: you’ve already been “homeschooling.”
Think of all the life lessons you have successfully taught your child, and it doesn’t end there. You have already laid an academic foundation for success in your children—by doing daily things together, like reading, talking, cooking/baking, listening to music, and even watching a show/movie with them and discussing it.
From you, they have learned correct grammar, sentence structure, story sequencing, basic math, and spelling…all before they ever start “school.”
Like most people seriously considering homeschooling, you’re probably still nervous; maybe the nerves are about being responsible for teaching your child how to read, or maybe it’s teaching math that makes you cringe, or perhaps you’re just wondering if your family will enjoy learning and being together all day.
When homeschooling, you are only responsible for your child’s education…not teaching them everything yourself! Most homeschool families end up employing a variety of methods within their years of teaching/learning to accomplish their goals. You can find online classes, co-ops that offer extracurricular or academic classes, and tutors; there are so many options available to homeschoolers today. Hopefully, this makes you feel better about the idea of homeschooling.
Now, let’s dive into three tips to help you decide if homeschooling is right for your family.
1. Try it out. You don’t have to commit to homeschooling to try it out. If your child is in preschool or kindergarten and below the compulsory age for schooling…you have plenty of time to enjoy learning together, try one or more curriculums and decide if you and your child enjoy homeschooling. You can often get FREE samples of different curricula that you are considering. Five in a Row offers a free sample of each level of Five in a Row; the best way to find the perfect curriculum fit for your family is to actually do a week of study with it and see how the rhythm of daily work flows with your family’s schedule and needs. Get your free Five in a Row sample at https://fiveinarow.com/five-in-a-row-booklists-and-sample-units/
If your student/s are older, then you might try out a week of homeschooling during a holiday break from public/private school or during the summer. Again, find samples of the curriculum you are looking into and try it out for a week. This is more challenging because older children might have more resistance to schooling during a break, and it will likely take more than a week for you or your kids to get a feel for what homeschooling would be like full-time. However, it can still be a useful exercise during your decision-making process.
2. Ask around. Ask like-minded friends about their homeschooling experience or find an online homeschool group to ask the questions you’ve been mulling over. The next best thing to personal experience is learning from the experience of others! You may also discover a local homeschool community through your discussions and search; there are so many homeschool groups—there are groups that organize and go on field trips, groups for moms to learn and be encouraged, co-op groups that share teaching among the parents, sports or fitness homeschool groups, hiking groups, and the list goes on and on. If you choose to homeschool, finding a group or a community can be a lifeline as you begin the homeschool journey—for you and your children.
3. Make a List—Pros and Cons. If you are considering homeschooling, you probably have a reason or two for doing so…make a list of your reasons to and not to homeschool. Be aware that some of your reasons to (or not to) homeschool may be based on opinions or ideas that you hold of homeschooling because you haven’t experienced it (this is where asking around can be helpful in learning others’ views of what it’s really like to homeschool). You can also list reasons to (or not to) send your child to public/private school.
If you choose to homeschool, knowing your reasons can help you make a goal for your homeschooling. Having a goal enables you to determine which curricula you might choose, whether or not you’ll enroll your kids in a co-op one day a week…or three days a week, etc.
For example, suppose your homeschool goal is to build relationships with your children and help them discover a love of learning. In that case, you might choose Five in a Row because you’ll get to snuggle up and read together every single day and then learn interesting facts pulled from the story, which creates interest-based learning (how we all learn best!) opportunities for you right along with your children. If your goal is not to miss out on “school-like” experiences while still choosing which curriculum your children use and being in charge of their education, you might enroll your kids in a co-op where they get to experience a classroom setting and enjoy group classes like music and P.E.
Rest assured that if you choose to homeschool, you will have more resources, curriculum options, and community opportunities available to you than homeschoolers have ever had. While this can initially feel overwhelming, once you have your list of pros and cons and your homeschool goal in mind…the many resources available will be a blessing.
Five in a Row has an incredible community through our Official Group page on Facebook. The other “rowers” (those who use Five in a Row) and administrators (all of whom have used Five in a Row with multiple children for 10-20+ years) are supportive, kind, helpful, and full of useful advice when asked. If you are wondering if homeschooling is right for your family, we invite you to try a FREE sample and join our FB group to “ask around” or look and listen to how others are using and enjoying homeschooling and Five in a Row. If you’re interested, you can join here https://www.facebook.com/groups/fiveinarow/
If you found this post helpful in deciding whether homeschooling is the right fit for your family, please share it with any other friends who are considering homeschooling.
