One of the most common questions I get living on the road is, “What about the kid's school?” And well, I have an easy answer for that, and it is homeschooling. Some people may have a lot of homeschooling questions. And that’s mainly because they don’t know a lot about what it means to homeschool your kids.
So I’m here to answer a few questions about homeschooling and the program I use to make it as painless and as easy as possible for both me and the kids.
Homeschool programming
First up, let’s talk programming. Developing your own program for homeschooling can be really intimidating as you have to figure out which milestones your kids are supposed to be hitting.
There are a lot of resources out there to figure it out, but for me, that task as a whole was very off-putting. I decided early on that I did not want to take part in the actual programming aspect of my children’s homeschool, so instead, I turned to online platforms.
You’ll find many different online platforms that can develop the program for you and provide the curriculum. That means the textbooks, the program, and the day-to-day activities are all laid out for you.
The platform I use is called Time for Learning, and it’s an online platform that walks the kids through their activities. It has their math, science, history, English, really everything they need to hit the milestones in order for them to complete their grades.
Homeschool Planning
With all the different activities that we’re doing, planning when to homeschool can be a little challenging. I try to aim to only spend about an hour a day with each kid on their schoolwork. Sometimes we even double up so they’re each doing their schoolwork at the exact same time.
By choosing to only do about an hour a day, it allows the kids to stay focused. Instead of them getting tired and run down, I’m only requiring their attention for a small period of the day. And by doing that, we’re able to get a lot more done.
Keeping the Kids Engaged
Keeping the kids engaged is a really challenging part of homeschooling. But by them knowing that they have a reward at the end of the day, they get their schoolwork done.
The reward is simply just them getting to do day-to-day things. But they see it as a reward because of the way we set up our day. So, they know that if they get their schoolwork done, they then get to do all these other activities after.
Learn Alongside Your Kids
My parents homeschooled me, so I got to see them learn alongside me, which I thought was really cool. My mum never pretended to know everything. She would help me look up answers and learn along the way. So for me, with my homeschooling, I tried really hard to remember that and explain to the kids that I don’t always know the answers.
Taking this approach allows the kids to see that it’s okay to not understand something. And inevitably, they learn that the important part is that you work hard to figure it out.
Homeschooling Your Kids
There are definitely some days when homeschooling is just not clicking. The kids are pulling their hair out, I’ve got an early work meeting, and things are just not flowing in a productive way. So, sometimes I have to take a step back and really think about what I can do to make this school day productive.
Often, I’ll focus on one subject. So, if my daughter, for example, is having a hard day of reading, and it’s just not clicking for her, I’ll say, “Okay, maybe it’s just today, we’ll do her reading tomorrow. Today, we’ll just focus on math.”
That’s one of the beauties of homeschooling because you can actually cater to the children depending on how they’re feeling. My son, for example, never likes history. And we can’t just keep pushing history down the line. But usually, what I do is I do history first thing in the morning. With history being the first subject, he is more aware, alert, and is hoping to get his school done. So definitely schedule the hardest subject first so that way the kids are full of energy and they dive right in.
It’s really unique to be able to cater to your kids because you have a much smaller environment than a classroom. With 20 kids in one room, you can’t cater to each one because of the group aspect. However, with homeschooling, it really allows you to hone in on your children’s strengths and weaknesses.
Help your Kids Excel
Another really cool thing about homeschooling is that you can go back and forth between grades and subjects. So my son really enjoys math and science. History and English he doesn’t mind, but it’s not a strong suit. By using the program that we’re using, I’m actually able to push him ahead and get him further along in his math and science while keeping him in his own grade level for English and history.
Being able to have that opportunity to pull the kids back and forth means you aren’t holding them back from subjects they excel in.
Summer School or Catching Up
Not everyone has the opportunity to homeschool. But I definitely think it’s something everyone should explore in one way or another. Even if it’s during summer when your kids are out of school. It might be really special to show your kids that you want to learn alongside them. So if you have your children in school, but you still want to teach them what you think learning should look like, give homeschooling a go.
It will be both fun and challenging, and remember that it’s okay to not have the answers. I think that’s a really healthy example to set for your children as a parent. So if you never have the opportunity to homeschool your kids, or if it’s just not in the cards for you, definitely take time to just show your kids that mom and dad don’t always have the answers, but you will work hard to try to figure them out.
If you liked this little nugget of parental wisdom, feel free to wander to our growing Family Adventure Learning page.
Camera: GoPro Hero 11
