I think I could write a book about various mistakes I’ve made along this homeschool journey but I’ll focus on a few that I think may be fairly common and hopefully either help keep someone else from that same mistake or at least make you realize you are not alone.
My background is that of a public school student, teacher, and principal. So when I started homeschooling, I tended to fall back on what I knew. I found a curriculum that while Christian was in a very traditional style, I set up a classroom for us to work in, and I set up a daily schedule that looked much like the schedule I would have had in my classroom.
That scenario might have worked well for some other family, but it was not a good fit for our family. We still have the room (though we don’t always use it) as it did work well for us to have a place to keep all of our homeschool things and to get away from everything else when we needed to focus on school. I learned that school could happen in that room but it could also happen in our kitchen, outside, or even in our van. We have however, greatly changed both curriculum and scheduling techniques.
We went from a traditional curriculum to using a different company for almost every subject. Some children do well with traditional curriculum but for us it was not the right solution. We used a variety of curriculum, focusing on hands on lessons and programs that worked well across multiple ages. The children started to enjoy our ‘school time’ more and it was much easier for me to teach most subjects together and only have to do things like reading with each child individually.
When we first started I blocked out my schedule to cover each subject five days a week during a certain time. For example, 9:00-9:30 reading, 9:30-9:45 spelling, etc. I found this was very frustrating for my children, sometimes we had to stop in the middle of a lesson, and sometimes they were done ahead of time. After a few weeks, I realized that I had the freedom to simply decide what we needed to cover that day and then work through it. We could move from one subject to another in natural progression. If my son drug his feet doing his math work (I’m sure that only happens at my house), instead of not finishing that day he knew he would have less play time that afternoon.
In addition to changing our daily schedule, at the end of our first year I realized that I needed to make a change in our weekly schedule. That change made such a huge difference for my planning and implementation. That first year I had planned out five days a week but it seemed like almost every week there were great field trip opportunities that I found out about and wanted the children to participate in: a trip to the local science center, a tour of the fire department, homeschool day at the local aquarium, etc. These trips were valuable learning experiences but because of how I had planned they made me feel chronically ‘behind schedule’. That second year I planned out our work over four days each week instead of five. This made all of the difference for us. It meant there was a day open for field trips or other appointments. If by chance we have a week where we do not have a field trip or appointment, the children have a day to enjoy playing Legos, working on projects, or other activities and I can get caught up on some household chores.
I’m so glad that I learned from those mistakes and found curricula that work well for my children and a schedule that allows us to fit in a variety of fun field trips and extra curricular activities. I hope that this helps someone not make those same mistakes. I’d love to have you share in the comments about what mistakes you made when you first started homeschooling.
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I’ve been mingling in homeschooling circles for quite some time. I’ve found that homeschoolers can be among the most opinionated and adamant people on the face of the planet. It’s true. The same resolve that helps us remain committed to our cause can make us prickly and caustic when considering the choices of others. And it can get very ugly. I want to say a word about that.
Homeschooling is a uniquely different-looking journey for each family. Each child is diverse in strengths, weaknesses, talents, interests, aptitudes and perhaps disabilities. So even within one family, there really is no one-size-fits-all curriculum. Susie may have flourished using Sonlight curriculum while her younger brother withered on the vine with a literature-based approach. Truly, to buy one set of curriculum and expect to use it easily and seamlessly as a hand-me-down with all the siblings isn’t very realistic. It will very possibly require tweakage from child to child at the very least. Learning styles vary, and you may even find that through the years your teaching style will change also.
At Schoolin’ Swag, we have over 4,500 homeschooling families represented. Every type of homeschooling (and combinations with charter, private and public schooling as well) exists there, every teaching style, every learning style, every preference, disability, and level of giftedness. I’ve learned through the years that homeschoolers tend to be a very opinionated, dogmatic lot, so if you are easily persuaded you’ll soon find yourself in a Slough of Despond. If I am not praying about our choices and committed to them, as Administrator of the group, I will drive myself mad being exposed to all the possibilities I see every day. This awesome unit study, that really cute lap book, the article I post on successfully unschooling, the blog posts on why Charlotte Mason is best…why your child should read McGuffy…why or why not to teach cursive…and the list goes on. My life would be one constant “Squirrel!” moment! The same thing can happen at homeschool co-ops and conventions. Here is a link to a 
I’m excited about our No Foolin’ Preschoolin’ Giveaway on April 1st at 
I have a friend who recently had an MRI done. She mentioned how surprised she was at how any little movement could skew the results. Breathing too rapidly or too deeply could result in needing a re-do. And it got me to thinking…
So now we have a testing event, upon which this child may be judged, placed, or otherwise assessed. It’s important. It goes “in the records”. And the cards may be badly stacked against him…for posterity. Unlike the MRI, there is no re-do.
My heart goes out to those who are awesome teachers (private, public, or home school) who know their kids, but their hands are tied because they are obligated to subject them to the cookie cutter tests. What’s more, when not only the student is judged by how he colors in the bubbles…but the teacher’s effectiveness is also judged by those results…well, my goodness. Things get very mixed up from there on. Teachers becoming the scapegoat for a child’s poor performance is rarely the right thing to do. We’ve all heard the phrase “teach the test”…and that is what happens in some classrooms, unfortunately. To save everyone’s skins. That’s not education.
Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C. S. Lewis. Tomorrow, his literature/writing day, he will read Chapters 13 and 14, and then write out what he believes the “secret conversation” between Aslan and the White Witch may have been like.
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