Things to Consider Before You Start Homeschooling

Homeschooling definitely has its pros and cons, no doubt about it. And it’s a good idea to learn and have a big picture of what exactly homeschooling entails before diving in.

As a homeschooling mom for more than 5 years (and going,) here are some things I would advice parents to consider as you pray about homeschooling your children.

Understanding Your “Why’s” and Goals

Why are you homeschooling? What are your goals? Make sure you know clearly what your reasons are.

Knowing your why’s will allow you to choose better when deciding which method to follow, which provider to partner with and figure out the best way to go about your homeschool.

To give you an idea, I’m sharing with you below our personal main “why’s”:

• Be able to prioritize teaching them about God
• Be able to spend quality time with them during their growing up years
• To have the freedom to have first hand experiences (through lots of travel, field trips, outdoor time and other learning opportunities) that we will not have much of if we enroll them in a traditional school
• Be able to curate their lessons, materials and books during this crucial stage of learning
• To enjoy flexible schedules

For us, knowing those goals, I decided that having a Charlotte Mason based curriculum would be best for us (with a dash of Classical Education!).

I also chose a provider who used living books as a spine and who encouraged activities like nature and composer study, as compared to ones that put more emphasis on school-like activities (science fairs, diorama presentations, buwan ng wika celebrations etc.) Disclaimer: Nothing wrong with those at all fyi! Haha. They just weren’t a perfect fit for the goals I wanted to achieve.

I will try to explain these in detail in a separate post in the future.

The Importance of Having a Community

The number one thing that always comes up when you tell people you homeschool is “socialization.” My answer is always that most homeschooled kids are in fact, well socialized and this is true. But let me give this disclaimer beforehand: it doesn’t happen by accident; it’s always because the parents are intentional in making sure their kids ARE socialized.

Do you have a community? Are you ready to look for your tribe?

Personally, having a constant homeschool group through the years has been an essential part of our journey. We are blessed to be a part of a group of 7 families meeting up regularly for almost 4 years already (pandemic online meetups were counted in that count haha) When we meetup, the parents take turns leading activities. Sometimes we do art together, sometimes experiments, sometimes group work and presentations. We also go on field trips together and out of town trips (even with the dads!) and learn alongside each other.

Also, because our families are all doing the Charlotte Mason method and we are all enrolled with the same homeschool provider, it’s like our children have “classmates;” they have similar school books and we go through them together.

Aside from this, we also regularly hang out with other friends. Some homeschool, some don’t. Most of us were friends even before having kids.

Having different social groups has been beneficial for our children in their growth as they learn to navigate different kinds of relationships with different kinds of people. They “socialize” (there’s that buzz word again!) with people of all ages and that includes the adults too!

For sure, our journey will not look the same as yours. Some of our friends have a thriving church community (we don’t yet, as of now.) Some have close family relationships with cousins that are almost the same age groups (somethings my kids didn’t get to experience because their cousins are much older!) And that’s okay, of course!

The thing that’s really important is just that your children get regular interactions and that you have a community who can journey with you. Always remember that if you don’t, it’s never too late to actively look for one.

Are you prepared to commit time and effort?

Researching the type of homeschool approach you want to pursue requires time and effort. Also, preparing lesson plans, curating books, purchasing materials, and organizing activities all demand considerable planning. Then there’s teaching itself. Are you ready to commit time per day for lessons? How about taking the time to bring the kids to their extra curricular activities, field trips and co-op meetups?

Are you willing to give up precious alone time for this? Speaking to my fellow introverts here, of course! Haha.

Final Thoughts

Homeschooling is a lot of fun and it’s so rewarding. But I’m not gonna lie: it involves a significant amount of research, preparation, and self-study.

I hope these questions are helpful you as you prayerfully consider if this is the right choice for your family. I always tell people, that I really believe anyone can do it, if they are willing to commit and give it their best. But also, if this doesn’t sound like it’s for you, that’s also okay!

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For more homeschooling articles check out the links below or the posts tagged “homeschool”

• 50 Picture Books for Your Home Library
• How We Homeschool: Classical Education + Charlotte Mason
• List of Free Living Books for Kids
• Kindergarten Curriculum Picks for Luke (2020-2021)