Homeschool Tips & Tricks

Need some homeschool tips & tricks? You’ll find them in my So, You Want to Homeschool Series!

This is a series I felt God call me to put together as we go into our tenth year of homeschooling. We already have a post all about homeschool hacks, but I thought an official homeschooling series would be the most appropriate way to answer all those questions and MORE. I’m so glad you’ve chosen to join me in this series!

*This series covers homeschool tips and tricks for mostly Kindergarten and up. If you’re interested in homeschooling in the preschool years, I encourage you to visit my blog, This Reading Mama, where I share preschool printables page.

We will cover lots of topics such as homeschool flexibility, discovering your child’s learning style, choosing curriculum, and tips for planning and structuring your day in this series. Scroll down to the bottom to find all the links in this series.

Even if you’ve been homeschooling for a few years, the ideas in this series may still be helpful! I know it’s personally been VERY helpful for me to write these tips.

You may still be on the fence about jumping into homeschooling. If you are, I want to quickly explore some of the benefits of homeschooling today by framing them within the question, “Is homeschooling right for you?”

If you already know that homeschooling is right for your child/family, these benefits may just refocus your desire to homeschool!

Is homeschooling right for you?

First, let’s explore three tongue in cheek reasons homeschooling might be right for you. {You need your sense of humor here.}

1. You have the patience of Job. Oh my! What a joke! I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, “You must have the patience of Job to homeschool.” Let me just level with you. I do not have any more patience than anyone else. If anything, homeschooling has revealed what an impatient person I truly am.

2. You want to spend all your time with your kids with no breaks. Ha! I do love spending time with my kids, but I cherish a good break, too.

3. You want your kids to grow be completely sheltered and live in a “bubble.” While I do think there is merit to sheltering our kids from many things, it is also equally important to expose them to different world views, different beliefs, and different people.

Is homeschooling really right for you?

Okay, now for some real reasons homeschooling may be right for you.

1. You want to travel or have more flexibility with your family. Because you can pick up and leave at any time, you don’t have to wait for a school break to travel or do something special. This has been a perk we’ve greatly enjoyed as a family. {Plus, you can visit many places in the “off” season.}

2. Your kids are zoned for a school that you’re not comfortable sending them to. I do not see public school as the enemy, but some schools are on the “rough” side. I get that.

3. Your child’s needs could be met better at home. Again, I’m not anti-school. I know several families personally and online who have pulled their child out of school because emotional, social, or academic needs weren’t being met. Children are SO different and it can be hard to have your child’s needs met if the classroom size is 28 kids. There are some AMAZING teachers out there, but all humans {including amazing teachers} have limitations.

For example, my second son has trouble focusing on things for very long. With homeschooling, I can give him plenty of brain/movement breaks during the day so he can focus better when he’s working.

4. You want your “school day” to be shorter. When I was a classroom teacher, our school day started at 7:50 AM and ended at 2:35 PM. That’s nearly seven hours* of schoolwork every day {and that’s just counting school hours, not homework}. It was expected that our math lesson last 30-40 minutes everyday. With homeschooling, I can teach a math lesson in 10-15 minutes to one child.

*You need to know your state’s laws concerning the number of hours you are expected to homeschool each day. But chances are, it’s not seven.

5. You feel God calling you to homeschool. This is my number one reason for homeschooling. Believe it or not, I was anti-homeschooling for YEARS. I was never going to be one of “those homeschoolers.” My kids were going to GO to school!

But ten years ago, I felt God calling me to homeschool. I told Him “NO!” for quite a few months and felt miserable inside. As soon as I said, “YES!” peace came over me that I could not explain to you, even if I tried.

6. You want more freedom in what you teach and how you teach. Homeschooling allows you the freedom to choose the curricula, the way you’ll teach it, and the times that work best for your family and schedule.

7. You want to give your kids more individualized instruction. When I was a classroom teacher, I taught in whole group and in small groups. And while my small groups did help to zero in on what my individual learners needed to know, there’s something about teaching a child one-on-one that allows you to completely tailor the lesson.

I discovered this when I was a reading tutor. I saw kids make progress in a shorter amount of time because my lessons were designed just for them. If they knew it, we moved on. If they needed review, we reviewed it. There’s tremendous power in individualized instruction!

8. You want to give your children more time to explore their passions outside of schoolwork. I know it’s hard to believe, but not all kids fit in the “school box.” For some kids, things like reading or writing are a real struggle. On the other hand, they may be able to draw like you wouldn’t believe. Homeschooling, because of its flexibility, can give your kids more time to develop their talents and explore their passions.

For example, my daughter struggles with writing and spelling, but she is very musical. If she’s not doing schoolwork, she’s often at the piano or listening to music and singing. She has been able to have long piano lessons each Wednesday morning, which has helped her to understand that she has God-given strengths outside of traditional schoolwork.