Perhaps you are not happy with your other options, and you are starting to toy with this idea. But you can’t imagine yourself doing it. After all, doesn’t it take a superwoman to juggle lessons and all the other things moms have to do?
Take it from a homeschooling veteran, you can do it IF you love your kids. That’s the only qualification. As you move through the homeschooling journey, you will develop the skills you need, as you need them. That’s how jugglers start–juggling just one thing. Then they add another, and after a while another.
And here’s another secret: homeschooling can actually be easier than the standard soccer mom routine. Soccer moms are everywhere but home, juggling same-age activities that are different for each kid (unless you have twins). In contrast, when you homeschool, you focus on what you can all do together.
In addition, kids in school often have plenty of homework and need help from you in the evening. If you homeschool, you get all that out of the way in the morning, and your evenings are free.
Here’s one option for larger families: study topics, such as ancient Egypt, that their kids can share, working with the fact that their ages are different. For example, you could all read the book Mara, Daughter of the Nile together. Then each child could write about it. You could study some math related to pyramids. You can do art projects that look Egyptian. This unit might last a month or so, and then you would move on to another. This structure is called a unit study. You don’t have to invent them, either–plenty of moms who have invented one have published it.
You can expect to use workbooks and curriculum made for homeschoolers, to make sure your child learns what he should for his age and grade. Typically these curriculums include an answer key–you don’t need to be the expert. In fact, homeschoolers become adept at learning from the book, rather than from a teacher. Their reading skills are well prepared for college.
There are also correspondence schools that do all the teaching for you, if your child needs that.
Structuring your day is a question for you to ponder. Many homeschoolers get all their less-fun schoolwork done in the morning, leaving the afternoon for projects, goofing off, housework, or whatever. If you want to include your child in an organized activity, you can join regularly schooled children in their sports teams in the late afternoon. But there are daytime activities too. You can also ask around–some of these activities providers are creating daytime classes (in gymastics, for example) for homeschoolers. You do have to be careful to avoid burnout here, though.
But you do want your children to be “socialized.” Here’s a question homeschoolers get all the time: “Aren’t you worried about socialization for your child?” Here’s the answer: you have the ability to choose whom your child socializes with, unlike parents of schooled children. You do have to go out of your way to set it up. And you can count socialization with adults–that’s the best kind, after all. Adults are generally well-mannered and kind. Unsupervised schoolkids often are not. Homeschooled kids are usually quite comfortable talking to adults! Don’t you want your kids to be like that?
A homeschool co-op is one of the best solutions to the need for socialization. If you meet once a week with other homeschoolers for class or field trips, your child gets well-supervised social interaction, and can learn and grow socially in a way that a schooled child cannot. Bullying is simply not a problem for homeschoolers! So how do you find a co-op? You have to ask other homeschoolers. If your area has a homeschooling convention, by all means go to it, and go to workshops if they have any. You need to network with other homeschoolers until you find or can create a co-op.
Something else you will need is support. You need someone to talk to who is going through the same challenges. The Internet has been quite a blessing to homeschool moms, who can support each other online. There are many discussion forums attached to homeschooling Web sites, for instance, www.welltrainedmind.com. There are email groups for homechoolers too–look through the groups at groups.yahoo.com.
The answer to the homeschooling question is simple: yes, you can do it.
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