Why did you decide to homeschool?
Did you want more flexibility?
Were you rescuing a child from a bully or another unhealthy situation?
Did you want them to have a Christ-centered education?
Did you want to build a rich family culture?
Did you want a more customized education?
Write down all your motivations, and keep this somewhere safe so you can look at it anytime you want to quit.
*Remember, the goal is NOT to bring school into your home. You chose this path so that you could do things differently. Feel empowered to create a unique education, customized to your child’s interests, bent, learning needs, personality, and God-given calling.
You don’t need definitive answers to all of these questions, and things will change as you go along, but it is important to think through how you will work homeschooling into your life and how it will affect you in the following areas:
Space — where will you store supplies and do school work
Finances — consider the cost of classes, books, supplies, field trips, extracurricular activities, lessons, etc.
Siblings — how will you manage the different age and grade levels in your home
Schedule — write your schedule down on paper and plot your days and hours to see when you will have time for all that homeschooling requires
Peace of Mind — Know your weaknesses and brainstorm ways to overcome them or compensate for them
What season is your child in (elementary, middle school, high school)? This will determine how you approach their education.
Elementary — The goal at this stage is to discover their interests, and that means lots of experiences: field trips, museum and library classes, extracurricular activities, reading a wide range of books, trying many different hobbies, doing a myriad of experiments, etc.
Middle School — Once a strong interest develops, it’s time to fan the flames. This is the season when we begin to cultivate and deepen a passion. Take specialized classes and private lessons. Help your child to become a mini-expert on their area of interest. Find job shadowing opportunities. Interview specialists in the field.
High School — At this point, you should have a clear vision for the future. Decide the next step (after high school) and find out what it takes to become the best possible candidate for that step. Then, create a high school strategy that will help your student become that ideal candidate.
How well do you hear God? How well does your child hear God?
God’s direction is more important than anything else. He’s the One who knows the end from the beginning. It’s His plan and purposes that you are pursuing, and that means you have to be able to hear Him well. If you’re not confident in your ability to hear Him, make that a top priority for your homeschool goals.
How are the relationships in your family?
Your family is the garden where your students grow. It’s of the utmost importance that the relationships are healthy and strong. If there are weak spots, make it a major goal to heal the hurts and strengthen the breaches.
How are your child’s friendships?
Friendship is important. Show your child’s friends, and I’ll tell you who they are! Set a goal to help your student spend a portion of their homeschooling time building strong, godly friendships.
What areas of character and/or constitution does your child need to work on?
Constitution is where you start
inborn makeup
temperament
natural tendencies
physical/emotional wiring
Character is what you become through choices
moral qualities
habits
integrity
virtues
patterns of action
Character is king. Talent might open doors for your student, but character will keep them in the room. Start with their constitution, and the choose the areas of character that you plan to work on in your homeschool.
Where are they in the passion process?
Does your child have an area or two that they are deeply interested in or passionate about?
Do they know where God is calling them?
Set goals based on where they are in this process.
How are their foundational learning skills?
Our job as homeschool educators is to help our kids learn how to learn.
Are they strong readers?
Are they strong writers?
Do they have strong math skills?
Are they strong researchers?
Do they have strong thinking skills?
If the child is middle school or older, how are his study skills?
Studying is learning. If a student can study well, they can learn anything.
One of the most powerful ways to harness the opportunities of homeschooling is to help your child specialize in their areas of interest. For some kids, discovering their interests is easy, but for others, it’s a journey. Regardless of how you get there, arriving at the place where your student can develop passion takes the same route.
It starts with discovering interests. You can’t Google an interest. You can’t brainstorm your child’s interests around the kitchen table. The only way to discover a bona fide affinity for anything is to experience it. So the first goal of any homeschool journey for a student who doesn’t know what they love is to give them a broad spectrum of experiences and watch carefully for the spark.
Once they know what they want to learn about and what makes their hearts leap, it’s time to develop passion. This happens by helping your student dive deeply into their interests and cultivate expertise.
When a passion is solidified, and the student feels a strong pull in a particular direction, you can choose a destination and begin to reverse-engineer it to create a powerful strategy for the high school years.
For the first year, adopt a relaxed attitude so that you can find your family’s rhythm and discover your child’s interests, strengths, and challenges.
For those who feel a need to check off the boxes and feel a sense of completion, here are some subjects to consider as you plan your homeschool strategy:
Bible
Reading (read, read, read) — You can literally just read for the first year if you want! And explore interests.
Read aloud to your children
Use audio books
Writing
Math
Science
History
Explore Interests
Unit studies
Field Trips
Nature study
Science experiments
Extra-curriculars
Lessons
Travel
Art
Learn new skills (knitting, fishing, cooking, etc.)
Building materials
Gardening
Google all the free things in your community
Utilize libraries/museums/passes/
Learn how to run field trips, and go for free
Join the Homeschooling From Cradle to Calling FB group. Ask questions. Find resources. Make online friends who can support you on this journey, all in the safety of a closed homeschool Facebook community.
Join a homeschool support group in your area who offers field trips, special events, social opportunities, classes, information, and who can answer your questions. Choose a group that will allow you to connect with like-minded families.
Learn how to utilize co-ops, private lessons, extracurriculars, and resources in your home town to build a personalized and supported homeschool experience.
Attend a homeschool convention in your state to take classes from the industry experts (you might even see us there!), look at curriculum in person and ask questions, and meet homeschool families from around the state.
The amount and type of records you keep should depend on your state’s requirements.
Create a master list of the subjects your student is learning and any curriculum you’re using.
Keep samples of your students’ work at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the year to show progression.
Consider making a simple yearbook (Snapfish, Shutterfly, Mixbook)
Keep a reading list with the title, author, and date completed of every book you read together, every audiobook you listen to, and books they read independently.
Keep a list of field trips you attend with the date, location, and link to the place’s website.
Read articles. Listen to podcasts. Read books about
Education
Homeschooling
Learning
Topics that interest your children
Brain development
Parenting
Be a reader yourself (model what you preach)
Join homeschool FB groups (especially LOCAL ones so you know what’s happening in your area), and don’t forget to join ours!
Go to conventions, workshops, fairs, expos, etc.
Walking the vendor hall without a plan can make you feel like you’re not doing enough. Research who will be there ahead of time, and make a plan of which booths you will visit.
Less is more. Become a mini-expert on one or two topics of your own interest.
Avoid bringing school into your home. You made the decision to give your child a unique experience, apart from the standard school system, so avoid using the very system you left a blueprint.
Avoid saying that you’re going to quit unless the Lord leads (it’s like not using the word “divorce” in your home).
Avoid becoming a slave to the curriculum. The curriculum is a tool. It works for you. It’s not your boss.
Avoid allowing the “to-do list to become your task master
Your relationship with your child is FAR more important than getting through any task list
Their love of learning is more important than any task list
Finding their interests and helping them pursue their interests is more important than any task list
—J & J
