It can be hard to imagine teaching all of your children at one time if there is a spread in their ages, but it can be done. If your students are all within a couple of years of each other, it's likely you can pretty much lump everyone into the same grade level, perhaps having everyone on different math or reading levels. There are many subjects, such as history and science, that can be done together to save time and materials. At one point in our homeschooling journey, I had

The first sick day we need to discuss is what happens when you, the homeschool teacher, are sick. You may have thought ahead enough to realize that there are no substitute teachers to call in homeschool. This can pose a problem. But with a little planning ahead, these days can go much more smoothly. (I am talking about regular illnesses, not COVID-19, which would call for other precautions to be taken.) When a Parent is the Patient When Mom (or whoever the main teacher is) ge

And prom? And graduation? And scholarships? And transcripts? And college applications? High school scared me a bit. The highest grade I ever taught as a public school teacher was 4th grade. I remember when my oldest daughter began 5th grade, telling her, "We are both in uncharted water now!" I began preparing for her high school years when she was in 8th grade, but I began worrying much sooner than that. But don't you worry about high school. It's just one grade higher than t

It might sound lame, but it's a legitimate concern! If we homeschool...what about our first day of school pics? ...what about class parties? ...what about assemblies? ...what about the class play? ...what about book character day? ...what about band/choir/shop/speech class/drama? ...what about the 100th Day of School? ...what about new backpacks and lunchboxes? ...what about their friends? ...what about music/art/library time? Especially if you have had a pretty positive expe

This has actually been a really hot topic in the homeschool community for some time. There are many parents who want their children to be allowed to participate in public school sports, but not attend public school. The other camp says, "You can't have it both ways" and doesn't want that to be a connection because then the public schools could make demands of the homeschoolers. The homeschool crowd historically has been fiercely protective of their rights. They wanted the sch

Now that I hopefully painted a picture for you of how homeschoolers get their interaction in, let's talk about how that interaction differs from public school (and even private school to a certain extent). We talked in the last post about how it's good for kids to spend time with people of all ages. I don't want my children to only interact with those who were born in the same year as they were. Senior citizens, other trusted adults, even kids who are younger than they are sh

Time to tackle the big one. Homeschoolers hate this question, by the way. Homeschoolers roll their eyes about this question. Yet, non-homeschoolers continue to ask it. Do you know what that tells me? They need an answer! How can you possibly know if you don't homeschool and especially if you don't have any friends who homeschool? So I'll tell you. And my answer might not be what you usually hear. I may be the only homeschooler on the planet to tell you this: Usually socializa

Oh boy, here we go. Doesn't everything seem to come down to money? So here is my disclaimer that: It depends on where you live. It depends on how you decide to homeschool. It depends on how many kids you will be homeschooling. It depends on how old your students are. There. So I can't actually give you a hard number. But I can assure you that it can be done. First, I will not insult you like the salesperson who made assumptions about me and my husband when we were in our earl

When you think about homeschooling your children, are there any subjects that scare you? For me that was high school math and science. I did not feel qualified to teach those levels as my public school teaching experience only went up through 4th grade and I wasn't the strongest student in those subject areas when I was in high school. There may be other subjects you are concerned about. Everyone is different. Some people are more scared of Kindergarten than high school Algeb