Megan

My parents never planned to homeschool, and they certainly never planned to switch to homeschooling mid-year. But halfway through my sixth-grade year at a private school, homeschooling became necessary for my family.  

At first, my brothers and I cheered my parents’ decision to start homeschooling. But we found it to be a hard transition. We missed our friends. We missed playing basketball, singing in choir, and participating in group projects.   

But despite the difficult adjustment, I am very thankful that my parents made the decision to start homeschooling my brothers and me. It was the best decision they could have made. My brothers and I flourished in our homeschool environment. We could focus on the joy of learning. 

If you are thinking about making the switch to homeschooling mid-year, here are some answers to common questions. I’ve also included some tips on how to switch to homeschooling so you can make the transition to homeschooling as smooth as possible.  

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I started homeschooling my oldest daughter in second grade. It was easy. At that point, she was adding and subtracting, identifying subjects and verbs, and learning about the needs of living things. As she got older, homeschooling got harder. She began simplifying algebraic expressions, identifying adjectival and adverbial phrases, collecting and classifying insects, writing essays, and analyzing literature.  The jump from elementary school to middle school is not easy, even for homeschoolers. Having the best middle school homeschool curriculum for your child can make the transition a lot easier. Here are some tips for finding the best middle school homeschool curriculum for your child.

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God made us each unique. I have four daughters, and I am continually amazed at how different they are. They have different personalities, different appearances, different interests, and different ways of processing information. Those different ways of processing information are often referred to as learning styles. Educational researchers and scientists have identified at least four basic types of learning styles: visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic. Some expand this list to also include social, logical, and solitary learners. Later in this post, there will be ideas on how to adapt homeschool curriculum by learning style types.

It’s helpful to know your child’s learning style so that you can best help them learn. If you are not sure what your child’s learning style is, you can have him or her take this learning style quiz to find out. But be careful about the temptation to put your child in a box. Be aware that many children have several preferred learning styles and usually one or two that they don’t like.  Once you know your child’s preferred learning style(s), you can work on adapting your homeschool curriculum as well as your homeschool environment to best meet the needs of your child.

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Homeschooling is awesome for a lot of reasons, but one of my favorite reasons is the complete control that I have over our schedule. If a friend wants to go running with us in the morning, no problem. Homeschooling can wait a couple hours. A beautiful day and we want to go to our local botanical gardens. No problem. We pack a lunch, a few notebooks, and a field guide and head out on a field trip.  There are many homeschool field trips that can be taken. Homeschoolers can learn anywhere! 

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