BJU Press Blog

getting started homeschooling

Take Advantage of Homeschool Stability

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working with homeschool stability
If you’re at the beginning of your homeschool journey, you might think of the serenity prayer often seen on magnets and signs: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Despite the flexibility of homeschooling, there are still some things that you cannot—or should not—change. In fact, here are five unchangeable elements that will shape your family’s homeschool journey. It’s important for you to be familiar with these elements at the outset because they will give you stability in the years to come.

1. State Regulations

All states have regulations for how children are educated, and most have specific rules concerning home education, ranging from low to high in restrictiveness. These regulations may seem like an imposition, but they’re intended to ensure the well-being of your children. The best way to follow your state’s regulations is to keep detailed and accurate records of the classes your children have taken and to regularly participate in achievement testing.

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) offers a helpful summary of each state’s regulations for homeschooling. Knowing your state’s rules is a key first step for homeschooling. You don’t want to be taken by surprise by requirements, such as submitting test scores or academic records by a certain date.

2. Commitment

No parent just wakes up one morning and decides to start homeschooling. It’s a long and often difficult journey that involves many sacrifices. Carefully consider the reasons behind your decision to homeschool. Do you want to homeschool to more effectively disciple your children? Do you want to lay a solid foundation for a biblical worldview? Are you protecting your kids from bad influences? Do you want to make sure that they’re getting what they need academically? The factors you based your decision on drive the commitment you make to homeschooling. This commitment effects both the goals you set for your children and the curriculum you choose.

3. Joy

In a traditional school environment, much of the potential of learning gets lost. Everything is textbooks, tests, strict rules, lining up, raising your hand, and just ten more minutes until lunch. With one teacher to every ten to fifteen students, that rigidity is what keeps the school going. But at the end of the day, the joy of learning often gets lost in the humdrum moments. Learning should be fun because every day is packed with new ideas and new ways of looking at the world.

When it’s just you and your children learning together, you have the freedom and opportunity to bring out the joy of learning every time you find it. You can set the rules that are important to your family. This one-on-one experience with your children lets you chase learning wherever it may lead.

4. Homeschool Support System

Remember, you don’t have to do this alone. Every homeschooling group is a community of like-minded parents who are as committed to the homeschool calling as you are. These communities are digital, local, regional or state, and networks. Digital communities are groups of bloggers that offer quick answers to homeschool problems as well as numerous resources for parents. Local communities, or homeschool co-ops, give you a chance to join forces as you teach your children. Co-ops share the burden of teaching and planning field trips and give children a chance to develop healthy friendships outside the home.

Regional or state homeschool support organizations give families a place to turn to in navigating their journey. In addition to offering conventions and conferences, they keep track of state regulations on homeschooling, and some have consultants who work with families as they get started and can connect them to local co-ops. HSLDA functions as a countrywide support organization and maintains a list of state organizations on its website.

Another good option for getting some personalized support is connecting with a consultant from Homeworks by Precept, a nationwide network of independent curriculum consultants who have plenty of homeschooling experience. Establishing a relationship with a HomeWorks consultant could make your first few years of homeschooling much easier.

5. Time

Education takes time. Both you and your children will need to devote time to lessons and schoolwork. But that doesn’t mean you can’t homeschool if you’re a single parent or running a home business. How you use your time is still up to you. There are many different options available to busy homeschool parents that can work with the time they have available, such as self-paced video courses or online classes. Time-strapped parents will also appreciate a curriculum that includes as many supplemental resources and activities as they may want so that they won’t need to come up with these on their own. Knowing how much time you can devote to homeschooling will help you narrow down your curriculum options.

Eager to learn more about your homeschooling journey? Please sign up to receive our free eBook, A Guide to Homeschooling, to learn more about the road ahead of you. Be sure to fill out the homeschool preparation checklist at the end, and feel free to ask questions in the comments section below.

The View from the Deep End: A Former Teacher’s Homeschool Story

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When you first wade into the homeschooling waters, it’s a good idea to scoop up all the knowledge and ideas you can from moms who have been doing this a long time. I’m still in the shallows of homeschooling, but my friend Brenda is an expert at swimming the deeper waters. As a former public school teacher, Brenda’s blend of knowledge and talents made her the ideal teacher for her own two boys.

After graduating with a degree in education, Brenda became a second-grade teacher at a public school. She stayed in that role for six years—until she decided to make the switch to stay-at-home mom and homeschool teacher.

“My homeschooling day was very much like a public school day,” she recalled when I asked her about her first foray into homeschooling. “I made a classroom space in my home. I purchased a work table and two desks.” She also set up a bookshelf to hold teacher’s manuals, learning aids, and manipulative materials.

As a former classroom teacher, she immediately saw the advantages that homeschooling provides. She could go slowly with difficult topics or move quickly if her child was grasping the concepts easily. “Teaching your own children allows you to move through the curriculum at your child’s pace rather than waiting for twenty-eight other children to finish each subject!” Brenda told me.

homeschool mom and daughter sitting outside doing BJU Press K5 Math

One concern that I have as a homeschool mom is what to do when children start testing their boundaries during school hours. How can I maintain both the role of mom and the role of teacher? “Most children would think twice about acting out in front of another authority figure, such as a teacher,” Brenda admitted. “But acting out with Mom would occur whether a child were homeschooled or not.” She told me that a homeschooling mom needs to commit to being patient and consistent, especially in her role as teacher.

One big question on my mind is curriculum choice, so I asked Brenda about her selection. “I have stayed with BJU Press because I have confidence in their scope and sequence,” she said. “The lessons are so well put together, and I know my children will be taught all the important concepts.”

Brenda’s older son has just entered a private Christian school. I asked Brenda why she made the decision not to homeschool past the elementary grades. “I like the fact that the Christian school provides so much opportunity with music, theater, and sports teams as well as classroom group activities,” Brenda answered. “My son had been in the BJU Press curriculum since kindergarten, and he was very prepared to enter the Christian school setting.”

Not everyone who dives into homeschooling is a former teacher. However, each parent brings a unique set of gifts and skills to the home classroom. In Brenda’s words, “The most beneficial thing is getting to spend quality time with my children, knowing exactly what they’re learning, and being able to give them a biblical worldview.”

How a New Homeschooler Balances Her Day

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about homeschooling. Even though I was homeschooled for more than six years, the idea of setting up my own homeschool is overwhelming. There’s a lot to think about and plan for. One topic that I’ve been researching lately is scheduling. One of the big benefits of homeschooling is flexibility in scheduling the school year. When you start and when you finish is completely up to you. But individual days need to be scheduled too if learning objectives are going to be met.

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How much flexibility should there be in the daily schedule?

One homeschool blog that I have found particularly helpful is No Twiddle Twaddle. The author, Bethany, is a new homeschool mom, and she has blogged a bit about their first year. Her post “10 Tips for Starting to Homeschool” is a great resource for those of us who are just getting started. I love the way that she adds personal illustrations to each of her big ideas.

In this post, Bethany mentions the need to balance flexibility with structure. First, she urges her readers to take advantage of the flexibility that homeschooling offers.

I found that allowing ourselves the enjoyment of the flexibility of homeschooling helped keep our family from getting stressed out by the demands of homeschooling, and it also helps my kids stay on task when they know that working hard means extra time for play.

But she also mentions the need for structure.

It’s great to be flexible, but I quickly found out that starting lessons late in the morning meant school stretched forever into the afternoon (which is no fun when the sun is shining outside). I also found that I needed to be firm about making my kid use the bathroom and eat a decent breakfast before school. You really can’t learn anything when you are taking a gazillion breaks.

Bethany’s comments about the need for balance in every homeschool was a good reminder for me. I doubt my homeschool will lack structure—I tend to be a very task-oriented person. But I need to remember to pay attention to the needs of my students. Nurturing my children is infinitely more important than crossing off the items on the daily to-do list. I imagine that schoolwork may need to be put off some days in order to deal with heart issues. And that’s OK.

The tips in Bethany’s article gave me a lot to think about. Among other things, she talks about the need for a support structure, for organization, and for being teachable and learning from our own mistakes. If you are like me and are thinking about taking the plunge into homeschooling, I recommend that you read the rest of her excellent blog post.