How to Homeschool a Kid Who Hates to Write ~
Written by Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy

For whatever reason, some kids hate to write.

I don’t mean they dislike it, or they’d rather not today, thank you. No, I’m talking about those kids for whom writing “The cat sat on the mat,” requires the physical effort and mental stamina of climbing Pike’s Peak (but probably with a lot more fussing, whining, crying and arguing).

These kids aren’t faking: writing is genuinely difficult for them. (Especially when they’re young, and especially for boys.)

Your challenge as a teacher, a parent, and an academic coach is to keep their disdain for handwriting from turning into a hatred of school, which happens all too often because the thing they hate most (handwriting) permeates every subject.

Thankfully, most writing haters get over it–without intervention–by 4th or 5th grade.

But until then, these tips will help you — and your child — cope.

9 Tips: How to Homeschool a Kid who Hates to Write

1. As far as you can, eliminate the writing in every subject but writing. 

The goal is simply to master the material.

2. Do the work out loud.

Instead of written worksheets, try oral drills for math facts, phonics, translations, fill-in-the-blanks, paragraph summaries, etc. Or, do the worksheet but do it out loud.

3. Use stickers.

If your child is completing a worksheet, try writing the answers on small stickers in advance. Your student can then place the correct sticker in the appropriate spot for his answer. (This has the advantage of feeling like a game.)

4. Make it a matching game.

With a little advance work on your part, your child can match up Spanish nouns with their meanings, coins with their names, states with their capitals, dates with historical facts, and anything else you can think of.

5. Play “secretary” for your student.

They dictate, you record. This lets your creative child get their stories, summaries, or science observations out of their head and onto paper.

6. Get creative with spelling word practice.

To practice “writing” spelling words, let your child “spell” the words with his finger in a shallow container of rice, sand, beans, or water. No paper or pencil required.

7. Consider starting typing early.

We started our pencil-hating kids on a typing program at age seven (at their request!), but kids as young as five can begin typing lessons.

8. When your kid must write, equip them with coping strategies to help them handle it better, or let them find their own.

My writing-haters self-soothed by swinging, spinning and sprinting down the driveway, preferably before and after handwriting time.

9. Make the writing easier:

• Switch to markers or smoothly gliding pens.
• Ditch the paper for a dry erase board.

These tips and tricks require a little extra work on your part to implement.

But if your writing hater still loves school (well, except for handwriting class) I hope you’ll agree with me: it’s worth it.

Do you have (or have you had) a student who hates to write? We need your tips, tricks and coping strategies!

Are homeschooled kids weird?
~ Written by Sarah Small

Admit it. Somewhere deep in your heart, you’ve wondered, especially if you’ve ever heard someone say, “I know a homeschooling family at my church. Those kids are weird!”

Prefer to listen instead? Look for Episode 86 of the podcast!

Haven’t we all asked ourselves: Are homeschooled kids weird? Will my kids be weird?

Weird. Normal. We all have our own definitions. You might say, “I don’t want my kids to be ‘normal’ by today’s standards!” And you might also say, “I don’t want my kid to be labeled as a weirdo!”

But here’s the thing:

All kids are weird.

That’s normal. I mean, when I was a kid—in the privacy of my own home—I stuck black olives on all my fingers and ate them off, one by one. That’s weird, right? Of course I didn’t eat black olives at public school, but if I had, I would not have eaten them off my fingers one by one.

I would have known that was weird because some kid would have announced to the entire cafeteria: “THAT GIRL IS EATING OLIVES OFF HER FINGERS LIKE A WEIRDO!” Even those kids that had a secret desire to emulate me would have shriveled and mocked me. I would have been forever known as Olive Girl.

Here’s what’s different about homeschoolers. At my homeschooling co-op, if one kid were eating black olives off his fingers, I can guarantee that the rest of them would be doing it within seconds. Because weird is good. Weird is normal.

I eat black olives like a “normal” person now, although my husband would argue that no “normal” person even eats olives. But you know what? Without any coaching from me, I swear, my youngest son does this.

Because 99.9% of kids (totally made-up statistic) are innately weird, creative, silly, funny, uninhibited, and terribly clever—if they are allowed to be.

I remember distinctly a day when my firstborn son was in kindergarten in public school. He wanted to wear his kilt and sheepskin vest to school. “Sweetie, you can’t wear a kilt to school,” I told him. I hated to tell him why, but I had to.

“You can only wear your kilt at home. Kids don’t wear kilts to school.”

I squashed his weirdness. I had to, for his sake.

Fast forward several years, when this same kid was 13 and had been homeschooled since we pulled him out of public school after first grade. One day we found, stuffed in the back of a closet, a llama-hair poncho that my husband once brought back from South America.

My son was ecstatic! For months he wore that poncho everywhere, including our homeschooling co-op. He also wore John Lennon-type sunglasses and t-shirts with ties.

And yep, I’m sure the kids thought he was weird. But they didn’t care because they were weird, too.

My son has graduated college now. I asked him recently what some of the best aspects about homeschooling were. One of the things he said was this:

“I had the chance to be a quirky, weird, and creative kid without intense ridicule. I was then able to develop that all into socially acceptable quirkiness as a college student.”

“Socially acceptable quirkiness” usually translates to “outside-the-box” thinking. What is one of the top qualities that employers in most fields look for in employees? Innovation and creativity—outside-the-box thinkers.

Childhood weirdos.

Homeschooling allows kids to be weird when it’s okay to be weird.

As your kids get older, chances are they will learn to corral their quirks and develop into creative young adults who refuse to accept mediocrity and challenge the status quo.

I think we need more weirdos in our world.

So ‘fess up. Have you ever wondered it, too: Are homeschooled kids weird? Do you harbor a secret fear that people will think your kids are weird?

* Read more of Sarah’s homeschooling tips and stories from over the years

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Simple Homeschooling 101: What to Teach and When to Teach It ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool

More than once during my 15 years of homeschooling, I wished I could find a resource that would simply list the basic subjects we needed to cover as well as give me ideas for how and when to prioritize them.

I found plenty of conflicting and over-complicated descriptions, but here, in the name of “Simple” Homeschool and as a veteran/retired homeschooler, I have created for all of you what I once wanted and needed.

Prefer to listen instead? Look for episode 62 of the SH podcast!

To begin Simple Homeschooling 101, here is a list of the four basic subjects:

• Language Arts: Includes reading, writing (handwriting/spelling/grammar/composition), and literature
• Math
• Science
• History

Then depending on your child’s age/grade, you might add in things like:

• PE/Health, Foreign Language, and electives, centered around your kids’ interests, future goals, and your family’s priorities

Below, I’ll share how our family covered these subjects in an outside-the-box way through the years.

Remember: Personalization is the goal, and your homeschool doesn’t have to look like “school” to inspire real learning.

This is not at all a “Homeschooling 101” formula to follow, as you don’t need that! There are a million ways to run a “successful” homeschool, and zero ways to run a perfect one.

Don’t seek to follow my plan or anyone else’s – adapt everything (yes, even that official looking curriculum!) to suit your family’s needs.

I originally divided this article into the traditional categories of elementary, middle, and high school, only to realize that most of my recommendations for middle and high were the same, so I’ve switched to two categories instead: one covering ages 5-12, and one for teens.

Simple Homeschooling 101: What to Teach and When to Teach It (Updated!)

Early Schooling (ages 5-12)

Our family’s main goal during this time was to have our children make tiny, incremental progress in core subjects, while maintaining their love of learning. The traditional system tends to overemphasize a child’s progress while often doing away with the love.

A child’s brain is wired to learn best through play during this time, so keep that in mind as you think about the subjects that you hope to cover. This is especially true for ages 5-9, with slowly increasing maturity as they hit double digits.

Learning to Read – We only did this officially when we felt like each child was interested and ready, and not all children need formal reading instruction – some teach themselves!

If you do need or want to introduce this, I would recommend All About Reading, Reading Eggs, or simply a BrainQuest workbook (afflinks), and start out small – five minute lessons with lots of praise (and/or bribery) as needed.

Learning to Write – When you feel they’re ready, teach your child to form capital and lowercase letters (any basic workbook can help with this, or you may not even need one).

Once they have mastered them, begin doing copywork – copying a few words or a sentence each day. Use their name, inspiring quotes, or passages from their favorite book!

This sets the foundation for spelling and grammar later on.

If you want to add in formal spelling, I recommend All About Spelling – but remember those super-short, high-motivation lessons are key! 5-15 minutes is plenty, and only as a formal practice after your child has a beginner’s grasp on reading.

For grammar, we used Mad Libs, not diving into anything more formal until the tween/teen years.

Literature – We read, read, and read aloud some more during this range, enjoying the natural conversations that would arise through that time together, not trying to force “narration” or anything too schooly. Substitute audiobooks if reading aloud isn’t enjoyable for you.

What should you read? Use a guide to help you discover classics, like my own book (for a global lens) Give Your Child the World, Honey for A Child’s Heart, or The Read-Aloud Family, as well as adding in books that interest you and yours!

We also used audio stories from Sparkle Stories a lot at this age as a “slow media” alternative to excess screentime – they gave us a break and occupied many car rides, too!

Math – We read math books in the early years and enjoyed Bedtime Math, mixed with a little gameschooling for good measure. Later we introduced an online curriculum when it seemed like the kids were ready for more, allowing them to dip in and out as they wanted.

Science – We enjoyed informal nature study, read-alouds, and an outdoor wilderness program for science, not doing any formal curriculum until the teen years, but just what interested each child when it came to this subject. (Long-time readers will remember my son’s intense meteorology phase.)

History – Likewise we covered this mainly through read-alouds and videos during this age range, and it worked so well that my kids fell in love with history and wanted to study it more deeply as teens.

If you want to take it further, begin a history timeline. And if you feel memory work is important in this subject or any other, look for play-based resources (songs, etc) to help you accomplish that.

Interests – Everything Else! This is where we dove into my own interests, family priorities like Bible, and the interests of the children. This is what we emphasized the most during this age range.

Teen Schooling (ages 13+)

Don’t be afraid of homeschooling middle or high school! Generally speaking, 120 hours spent on a subject (including a student’s personal reading, documentaries, online courses, and formal work) or 75% of a textbook completed equals one credit.

Once you get familiar with the process, it’s not scary, and sites like FastTranscripts.com make it a breeze to quantify your teen’s learning in a way that colleges can understand.

Our family’s homeschooling goal during the teen years has always been to meet the minimum requirements for graduation, and then allow tons of extra time to pursue areas of interest and passion!

Language Arts – Here are some of the resources that worked well for us, which we adapted to each child’s interest level and ability:

• Sonlight (literature/history/Bible)
• TJEd High (online mentoring in literature and leadership)
• Wordsmith Craftsman (after searching for AGES, this thin guide contains everything your high schooler needs in order to write well!)
• All About Spelling – We only taught spelling after age 10+, when I could tell whether or not my children were natural spellers. At older ages they progressed quickly and were motivated, too.
• Grammar: Both Fix It Grammar and Life of Fred Language Arts worked well for us!

Math – Using online resources for math allowed me to outsource this subject, which I loved! We mainly used Teaching Textbooks as a key component in our homeschooling 101.

Science – We tried a variety of higher level science options, but the best fit for us ended up being the courses from All in One High School. (Bonus: They’re FREE!!!) We loved it because it was self-sufficient for my child to complete on his own, and was just right for a student who needs a solid overview of the subject but isn’t planning to go into a science-related field.

If your student might want to explore a STEM-related field in their future, the online classes from My Fun Science are highly reputable and recommended!

PE/Health – Our outdoor wilderness school, C25K and Calm apps, and a basic health textbook

Foreign Language – A combination of Duolingo, All in One Spanish, and private tutoring worked perfectly for us!

History – Sonlight, lots of reading (both fiction and non-fiction), Big Fat Notebooks, and the occasional workbook

Current Events – Watching and discussing CNN10 and The World from A to Z led to incredible discussions over the years (sometimes we still watch and discuss these together!)

Electives: This is where teens can focus on areas of interest – it’s where homeschoolers can thrive in ways that teens in traditional school just don’t have the hours for!

Also use electives to focus on your family priorities, like Bible Study, Life Skills, etc. Some of the specialized courses we created for my high schoolers included Drawing, Music Theory, Film Studies, Animation, Lighting Design Technology, and more.

We have seen this interest-led approach go on to serve the children well as they continue to slowly enter their post-homeschooling phase of life. When Jonathan applied to colleges for Lighting Design, he was told that his current level of skill was already similar to that of a college graduate in the field, so they weren’t sure he would “fit in.”

He appreciated their candor and opted out! (Though he did get in to both places he applied.)

Instead of college, he ended up getting hired by a variety of A-list celebrities within a year of high school graduation, and is currently touring worldwide with various artists.

This was never our intention, plan, or goal when we let him pursue his interest through high school, but it is remarkable to see that what one does for love and interest can go on to translate into a satisfying work life!

I hope this list has served as a helpful Simple Homeschooling 101 for you – simplifying your thinking about what to teach and when to teach it!

When we lean into the freedom and flexibility homeschooling has to offer, we can craft a beautiful and highly individualized education that suits each child best, and sets them up well for wherever life may take them.

* Read more of Jamie’s popular posts on Simple Homeschool here.

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

This post contains affiliate links, which means my family receives a commission off certain links.

Stepping Outside the Grade-Level Box ~
Written by Sarah Small of Small World

Ask a homeschooled kid the innocuous “What grade are you in?” and you’ll often get a furrowed brow and an answer with a question mark at the end.

“Fourth?”

This response can be alarming to grandparents, non-homeschooling friends, and the cashier at Walmart. Their raised eyebrows ask, “He doesn’t know what grade he’s in?”

Well, no. Not exactly.

That hallmark of traditional schooling—the passing from grade to grade—isn’t of utmost importance in homeschooling. The age/grade correlation just isn’t necessarily present.

If your nine-year-old is reading at a post-college level, does that make him 23? Who decided, after all, that picture books are for preK-3^rd grade, that pre-algebra is done in middle school, and that high school takes four years?

Who came up with all this stuff? I don’t know the answer to that.

What I do know is that homeschooling allows us to provide learning opportunities for our children at their own pace.

Stepping Outside the Grade-Level Box

This might mean that:

• your nine-year-old is reading at a 10^th-grade level but has the fine motor skills of a kindergartener;
• or your 13-year-old daughter writes astounding stories but still doesn’t know all her multiplication facts;
• or your son finished high school at 16, but your daughter plans to take a leisurely five years and graduate at 19.

This can be tough for those of us who went through the traditional education system. By nature most homeschooling parents are outside-the-box thinkers, but we still tend to second-guess our choices every now and then, as if some public school administrator is peering over our shoulders and wagging his finger at us.

I balk when I hear parents ask “Where can I find out where my child should be for his grade level?”

The beauty of homeschooling is that it just doesn’t matter. Our kids don’t have to be boxed into a grade.

I remember a story my brother told me once about his daughter, then in first grade in public school. The teacher called him and his wife in for a conference. “I need you to stop teaching her things at home,” she said to them. “She is reading too far ahead and doing math that we don’t learn until the third grade.”

My brother and his wife explained that they weren’t teaching her at home, but that they weren’t going to stop her from figuring things out on her own.

Last year I made the decision to skip over the next math textbook for my son. I compared the two consecutive years and realized that few new concepts were introduced in the 4^th grade book. The question for this particular child became: Why spend an entire year doing the same old thing?

We moved into and through the 5^th grade book easily, and then I looked at the 6^th grade book and saw a whole year of the same old thing, again. But skipping another book would mean going into pre-algebra.

Somehow I couldn’t wrap my brain around my 10-year-old doing pre-algebra already, especially since my 13-year-old just finished the curriculum. But, well, he can. “Move him up,” my husband said simply and sensibly.

My youngest guy likes math. He’s excited about it, figures it out quickly, and is thrilled to be moving on to pre-algebra. On the other hand, he still reverses the letters “b” and “d” every now and then, and he’s never written more than a paragraph on his own.

Is he in seventh grade or second grade? Does it matter?!

Grade levels are necessary for the structure of traditional school, certainly, and they are generally necessary for things like clubs, sports, camps, and church activities.

I think we should all teach our kids a basic grade-level answer (i.e., “I’m in fourth grade”), without feeling the need to explain to the general public that she’s doing 7^th grade math, 5^th grade science, and reading at a 9^th grade level.

But in our own homes, shedding our mental checklist of “what your child should know in each grade” can be liberating—and tremendously beneficial to our kids.

Homeschooling is all about finding the heartbeat of your family and following that pace—not your neighbor’s, not your best homeschooling buddy’s, and not the grade level expectations for your child’s age.

* Bio: With a master’s degree in English/creative writing, Sarah shared her beautiful words on Simple Homeschool for 4 years. Read more of her inspirational words here!

What’s your philosophy on grades? What do your kids say when asked what grades they are in?

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Homeschooling in Survival Mode ~
Written by Kari Patterson

My dad passed away three weeks ago. I wrote about him in my day-in-the-life post, how we live next door and the little boys run over every day. We helped care for him these last two years after my mom passed away.

She had Parkinson’s; he had leukemia. It’s been an intense few years.

We miss him daily and life isn’t the same without him. But I’m also finding that I’m finally coming up for air in terms of my schedule, that life has a little more space now.

I’m very aware that we were Homeschooling in Survival Mode most of this winter.

A dear homeschooling friend just went through a crisis due to her husband’s addiction. He was in rehab for 30 days, while she was on her own with four kids — two homeschooling, one toddling around getting into everything, and one six months along in her womb.

Pregnancy exhaustion + nursing + a toddler + single-parenting + homeschooling = Survival Mode

She texted our group thread asking for advice, and the flood of helpful responses inspired me in my own Survival Mode status. These caring and wise women rallied to encourage and support her.

So if you find yourself barely army-crawling through the days, wondering how on earth to homeschool through the craziness of Survival Mode, here are a few thoughts from my tribe:

5 Tips for Homeschooling in Survival Mode

1. Build stability as much as possible.

When things feel chaotic, it’s hard to learn. When we’re afraid or stressed, our capacity for comprehending new concepts or tackling coursework is extremely limited.

So I tried to keep as many regular routines as possible. Some were impossible — my little boys could no longer do their daily trips to Papa’s. I had to be away a lot caring for him, and I couldn’t take them with me.

It was hard. But we kept our consistent bedtime routine, we kept our read aloud time, we did our fun little letter worksheets, we continued all of our normal outside-home activities.

I chose to not feel guilty for leaving Dad in others’ care sometimes because it was important to keep a sense of stability and normalcy even in the midst of chaos.

2. Prioritize, and keep the must-do list short.

This is probably obvious, but some subjects can clearly wait. Do you HAVE to finish that unit on the life-cycle of frogs? I remember a seasoned homeschool mama of 9 children saying, “Just keep up on math. You can easily catch up on everything else, just keep up on math.”

And in my dozen years of homeschooling, I’ve also found that’s true. In really crazy seasons, we’ve made math and reading the only must-dos.

Tadpoles can wait.

Now, full disclosure: Sometimes the subjects that suffer are important ones. Our oldest (17) was definitely the hardest hit by this season, and he got so far behind in Pre-Calculus and Spanish he was overwhelmed and depressed and we realized there was no way he could catch up. We made the difficult decision to let him drop those two classes.

He’ll have to retake them next year, but he’s SO much happier and relieved to not feel like he’s hopelessly drowning in coursework. It is painful to feel like you’ve failed, for sure, but I’m grateful we were able to walk through this experience with him, and he gained some priceless lessons.

In the end, those lessons may be more valuable than Pre-Calc anyway.

3. Allow others to help.

Sometimes all it takes is a season of struggle for you to really find your people. I have found that in my times of weakness I’m amazed at how willing other moms are to step up and step in to help me.

But we have to let them. The day that my dad died another homeschool mama offered to take my boys to an Easter Egg hunt. It felt weird to send them off, oblivious to my sorrow, to run around and collect candy.

But I had to attend to details and they had to be gone, and I was grateful for the support, and by the time they were back around I was ready to navigate the grief with them. There are countless ways that other homeschool moms helped me through this season. But we have to let them.

4. Let the kids help.

Kids can feel powerless when life is crazy and there’s nothing they can do. Intentionally enlisting their help, in ways that are appropriate, will increase their stability and security like nothing else. 

Our teenagers helped significantly during both my parents’ final months and weeks. At 17 Dutch has now been a pallbearer twice. Heidi daily cared for two grandparents as they neared death. These are heavy things, but also good.

I was so proud of them, and I could tell that they felt good about being able to serve and make a significant contribution during a time of need. They both also spoke at Dad’s memorial, a learning and growth experience to be sure! The littles couldn’t be involved in that way, but they could “help Mommy”  with chores because Mommy was helping Papa.

5. Hold them, love them, keep them close.

While we certainly need to allow others to help, I also knew that more than ever my kids needed my nearness. There were times I could have easily given over the job of driving someone here, or being at a certain event, etc. but as much as possible, I tried to stay as close as possible.

As you know, most of the priceless, precious conversations we have with our children happen when we least expect it. We can’t schedule “Deep Conversation about Death & Eternity” into iCal. We just have to be there.

And if we stay close, as much as possible, we’ll get to be part of the most valuable part of their education: The growth that happens as they learn through daily life. I don’t want to miss that.

So dear friends, if you are homeschooling in survival mode, hang in there!

Know that you have a community right here who can rally around you as well. Drop us a line if you have questions, or just want to share what you’re going through.

We’d love to encourage you if we can.

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Over the years, ‘are we doing enough?!‘ questions have plagued my mind, especially during challenging seasons. We might not have been able to cover what we wanted. Perhaps we had grand plans of visiting places that we didn’t.

Or maybe the read aloud books we’d purchased are still sitting untouched on a shelf. Sometimes I’ve had kiddos who are resistant to reading and writing. And my mind wonders, ‘Have we done enough?’

During these times, I’ve found that I have become more open to the fact that learning continues to happen every day. We favor peace and ease over stress and a monotonous routine. 

And in doing so, I’ve found that my kiddos are not only more motivated to learn, but that their depth of engagement is deeper and more authentic too.

My job has evolved into playing what I call ‘learning facilitator and detective’. I observe what they are interested in, give suggestions and choices and then see the educational value in what my children are learning. 

Let me give you couple of examples.

Stealth Homeschooling 101

One of my sons is dyslexic and autistic. He finds engaging with written materials quite challenging at times. He absolutely LOVES his new 3D printer though.

We chatted about what he was making. I asked him how he would remember the projects he has worked on – what worked and what didn’t. He said he wasn’t really sure so I suggested he start keeping a diary about his projects.

He loved this idea! I took him to the shops and he chose his journal. He wanted one without lines so that it had a lot of room to sketch his designs.

We got out the camera printer and he printed photos of some of his projects and stuck them in his journal too. He has been working away at this journal (without a fight or tears from either of us!) because he loves his 3D printer!

Observation, choice, and facilitation are all parts of my role as learning detective in stealth homeschooling!

The observation was made by me that he was loving his 3D printer. I also observed that he didn’t like writing. Giving him a choice over which type of journal to buy felt empowering to him. My role as facilitator was to take him to the shops and buy the journal. 

Now, because he is 12, he’s not always going to remember to write in it regularly. So again, I observe if that’s happening.

I might suggest we add it in when we do our next Planning Monday Morning session. I might even give the choice to him like, “How many entries would you like to do this week – 3 or 5? I might need to buy more photo printing sheets as facilitator.

Here’s another example:

My daughter isn’t a huge fan of science. But…she loves science kits! Both Mr 12 and Miss 14 choose which parts they’ll do. They then take turns completing various stages of the kit. They both listen as I read aloud science information from the booklet that comes in the kit.

Of course we do other science learning too, but this has been a great, fun and easy way to make sure we cover science outcomes (that would otherwise be tough and painful to do!)

Can you see it again – observation, choice and facilitation? I observed that she’s not a huge fan of science, but DOES love step by step work and enjoys the kits.

I facilitated by buying and ordering the kits and they made choices about which parts they’d do to complete the kit. 

We went on holiday recently. A beach holiday for rural-living kids presents lots of learning moments! I didn’t plan on doing any structured learning whilst away.

Instead, there was a lot of subtle, incidental learning. I sometimes use a free program to help me incorporate stealth homeschooling (great for those of us with brain fog!) I enter the activity and select the subjects I want it to cover and the program then shows me what we have learned.

Here’s how it works:

Activity: We went to the beach and swam in different types of water – a calm lagoon and the wild ocean. There was a red flag on one of the beaches so I encouraged my son to ask the lifeguard what the flag meant (red means the beach is closed!) He told us about rips and pointed out examples of those, of sand dunes and wind patterns. 

Learning:

• Enhanced communication skills through meaningful conversations with life guards about flags and safety measures at the beach and lagoon.
• Expanded vocabulary with terms related to beach safety such as rip currents, warning flags, and water conditions.
• Developed listening skills by actively engaging in discussions with life guards to gather information about different types of flags and their meanings.
• Improved comprehension skills by understanding the importance of adhering to flag warnings and following the instructions provided by life guards.

I hope you have gathered some clues to incorporate in your own homeschooling lives. Let’s use all the tools that are out there to make our jobs as learning detectives that little bit easier!

Enjoy your stealth homeschooling!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

I’m sure you’ve heard some of the popular homeschool myths. The truth is that homeschooling is never what we think it will be when we begin the journey. 

We learn together as a family about what we are passionate about, what is challenging, and how to help. We can make changes and do what works best for our own unique individual families. Everyone begins homeschooling with a picture in mind.

Homeschooling is messy, beautiful, and different from what we thought it would be when we began.

Maybe gameschooling isn’t something we ever thought we would be doing, but we love it.

Embracing these new learning methods has helped us to protect our most important goal: fostering connection.

8 Homeschool Myths That Make Me Smile

1. Homeschoolers Lack Socialization

Socialization is the biggest myth buzzword there is when it comes to homeschooling. Someone will always bring up socialization and fears about homeschooled kids lacking socialization skills and opportunities. Since we homeschool just one child, we have discovered that we do need to make some effort in the socialization department.

If you already participate in activities outside the home, there’s no need to worry about socialization at all. Some of our favorite ways to get out and socialize include participating in co-ops, library activities, online classes, homeschool days, scouts, and community sports.

2. Parents Aren’t Qualified Teachers

If you’re a homeschool parent, you’ve probably heard the myth that parents aren’t qualified to teach their kids. This myth inspires doubt and fear in parents beginning the homeschooling journey, but I just smile when I hear it now because it’s definitely been debunked. 

Parents are their children’s first teachers. We teach them from the time they are babies until they are school-age. We know them better than any other teacher ever could and we can tailor their homeschool education to align with their interests, needs, and unique learning style.  

3. Only Religious People Homeschool

Have you heard the myth that only religious people homeschool? The truth is that homeschoolers come from many different faith backgrounds. There are also many secular homeschooling families who aren’t religious at all.

4. Only Wealthy People Homeschool

Sometimes families think they can’t homeschool because it costs too much money, but that just isn’t true! Homeschooling on a budget is entirely possible.

Many homeschooling families operate on just one income and make sacrifices in order to homeschool. There are homeschooling families with two working parents and families with single parents that still homeschool. All kinds of families homeschool, not just the wealthy.

5. Large Families Homeschool

Another homeschooling myth is that all homeschool families are large families. I’m homeschooling an only child, so we definitely aren’t a large family. The truth is that homeschooling families come in all shapes and sizes. 

Some families homeschool some of their children while other children attend public or private schools. There’s no reason you can’t homeschool with just one child. If you’re new to homeschooling, get support and tips for homeschooling an only child to help you get started.

6. Homeschoolers Are Always At Home

Sometimes parents choose not to homeschool because they don’t want their kids to be stuck at home all the time.  One of our favorite things about being a homeschool family is the freedom it gives us to travel often. Field trips are the best!

We travel to state parks, museums, and all kinds of amazing places throughout the year. There’s no need to wait for a break from school to grab our suitcases and get on the road. 

7. You Can’t Homeschool High School

Many parents are concerned about creating transcripts, preparing for college, and even worried about their homeschoolers missing out on high school traditions (see the next myth). I want to encourage you because yes, you can homeschool high school.

8. Homeschoolers Miss Out

Finally, there’s a myth that homeschoolers miss out.  Homeschoolers do miss out on some things, but they usually aren’t the things we worry about. Homeschoolers don’t have to miss out on prom, field trips, book fairs, sports, arts, science fairs, or any of those traditional school experiences.

There are lots of opportunities for homeschoolers to experience these activities through local groups and online learning sites. 

Homeschooling Resources For You

I hope that debunking these myths encourage your homeschooling journey! If you’re new to homeschooling or  looking for more inspiration, check out some of my free resources for your homeschool this coming year:

• Guide to Homeschooling Without a Curriculum
• Guide to Using Unit Studies in Your Homeschool
• Guide to Using Games Your Homeschool
• Guide to Using Screens in Your Homeschool

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your type needs most!

SH #109: Reasons to Homeschool ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool and Introverted Moms

PLEASE NOTE: In this episode Jonathan and I chat about some sensitive topics, including our experience with school safety, that I don’t recommend for little ears.

Welcome to a new episode of the Simple Homeschool podcast as we continue a special series with my 18-year-old son Jonathan!

Jonathan was homeschooled from K-12th grade, and in this episode we talk about some of the most popular reasons families choose to homeschool, including our own family’s story and experience.

Reasons to Homeschool (There are a lot of them!)

In Episode 109, you’ll hear us discuss:

• Our personal story of what got our family into homeschooling
• Homeschooling for freedom and flexibility
• Homeschooling for emotional or physical safety
• Our experience living in Newtown, CT in Dec 2012 and its aftermath
• The worst reason to homeschool…or is it?

Click here to stream/download Episode 109! Find it wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribe so you’ll be notified when we release another in a couple of weeks.

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Thanks to our sponsors: Modify Homeschool App and Dyslexia Connect!
• Jamie’s Online Community/Book Club, Introverted Moms
• Episode 108, Thanks Homeschooling for All the Opportunities!
• 6 Homeschooling Misconceptions Erased by Laura Grace Weldon
• School Violence Led Us to Homeschooling
• Free-Range Learning by Laura Grace Weldon
• Newtown As I Know It
• Episode 100, The Worst Reason to Homeschool
• Sarah Mackenzie Is Awesome
• Follow Jonathan on Instagram to see who he’s working for next!
• Follow Jamie on Instagram and Facebook
• Take our new homeschooling quiz here!

Do you have a homeschooling question for Jonathan or me to answer in an upcoming episode? If so, leave it in a comment on this post or email it to me at jamie@simplehomeschool.net with the subject line “Podcast Question” and we’ll see what we can do!

* Listen to more episodes of the Simple Homeschool podcast here.

* Click here for the auto-generated transcript of this episode.

Are you a GOOD or BAD homeschool mom? Take Jamie’s NEW LOL QUIZ now to find out!

3 Questions to Incorporate into Your Homeschooling Day ~ 
Written by Lusi Austin from That Homeschool Life

It’s so easy to do everything for our kids, isn’t it? Let’s be honest. It’s often faster if we just do it ourselves. But I’ve found with my kids, that teaching them HOW to do something helps them to really master that task or skill.

I’ve also learned that getting them there can be a journey in and of itself. Encouraging our children to work out the steps by themselves is part of the lesson. And in order to get them to think about the steps involved, sometimes I need to be the asker-of-questions.

Here are three questions that I incorporate into our homeschooling day that have helped our children in their learning and in their leaning towards independence.

3 Questions to Ask in Your Homeschooling Day

1. How do YOU think it is spelled/solved/working etc?

“Mum! How do you spell the word ‘pumpkin?’”

I’ve been asked this kind of question often – especially in those formative years. I sense whether or not my child is capable of working this out. I never want them to feel like I wasn’t willing to help them but if they know how to do it themselves, I’ll encourage them to work it through.

Instead of telling them the answer, I’ll respond with ‘How do you think it is spelled?’

I then wait as they sound out the word and help as is needed. I am supporting them but they are actually doing the work themselves.

Another example of when I use this question would be in an instance like this: “Mum! How do I put this kit together?”

Instead of doing it for them, I’ll ask, “How do you think you can do it?” If they say, “I don’t know!” I might suggest something like, “Have you tried looking back at the instructions?” Or “which step are you getting stuck on?” I am there with them, supporting them.

I might suggest they search for a troubleshooting video on YouTube. I won’t fix it for them but I’ll be there to help when they need it.

Of course there are times where it is necessary for me to act quickly and fix something on the spot but as parents, we have to discern the difference and if they can do it themselves, then I will always encourage them to do so.

2. What could we do differently next time?

I will often ask this after an upset has occurred or something has been broken. First I’ll wait until people have calmed down. Then I’ll ask, “What could we do differently next time?” and then I’ll listen to the answers.

When said calmly, this question can be a great tool for helping our children to reflect on what occurred. It can also help them forward-think for the future.

3. How would you like to spend your time?

I ask this question A LOT in our home because I want my children to be independent thinkers who use their time well. I want them to unlock interests and pursue their passions. Years ago, I’d ask my kids what they’d like to learn. Sometimes, they couldn’t verbalise this.

Instead, I now ask my younger two, ‘how would you like to spend your time?’ If they still don’t know, I’ll help them break it down. I’ll ask, ‘What’s something you’d like to bake? Or make? Or a game you’d like to play?’

On days when we are all really quite exhausted, I’ll get the kids to fill out the little template I created with these questions on it (you can find it for free too HERE on my website) and then we have an instant plan for our day.

It works because the answers are their own and they are learning how they like to spend their time.

I hope incorporating these 3 questions from our homeschooling day can help you and your children reflect and encourage them to lean towards independence.

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

5 things I needed to hear as a new homeschooling mom ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool

“Okay, guys,” I said optimistically. “The letter P is for pig – let’s draw that now together. See Mommy’s P here on the paper? It goes straight down and around. And look? I can make that big curve into the pig’s snout, to remind us that P is the first sound in pig. Why don’t you try it?”

“No!” Child A shouted, sliding off their chair onto the floor and under the table. “I don’t want to write a P; I don’t want to draw a pig!”

Prefer to listen instead?

I cast a distressed glance at my teacher’s guide, but it said nothing about what to do in case of tantrums on the floor. Should I make this into a discipline moment, and kill Child A’s love of learning? Or should I call it the end of lessons for the day, and “give in” to this poor behavior?

Or should I chase the school bus down the street, force open the doors, and securely place my three kids aboard?!

We hadn’t even made it through kindergarten yet, and I was already failing. I just knew it.

Does this bring to mind any experiences you had as a new homeschooling mom, too? If you’ve been at this for any length of time, I bet it does.

Now that I have 13 years of homeschooling under my belt, there are so many things I wish I could go back and tell myself. And the crazy part?

It turns out that the five things I needed to hear as a new homeschooling mom then are the same ones I need to remind myself of on difficult days now.

That means that no matter how long you’ve been homeschooling, this is for you!

5 Things I Needed to Hear as a New Homeschooling Mom

1. “Yes, you can skip that part of the curriculum.”

It terrified me to think of skipping part of a lesson that had been laid out by “experts.” They knew what they were doing, after all, and I. DID. NOT.

I wish I would have remembered back to my own school days. We never finished a full textbook or workbook in a year, and the teacher always skipped around, making assignments based on her own plans and her students’ needs.

2. “A short lesson counts as a lesson.”

I could have avoided the whole “I don’t want to draw a pig!” moment by ending our lesson before we reached that point. Especially in the early years, even a five minute lesson is a huge accomplishment. You want to leave them wanting more, as opposed to having to beg them to stay.

But no matter what age your kids are, homeschooling differs from other types of education. Unlike in a classroom, relationship has to come first, not academics. From that foundation, you can build something beautiful – one five minute lesson at a time.

3. “There are a million ways to homeschool well, not just one.”

I spent the first few years we homeschooled looking for that magic button, the one that would guarantee that my kids wouldn’t fail, and that I wouldn’t fail my kids. I often felt conflicted and anxious in my search for the ideal homeschool philosophy or ideal curriculum.

It turns out, there isn’t one. The beauty of home education is our ability to tailor it to what each of our unique children need. Never place a higher priority on a philosophy or a curriculum than you do on your child.

4. “Redefine homeschool success.”

I’m not sure I ever would have articulated it, but on some level my idea of success was to prove to the skeptics that homeschooled children could outperform those educated in the system, excelling in a rigorous college prep scope and sequence that would wow neighbors and friends.

Yet raising and teaching children with developmental disabilities changed my definition of success.

This led to my new (and much healthier) definition, one that applies to every child:

Homeschool Success = Helping each child reach their full potential – mind, body, and spirit

5. “You may not see the harvest yet, but the seeds are growing.”

I tilled soil, planted seeds, and watered ground daily, but felt discouraged by a lack of fruit in my children’s progress. I wish I had had a more solid understanding of child development.

Sometimes the most exquisite fruit takes the longest to develop.

It’s not uncommon to wait nearly a decade to begin to gather a crop from new fruit trees. But once they start to produce, they do so forever! I’ve noticed the same over time, and the growth is extra sweet knowing how long we’ve worked and waited for it.

New homeschooling mom (or long-time veteran!), none of your efforts are wasted and none of them are in vain. You are slowly growing something beautiful, and you’re doing so much better than you think!

Your work matters, even when much of it is is unseen. Step back and remind yourself just how far you and your children have come.

There are a million ways to design a successful homeschool, and zero ways to design a perfect one – you’ve got this!

What did you need to hear as a new homeschooling mom? We’d love to know!

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!