When families begin homeschooling, it seems natural for moms to step in and do the bulk of the teaching, organizing, and planning. As the primary or sole wage earner for the family, dads are considered the principal of the homeschool. However, this situation also puts dads at a disadvantage. They come home at the end of the workday and don’t know what went on or how the children are performing in school.
I have three of them—each one with her own brand of anxiety. It’s an ever-present reality we’ve learned to live with in our homeschool. On good days, it’s pretty manageable: we acknowledge the fear, address it, and move on. On bad days, it’s crippling: there are tears, stomach aches, cancellations and despair.
Parents have been trying to bribe their kids to read more often for ages. Reading is often seen as a sign of intelligence, but more so, reading expands our horizons. In addition, we are told as parents that our kids should be reading a certain amount every day. And so the pressure is on to entice our kids to read or force them to read.
But we don’t merely want our kids to read, we want them to love reading. We want them to love reading like we love reading. So how do we share our passion for reading with them?
We read together as a family every night. Sometimes we get so caught up in making it through the book that we never pause to discuss what we're reading. I recently ran across this article about how adding 30 seconds to your bedtime reading can foster empathy, and I had to try it.
The next night while reading, the main character of our story had just secured his family in a cellar vault, and he was turning around for one last great stand against the impending enemies. I paused and looked up to see how long it would take my doodling listeners to realize that I wasn't continuing.
When I first started homeschooling, one of my greatest fears was that I would not know enough to adequately teach my kids up to and all the way through the high school years. It's a common fear.
The good news is that you have many years to prepare for upper level maths, and if you follow a path like Saxon lays out for you, you'll be ready.
Ask any veteran homeschool mom whose kids have already graduated from high school, and she will reassure you. She had the same fears you have now. She realizes now how pointless most of those fears were.
What a difference 10-15 years of hindsight makes! But you don't have to wait that long. Let's look right now at ten of the biggest and most common homeschool fears so you can face—and more importantly, conquer—them.
A large part of my job as a homeschool blogger and advocate is helping new homeschoolers get started. Newbies have so many questions and feel overwhelmed with information. How do you navigate through it all to find what will work best for your child?
I am no expert, but I have been homeschooling for more years than I can count on one hand now, and here is the best advice I can give to people who are just beginning their journey.
Plan less than you think you can do. It’s normal to want to do everything, everyday.
Are you thinking of taking the plunge into homeschooling your children?
But you’re worried, right? You might even feel overwhelmed.
What if you fail?
I’m here to tell you we’ve all had those thoughts and feelings, but guess what? Homeschooling is not going to chew you up and spit you out, and here’s why.
As homeschooling parents, our time is at a premium. Many of us are homeschooling several kids. In addition, we need to cook meals, grocery shop, clean the house, take kids to activities, and perhaps also work a part-time job.
Life is busy.
To carve out more time in their schedule, parents frequently ask these two questions about BookShark curriculum.
My daughter grabs her BookShark binder and the Science book she’s currently reading. I grab my Instructor’s Guide and tell her which pages and questions we’ll be doing. She flips to the pages we’ll be reading today; immediately her questions and comments begin flowing.
Beautifully illustrated or photographed, all of the books capture her attention. “Let’s read and find out more,” I say. She doesn’t hesitate and either hands the book my way or begins to read herself. We take turns reading to each other.
