by: Traci Turner

The 2020-2021 school year is half over, but schools all over the country are in various states of operation. Whether it be in-person school, organized distance learning, planned pod classes, or homeschool, parents have had to make some hard decisions-– some of which are not working out.

I have been homeschooling my son since kindergarten. It was not a religious decision or ego driven. I had met a few teachers in our district and was. . . uh. . . concerned about their abilities. Add in the fact that my child took after his father and started reading in preschool and we decided to try homeschooling. Thankfully, I knew several families who homeschooled and they gave me incredible information to get started.

While many may think of homeschooled kids as those strange families who never leave their house, the internet had made what is available absolutely amazing– and at times, overwhelming. Here are tips that I found helpful:

Enroll in an umbrella school
The umbrella school is who you report grades and attendance to and that will keep the state off your back (not that I know of anyone having an issue). You can also join co-ops, which are typically groups that meet once a week. A teacher gives the lesson and the kids do the work at home all week. Ours met over Zoom in the spring and it has been amazing since I can’t teach Spanish or science!

Find a curriculum
This may be trial and error, so don’t get frustrated! Choose something that appeals to you visually. If just looking at it overwhelms you or turns you off, you won’t want to use it. Different kids learn totally different, so don’t get frustrated if a highly-recommended curriculum doesn’t appeal to you or your child. The big companies often have fabulous catalogs or free online trials. Visit a homeschool store if you can and look around. Most likely, they have copies of the most popular curriculums and a used/consignment section where you get stuff cheaper. You can also get materials on eBay and Facebook homeschool groups, plus your local library. There are a wide variety of courses/books/websites and they are not all religious, and some are free. There are companies that do assessment tests, so you will know if you are on track. We have used an online class for math for years. We also did a Minecraft group history class that was fun (they learned about Vikings, then had to build a ship together in Minecraft). There is no shortage of resources!

Follow your gut
You are their parent and you will know what is best for your child. It can be easy to get overwhelmed with information and opinions, but I find we do best when I go with what I think will be best for us. You can always try one resource one year and they can change next year– or even midyear, if necessary. There are some good groups on Facebook to ask for pinions.

Know that you WILL have bad days
Some days are easy and some are not. You can’t throw in the towel over a bad day. You can just put the books away, turn on a movie and hang out as a family, or get out of the house and get fresh air. For some reason, different times of the year bring more difficult days– like heading into Christmas break or towards the end of winter. It’s normal for enthusiasm to ebb and flow.

Have fun
Go on field trips either alone or with local groups. Take a Sonic break for a smoothie. Go read at the park. Many people have asked me, “But what about socialization?” My son was in martial arts, Boy Scouts, music lessons, soccer, book club, plus participating in regular friend groups and a co-op. There are groups you can join, plus online courses where they work together (like the Minecraft mentioned above). We are becoming more of an “online socialization” world and it’s not like when we were kids– technology has created a new world and facilitated new ways of interacting.

Last, but not least, DO NOT PANIC! It seems overwhelming, but you CAN do it! It will be trial and error. I have switched curriculums in the middle of a year, quit a co-op after four classes, and left a group field trip without talking to anyone. Just like this mess of a year we are all going through, we try it one day at a time. But, at the end of the day, we truly love homeschooling– and even better, we still like each other.

Traci Turner is a mother and writer in Tennessee.

Main photo courtesy of: Olia Danilevich
Photo courtesy of: Andrea Piacquadio