How can we make our homeschool feel more creative?

A creative learning space is less about actual stuff and more about giving your children space to explore ideas in different ways.

Veteran teacher Eloise Salvatore suggests these strategies to inspire creative learning in your secular homeschool:

Make projects open-ended. Creativity blooms when kids get to make decisions about their own learning outcomes, so when you assign a project, encourage your child to determine the scope and rubric for her project herself. The rubric is especially important, says Salvatore, because giving students freedom to decide what makes a good project has a long-term creativity benefit that goes beyond any individual project.

Leave space for unstructured learning. If your schedule is too full of to-dos, kids don’t always have room to be creative. Try cutting one class or extracurricular each season and leaving a chunk of space completely open for kids to use however they want.

Find opportunities for group problem solving. Working with other people on a specific challenge can inspire all kinds of creativity. This is easier to pull off in a classroom full of kids, but homeschoolers can get a similar benefit by joining programs like Destination Imagination or Odyssey of the Mind, which are built around group problem solving.

Get out of the classroom. Salvatore says finding fieldwork opportunities for her students is always a challenge, but homeschoolers have the edge here. Look for internships, opportunities to lead classes or workshops in areas of interest, short-term volunteer projects or job opportunities, or other ways for your students to put their skills to work in the real world.

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Homeschooling through a Divorce

When your marriage ends, homeschooling probably isn’t the first thing on your mind — but navigating a divorce while homeschooling can bring up unexpected issues.

BY HEIDI KESSLER

DIVORCE ISN’T exactly uncommon these days — roughly half of all marriages end in divorce — but it still felt like a failure when my husband and I had to accept that our marriage was one of 50-percent that wouldn’t make it. There were obviously a lot of things to navigate in separating our lives from each other and figuring out the best way to parent our kids together even if we weren’t together, but homeschooling turned out to be a particularly tricky piece of the puzzle.

We’d been homeschooling for five years when our divorce was being finalized; Cady was in 6th grade, and Jon was a 4th grader. I’d gone to a homeschool conference with a curious friend when Cady was in 1st grade — I was supposed to just be there to keep her company, but I ended up totally inspired. I pulled Cady out of school a couple of weeks later, and we became a homeschool family. Soon, I had strong opinions about math curriculums, my educator’s discount at the bookstore, and a regular homeschool park day. I’d been planning to slowly switch back from part-time to full-time work when Jon started kindergarten the next year; instead, I cut my hours back even more.

My husband Dan was reluctantly on board with homeschooling. He worried a lot about the kids being “on grade level” and “learning how to cope in the real world,” but he saw their primary school education as mostly my business — if I wanted to homeschool them for their elementary years, he didn’t have a problem with that as long as I also signed them up for activities with other kids.

When we decided to get divorced, though, he made it clear that he didn’t want our kids to homeschool indefinitely. Some of his reasons seemed silly — he was worried about socialization, the way so many people who don’t actually homeschool are, and about the kids getting into college, which was still pretty far down the road. But some of his reasons were more valid: He wanted to be able to split time during the week, which was easier if the kids were enrolled in school, and financially, he didn’t want to pay for me to stay home so I could homeschool the kids. We had talked about 401(k) plans and summer vacations and even how we would change our wills, but neither of us thought about homeschooling until we were sitting down at the conference table with our lawyers. Every other part of our divorce had been fairly amicable, but we were deeply divided about homeschooling our kids. It became obvious that we weren’t going to agree.

I am lucky to have an ex-husband who cares passionately about being a good parent to our kids. I had to remind myself about this many times as we argued about whether I would get to continue homeschooling our kids. Apparently, Dan had never really been a fan of our homeschool life. He was worried that our kids weren’t learning the same things their public school peers were learning. He was worried that I wasn’t qualified to teach them what they needed to know. (That one hurt a little.) He was worried that if I was spending all day, every day with the kids, his relationship with them would suffer. (I put myself in his shoes for this one and could see his point.)

We hired a mediator to walk us through this decision. The mediator suggested that we give the kids a standardized test to see where they actually were academically. Neither of them had ever taken a standardized test before, so they were a little anxious about it, and the results didn’t seem to point in any clear direction. The kids were on level in some areas, a little ahead in others, a little behind in some. The kids liked homeschooling and said so, but when Dan talked about school clubs and sports, they were excited about those, too. Homeschooling felt like the clear Right Answer for me, but it was obviously not the clear right answer for our family. In the end we compromised. We agreed that we wouldn’t change anything about what we were doing academically until the end of the school year, so I’d keep homeschooling Cady and Jon — but the next year, Cady would go to our local middle school. Dan agreed to me homeschooling Jon until he finished fifth grade, and then he’d go to the local middle school, too. Jon would take a test every year to screen for major learning gaps, and if any appeared, we’d reevaluate our plan. Meanwhile, I would have a few years to figure out a plan for going back to work full-time. Dan was willing to keep paying the mortgage on our family home until Jon started middle school; after that, I’d need to go back to work to afford a place of my own.

I can’t lie: I was really disappointed. I’d imagined homeschooling all the way through high school. I loved it so much. But the kids were OK with the plan, and I had to remind myself that was the most important thing. Neither Dan nor I got exactly what we wanted, but we were able to work together to make a plan that we both felt OK about.

Divorce is hard. Our homeschool changed a lot because of it. But there are definitely a few things I wish I had known going into the process:

Get mental health support ASAP. Of course you want to make this transition as smooth as you can for your children, but don’t neglect yourself in the process. “Divorce can be an emotionally charged experience, even if you part on good terms, and parents need space to deal with the end of a relationship,” says counselor and mediator David Kuroda. If you ignore your own feelings, they’re likely to come out in ways that ultimately make a divorce harder for everyone. I couldn’t process everything with Dan, and I didn’t want to dump on the kids. My therapist was an essential outlet. I needed a place where I could be sad, irrational, and over the top, and therapy was that place for me.

Get on the same page. If one parent wants to homeschool but the other one has strong feelings about other education options, things can get complicated. “When we’re married, we work hard to minimize our differences — we’re more willing to negotiate and compromise on questions of family and child rearing,” says M. Gary Neuman, author of Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way. Ideally, kids will stick with the same academic routine they had pre-divorce, says Kuroda, so this isn’t a great time to make the transition back to school or to pull them out to start homeschooling. If homeschooling is a point of contention, it may help to bring in a mediator who can help you pin down objective metrics for your homeschool. I didn’t love the idea of annual testing, but it turned out to be a low-hassle way to get Dan’s support for homeschooling through elementary school. Ultimately, we both wanted our kids to have a good educational experience, so focusing on that helped us find a few compromises.

Keep kids out of the middle. This can be tough if you and your ex are disagreeing about details, but it’s important that your kids don’t feel like they have to choose sides. A parenting plan can really help with this, spelling out how your kids will spend time, what your financial obligations to each other are (including college), and establishing a new family routine. It can be especially hard on kids if one parent doesn’t follow through on planned time together or commitments, so make your own follow-through a priority and try to minimize the impact of let-downs if your partner is the one missing commitments. Dan and I disagreed about plenty of things, but when we talked to the kids, we made sure to present a united front. The last thing we wanted was for them to feel like they had to take sides. I wasn’t thrilled about making the kids take tests or sending them back to traditional middle school, but I made sure they knew it was our joint decision. Dan didn’t love the idea of homeschooling until middle school, but he never second-guessed it around the kids after we made the decision.

Take your time. Once you decide to get divorced, most people just want to get everything done as quickly as possible, but rushing the process means you’re more likely to make emotional decisions instead of logical ones, says Constance Ahrons, psychologist and author of the book We’re Still Family: What Grown Children Have to Say About Their Parents’ Divorce. Slow down, take a deep breath, and give yourself the space you need to educate yourself instead of rushing for the finish line. Once a divorce decision is finalized, it can be challenging (and sometimes expensive) to change it, so take the time to make a plan that you know you can live with. Dan and I took almost a year to work through all the details, but that plan has carried our kids into high school now, healthy and happy.

Heidi Kessler is a former homeschool mom. She lives in Florida with her kids and two cats.

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3 Real-Life Ways to Organize Your Homeschool

Whether you live to color-code or need a system that flexes and changes with your family’s needs, keeping good homeschool records is essential. And you can do it — all you need is a system that you’ll actually use.

Homeschooling ends up being as much a lifestyle choice as an educational one, and like any part of a busy life, homeschooling can feel like too much some days, too little other days, and a whole lot of stress in between. A schedule isn’t going to give you more hours in the week, but the right schedule can help you make peace with the hours that you have and feel good about how you’re spending them. These three secular homeschool organization methods are flexible, friendly, and — best of all — guaranteed guilt-free, even if you don’t follow them exactly.

THE WEEKLY MEETING

Works great for: Families whose schedules change from week to week

Lara and Ken Miller had the school routine down pat, but when they decided to homeschool their 12-year-old and 9-year-old sons, it felt like everything was constantly falling apart.

“Every time I’d feel like we were getting things under control, something would change — math would get more intensive, or we’d sign up for a nature center class, or one of my sons would get a part in a community theater show,” Lara says. “There was no normal, so however hard we tried to color code or share calendars or meal plan, stuff slipped through the cracks.”

After an extended soccer season made refrigerator scramble dinners and morning late-starts all-too-common, the Millers knew something had to give. So Lara and Ken decided to give up planning in favor of taking it one week at a time. Every Sunday night, they sit down together, and figure out the week ahead. Sometimes, everything falls into a neat rhythm, but usually, they’re coordinating drop-offs and pick-ups, grocery shopping and hands-on learning time.

“None of our weeks look the same, but they feel balanced because we take the time to sit down and figure them out,” Lara says. “Stuff pops up. Stuff always does. But this level of planning means that when something pops up, we can handle it without everything else falling into chaos.”

To make the weekly meeting work for your family:

• Keep a running to-do list so that all your need-tos, ought-tos, and want-tos are in one place. The key to this system is being able to accurately plot your week’s to-do list.

• Plug in downtime. “Early on, we crammed every minute full, but that’s no sustainable,” Lara says. “Now I build 30-minute windows on either side of all our activities — and Ken and I put a date night on the calendar every night, even if it’s just an hour to chill and watch The Good Place.”

• Keep a dry erase board for command central. The Millers in- clude what’s for dinner, classes and les- sons for each day, and extracurricular fun on theirs so that everyone knows what’s happening each day.

• Use common sense. You can’t always do everything, and instead of trying, a weekly meeting lets you set your priorities. It’s easier to say, “sorry, we’re going to miss park day this week,” if you can say, “but look, we’re going to see that awesome puppet show on Thursday, and we have a playdate with Ellie and Jen.”

THE PLAN-AS-YOU-GO SCHEDULE

Works great for: Families who have trouble sticking to a schedule

We’ve been homeschooling for more than a decade, and I think I’ve tried every organization method out there — for about three weeks. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how many pretty calendars I bought, no matter how good my intentions were, planning did not work for us.

I’d schedule a day for math and science and wake up with an itch to visit the beach. Or we’d schedule two hours for history and end up spending a week on a rabbit trail that we couldn’t resist. It took me a surprisingly long time to realize that I didn’t need a schedule to create balance and rhythm in our homeschool — I just needed a way to track what we did every day so that I could look back and see the overall balance and rhythm in our homeschool and so that I could make adjustments if I noticed a gap.

This system, which I brilliantly called plan-as-you-go homeschooling, has worked well for us because it acknowledges that we are not going to schedule our weeks or months in advance. We’re going to take each day as it comes, and having an organization system that embraces that has reduced my scheduling stress significantly.

To make the plan-as-you-go schedule work for your family:

• Be consistent with keeping records. Writing down what you did each day is the essential part of this method, but you really have to do it every single day. If you skip days or wait until the end of the month, you’ll forget things and lose that sense of scrupulous record-keeping. I jot down my notes every night before I pick up my bedtime book.

• Consider color-coding. I know it’s nerdy, but having a consistent color I use to make notes for each kid makes finding what I am looking for much easier.

• Review often. A key to feeling good about this method is going back to check for gaps: You may notice that you’ve been missing science for a couple of weeks or that you have been doing way more history than you thought. Reviewing helps you feel more confident that you’re keeping the right balance.

• Don’t get too fancy. The more complicated your system is, the harder it will be to maintain — and you already know you’re not a person who likes scheduling things! Cool fonts and fancy stickers can be fun, but don’t let them get between you and efficient record keeping.

LOOP SCHEDULING

Works great for: Families who have trouble getting to everything on their to-do list

When Emily Muller Rylands started homeschooling her 10-year-old daughter, she had great plans to cover everything from nature study and art to hands-on science and ancient history. But it turned out that real life kept getting in the way.

“I’d make schedules, and we’d get invited to a theater production or really get into a book we were reading or spend way more time on math than I’d planned,” says Emily.

Emily felt guilty, and her daughter Annabeth felt frustrated that they’d chosen all this exciting work that they never actually got around to doing.

Loop scheduling proved to be the answer. In loop scheduling, you don’t try to break out your to-do list into a daily plan. Instead, you make a master list of all the things you want to do, and you pay attention to where you leave off each day so that you can pick back up with the next thing on your list when you come back. Loop scheduling lets you move at your own pace, but it ensures that you don’t accidentally skip music appreciation for another year.

“We do a little math and reading together every day, so those don’t go in the schedule — and on super-busy weeks, that may be most of what we end up doing,” says Emily. “But when we start the day, I always know what we want to do next.”

Emily loops based on how much time she wants to spend on a subject, so art and science occur twice as often as handwriting and dictation. When they get to the end of the list, they start again back at the top.

“This doesn’t seem complicated, but it revolutionized our homeschooling,” says Emily. “Before, I always felt like we were behind and not getting enough done. Now, we have a plan.”

Tips for making loop scheduling work for your family:

• Use the categories that make sense for your homeschool. For some people, that might be as simple as “math,” but other people might want to schedule time for “Beast Academy” and “Singapore.” Your schedule can be as specific or relaxed as you want.

• Be creative. Emily uses loops to keep work from being routine — she and Annabeth include artist studies, painting, drawing, and mixed media on their loop so that they're experimenting with different art projects throughout the year.

• Keep a master schedule. Emily laminates hers and uses a dry erase marker to check off each item as they get to them. When they’ve worked through the whole list, she erases and starts over.

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Our Morning Routine

How you start your homeschool day sets the tone for everything else. There’s no one right morning homeschool routine — but there’s a right routine for your family.

It’s so exciting to be writing about homeschooling kindergarten through fifth grade for home/school/life. My 6-year-old son Malcolm and I have just started our homeschool journey together. I am drawn to Waldorf-style homeschooling, so we are doing lots of art and hands-on activities — and we have established a morning routine that has become our favorite part of the day.

Morning time is a Waldorf idea. I don’t use the Oak Meadow curriculum because I am not sure we are curriculum people, but a friend lent me The Heart of Learning, and I felt really drawn to the idea of the morning routine. We follow our own rhythms for waking up and making our morning meal and preparing for the day. Since we don’t need to be anywhere most days, we don’t bother with an alarm clock but follow the natural rhythm of our bodies instead. When we’re ready to move from waking-up time to learning time, we light a candle together to mark the transition and recite our morning verse together:

Good morning dear earth Good morning dear sun
Good morning dear flowers and fairies, every one
Good morning dear beasties and birds in the tree
Good morning to you
Good morning to me

We stretch down to the ground as we say good morning to the earth and up to the sky as we greet the sun so that we move our bodies to match the words of the rhyme.

We then collect a scoop of birdseed and walk outside to scatter it in our backyard. We check the thermometer and rain gauge on our back porch and observe the sky together. When Malcolm is older, he will write these observations down in our Weather Book, but for now, I am the record keeper. Back inside, Malcolm crayons a picture of the morning sky in the Weather Book, and we enjoy trying to find just the right shade of blue or gray together. Someday, I would like to collect a year’s worth of drawings into a Sky Book. I am learning, though, that I can’t think too much about the future during morning time because morning time is about being in the moment. Malcolm is good at this already, but I am still learning.

We choose a book from our reading basket together every Monday, and we read the same book together every morning that week. At first, the idea of reading a book over and over again seemed like it would be boring. I was afraid my active little boy would not have the patience to keep listening to the same story. We’ve discovered, though, that his attention span actually stretches the more times we read a story. By the end of the week, he is more transfixed and focused than he was the first time we read it.

“I am learning, though, that I can’t think too much about the future during morning time because morning time is about being in the moment. Malcolm is good at this already, but I am still learning.”

After our story, we sing together while we do handwork. Malcolm is finger-knitting, and helping him takes all my patience and concentration. If I try to do something else — sneak in some reading of my own or start lunch preparations or even just daydream about our afternoon plans — this part of the morning never goes well. I must be fully present. This routine is teaching me that I have not always been as present with my son as I believed myself to be. I am learning to be with him where he is, and I am humbled by how challenging it has been for me to do this. The songs we sing are simple songs about the seasons or the outdoor world—most of them are from Channa A. Seidenberg’s I Love to Be: Songs in the Mood of Fifth. I did not grow up with many little songs, and so I find this book a useful resource.

When we are ready to move on with the day, we return to our candle, which is still flickering merrily. We watch the little flame dance for a few minutes, and then, when he is ready, Malcolm leads us in our closing verse:

Round and round the earth is turning,
Turning always into morning,
And from morning into night.

He blows out the candle with a big burst of air and laughs as the orange flame turns into white smoke. Morning time is over, and we are ready for whatever adventures the day holds for us in our homeschool life.

Aminata is the author of HSL’s It’s Elementary column, focused on homeschooling the early years. This column was originally published in the fall 2018 issue of HSL.

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10 Family Habits that Foster Lifelong Readers

A love of reading comes naturally for some kids and not-so-naturally for others, but you can do a lot to make your home a space where reading is an important part of everyday life.

1. Curate Book Baskets and Shelves

Especially for younger kids and reluctant readers, walking into a library or confronting a full bookshelf can be intimidating. A sparse bedroom shelf lined with books whose covers face out can help a child locate a book for independent reading time that matches up with that week’s interests. Curated book baskets are wonderful for giving kids choices within limits that help reading seem friendlier.

A few book basket ideas: 

• Teething-friendly books for the youngest readers

• A selection of readers — any of which would work for your emergent or beginner reader’s current level

• Books about trucks, puppies, bugs, or ponies — whatever your child’s current interest

• A selection of books that fit bathroom reading criteria — books divided up into short selections that are funny or interesting (like comics)

• A basket of WWII historical fiction choices to complement WWII history study

2. Never Leave without a Book

Richard Larson, a professor who studies queueing theory at MIT, says that the average person spends a cumulative 1 to 2 years of life waiting in lines. Startling statistics aside, I think we can all agree that we spend lots of time waiting — waiting at the dentist, waiting for takeout food, waiting in the car for a train to pass. Sure, that time could be spent playing Candy Crush or scrolling through Facebook (or picking a fight with your sibling), but wouldn’t it be better spent reading? Make it a rule that everybody leaves the house with something to read. 

3. Celebrate with a Bookstore Visit

You may think I’m a monster, but I told my kids at the outset that there is no Tooth Fairy. Of course, they still want to cash in on their discarded teeth, though, so I like to offer them a trip to the used bookstore instead of money. While we’re there, I’ll offer to pay for a few 75 cent readers of their choosing. There are a million little things in life that we celebrate as families. It’s wonderful to attach some of those small celebrations to books.

4. Institute the Weekly Library Visit

Make Library Day a thing that happens every week on the same day. Not only will regularity make it a valuable part of the routine, but it will also help you stay out of trouble with overdue fines.

5. Subscribe to Magazines

We adults get inundated with mail, but getting mail is so special to kids. Tap into that feeling of specialness and create positive connotations with reading by getting a magazine subscription for each child. 

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  6. Make Readaloud Time Part of the Routine

Readaloud time is one those things that’s easy to let slip past, so we need to build it into our daily routines. At our house, we have two read-aloud times. We start the school day with historical fiction related to our unit of study and read fiction that’s more focused on entertainment value at bedtime.

7. Make Independent Reading Time Part of the Routine

We all want our kids to spend time reading, but sometimes we forget to make time for it to happen. Just like read-aloud time, we have to make independent reading time a family norm that has its own space set aside in the day. 

8. Listen to Audiobooks in the Car

I will admit that I resisted audiobooks for a long time. I didn’t have the right technology in my car, the library didn’t have the best selection, blah, blah, blah. I actually decided to suck it up and give audiobooks a try in the name of taming backseat squabbles. It worked to a degree I didn’t even imagine possible. Oh, and now we’re all digesting about two more quality books per month than we used to. Seriously, try audiobooks even if only for the peaceful car rides.

9. Read and Talk about Reading

This is directed toward the adults. If you want your kids to believe that reading is important and worthwhile, you have to model it. Make sure that kids have opportunities to see respected adults of both genders reading and valuing reading.

10. Geek Out as a Family about a Story

Later this summer, we’re (finally) visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Obviously, the day at the theme park will be magical in all senses of the word, but leading up to it, we are having so much fun immersing ourselves in the story together by reading the beautiful illustrated editions of the books, coloring Harry Potter coloring books, crafting wands out of mismatched chopsticks, watching the movies, and assembling Harry Potter jigsaw puzzles. Geeking out over a story as a family goes beyond just telling your kids that reading is important. It shows them that the world of the imagination is important, that reading is cool, that they can get lost in stories even when they grow up, too. 

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How to Get Excited about Homeschooling Again

When your homeschool starts to feel like more work than fun, it’s time to make a change.

When your homeschool mojo goes missing, the day-to-day work of homeschooling becomes a slog. And this doesn’t just happen to folks who use workbooks — homeschool slump can strike any kind of homeschooler. Sometimes, all you need to get that mojo back is a break — hello, summer! — but if you’re lounging by the pool in late July still feeling blah about next year’s homeschool, these strategies might be just what you need to get excited about homeschooling again.

Do more of what you like and less of what you don’t.

What if you only did the parts of your job you actually liked? This is the questions Marla Koutoujian, a career coach in New York City, who helps professions who feel stuck in a career rut, asks all her new clients, and she says homeschool moms should ask themselves the same thing.

Koutoujian says homeschoolers and corporate bosses often run into the same problem: The better you get at your job, the less you get to do the parts that you actually like. For business folks, this can be a harder problem to navigate, but homeschoolers have the freedom to recreate their homeschool from the ground up every day. Start by thinking about the things you really like — go back in time, too, and think about the moments in your homeschool that brought you the most joy. Those are the things that should be at the top of your to-do list every single day and the things that you should give the most time and energy to because those are the things that give back to you. 

This summer is the perfect time to do just that: Make your list, and figure out how to get more of what you love about homeschooling into every single day. Maybe this means you’ll sign up for more classes or that you’ll stop taking so many outside classes. Maybe it means you’ll toss the workbooks or that you’ll buy more workbooks, that you’ll get back to reading aloud every day or that you’ll play outside more. The key is to identify what brings you joy and to build your homeschool days around that joy list instead of a less-than-thrilling to-do list.

Find your social support network. 

“I could not homeschool if I didn’t have people to talk to about homeschooling,” says Debra,* a homeschool mom in Ontario. Debra relies on weekly park days with friends and an active online discussion group to keep her homeschool motivation going strong.

A strong support network can be the difference between a ho-hum homeschool and one that’s bursting with energy. “I am much more excited about homeschooling when I hear about other people’s great homeschool ideas and successes,” Debra says. “And talking about challenges sometimes reminds me of solutions I’ve found and forgotten about.”

If you’re not lucky enough to have a strong local homeschool community, keep looking: Homeschool networks tend to be small, grassroots organization that aren’t always easy to find and tap into. The more homeschool events and activities you visit, the more likely you are to find a group that’s the right fit for your family. And if you can’t find a local group, look online: There are tons of homeschool forums and support groups that exist in the virtual world. If your homeschool friends are far-flung, you might also consider starting an online or email group, where you can share your homeschool stories. If you do, Debra recommends establishing the same three rules that she says work well for her group: Limit griping, focus on problems as something to be solved, and share personal experiences (“This worked for me”) rather than giving direct advice (“You should do this.”).

Revamp your space. 

Sitting in the same chair and staring at the same walls for years can gradually erode your enthusiasm for anything you do in that space, says interior designer Laila Carsters, who specializes in office design. Start in the room where you spend most of your hands-on homeschooling time — maybe it’s a school room, but it might be your kitchen, living room, or even your back porch. Refresh the walls with a new paint color, hang a few new or moved-from- other-rooms pictures, rearrange the furniture, switch the blinds for sheer curtains to let in more light, introduce a few plants — you don’t have to spend a lot of money or be professionally trained to give your work space a facelift, says Carsters. If even a small redo isn’t an option right now, relocate. If you usually homeschool in the school room, start doing your readalouds in the living room or in the backyard.

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Homeschool Transitions: Making the Shift to Middle School

Making the transition from elementary to middle school can feel intimidating, but try to see it as a dress rehearsal: Here’s where you lay the groundwork for high school and your child’s learning future, whether that includes heading off to college, mastering a trade, or starting her own business. These are the years when you’ll try lots of different materials, projects, and methods—go in knowing that some of them won’t work. You will fail sometimes, and it will be okay. If there is one overriding message for your middle school years — for you and for your tween — it’s that messing up is just part of the process.

By middle school, your child probably has mastered his educational basics. He can read. He can add and subtract, multiply and divide. He knows some history and some science. He can write a paragraph on a given subject. If you look at lists of what a 6th grader or a 7th grader needs to know, you won’t find a lot of traditional skills listed. Instead, you’ll find an emphasis on analysis: The middle school years are when knowledge takes on meaning — messy, open-to-interpretation meaning — and encouraging your child to question, analyze, and critique the world around him is one of the most supportive things you can do as a homeschooling parent. Here’s what to consider as your child moves into middle school:

Look for outside classes.

The tween years are an optimal time for kids to test-drive different kinds of teaching styles and evaluation methods. Different teachers with different expectations give your child the opportunity to discover her strengths and weaknesses in a safe space — and that self-knowledge will play an important role in her future learning.

Don’t drop physical education.

Even more than little kids, tweens need active time. Between ages 9 and 16, kids develop their lifelong attitudes toward exercise: Kids who get regular exercise now are more likely to exercise as adults. Regular exercise also gives kids a healthy way to cope with the emotional overload of adolescence and can develop the parts of the brain that help them learn — and remember what they’ve learned — more effectively.

Hand over the reins.

If you haven’t already started giving your homeschooler decision-making power about what and how he studies, now’s the time. If you’re committed to covering certain subjects every year, stick with your plan — but let your tween weigh in on how you cover those subjects, and give him space to decide what outside classes or other interests he pursues. While you’re at it, hand your tween her own calendar, and let her start to handle scheduling her activities and keeping up with homework and deadlines. Let her practice keeping (and keeping up with) notes and materials for her classes. Yes, your child may muck up an assignment or miss a meeting, but she’ll be learning how to organize and manage her time while the stakes are still low.

 What should you study in middle school?

Be ready to nitpick everything because that’s where your tween’s academic inclinations will point him. Middle school is all about taking things apart and looking at them from different perspectives. Don’t be surprised if your child is quick to latch onto other perspectives, especially those of his friends. 

Language arts

Steer your student toward the nonfiction section of the library. Biographies make a great starting point—the Childhood of Famous Americans series or the DK Biography series include a wide range of historical figures. Encourage tweens to look beyond the story in fiction, considering topics like character, setting, plot, and theme.

Middle school writers should start to practice the art of revision. A good writing book, like The Elements of Style or How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One, can help this process, or consider a writing curriculum like Cover Story [Editor's Note: There are a few traces of religion in Cover Story, most notably in the section on conducting interviews, in which the example interview is one with a missionary in Sudan, and an occasional Bible verse as an example of sentence construction. Religious references aren't the only examples, and there's no proselytizing or anything like that, but you should be aware.] , which guides kids through several different types of non-fiction writing, or Moving Beyond the Page, which is a practical option for kids and parents who want step-by-step guidance.

Learning how to find, use, and correctly cite sources is important now, too. (The Purdue Online Writing Lab has a handy online guide to help cite sources—from personal interviews to webpages— correctly.) Research papers that combine original thinking and opinions with thoroughly researched information from a variety of sources are a key achievement of middle school language arts.

Math and science

Your tween will make the leap from memorizing facts to analyzing data during middle school. Expect him to get familiar with scientific notation, charts, and graphs, as well as tools like calculators, protractors, and compasses. In math, you’ll be moving beyond the basics into algebra and geometry, including solving lots of word problems, getting a grip on the concept of negative numbers, and figuring out fractions, decimals, and percentages. Often, this is when parents start to feel insecure about our ability to teach math—if you’d like a program that does the teaching for you, consider Teaching Textbooks, which delivers lessons via DVD, or an outside math class. (But keep in mind: a smart math curriculum can also give you back the math confidence your own middle and high school math classes may have taken away.)

In science class, break out the microscope and telescope to explore the micro- and macrocosm. Explore technology and how things work. Pandia Press R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Level 2 may be the best traditional middle school science curriculum out there, or take a literature-based approach with The Story of Science series. 

History and social studies

If you haven’t already made current events part of your routine, get plugged in now. CNN 10 (formerly CNN Student News) makes a good check-it-every-day resource for keeping up with world events, and you can find in-depth ideas for exploring current news topics via The New York Times Learning Network.

Your middle schooler is also ready to dig into meatier issues, including social justice, environmental ethics, historical conflicts, and more. Trying to see historical events from different perspectives is a mind-expanding experience.

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5 Questions that Will Help You Plan Your Homeschool Year

Planning your homeschool year is about more than just making a weekly checklist or figuring out what to use for science. If you want your homeschool to grow with you and take your kids where they want to go, keeping these questions in mind can help you stay on track.

When you plan your homeschool year, you probably spend a lot of time on the nuts-and-bolts: What math curriculum will you use? How will you organize your days? What kind of output and assessments do you want to rely on? These planning pieces can be helpful, but they’re only part of the story — and for most of us, they’ll end up being the least important part.

“If you’re homeschooling, it’s usually because of something bigger than just curriculum,” says Felicity Sterling, a homeschool consultant in Chicago. “Defining what that ‘bigger’ is may be the difference between a successful, happy homeschool experience and one that leaves you unsatisfied.” There’s no one right way to plot your homeschool’s bigger picture, but these questions can help you figure out what matters most to you in that bigger picture.

Where do you want to be a year from now?

It’s easy to get so focused on getting through the year that you forget to think about where you want to be when you declare the year officially over — but the whole point of the journey is to aim for somewhere you want to be. Think about what would make your homeschool feel successful and productive: It might be getting into a groove with your schedule, or checking off some academic milestones, or being part of an active homeschool community. Really think about what you’d like your homeschool to look like when next summer rolls around — what do you need to do to get there?

What’s working great?

A lot of people get excited about trying new things when they’re in the middle of homeschool planning, and new things are awesome! But planning season is also an excellent opportunity to pause and reflect on all the things that really worked for your homeschool. These are the things you want to hang onto — whether it’s a schedule that kept the days running smoothly, a learning style that always clicked, or even a kind of notebook that everybody loved. Don’t get so distracted in the pursuit of the Next Great Thing that you lose sight of the things that are already pretty good. You want to make sure that in your excitement about trying new things, you’re not sidelining tried-and-true homeschool joys.

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What are you doing because of other people?

It’s not that other people’s input is useless: If your mom thinks your 7-year-old needs more friends or another homeschool mom has had awesome success with the local forest school, that information may be useful for your homeschool — but it also may not. Part of successful homeschooling is being able to hear what other people have to say, take what works for you, and let go of the rest. Pay attention to how much of your plan is based on other people’s input — your sister-in- law’s concerns or that cool mom on Instagram’s plans — and be willing to adjust those plans first if things aren’t working. You know your kids best. You are their best advocate. Lots of people will have opinions, especially when they find out you are homeschooling. You just have to remember that you know your life better than they do.

What are you doing to build relationships?

Homeschooling can get complicated because you are both parent and teacher, but the beating heart of both of those roles is your relationship with your children. Yes, you have academic and social goals for your child, but make sure that you’re being intentional about building a relationship with her, too. Make room for the things you student loves, give her plenty of say in how her days are structured, and really listen when she gives you feedback on how things are going — especially if it’s not feedback you really want to hear. Bringing your kid into the planning process is one of the best ways to build a homeschool that works.

Where’s the fun?

What are you looking forward to? When you look at your plan, is there anything that makes you smile just thinking about it? If not, why not? One of the keys to successful homeschooling is enjoying what you do — if you’re slogging through a to-do list that nobody is excited about, you’re missing all the fun and possibility of homeschooling. There may be parts of your homeschool life that feel hard or challenging, but there should be at least an equal number of parts that feel fun and exciting. If there aren’t, it’s time to readjust your balance.

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The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Make a Homeschool Plan You’ll Actually Use

The best way to plan your homeschool year is the way that works best for your particular homeschool — and like all the rest of homeschooling, it may require some trial and error to find the right balance. That’s why our “perfect” planning method is adaptable as you need it to be: Use the skeleton to make a loose frame for the year, or go all out and plan every week in advance. It’s your homeschool. Make a plan that works for you.

Here’s a dirty little secret about homeschooling: You don’t have to plan out your year to have a great year. In fact, some people wing it completely, while others pick a few big areas to focus on and let their kids’ interests and development guide them through the year. Planning is not an essential part of homeschooling — so if you’re not a planner or the prospect of mapping out your year in advance causes you more stress than pleasure, you are allowed to skip it.

“Homeschooling doesn’t require the same advance planning that running a classroom full of kids does,” explains life coach and homeschool consultant Gillian O’Keefe. “That means you can do it because you want to do it — because it makes your life easier or planning is fun for you.”

Reframing the question from “how do I plan my year?” to “do I want to plan my year?” makes planning an opportunity instead of an obligation. As a long-time planning nerd who is famous for mapping out every class before the first day of school, I appreciate the appeal of a shiny new planner full of color-coded priority lists — but as a homeschool mom, I have found that a looser approach actually works better for the way we learn. Other moms I know skip the planning completely, and their homeschools stay busy and productive all year long. And yes, some moms do keep spreadsheets for every subject for every class.

In other words, the best way to plan your homeschool year is the way that works best for your particular homeschool — and like all the rest of homeschooling, it may require some trial and error to find the right balance. That’s why our “perfect” planning method is adaptable as you need it to be: Use the skeleton to make a loose frame for the year, or go all out and plan every week in advance. It’s your homeschool. Make a plan that works for you.

Set Your Priorities

What’s the big point of this homeschool year? If you had to set two major goals for each of your kids for the coming year, what would they be? 

Sometimes, there’s a clear academic mission: Get better at handwriting, learn to read, finish algebra, write a research paper. Other time, it may be something academic-adjacent: Find some social outlets, learn how to be more comfortable taking criticism, get better at focusing on work while it’s happening. Your goals may be even more removed from actual academics: Build confidence, get comfortable trying new things. Before you dive into the questions of history curricula and robotics classes, get a sense of the big picture: What is it that you really want your kids to accomplish this year?

“Homeschoolers can get so focused on the details that they miss the big picture,” explains O’Keefe. “Without goalposts, you don’t know which way to run or when you’re getting close to success — so you never know how well your homeschool is working.”

When we homeschool, we’re making an unconventional choice, and that means we often lack a clear framework for checking our progress: Those grade-by-grade standards list may not match up to what we’re doing in our homeschool — in fact, they may be very different from what we want to do in our homeschools. In that case, though, we’ve got to create our own goals and priorities. Two per student is a good place to start — you need more than one goal so that if you need a break, you can take one to focus on something else, but if you start piling on goals, you lose that clear view of the horizon that well-set priorities can give you.

You can stop there if you want to, but for many of us, it helps to break those big priorities down into bimonthly goals: Come up with six “checkpoint goals” for each of your priorities.

“Think of checkpoint goals as progress checks — if your big goal for third grade is to work on handwriting, what are some steps that get you closer to that goal?” O’Keefe asks.

She suggests mini goals, like writing a letter to a friend or relative, finishing a handwriting workbook, taking notes from a video, and making a grocery list. Checkpoint goals don’t have to be big goals — the key is to pick things that reflect progress for your particular child. And while it may seem like these goals should spread evenly over the year, be aware that they often cluster.

“You may not make any visible progress for a couple of months, and then see several checkpoint goals happen in the same week,” says O’Keefe.

Buy Supplies

When it comes to choosing curriculum, you have to know both what you need and what you’ll actually use each year.

“Before you buy anything, take an honest inventory of your homeschool,” says life coach Colleen Bhasker, who specializes in helping homeschool families. “Be ruthless: Write down all the things that worked great in one column, all the things that worked fine in one column, and all the things that didn’t work in another column. Make a fourth column for things you don’t have but know you need.”

Before you replace something that isn’t working, take some time to figure out why it didn’t work: Were there too many practice problems? Did your kids want more human interaction? Did they tune out during videos? Get feedback from your kids, too: A good question is “what did you like about this program?” which often elicits more useful responses than “what didn’t you like?” (Consider recouping some of the cost by re-selling your used curriculum — one family’s miss is often another’s solid gold hit.)

It’s worth rooting around in your computer downloads (try searching different key terms) and through your bookshelves to make sure you haven’t already bought something for a subject you need to cover this year. Lots of us download stuff willy-nilly only to rediscover it a few years later, after we would have used it, so don’t skip this piece of planning. 

If you know what you need, you can start comparison shopping — many homeschool curriculum companies have their biggest sales around Memorial Day and in the early fall, so sign up for mailing lists to get information about discounts and coupon codes. If you need something but haven’t yet figured out what will fulfill that need, set a hard time limit for researching options. With so many choices, you could research curriculum forever, so you want to push yourself to take the next step.

Use your other lists to guide your purchases: If something’s on your worked-great column, it’s usually because the style as well as the content is a good fit for your family, so pay attention to patterns: Maybe your family does well with short, daily lessons or lots of project-based assignments. When you buy new curriculum materials, look for lessons that incorporate the things you already know work well for your family. Similarly, you can learn a lot from curriculum that works fine, even if it’s not life-shakingly inspiring. 

“Everything isn’t going to end up being a magic moment,” Bhasker says. “If something is working just fine, it’s probably worth sticking with it.”

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Homeschool Planning Central

Everything you need to plan your best homeschool yet

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Fill Your Days

There are two methods for planning homeschool days, and each has its pros and cons: 

Plan your weeks in advance, or keep a record as you go. If you are a planner and finishing your curriculum is important to you, planning things out can be a more comfortable strategy. Start by figuring out how many weeks you want to “do school” this year — for most people, that ends up being somewhere between 28 and 36 weeks. If you’re not sure, block off holidays and vacation time on your calendar, then add two weeks off in the spring and fall to cover sick days, don’t-want-to days, and unexpected fun days that might pop up. Break down your curriculum into units for each week that remains: Depending on how your program is set up, you may do a lesson or more a week, a chapter a week, an experiment a week, etc. You’ll need to spend time with lesson layouts to make this work.

Once you’ve broken down the curriculum by week, all you have to do is pencil it into your calendar, one week at a time. Since you’re already doing the work, now is also a good time to make a list of supplies you’ll need each week: art materials, supplies for experiments, etc. You may also want to make a note of tests and evaluations so that you can schedule those in the best way for your student — you might not want your first class back after the winter holidays to be a big math unit exam, for example.

Keep in mind that your schedule is a guideline, not a law, and that it probably will change, says O’Keefe. “Public school teachers rarely make it through their full syllabus, and you probably won’t either,” O’Keefe says. Be prepared to make adjustments as you go: A Trello board or sticky notes make this a little easier to do, since you can move pieces around instead of erasing or copying and pasting every week.

My personal preferred method involves tracking what you do instead of planning what you will do, but this can feel like flying by the seat of your pants to some people. The method is simple: Instead of plotting out what you’ll do every week, you work through your materials at your own pace, keeping track of what you complete each week. This lets your homeschool develop organically — if you want to spend more time on quadratic equations, there’s no rush to move onto the next thing; if you’re done with bugs after two weeks, you can jump right into your weather unit. There’s no way to fall behind, but you do have to trust that you’ll get where you need to go. This method is more comfortable for experienced homeschoolers, says O’Keefe, because we’ve learned how to trust the process. 

If you’re intrigued by this method but not sure you’re ready, try keeping a list as an ancillary to your other planning. At the end of the year, how you feel looking over the list of things you accomplished in your homeschool will be a good indicator of whether this method is for you.

Be vigilant about keeping up with whatever method you choose so that you have a record of your year.

Homeschool planning is as much art as it is science, and your method will ultimately be as individual as your homeschool. “You’re the one doing the work, so make sure the method works for you,” says Bhasker. “It doesn’t matter if it looks good on Pinterest or if it would convince your mom that homeschooling was a good choice, what matters is that it works for your homeschool.” 

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Take a Homeschool Retreat

Week 38 of the Happier Homeschool Challenge: Get inspired with a DIY homeschool retreat.

Mothers are the only workers who never get time off, said Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and that’s doubly true for homeschooling mothers, who cheerfully derail dinner prep to look up a particularly strange beetle in the bug guide and listen to impromptu poetry recitations while they’re in the bathroom. (Maybe that’s just me?) But time off every now and then is essential to maintaining your homeschooling mojo. While your books may be neatly shelved and your plans for the coming year ready to go, your homeschool soul could use a little nurturing. Whether you can spare a whole weekend or just a long afternoon, it’s worth the effort to make time for a homeschool retreat.

Retreats may seem like an old-fashioned notion, but the concept of reconnecting with yourself as a person and as a homeschooling parent is practically radical in these days of plugged-in, logged-on, non-stop presence. But homeschoolers are nothing if not radical (in both the original and now-dated modern sense of the word), and a retreat may be an inspiring way to bring fresh energy, insight, and life to your homeschool.

There are as many ways to plan a retreat as there are to homeschool, so we’ve put together a few suggestions that might work for your retreat or that might just serve as inspiration for your own retreat ideas.

Make your plans 

If you’re like me, you have a never-ending list of books you’d like to read and lectures you’d like to hear. Whip out that list and start narrowing down the options. Are you starting to freak out about the prospect of putting together transcripts for college? Maybe it’s time to download that mp3 on homeschooling high school. Do you need help with setting a rhythm for your days? A Waldorf book about parenting young children could be a good bet. Try to focus on a mix of practical information—you want to change up your science curriculum or you need help getting inspired to teach writing next year—and strictly inspirational stuff. (We’ve included some great books and lectures below.) And go ahead and throw in all those awesome curriculum catalogs you’ve been hoarding so you can finally flip through them at your leisure. Try to add a mix of media: You won’t want to spend the whole day listening to mp3s or staring at your computer screen.

Choose a location 

If you’re an introvert like me, the thought of a weekend of pure alone time probably seems blissful. But if you’re a social animal, you may get more from your weekend retreat if you invite a friend or two to join you. Either way, try to get away from the everyday—it’s going to be hard to give yourself over to recharging your batteries if you’re staring down a pile of laundry or constantly jumping up to refill someone’s cup of juice. If you can, splurge on a location that inspires you to relax, whether that’s a fancy hotel with room service and plush robes or a cozy cabin surrounded by hiking trails. Even an easy-on-the-budget, no-frills hotel room can make a comfortable setting for your retreat if you bring your electric tea kettle and a few candles. If money’s an issue, consider swapping baby-sitting with another homeschooling mom and set up your retreat in a spot with free wi-fi, like the library or a coffee shop.

Inspire yourself 

Whether it’s your first year homeschooling or your fifteenth, you’re your own best inspiration. Start your retreat by making a list of all the things you’ve done right: great trips you’ve taken, fun art or science activities you’ve done, parenting moments where you got it just right. If you’ve been homeschooling, use this time to write down what’s really worked for you in the past, whether it’s starting the morning with yoga, doing narrations with Story of the World, or making Monday your baking day. Not only will making this list of homeschool successes remind you that you’re already doing a great job homeschooling, it will also help guide your choices for the coming year and may remind you of fun stuff that’s worth incorporating in your homeschool plans.

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Define your homeschool’s mission 

What’s the purpose of your homeschool? Ideally, you have an answer to that question that sums up your homeschool’s philosophy: “To grow curious, engaged children who believe they can learn anything and do anything if they are willing to do the work” or “Our homeschool teaches our children how to find, evaluate, and use information so that they can achieve whatever goals they set for themselves” are both examples of the kinds of big-picture goals your homeschool might have. Not so much of a mission statement writer? Make a homeschool vision board instead, putting together quotes, images, and other items that represent your ideas of what you want your homeschool to be like in the coming months. 

Set your goals 

In addition to setting academic goals for your students, consider setting some goals for yourself. Whether you’d like to be better informed about chemistry before you tackle the subject next year or you’re longing to be less stressed about unfinished assignments, take a few minutes to think about what you’d like to accomplish personally this year. Homeschooling can be an all-consuming activity, and it’s easy to be so absorbed in guiding your kids that you lose track of your own needs and wants. Use this opportunity to focus on yourself and to make a map of where you’d like to be this time next year as a teacher, a parent, and a person.

Make a little you-time 

The purpose of your retreat is to recharge your homeschooling batteries, so build in some time to just relax. Giving your brain free reign inspires new ideas and connections that you don’t get when you’re dealing with the daily grind. You know what gets your creative energy flowing: Maybe it’s a hike up a waterfall, a session with a massage therapist, or an hour of uninterrupted knitting. Treat yourself to your favorite leisure activity, and you’ll be surprised by how it improves your mental clarity.

Write your bad day mantra 

Bad days happen, and when you’re doing double duty as teacher and parent, it’s easy to take them personally. Right now, while you’re feeling energized and excited about the coming year, write a message to yourself to read when you’re having a bad day. Think about the words you need to hear when a math lesson ends in tears or you snap at your toddler for making a mess of the science center, and write them down in your best handwriting. Keep this message to yourself close, and pull it out when you need to as a much-needed reminder that you’re doing the right thing even when things don’t go just right.

Ideally, you should leave your retreat with a clear vision of what you want the coming year to look like (and the confidence to change your mind about that vision any time), a handful of new ideas, and a renewed sense of enthusiasm for the homeschooling fun ahead. But even if you just come away with some good questions, you can consider a retreat time well spent.

Tips for making your homeschool retreat a success:

• Make a schedule to keep focused

• Turn off your phone, log out of Facebook, and don’t check your email

• Set aside time for just relaxing as well as time for being productive.

Food for Thought

Listen:

• Susan Wise Bauer: Homeschooling the Real (Distractable, Impatient, Argumentative, Unenthusiastic, Non-Book-Loving, Inattentive, Poky, Vague) Child

• The Homeschool Scholar: A Homeschool Parents Guide to Grades, Credits and Transcripts

• Pam Sorooshian: Unschooling and Math

• Donna Simmons: Talking Pictorially and Living Actively with your Young Child

Read:

• Rafe Esquith: Lighting Their Fires: How Parents and Teachers Can Raise Extraordinary Kids in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World

• James W. Loewen: Teaching What Really Happened: How To Avoid The Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History

• Sharifa Oppenheimer: Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children

• David Mulroy: The War Against Grammar

• Lori Pickert: Project-Based Homeschooling

• Grace Llewellyn: The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education

 

Your challenge this week: Figure out a game plan for your homeschool retreat, and write an official retreat date on your calendar.

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6 Surprising Signs You’re Actually Doing a Great Job Homeschooling

One of the hardest things about homeschooling is that there’s no report card at the end of year telling you how you’re doing. We tend to chalk up our successes to good luck or fortuitous timing and to take all the blame for every challenge we run into. But chances are, you’re doing better with this whole homeschool thing than you think you are. These six signs are all indicators that you’re on the right track — and we think that’s something you should celebrate with pride.

You’re happy to start your day.

One of the best signs that you’re doing just fine as a homeschooler is that you like doing it. Sure, there are bad days — but if for the most part, you’re upbeat, energetic, and excited about the prospect of a new homeschool day, there’s a good chance your homeschooling reflects that.

You’re always surprised by lunchtime. 

Time drags when things are hard, but the hours seem to fly by when everything is going well. If lunchtime manages to get the jump on your and your kids most days, that’s a sign that you’re all really engaged in what you’re doing — which is a sign that your homeschool is a productive, positive place.

You’ve gotten comfortable with moving past mistakes, wrong turns, and things that just aren’t working.

You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to try curriculum materials that don’t work, classes that feel like curses, and being too strict about something that turns out to be not all that important. When you’ve hit your stride as a homeschooler, you’ll be able to recognize your mistakes, own them, and move on, a little wiser.

You find yourself taking a new homeschooler under your wing.

A sure sign you feel confident about how you’re doing as a homeschooler: You’re willing to share your experiences and insight with other people. When this happens, you’ve become an expert — maybe not in homeschooling in general but certainly in your particular homeschool.

It’s sometimes hard to plan your days — not because you don’t know what to do but because there are so many things you want to do that you don’t know where to start.

When your to-do list is so exciting that it’s actually a pleasure, you know you’ve figured out a system that’s really working for you. Yes, it may turn out that you can’t actually do all the things you’d like to — but that’s a much happier challenge than feeling like there’s nothing you want to do.

You don’t feel the need to defend homeschooling every time someone makes a rude comment about it. 

It’s very human to feel defensive when you’re still figuring things out — and some comments deserve a reasoned rebuttal. But as you grow more confident as a homeschooler, you’ll realize that you don’t have to engage with every misinformed stranger you meet. Sometimes, you just smile and walk away.

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Homeschooling Isn’t Just for the Kids

5 surprising ways to build a homeschool life that works for your whole family — including you.

“If your homeschool isn’t giving you personal satisfaction most of the time, something needs to change,” says life coach and homeschool consultant Gillian O’Keefe. 

O’Keefe says it’s easy to fall into a rut of thinking “this is just the way things are,” but very few homeschoolers are in a position where they’re helpless to the daily grind. “Homeschooling isn’t a punch-the-clock job — it’s a job that you make up each and every day as you go. So if something’s not working for you about your homeschool, all you have to do is change what you’re doing. You just have to know where to start.”

We bet you’ll find the inspiration you need to look at your homeschool life in a new way in these stories from real homeschool moms who took big, bold measures to get past a homeschool hump, from quitting homeschooling to keeping homeschool going after their kids opted back into traditional school. Whether your homeschool could use a little injection of energy or a big makeover, use the big perspective shifts in these stories to inspire your happiest homeschool year yet.

“I took a sabbatical.”

I homeschooled my oldest straight through high school, but by the time he graduated, I was genuinely burned out — even though I had an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old still learning at home. I tried to get motivated about another year of homeschooling, but that whole summer, as my oldest was getting ready to go to college, I kept thinking, “I just want a break.” And not surprisingly, when the school year started back up, everything felt so ridiculously hard.

My husband works in academia, so I am familiar with the idea of a sabbatical — a planned break from your everyday responsibilities that gives professors a little space to do their own work. And I thought, “I need a sabbatical!” So I took one.

I didn’t move to Tibet. I was still at home, doing laundry and cooking dinner and even going over tricky math problems. But we switched all the boys’ school work to things they could do 90-percent independently. They took online classes and a couple of local classes, and I was just there for support, like a regular mom with kids in regular school. I took a landscape painting class and beginning French at community college, read a big stack of books, none of which talked about homeschooling, and genuinely enjoyed spending time with my family again. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would ever want to go back to homeschooling, but by the next spring, I was eyeing new curriculums with a twinkle in my eye. I didn’t hate homeschooling. I just needed a break. And, three years later, I’m still running on the energy that sabbatical gave me.

—Allison 

“I started a homeschool group.”

I liked homeschooling from the very first day, but finding a homeschool group made me feel like Goldilocks: This one was too big, that one was too strict, the other one was too unreliable. I worried and worried about socialization and never having friends for way too long before I realized that I could start a group myself.

This was about 10 years ago, when my girls were 6 and 9 years old. I started by asking a couple of families I’d met through other groups if they would be interested in getting together for a regular park day. (I didn’t want to be a jerk, so I made sure to pick a day that didn’t conflict with another group’s regular park day. I was really nervous about making other groups mad, but it turned out that no one but me really cared.) The park days got pretty popular, and another mom suggested we buy group tickets for The Nutcracker. Soon, we were doing field trips regularly, and a couple of years later, we’d started a co-op. 

Both of my kids are done homeschooling now— my oldest is in college and my youngest decided she wanted to go to a private high school with some of her friends — but that homeschool group is still going strong. For me, it became a really important homeschool lesson: You may not find what you’re looking for on the rack, so to speak. Sometimes, to get what you want, you have to make what you want.

—Carolyn 

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“I stopped teaching math.”

Almost from the first day we started homeschooling, my daughter Alana and I were fighting over math. Every single math lesson seemed to end with one of us in tears. I had nightmares about math. Alana would yell at me that she was stupid, that she hated math. Sometimes she would yell that she hated me. This was so, so, so not what I envisioned when we started homeschooling.

I was talking to my friend, who is a high school English teacher, about how hard math was for us, and she laughed and said, “That’s why I don’t teach math!” She was just kidding, but it made me think. I hated math. I’d never been good at it in school, and it brought up all kinds of stress and insecurity from me. It was so obvious I was passing that on to Alana. And there was no good reason for it. I didn’t have to teach her math.

And I stopped, that day. I bought Teaching Textbooks, which has DVDs with instructions, for that first year, and the next year and every year after that, I signed her up for homeschool math classes at a hybrid school. She’s a junior this year taking trigonometry. Next year, she’s going to take calculus. She genuinely likes math, and, as it turns out, she’s actually pretty good at it.

Outsourcing a subject so completely wasn’t how I envisioned our homeschool. But it was the best thing for both of us, and quitting math has opened up the space for us to have a happy homeschool and a happy relationship, two things I’m really proud of. 

—Julia 

“I got rid of our school room.”

When we first started homeschooling, I was very excited to turn our dining room into a school room. I bought a big map and a bunch of Ikea bookcases and thought it was the greatest thing ever. I was so proud of that room. It was like having it proved that we were “real homeschoolers.”

But the “school room,” as I liked to call it, soon became one big messy space. However much I cleaned it up, it always felt messy and cluttered. No one wanted to spend time there. The kids did their work at the kitchen table or on the living room floor or on the patio. The school room just sat there gathering dust.

Last Thanksgiving, a bunch of out-of-town relatives decided to visit us. In order to have enough chairs for everyone, we had to move our old dining room table out of the garage and back into the dining room, and I had to pack up all the books and manipulative and science equipment and move it to the garage. A couple of times, one of the kids would say, “Hey, where’s the microscope?” and go find it in its plastic bin. But most of the stuff, nobody missed. Nobody was looking for it. Nobody wanted it. 

We started eating at the dining room table again. The kids do their work there sometimes. My partner and I have our morning coffee there. Having a school room is never what made us real homeschoolers. Now our whole house is the school room, the whole world is our school. 

—Gwen

“I kept homeschooling after my kids quit.”

Homeschooling was one of my favorite things I ever did, so when both my kids decided they wanted to go to our public school when they started middle school, I was pretty disappointed. I liked seeing them happy, and there was no question that they were where they wanted to be. But I missed homeschooling.

I looked for a job, but my resume had a huge gap and I didn’t have particularly great experience in anything. I couldn’t even get an interview for a cashier job at a craft store. We’d gotten used to living on one income, the kids still needed a ride to soccer and karate, and I still did the shopping and cooking and housework-type stuff, but I was bored out of my mind.

Then one day, when I was sitting home watching the clock for school pick-up time, I thought, well, maybe I’ll try to do that geometry program we didn’t get to use. Learning new things with the kids was my favorite part of homeschooling, and it turned out I liked learning things on my own, too. I learned geometry and algebra, Revolutionary War history, all about the Stuart kings of England, The Great Gatsby, all kinds of things. I pretty much homeschooled myself, and I ended up going back to college at 47 to study environmental science.

—Christine 

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How to Find the Big Picture for Your Homeschool

It’s easy to get so caught up in your everyday to-learn lists that you lose sight of the bigger picture of what you want your homeschool life to feel like. 

A lot of us start homeschooling with a big, shiny vision of what our homeschool lives will look like. We have homeschool philosophies and founding principles. We have stacks of books and plans. (Some of us start by the seat of our pants and no clear idea what we’re going to do, and that’s fair, too!) But somewhere along the way, we get pulled into the busy-ness of our everyday life — the never-ending to-do list of home-keeping and kid raising and homeschooling — and that big picture we started with fades into the distance. We haven’t forgotten it, exactly, but it doesn’t feel relevant to what we’re trying to do on a busy Tuesday morning.  

It is, though! That big picture is the whole point of homeschooling. It allows us to see where we can improve when we need to, it helps us make good choices with our time and money, and — maybe most important — it reminds us why we’re homeschooling in the first place. When people feel like they’re struggling in their everyday homeschool, it’s often BECAUSE that big picture has gotten lost. We’ve lost touch with the most important metric for measuring our homeschool success. We’re making choices and plans based on the moment and not the horizon — and if we do that enough, we can feel like we’re going nowhere.

The good news is that your big picture homeschool is still there — you just have to get back in touch with it. Here are some strategies to help you do just that.

Get back to your mission statement. 

Many of us write a homeschool mission statement in that first fever of homeschool excitement and forget about it. But a clear mission statement is what gives your homeschool focus, says Lillian Ahern, a Pennsylvania-based life coach and homeschool mom. “Your mission statement is what helps keep you on track, helps you choose between Option A and Option B, helps you stay in touch with the values that matter to you, and helps you set goals and celebrate success,” say Ahern. “It’s one of those crucial things that we often don’t realize we need.”

If you have a mission statement, dust it off and make sure it still reflects the homeschool you’re trying to create. If you don’t have a mission statement, now’s the time to write one. The most effective mission statements are concise, specific, and answer three questions: what will your homeschool do? how will you do it? what will be the end result? (Ahern says her family’s mission statement is: “The mission of the Ahern family homeschool is to educate our children thoroughly in the Charlotte Mason learning tradition at home, using living books and nature study as the foundation for an education that will instill in our children a love of and confidence in learning and allow them to find jobs or get into college after graduation.”)

Feel your way. 

Often, it’s easy to focus on the things we want to do in our homeschool, but successful people put their feelings first, says Lauren Wills, a U.K. life coach who specializes in coaching moms. Wills suggests thinking about how you want your homeschool to feel— peaceful? energized? organized? rigorous? excited?—and to use that feeling as your starting point for every decision.

“If you dream of a relaxed homeschool, but you’re signing up for activities every day of the week, you’re going to feel unfocused,” says Wills. “Or if you want a peaceful homeschool and you’re fighting with your child about math every single day, it’s quite obvious what you need to change.” 

Take advantage of group-think. 

When homeschool gets out of focus, it can be because you and your kids don’t share a common goal. Maybe your son wants to do more science, while you’re trying to stick with a Classical schedule — or your daughter wants to go to fashion school and is frustrated by a traditional academic schedule. “Focusing means getting on the same page,” says Ahern. The first step? Sitting down with your kids to talk about their goals and expectations.

“The minute you stop saying I and start saying we, magical things can happen in your homeschool,” says Ahern. Once you understand each other’s wants and needs, you can point your homeschool in the right direction. Sometimes that direction is immediately obvious. Other times, it may take some compromise and negotiation to figure it out. Either way, talking about it is the first step.

Lean into the NO. 

One of the most effective ways to hone in on what’s important to you is to figure out what you don’t want. There are trade-offs for every choice: If you’re embracing a fully child-led learning style, that means math might end up on the back burner for big stretches of time. If you’re opting into a structured Charlotte Mason homeschool, you won’t have the kind of wild and free forest school experience other homeschoolers share on Instagram. As you articulate what you want your homeschool to be, take some time to spell out what it won’t be, too. Every homeschool is different, but knowing what’s NOT part of your homeschool vision can help keep you from getting distracted by shiny ideas that aren’t true to your particular priorities.

Let go of clutter. 

If you’re saving stacks of art projects, curriculum you know you’ll never use again but feel guilty getting rid of, or dusty science supplies that never see any action, cleaning out your school space can have a significant positive impact on your sense of focus, says career coach Beverly Jones.

“When you declutter, you aren’t just cleaning up,” says Jones. “You’re deciding what is valuable and what is not. It’s a physical, practical way to engage in making decisions about what matters to you and what you really want to do.

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Six Steps to Turn the Homeschool You Have into the Homeschool You Really Want

1. Understand What You Really Want

The first step to getting what you want is knowing what you really want. That sounds simple, but this is where people often get hung up on vague ideas or not-quite-thought-out scenarios. 

How do you want your homeschool to feel? What do you want it to accomplish? Life coach Erin Michaelson recommends borrowing a trick from the home decorating world and creating an inspiration board for your homeschool. “Choose images and words that reflect the way you want your homeschool to feel,” says Michaelson. “Don’t overthink it — just grab the images that appeal to you and start pinning them on a wall or Pinterest board.”

Your dream board may look different from what you imagined — maybe you had visions of a nature-centered Waldorf environment, but all your pictures are of cozy book nooks. That’s okay, says Michaelson. “Often, we don’t know exactly what we’re looking for until we start to pin it down. Sometimes, that disconnect can make us feel permanently dissatisfied because we haven’t taken the time to understand what we really want — we’re working toward the wrong things and trying to figure out why we’re so unhappy.” Really focus on what you want — not on what seems affordable, or reasonable, or doable in your current situation. This is your chance to dream big.

2. Know Where You Are

You need to know where you are before you can figure out how to go anywhere.

You probably spend a lot of time thinking about what you’d like your homeschool to be, but it’s equally important to understand where you are. Start another inspiration board to capture your current homeschool life: What is a typical day like? What do you do all day? How do you feel? How does your day look? Find words and pictures that reflect your homeschool as it actually is right now — and be honest. There will probably be good parts and parts that aren’t so photogenic — that’s okay. Go ahead and include what feels true, which may include messes and arguments, unfinished projects and kids playing video games all day. This is where you are, and it’s essential to have a clear picture of where exactly that is.

You probably have a clear idea of the things that aren’t going right, and that’s part of this project. But don’t neglect the things that are working for you, whether it’s little things like finally finding the perfect pencil sharpener or bigger-picture things like figuring out the right bedtime routine. Here are some things to consider:

• Curriculum. Think both about the curriculum you are using and the subjects where you aren’t using curriculum. What’s working? What isn’t? What’s getting done, and what’s perpetually on your yeah-I-should-really-get-around-to-that list? What do your kids look forward to, and what do they dread?

• Routine. What do your mornings look like? How do your afternoons feel? How do your days wind up? Pay attention to the parts of your routine that work really well and to the parts that aren’t really working. When do you feel the happiest? When is everyone the most productive? Definitely consider the parts of your day that fall under the traditional homeschool umbrella — the times when you are learning or working in focused ways — but give attention to the rest of your day, too, which is an important part of your family’s regular routine.

• Yourself. This is one of those things that you might not usually give a lot of your energy to thinking about, but how you feel about yourself can play an important role in your homeschool. How do you feel during the day? What do you look like? What’s the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing on your mind before you go to sleep?

3. What’s Missing?

Here’s where things get fun: You’re going to plot a course to start transforming the homeschool you have right now into the homeschool you really want.

A lot of inspiration boards start and end with step one, but to really start to make your happiest homeschool come to life, keep going. Create a follow-up dream board for each of the important elements in your main inspiration board.

For example, if you collected lots of photos of happy families making art in a sunny room but art is always getting shoved off your to-do list, start a list called “Let’s Do Art.” Start adding images of what you imagine your ideal art homeschool would look like — cool pictures and projects, a big table, great art supplies, a gallery wall running up your staircase, etc. Do this for all the repeated images that you put together in step one: Maybe you’ll have a page for field trips or carschooling, a page for a super-organized homeschool room, or a page full of nature activities. You might have a page of a happy, well-adjusted student settling into college life or a page of mom outfits that don’t involve yoga pants — anything that you pinned to your dream board more than once should get fleshed out with more images and details. Don’t try to convince yourself that anything is unimportant or unnecessary — you may end up needing to set priorities down the road, but this is not that time. It’s okay if this process takes a while, too — there’s no need to rush.

“It’s tempting to jump right into thinking about what you need to do to get from Point A to Point B, but it’s important to really give yourself room to explore the Point B you want to reach,” says Michaelson. “Pretend that you have all the money/time/ space/whatever in the world: What does this particular thing you want look like?”

4. Let Go

Just as it makes sense to hone in on the specifics of what you really want, it’s important to spend some time considering the parts of your current life that you’d like to change.

Make a page for each thing that’s not working: A schedule that feels too hectic, arguing kids, a perpetual mess, that permanently frazzled feeling you have at the end of every week — whatever it is that’s making your homeschool feel stressful or boring or unhappy. Collect images and ideas for changing these difficult moments: You may want to search for ideas online or in magazines or ask friends for advice about strategies that have worked for them.

“A lot of times, we get so caught up in trying to figure out what’s causing a problem that we never actually address the problem,” says Joshua Holland, a career advisor who specializes in helping people align their career paths with their passions. “Sometimes, though, your time is better spent moving forward in a productive way.” 

Instead of wondering why your kids grouch out over morning math or why you fall apart every night after park day, think about what you might be able to do differently to change that problem part of your day. Knowing what you want to avoid is just as important as knowing what you want to concentrate on.

5. Start Making Changes

Only now is it time to start actually making changes — and that’s because now you know what you really want and how to get it.

You can start with adding things you want or with trying to erase things that you aren’t happy with, but it’s usually more fun — and maybe more straightforward — to begin with adding something new. For example, if your wish-list includes more nature time, you might start by checking out a stack of nature guides from the library to familiarize yourself with local plants and wildlife or sign up for a naturalist-led hike at a nature center. Start spending more unstructured time in the backyard, or set up a bird feeder near the window. Add a daily nature sketch to your journal or challenge yourself to take a nature photo every day. Your goal here isn’t to jump in with a new curriculum or a structured plan of study; instead, you want to incorporate your new experience into your life. Once it feels like it fits naturally into your routine, you may want to look for a curriculum or classes, but for now, you just want to get comfortable.

“Give yourself space to figure out how this thing you want for your homeschool fits into your actual life without the pressure of spending lots of money or time on a curriculum,” says Michelson. In other words, don’t be tempted by quick-and-easy solutions: Some things you will try during this time will be revelatory — they may change your homeschool forever and for the better—but many will just be okay and some will be total failures. Commitment is the last thing you want right now — the thing you need is freedom to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Follow the same procedure to change the things that don’t work. Try earlier bedtimes or saving math until after lunch if you feel frazzled. Sort and toss artwork every week to minimize clutter, or set up a specific shelf for library books so they don’t get lost. Experiment with lots of small, different things to find the ones that work for you.

6. Move Forward

The process of creating your ideal homeschool is an ongoing one. Every year, the rhythms and needs of your homeschool will change, and you’ll begin this process all over again.

This is a continuous process, so keep updating your dream boards as your experiences dictate: Maybe free access to all the art materials got too messy, and art study works better one medium at a time. 

Pull those overstocked art cabinets off your inspiration board and replace them with station-style art storage. Maybe school outside is distracting, and it makes more sense for your family to do hands-on learning inside. Update your dream board with photos of attractive learning spaces. You may find that the more you focus on reading aloud, the better your homeschool works — add more pictures of books and reading to your dream board. Images and ideas will go up and come down — that’s totally normal. Your homeschool is a work in progress.

You can also update your real homeschool board as you find things that work for you: Add that great science curriculum or the writing program that really worked. Add the covers of books you’ve read together and loved or posters from movies that had an impact on your homeschool. Take photos of your own happy, smiling kids to paste on your board, or add tickets from movies, museums, and concerts. Let the board of your homeschool life gradually evolve to reflect your dream homeschool—the one you're actually living.

This was originally published in the summer 2017 issue of HSL.

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How Do You Know When It’s Time to Officially End the School Year for Your Homeschool?

Your official last day of school can be whenever you want — so pick a date that matches your family’s homeschool rhythm (or don’t pick a date and have a year-round homeschool).

OK, this may be a stupid question, but how long should our homeschool year be? This is our first year homeschooling, and I’m not sure how to know when it’s time for summer vacation.

I’m actually a terrible person to answer this question — when we started homeschooling (in the middle of my daughter’s 2nd grade year), I was so indecisive about when to stop that we ended up becoming year-round homeschoolers. We just kept going until September rolled back around. It worked, so we’ve been doing it ever since. But maybe that also makes me a good person to answer this question because I can honestly say that you can make your year as long as you want to.

Some states require homeschoolers to log a certain number of learning days each year, so of course you want to make sure that if your state has such a requirement, your homeschool plan meets it. Beyond that legal essential, though, deciding when to declare it summer in your homeschool is up to you.

Some curricula make this easy. When you finish them, you can close up shop and call it a year for math or history. That’s easy if your students generally keep pace with the curriculum, but if your child works faster or slower or if she’s faster in some subjects and slower in others, it can be trickier: If you finish one book in January, it makes sense to start a new one, but what if you finish in April? Or what if it’s August, and you’re still plugging away at history? 

It might be simplest to just pick an official date as your “last day of school” — your homeschool’s “last day of school” might match up to the date your local school closes or be the week your pool opens or just be the first day May — and say “This is when our year ends.” Bookmarks go into unfinished curriculum, evaluations get written, and you clean up the school stacks. That doesn’t mean you shut down learning, obviously. Homeschooling is a year-round process, whether you put the books away for the summer or not, but you can set a date to stop doing structured learning time unless a kid specifically requests it.

You can also follow my lead and just keep a casual homeschool going year-round. The benefit to year-round homeschooling is that it’s easy to introduce new books and curricula as they become appropriate, and you always know that you can go as fast or as slow as you want without worrying about a deadline. (The downside is that you miss out on all those “New curriculum!” photos in late summer — though personally, just buying things as we need them has worked out pretty well for me.) A year-round homeschool doesn’t mean you’re always “doing school;” you just spread breaks out through the year, so you might take a month off to watch the Olympics or a week off for birthdays.

However you decide to end your academic year, make sure you pause to celebrate your success. One of my friends makes a cake with her kids to mark the end of the great year; we usually plan a pancakes-and-pool-day fiesta at the end of summer to celebrate starting a new grade. When you decide to start and stop isn’t really important, so if you try something this summer that doesn’t feel right, you can adopt a different practice next year. Just like every other part of homeschooling, knowing how your annual schedule runs is something that you’ll figure out for your family one year at a time.

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Getting Ready to Homeschool High School

The secret to transitioning to high school isn't so secret: Just keep doing what you've been doing, and trust that you've gotten to know your kid's academic abilities.

Really, high school is the easy part. By now, you’ve found your homeschooling groove. You know your child’s interests and her strengths. You probably even have a pretty good idea of what she’d like her post-high school life to look like. All you have to do now is help her get there.

The key to homeschooling high school is to trust your teenager and to trust the homeschool rhythms that have worked for your family. “Someone says ‘high school,’ and you feel like, ‘oh, I have to get serious and start doing really serious things with my kid,’” says Lisa Millan, who has sent two homeschool grads off to college. “But shifting away from the homeschool patterns you’ve spent years finding is a big mistake.”

In fact, these are the years when all that work you’ve been doing will really start to pay off. By ninth grade, your child should be ready to take the reins of his education and tell you where he wants to go — whether that means college, preparing to launch a business, taking an apprenticeship, or becoming an artist. Keep these things in mind as you’re making your high school plans:

Invest in your child’s passion. By high school, your student knows what he likes — and those interests are where the bulk of your homeschool budget should go. If he’s Broadway-bound, spend on acting and voice lessons and find cheaper alternatives for math and language arts. If she’s planning to study astrophysics, invest in a high-quality telescope and community college astronomy classes. Take these passions into account when you’re blocking out schedules, too — your child’s interests should dictate how his time gets allocated.

Be a planner. Some of the things your high schooler will want to do — take the SAT, get a driver’s license, apply to an internship program — can feel like bureaucratic nightmares to freewheeling homeschoolers. Do yourself a favor and start prepping for these kinds of things well in advance of their deadlines. Often forms and requirements assume a very traditional school experience, and trying to figure out how to fit your homeschool experiences into these kinds of narrow boxes can be stressful and frustrating. It’s definitely not something you want to try to do with the pressure of a deadline breathing down your neck.

Don’t freak out over gaps. During your child’s high school experience, you’ll run into topics that your education hasn’t covered. Don’t let this convince you that your education has somehow short-changed your kids. All educations have gaps. If you feel that a missing component is genuinely worth covering, by all means, go ahead and cover it — but know that however much you manage to cover in your high school, there will be things your teen graduates from high school not knowing. There will be things your child will celebrate his 50th birthday not knowing, too — that’s how learning works. It’s more important to teach your high schooler how to learn something when he needs or wants to know it than it is to teach him every fact in the world.

Get organized. Your child’s post-high school plans may require you to have a transcript ready to go, and your life will be much simpler if you start high school with this in mind. Perhaps the easiest transcript-making method is to borrow an idea from traditional schools and keep a quarterly update of classes, grades (if relevant), and books. Have a safe place to store papers, projects, and other work in case your child needs samples or a portfolio down the road. Do this, and whether you’re making a transcript, a resume, or notes for your child’s biographer, you’ll be in good shape.

Course of Study

If elementary school is about absorbing information and middle school is about analyzing it, high school is a time for playing with information — thinking abstractly, expressing new ideas, and communicating effectively. As you’re planning what to cover, look to the most rigorous college on your child’s list, even if he’s not sure whether he wants to go to college or follow a different path. Laying out an academic plan that meets the admission guidelines of that institution will give your high schooler maximum post-graduation options (and a well-rounded high school education, too).

Language arts: Students should dig deeper into literature, tackling heavy-hitting classics as well as works from other cultures. The Norton Anthologies are great resources here, offering biographical information, historical context, and discussion starters for a wide range of literary works. Get a taste of American, British, and World literature. For kids who love literature, consider some of the free MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) available from websites like Coursera. These classes can be a great way to dig deeper into an author or period your student finds fascinating.

It’s writing, though, that really matters for high school language arts — and we’re not talking about the dreaded five-paragraph essay. What high schoolers need to master here is the ability to make and support an argument, to write persuasively and effectively, and to use vocabulary and literary techniques to enhance their work. A book like the Brief Bedford Reader can be a great resource for this, with a nice selection of essays and lots of practical guidance for better writing.

Math and science: Most colleges will look for at least three laboratory science classes on your high school transcript, but that’s a good thing — every teenager should get to sample a couple of proper lab classes. Skip the curriculum for these: It tends to be pricey, and a home set-up just isn’t the same. Instead, look for college or homeschool lab classes where your teen can get a real lab experience. 

High school math usually includes algebra and geometry — mathy kids will want to add trigonometry and calculus to the list. Teaching Textbooks has a user-friendly, self-paced program if you want to do math at home, or consider making math one of your student’s outside classes during high school. 

History and social studies: Most colleges will want to see U.S. and World History on your transcript, as well as government and geography. Ways of the World by Robert Strayer for world history is a smart, critical study of the events and people that shaped the past and a good choice if you want to use a fairly traditional curriculum, or you might like The American Pageant for U.S. History, which does much the same thing. If you're willing to venture beyond tradition (and not counting on AP credits for college), consider alternatives like Stanford's Reading Like a Historian curriculum (I love this one!) or the Big History Project, which starts at the Big Bang. Also consider free online lectures from schools like Stanford or MIT, which can add nuance and interest to sometimes dry historical facts.

Other stuff: If you haven’t started a foreign language yet, high school is a good time to start. (Most colleges will want to see at least two years of foreign language on your transcript.) Latin — with a beginner-friendly curriculum like Ecce Romani — is a good choice for classicists or people who don’t want to fuss with accents; if you want to learn to speak a modern foreign language like Japanese or Spanish, Rosetta Stone’s homeschool programs are a solid if not particularly inspired choice.

(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.) This was originally published in the summer 2015 issue of HSL.

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Homeschooling High School: Alternatives to the Traditional College Path

College isn't the only post-high school option for homeschooled teens. Whether you're in search of an alternate path or a great gap year, here are some options for what's next.

College can be a wonderful thing. For many, it's a place to meet lifelong friends, open your mind to new ideas, and earn a degree that can lead to a career that you love. And, fortunately for college-bound students, higher education has never been more popular. A Harvard University study from 2011 reported that 70 percent of high school seniors now go on to college, post-graduation.

That’s the good news. The not so good news is that of all the students who start college, only about 56 percent will graduate within six years. And two-year programs post even worse numbers—only 29 percent of those students graduate within three years.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“Education at a Glance 2010”), the United States ranked last among the 18 tracked countries in the number of students who completed college once they started, with just 46 percent. That’s way less than countries like Japan (89 percent), and even less than Slovakia, where 63 percent of college students graduate.Why is that? It would be easy to blame college dropout rates on the rising cost of a college education, which has nearly sextupled since 1985. Or the fear of taking on more debt—the average student now graduates with $27,000 in debt from student loans, and total student debt in this country passed $1 trillion in 2011. Those are scary numbers. And, in fact, 48 percent of people who never went to college or who dropped out of college say that cost was the deciding factor.

“ High school students are pushed to take the hardest classes, fill their transcripts with extracurricular activities and multiple attempts at the SAT, and over- schedule their free time—until there’s no free time left— just to try to get into a four-year university.”

But maybe money isn’t the only reason. Perhaps part of the problem is that we’re pushing kids into college who would be better served by following a different path.

There’s been a concerted effort over the last 20 years to convince every student that they must to go on to college. Families start planning for it when their children are still in preschool. High school students are pushed to take the hardest classes, fill their transcripts with extracurricular activities and multiple attempts at the SAT, and over- schedule their free time—until there’s no free time left— just to try to get into a four-year university.

It doesn’t matter whether or not the student has any idea of what she wants to do with her life. Or that not everyone is interested in a four-year degree—or even needs a four-year degree to do the work they want to do. The message has been “college is the only path to success,” and anyone who doesn’t get a degree will either be unemployed or flipping burgers the rest of her life.

The intention behind the “college for everyone” mindset is certainly good. Everyone should have access to a college education. Young adults who are excited to immerse themselves in the learning opportunities available through universities should pursue a college degree. Many careers do require four or six or eight years of higher education. This is not a bad thing. The problem arises when we see this as the only option, and when we tell teens it’s the only option.

In a 60 Minutes interview, Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal and the Thiel Foundation, compared today’s college experience to the housing bubble of a decade ago: “Everyone believed they needed to have a house and would pay whatever it took. Now everyone believes they need to go to college and will pay whatever it takes”—even if college doesn’t give them the skills they need and leaves them with more debt than their post-college careers will be able to afford.

Fortunately, there’s a growing backlash against this idea that the only path to a successful and happy adulthood is through college. Many families, and homeschooling families in particular, are finding that there are alternatives to the “one-size-fits-all, assembly-line, straight out of high school, right into college, and then into debt and an uncertain job market” path that we’ve been fed.

Maybe it’s because we’re so used to bucking the norm, and doing things our own way, but the idea of skipping the four-year degree isn’t so out of the ordinary for many homeschooling families.

“I’m running into people doing community college from home or working to save money. I’m seeing homeschool graduates who want to keep homeschooling, taking classes they want to take as they want to take them, or doing apprenticeships.”

“Going away to college is not the typical route for the homeschoolers I know,” says Andrea, a mom of two homeschool graduates who counsels families new to homeschooling.

In fact, Andrea’s son, who moved into a college dormitory the fall after his homeschool graduation, is an anomaly in their active homeschool community.

“I’m running into people doing community college from home or working to save money. I’m seeing homeschool graduates who want to keep homeschooling, taking classes they want to take as they want to take them, or doing apprenticeships,” Andrea says.

What Andrea describes is certainly true for my own family.

When my always-homeschooled son graduated two years ago, he took the ACT, got accepted to college, and then decided not to go. He's currently living at home, taking local classes, and picking up freelance writing jobs as he figures out what he wants to do next. He could be figuring it out at Washington State, where he was accepted, while taking out loans and going into debt. Instead, he's taking his time, trying new things, and figuring out a life path that’s right for him.

It isn’t always easy to give him this time. I still have moments of worry about where he’s heading. Giving your child the space and freedom to make his own way can be a very scary thing, especially when so many people are happy to tell you how crazy you are to not force them into college. But keep this statistic in mind: in 2014, a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that 46 percent of college graduates were working jobs that did not even require a college degree.

Knowing this, and recognizing that there are many valid options and alternatives to the college path may help alleviate some of the fear that can pop up from time to time. And, if you’re a family with a homeschool grad who is less than thrilled with the idea of going to college, the following list may spark some ideas.

VOLUNTEERING

Sometimes, when you’re not sure what direction you want to go in life, shifting your focus to helping others can help you figure it out. When you’re young and not yet supporting a family, gaining experience through volunteer service can be a wonderful alternative to college or working for money.

Today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 18.7 percent of 20- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. volunteer on a regular basis, which is unfortunate, because, not only can volunteer work be a satisfying way to give back to the community, it also provides a wonderful opportunity for young adults to develop skills, learn responsibility, build a professional network, and grow their resumes.

Everyone has valuable skills to offer. The links below can help you figure out how best to use them, but remember:

• Do your research before volunteering to make sure you’re giving time and energy to an organizationthat you truly support.

• If you can’t find a volunteer project that inspires you, consider starting your own, like cleaning up a nearby park or creating a newsletter for local indie band action.

• If you do approach an organization about volunteer opportunities, be prepared to do an interview, just like you would for a “real” job.

Corporation for National and Community Service : Here, you can find service opportunities in your area, or register for national programs such as AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps VISTA, FEMA Corps, or Senior Corps. 

Global Volunteer Network : This established organization, matches volunteers with service opportunities around the world.

Peace Corps : Though most of their volunteer projects require a bachelor’s degree, the Peace Corps also con- siders work experience, hobbies, and interests that align with their needs when screening applicants.

Volunteer.gov : A federal government website that lists volunteer opportunities on public lands in the United States.

Volunteer Match : Here you can register and search for volunteer opportunities that match your interests.

Other places to look for volunteer opportunities: nursing homes, local schools, daycare centers, community theaters, museums, community centers, homeschool groups, Meals on Wheels, animal shelters, neighborhood parks, shelters for families and children 

TRAVEL

The German word Wanderjahr means both “hiking” and “wandering,” suggesting a combination of strategic planning and serendipitous adventure. It was originally used to describe the journey of a young apprentice: after his training with his master ended, he would set off with a letter of introduction and a pack on his back to find other masters in other towns who could teach him new ways to do familiar things.

“The German word Wanderjahr means both “hiking” and “wandering,” suggesting a combination of strategic planning and serendipitous adventure. ”

Today, this word could easily be applied to young adults who choose to travel after high school rather than going into college. After all, what better education is there than getting out into the world, navigating unknown places, and learning from people of various cultures?

For graduates who feel passionate about wanting to leave home and see the world, taking some of the money that would have been spent on college and using it to travel instead may not be a bad idea. Choose your destination, create a budget, and then use a travel agent or online guide to help you plan your journey:

Discover America : If international travel is not for you, this site can help you plan your trip across North America, learn more about the United States, and hit the road.

Lost World Adventures : Run by a former homeschooling family, this company has specialized in personalized travel packages to Central and South America and Antarctica for over 20 years.

European Destinations : This site offers a wide variety of travel packages and itineraries throughout Europe.

Cross Cultural Solutions : Here you can find opportunities to combine international travel with volunteer service in nine countries, if that’s something that interests you.

Gap Year Travel : This online portal can help you research and plan your travel adventure, and connect you with others who are doing the same.

Gap360 : This site is designed to help you research and plan your adventure, whether you’re looking for a short trip, an international volunteer experience, work abroad, or a longer excursion.

APPRENTICESHIPS

Apprenticeships are common practice in countries like Germany and Switzerland, but they haven’t made it into mainstream U.S. culture—which is too bad because apprenticeships, which are essentially paid, on-the-job career training, can be a great way to break into a field. People often associate apprenticeships with blue-collar jobs, like plumbing or car repair, but apprenticeships can also be valid paths to creative fields like video game design, photography, or journalism.

“You may ask yourself what kind of jobs are there for writers, or people who are passionate about the environment, or whatever it is you’re interested in. Then track down people who are doing those jobs and politely ask them for informational interviews.”

Finding apprenticeships can be intimidating because you must put yourself out there—whether you’re competing for an apprenticeship program or approaching a local business, you’ll have to convince the decision-makers that you are a worthwhile investment. One way to take the edge off this process is to spend some of your high school or post-high school time connecting jobs to interests. You may ask yourself what kind of jobs are there for writers, or people who are passionate about the environment, or whatever it is you’re interested in. Then track down people who are doing those jobs and politely ask them for informational interviews, where you can get a clear idea of the kind of work they actually do every day.

Fortunately, internet access now makes it easier than ever to find apprenticeship opportunities, fellowships, and mentors in your area and beyond.

The following are three state-specific apprentice programs. To see if there’s a similar program in your state, search “apprentice programs” + the name of your state:

Apprentice Programs of Georgia (APOGA) : This program is specific to Georgia but could be useful to graduates in that state, or those considering relocating to the state.

Massachusetts Apprenticeship Program : Specific to Massachusetts and full of information on pro- grams, laws, and opportunities specific to that state.

Texas Apprenticeship Program : This online resource, published by the Texas Workforce Commission, provides information on apprenticeship opportunities, laws, and tips specific to Texas.

It’s also a good idea to check with businesses in your area to see if they would consider offering apprenticeship opportunities. Artists, landscapers, butchers, woodworkers, contractors, designers, and other skilled workers may be interested in sharing their knowledge by taking on an apprentice, depending on the laws in your state.

For national listings of registered apprenticeship programs and opportunities, check out the following:

American Culinary Federation Apprenticeship Program : This site is full of information on culinary-based apprenticeship opportunities across the country.

Apprenticeship USA : A website from the United States Department of Labor, full of information on apprenticeships, grants, and more.

Additionally, it’s possible to find companies and organizations offering funding and mentorship for young adults seeking an alternative to college. Two well-known programs worth considering are:

Echoing Green : This 27-year-old program provides seed-stage funding for young leaders from around the world who are working to bring about positive social change.

Thiel Foundation : Chooses 20 young people under the age of 20 each year to pursue their passions. In addition to $100,000 to use working toward their goals, participants in this two-year program are mentored by some of the country’s best scientists, entrepreneurs, researchers, and business leaders. Most former fellows have gone on to invent something or start their own companies.

STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS

According to a 2014 report by Freelancers Union (a non-profit organization) and Elance-oDesk (a company that connects freelancers and potential projects), 34 percent of the U.S. workforce (or approximately 53 million people) now work as freelancers, independent contractors, or as home-based business owners. (That number includes both the author of this story and the editor of this magazine.) And some experts project that the number will jump to a whopping 50 percent by 2020.

These days, it’s easier than ever to become your own boss. Technology has significantly lowered the barriers to starting a business, and there are many free and cheap resources available to aid just-starting-out business owners. And while it’s true that many businesses fail, the lessons learned from a failed business can prove invaluable to entrepreneurs in their next venture.

“I think homeschoolers may also be a little less afraid of trying and failing and then trying again than the general population.”

Homeschooling, in particular, lends itself well to entrepreneurship because our kids are used to working independently, and they often have the extra time necessary to come up with and implement business ideas. I think homeschoolers may also be a little less afraid of trying and failing and then trying again than the general population—due, perhaps to all of the various classes and curricula we try and then drop along our homeschooling journey, and the fact that we’re used to working outside the mainstream.

If your homeschool graduate isn’t interested in going right to work for someone else and has an idea or two for work they would like to do, post-high school is a great time to try. some entrepreneurial possibilities include writing, graphic design, baking, website creation, teaching classes (at a local homeschool group or in the community), pet sitting, personal shopping, landscaping, handyman, childcare, and more. Really, the possibilities are nearly endless.

It can be good idea to test the waters first by starting tiny and building up your business slowly through people that you know. But when you’re ready for the next step, and need help with the logistics of starting, or growing, your small business, you may want to check out the following sites:

The Small Business Administration has tons of information on starting your own small business, including finding funding, filing taxes, structuring your business and more.

Techstars provides funding and guidance for entrepreneurs of any age in technology-based businesses.

TECHNICAL AND TRADE CERTIFICATION

Just because the four-year college path isn’t for you, doesn’t mean you have to forego school altogether. In some fields, a technical or vocational degree is all that’s required to find a career that interests you.

In fact, several of the fastest growing jobs in the United States don’t require a bachelor’s degree at all but do require some kind of specialized training or certification. Engineering technicians, aerospace operations, web developers, MRI technologists, nuclear technicians, and air traffic controllers, for example, are just some of the jobs that are expected to show continued growth over the next ten years, and none of them requires four years of college.

Unfortunately, according to Anthony Carnavale, Ph.D and Director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, there is often still a stigma attached to the trade school path. Vocational programs haven’t been very successful in the U.S. because “the idea of sorting kids into different tracks, with some going to college and others going to vocational programs, is [deemed] unacceptable.”

While this may be true, our perception of vocational training in this country could be changing, as more and more people become aware of the job openings available to them and of the fact that there’s a serious shortage of qualified workers for many of those positions.

“A trade school graduate typically finds a job faster than a college graduate—in fact, many trade school grads finish their programs with job offers in hand. ”

Actor and TV personality, Mike Rowe, in particular, is a vocal advocate for closing the Skills Gap and learning skilled trades. Through his mikeroweWORKS Foundation and the Profoundly Disconnected website, graduates interested in pursuing a trade can get information, search for training and job opportunities, and learn more about why increasing the ranks of skilled workers in this country is so important.

If you’re concerned about the income potential for skilled trades, here are some numbers that may put your worries to rest: The average starting salary for a four-year college graduate is $45,000. For a trade school graduate, it’s $43,000. And, because of the labor shortages in both technical and blue-collar fields, a trade school graduate typically finds a job faster than a college graduate—in fact, many trade school grads finish their programs with job offers in hand. And, as economists point out, as demand for these skilled positions continues to increase, wages will, too.

A comprehensive, and alphabetized, listing of two-year colleges and trade schools from across the country can be found online at College Tidbits.

Two other sites that may help you in your search:

Career Colleges : This online portal offers listings for various trade schools and valuable information on technical careers.

EducationGuys : An online guide to technical schools, trade schools, and related information.

One thing to be aware of, though, is that a number of for-profit colleges and trade schools may promise more than they deliver. Be sure to thoroughly research any program or school you sign up with before committing your time and money. Ask people in the fields you’re considering going into for their recommendations of trade schools and programs. And don’t be afraid to look up schools with the Better Business Bureau to see if there are any complaints against them.

HIGH TECH IMMERSION

One of the newest options in the post-high school educational landscape is the high-tech immersion program. Several tech schools have popped up across the country over the last few years, offering 8-week and 12-week, full-time certified immersion courses in coding, web design, game development, and more.

Aimed at graduates with a passion for computer technology or adults looking to change careers, these schools provide class time, mentors, and hands-on projects to prepare their students for careers in high-tech fields. And they couldn’t have come along at a better time.

According to the U.s. Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT jobs in the United States will grow 22 percent through 2020. Areas of highest growth include software developers (28 to 32 percent), database administrators (31 percent), and IT managers (18 percent).

Programmers skilled in Perl, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Python, Java and Javascript, as well as those comfortable with a API development and a DevOps environment, will also be in high demand, because cloud technology depends heavily on those disciplines. And the new tech schools offer courses in all of these languages, skills, and more.

The main benefit of one of the shorter tech programs versus a traditional four-year computer science college degree is that the technology and information in immersion programs are both current and relevant in today’s job market.

By comparison, many university computer science programs are oriented to training undergraduates to become either systems programmers or academic computer scientists, not software developers. And they are taught by professors who generally got their degrees anywhere from five to ten years ago, at minimum, when the tools and tactics for software engineering were very different. Additionally, it’s difficult for most universities to keep up with the changing pace of technology. The industry simply changes faster than academia. Other benefits of tech immersion schools over traditional CS programs include: the cost of immersion programs is a fraction of what you’d pay for a university degree; you jump right into learning what you are there to learn, rather than having to take classes in subjects unrelated to your field; students work directly with business owners and tech employers; and the tech schools will help you land a job, internship, or freelance projects after the immersion is over.

Currently, one of the best-known high-tech immersion programs is Tech Talent South. Tech Talent South has locations in Asheville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Raleigh. 

DIY COLLEGE

In 2010, Bill Gates said, “Five years from now, on the web, for free, you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world. It will be better than any single university.” And he was right. There are now thousands of free online classes available from colleges like Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“As homeschoolers, many of us are used to creating our own curriculum and lesson plans, and finding opportunities for learning outside of the home. So, why stop once high school is over? ”

As homeschoolers, many of us are used to creating our own curriculum and lesson plans, and finding opportunities for learning outside of the home. So, why stop once high school is over? With all the options at our fingertips today, it’s possible to create your own four-year college program for next to nothing, without even leaving home.

To come up with your own DIY College plan, ask yourself the following:

• What are the things I’m most interested in studying?

• How do I learn best (independently, in a class, one-on-one, online)?

• How much money can I afford to spend?

• How much time can I devote to my studies each week?

Then, look around online and in the community to come up with options that best fit your needs. Some to consider are:

Homeschool Classes : Some homeschool groups offer classes for all ages. Just because you’re finished with high school doesn’t mean you can’t continue to take a class in a subject you’re interested in. Check with your local groups to see what’s available.

Community Classes : Depending on where you live,you may be able to find a number of classes offered by local businesses. In our town, art studios, glass blowing shops, the local community garden, and the local butcher shop all offer classes for teens and adults on an ongoing basis. Our city government even offers a free 8-week course on working in city government twice a year.

College Classes : Some colleges will allow non-enrolled students to audit classes, particularly in the summer when classes aren’t as full. They may also offer “open” or “extension” classes in a variety of subjects. There is a fee involved, and grades are typically not given. But it’s a great way to learn more about a subject that you may be interested in.If a school does not offer auditing options to non-enrolled students, it may still be possible to contact the professor of a course directly and ask if you can sit in on the classes. Sometimes this will be allowed if the class isn’t full. It will all depend on the school’s and professor’s personal policies, of course, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Books : Even in the age of technology, books are an important resource when crafting your own college experience. Whether you want to work your way through a textbook or just read everything you can find on the subjects you’re interested in, having access to good books is key to higher education. Search online, check to see what texts are being used in college courses that sound interesting to you, ask for recommendations, and then create your reading list.

Online Courses : As Bill Gates predicted, the Internet has opened up a world of quality educational opportunities that simply didn’t exist prior to the technology boom. Today it’s possible to take free, college-level courses in just about any subject imaginable without leaving your house. Called Massive Online Open Courses (or MOOCs), these courses are created and taught by college professors, and can usually be done independently, at your own pace. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. Some of the best online courses can be found through Coursera, edX, iTunes University, and Stanford Online.

Finally, if all of the paths above sound equally wonderful to your grad, there’s always UnCollege Gap Year. This program combines many of the elements we’ve shared here—independent study, mentorship, volunteering, travel, and entrepreneurship—into one program that guides students through self-directed learning and growth. It does have a tuition cost of about $16,000, but the idea is that you’ll get a hands-on, real-life education, and perhaps discover a different route for your career than you might find from a traditional college degree.

This article was originally published in the fall 2015 issue of HSL. Subscribe, and you'll always be the first to read great articles like this.

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The Easiest Way to Get Organized for Homeschooling High School

This easy organization method won’t stress you out and will make your life a whole lot easier when you start working on transcripts and other official paperwork for high school graduation.

Homeschooling high school doesn’t have to mean acquiring organizational super skills. This easy organization method won’t stress you out and will make your life a whole lot easier when you start working on transcripts and other official paperwork for high school graduation. (This is our most-requested reprint from the magazine.) The envelope solution is elegant, effective, and so simple you can’t screw it up. Start it in ninth grade — eighth if you’re feeling particularly ambitious — and when it’s time to start the college application process, you’ll be all set. Here's how it works.

Label a large envelope for each class with the full name of the course and grade number (such as 9-Honors English 1 or 11-AP U.S. History). Add a separate envelope for extracurricular activities — if your child is serious about an activity, like soccer or theater, you may want to create a separate envelope for that particular activity as well as one for general extracurricular activities.

Label another envelope with your teen’s grade level and Honors — you’ll use this envelope to stash certificates of achievement, pictures of science fair experiments, and other awards and recognitions. Add one last envelope for community service — again, be sure to label it with your student’s grade level.

Make a basic information sheet for each class your child is taking. Include:

• the textbook(s) used, with ISBN number

• a copy of the textbook’s table of contents (Do this now. The last thing you want to do is end up rooting through boxes in the garage in a couple of years to figure out if your son’s freshman biology class included a section on genetics.)

• the course description and syllabus

• the name of the teacher (yes, even if it’s you!)

• the number of credit hours the course entails

Tuck this information sheet securely in the envelope. Add items to envelope as the year progresses. Things you’ll want to include:

• graded papers and tests

• samples of presentations, lab reports, or other work done in the class

• a running reading list (Add titles of books and essays to the list as you read them so you don’t have to try to remember everything at the end of the year. Even better, have your student keep an annotated reading list — with notes about each book.)

• notes about associated activities — visits to museums, lectures, theaters, etc. — that relate to the class

At the end of the class, write the final grade and total credit hours on the front of the envelope. Inside the envelope, add:

• official grades — community college report cards, printouts from an online class, or your evaluations

• Ask any outside teacher to write a recommendation letter or evaluation for your student. Do it now while your student’s work is still fresh in their minds, and add the recommendation to your envelope. If you decide to ask this teacher for a recommendation when you’re working on college applications, you can give him his original recommendation to refresh his memory.

• If your student ends up taking an AP or CLEP exam in a subject, add the exam results to your envelope. Similarly, if your student publishes or wins an award for work she started in the class, add those credits to your envelope.

Use a binder clip to group your envelopes — depending on how your brain works, you may want them grouped by grade level, by subject matter, or by some other criteria. However you group them, they’ll make writing that final transcript a lot easier since all your information will be organized in one place.

Reprinted from the winter 2015 issue’s Problem: Solved feature, which also tackled writing your own curriculum, keeping up with library books, getting over bad days, how to tell the difference between a homeschool slump and when you’re ready to stop homeschooling, and lots more

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My 3-Step Homeschool Planning Strategy

Planning out your year doesn’t have to be scary or stressful.

Believe it or not, even though I am infamous for planning my classes at the Academy down to the pause-for-laugh in my lecture notes, I am actually pretty relaxed about homeschool planning. The thing that helped me most — that helps me still — is to remember that homeschooling is not like defusing a bomb. You do not have a countdown clock flashing in the background while you desperately try to figure out what wires to cut — you have all the time you need, and if you cut the wrong wire, you may have to fix something, but nothing is actually going to blow up.

So with that in mind, I want to talk about the three strategies that I use to plan my year:

1. I figure out what three things I actually want to accomplish for each kid.

2. I use love it-leave it-need it lists and make my kids keep them, too.

3. I plan as we go.

I think it’s important to have a bigger-picture idea of what you want to accomplish because if you don’t, how do you know if you accomplished anything? I say this a lot, but in homeschooling, you have to make your own metrics for success, and I do this every year with my kids. What do I want my kid to have mastered by the end of 3rd grade, or 5th grade, or 10th grade? I limit my list to three things, which means I’m not focusing on every single individual subject every year — we’ll do every subject, but setting these goals helps me have priorities, which helps when the days and weeks are too short to squeeze everything in and when I am tempted to buy ALL THE CURRICULUM. (And I just want to say, about buying all the curriculum, you never stop wanting to do this — people actually send me free curriculum, pretty frequently, to review, and I am still never satisfied. So just know that the curriculum itch does not go away, you can have stacks of curriculum and still want to keep buying more.) Anyway, my point is, priorities help me know where I want to spend my time and money. I usually have a couple of academic priorities — like, I want my son to write a research paper this year, or I want to work on handwriting or taking notes, or something else. But I might have other kinds of priorities, too — like finding friends, building a community, that might be a goal, and I might spend more time driving around or signing up for activities than I normally would in the pursuit of that particular goal.

I have written and talked about my love it-leave it-need it lists a lot, so I will just recap them here: these lists are just what they sound like. Every month, you take a beat and write down all the things that are working great — it might be a whole curriculum or one project or even something like pushing the start time for your day back an hour. Whatever’s clearly A GOOD THING in your homeschool goes on the list. And you write down the things that aren’t going great — it could be curriculum, but it could also be never finishing your daily to-do list or getting out the door to co-op with everybody’s shoes on (why is that so hard?) — anything that’s clearly NOT working. And you make a list of things that you need, because your child has expressed a sudden interest in marine biology or you realize you need to go back and cover grammar or you want a more structured after-lunch routine since your mornings are creeping closer and closer to lunch time. The trick here is to get your kids to make these lists, too, every month — you have to do it every month because otherwise you forget things that aren’t part of the immediate past. These lists are planning gold, y’all — they tell you so much about your homeschool. You can plan a whole year with nothing but these lists to guide you.

Finally, controversially, I do not plan out my lessons or our schedule in advance. Instead of making a list of what I want to accomplish, I keep lists of what we DID ACCOMPLISH. I write down what we did at the end of each day. This is like the most liberating thing ever, you guys. I pick our books and resources and curriculum, and we do a little each day, as much as we want, and then I write it down. We can speed through things if we want to, or we can spend weeks on one lesson. I cannot overstate how this has revolutionized our homeschool — it may not be for everyone, but the minute I stopped trying to plan in advance, my homeschool relaxed and my homeschool confidence rocketed.

These strategies have seen me from kindergarten through senior year, and while homeschooling sometimes got more complicated, my planning method has stayed fairly simple.

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Watch Out for these Homeschool Blind Spots

There are two keys to a successful homeschool: The first is figuring out what works for your family, and the second is knowing when your carefully figured out system needs to change.

A happy homeschool is one that grows with you, and what works Right Now might not work six months from now — or it might carry you all the way through high school! Knowing when it’s time to change can be challenging, so give your homeschool a checkup now and then to make sure you’re not falling prey to any of these potential blind spots.

You’re stuck in the status quo.

We all get caught up in the everyday — and being present in the moment is part of a happy homeschool, so that pattern makes sense. If you get too complacent, though — if you never pause to take stock of what’s working and what’s not or to consider what the next stage of your homeschool might look like — you can miss knowing when it’s time to make a change.

You’re obsessed with making it work.

We’ve all fallen into a situation where we’ve spent too much time or money or emotional energy on something, and we’re determined to make it work. But whether it’s a pricey curriculum or poetry tea time, if something just doesn’t work for your homeschool, you reach a point of diminishing returns. Don’t be afraid to cut your losses.

You’re stuck in planning mode.

There’s a great moment in Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass where protagonist Will realizes that he has to make a decision: He laments that once he sets out in one direction, all the other possibilities go away. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of all the options and stick to one, but if you’re never sure what road you’re on, you can’t tell when it’s time to make a turn. Make a decision, and move forward.

This was originally published in the winter 2019 issue of HSL.

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