Make Your Homeschool into a Delight with Necessary Changes
As this new homeschool year takes flight if you’re a new homeschooler or a seasoned pro, remember that you get to make your homeschool what you want. The beauty of homeschooling is the ability to create the home education your child needs, without the stress or comparison traps that other education models display.
As you start your year, remember if a curriculum isn’t working, you’re not obligated to stick with it. This comes in many forms: you can ditch it all together and try something else or just use the text and create your own questions for comprehension. You can use the text and make the lessons more project-based. You’re not obligated to use the curriculum exactly the way the curriculum creators intended. You can change it for your homeschool and your children.
We once used a history curriculum that had so many intricate parts to it that there was no way my daughter, who has dyslexia and ADHD, was going to get through it. So, I used the main text, wrote out comprehension questions for her, and did some of the projects but not all of them. We incorporated field trips as we were financially able to supplement the material and watched a lot of YouTube videos as supplemental material too. You can do that in homeschool.
You can make it your own.
If your child can only handle one or two subjects a day, then beef up those days and make those two subjects hearty. The next day, do a couple more hearty subjects.
Understand that homeschool is about lifelong learning, learning as a family, and incorporating life skills into your day. It’s about taking time out to sit on the couch and read a book aloud, together. It’s about going for a walk, finding an interesting leaf, and examining it. It’s about conversations and getting on the floor to play with your child. Kids on the kindergarten level don’t need eight hours of schoolwork a day; they need playtime and reading and conversation.
Reading aloud is great, no matter if your child is in first grade or eleventh.
For older students in middle and high school levels, it’s more conversation and understanding. It’s remembering what you were like at that age. No, your child doesn’t need an exorcism; your child needs to know you’re in their corner. You have their back. Your child needs structure and boundaries but also freedom to make mistakes. We grow through mistakes.
Your child needs to know church is not an option, and you need to model that. We go to church.
Homeschool isn’t public school at home; you make the decisions and the structure. You make your homeschool what you want it to be. That is the beauty – and responsibility – of homeschooling.
Be encouraged, mom and dad, your homeschool is right for your child, and if it’s hard and a struggle, then make necessary changes to the curriculum, structure, schedule, etc. to stop the struggle and make it into a homeschool that is a delight.
Terrie McKee is an author, speaker, podcaster, and blogger who also homeschools her youngest daughter. She is founder and president of IAJ Ministries which is putting on the “For Such a Time as This” Christian Women’s Retreat (www.IAJMinistries.org/iajretreat). Terrie is married to Greg (who is paralyzed). Together they have four children who all have varying special needs. A follower of Jesus Christ, she teaches adult Sunday School and writes books to encourage Christians on their faith journey. As a homeschooler, she also encourages and inspires other Christian homeschoolers as they home educate their children. Follow her at Homeschooling1Child.com.
