Homeschooling…Our Journey so far

For the past couple of years I have taken on the responsibility of teaching my son at home. This was not something I saw myself doing before kids. Before kids, I thought I would just be working at the school my kids went to so that I would be able to be there if something were to happen. Having worked in the school system and social services field I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve seen how flawed the system can be. I’ve worked with people who don’t even like kids. These people were teachers and people who are suppose to be protecting children. I did not want to have to put my trust in a school and hope that my kid gets a good adult to lead, lookout for them and teach them.

After I had my first son, I really came to terms with the fact that if I want my kids to be strong mentally and to really have value within themselves then I would have to take on that role.

At first it was very intimidating to think about. I had all the normal thoughts and what ifs that come into play when you take on any huge responsibility but I knew that the alternative could be what I experienced. For me growing up and going to public school, I was around drugs, sex, gang activity, racism since I could remember. I mean I remember kids taking Ecstasy when I was in 6th grade. We even had drug bust,occasionally. Teachers and school staff would say things to me and some of my friends that I didn’t make us feel confident or valued. I’ve had principals that I’m sure were pedophiles and peers who would make jokes about my skin and hair. All of these things were just in my elementary years, high school was a whole other beast. On top of all this, to think about all the school shootings that have occurred in the past 15 years was the icing on the cake.

All of this bought me to the conclusion that I would have to take on the responsibility to raise my kids if I wanted to have peace of mind. Luckily, I had the option to homeschool. I know many people who don’t have this option. What I would say as someone who worked in the school system, is to really vet the school, the teachers and support staff at the school your child/children are attending. The after school support as well… Get super involved if you can because there are some weirdos that make it into schools.

Okay so how I started, I looked up state regulations. To my surprise, Arizona has very low regulations. Great news! So that means all I had to do was let the state know that I was going to homeschool my son, sign an affidavit and that was it. I get to choose the curriculum, the hours, everything.

So something great to know, is there are so many options out there. There are complete curriculums where you don’t have to do much, there are virtual classrooms, there are curriculums online and there are some offline. At the end of this blog, I’ll add a list of different homeschooling methods that you can look up and see which one might fit your household the best.

In our house we utilize the relaxed homeschool method, mostly. I tailor his curriculum and day to my son’s interest and academic needs. We have an online program that has language arts, math, and science. My son absolutely loves science so I wanted to incorporate that into his plan. With this program, he gets to use his laptop to complete his lessons. For the most part he can do his lessons independently, which I think is great because it gives him a sense of accomplishment when he completes them without my assistance. I teach reading, black history and handwriting separately from his online curriculum. I really love finding worksheets and lessons off of Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. In addition to his online science lessons, we do hands on science experiments/lessons that also double as life lessons and basic knowledges lessons (reading time, calendars, taking temps, weighing objects, etc.) We also create a lot of art together.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Since he is homeschooled, we have a lot of time to go out into society and participate in activities with other kids. We often go to Barnes and Noble, The Children’s Museum, parks, stores, etc., so that our kids can play, learn and interact with others. Eventually, once it’s safe to really travel and move around the U.S we plan to travel and teach our boys on the road and abroad.

I think it’s important to lastly mention that the narrative that if a child is homeschooled they won’t gain social skills is completely untrue. Going to public school does not automatically make you equipped socially in the world. It didn’t do that for me. What equips a child is having parents who are intentional about the child’s self esteem, self respect, their own value and how to care and value others. With that being said, we are big on teaching our kids these things so that they know how to navigate in their truest form.

Here are some different types of homeschooling methods: Traditional Homeschooling, Classical Homeschooling,Charlotte Mason Method,Montessori Homeschooling,Waldorf Homeschooling, Unschooling Method, Relaxed Homeschooling Method. The list is endless but there are a few to begin your research.

Have you ever thought about homeschooling? What kind of method do you think you would use?