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Love is Homegrown

Lead Inspire Teach and Love

FAQ

Can I really do this??

  • If you feel that homeschool is right for your children, if you are brave enough to take the leap, and if you give it your all (seeking help when needed), then I believe you can do this.  In our society, we are often told that we parents don’t know enough to teach our children adequately, and I strongly believe the opposite! You, as the parent of your children, are uniquely qualified to understand what they need and you have the greatest motivation to help them succeed. Have confidence in your God-given stewardship to teach your children and know that He will help you. Given enough resources, time, and support, you can do this!!  For a more in-depth answer to this question, click here.

Where do I start?

  • If you are in the USA, go to HSLDA.org to find the requirements to legally homeschool in your state. They watch these requirements carefully and you can trust them to be accurate and reliable. You MUST comply with the legal requirements!
  • Reach out! We are so blessed to live in a day when we can find mentors, groups and co-ops at the click of a button. Join Facebook groups, or do a Google search for homeschool groups and organizations in your area. Ask questions and find friends. You are not alone and there are so many willing to help guide you and be by your side as you homeschool your children! It is invaluable the help that community can bring to the sometimes lonely road of homeschooling.
  • For a solid foundation as you start homeschooling, for inspiration and a beautiful philosophy of what true education really is, my all-time favorite is the Well-Educated Heart. This is where I recommend everyone start.  Take the Catch the Vision course, read through the WEH Reference Books are the best way to grasp the possibilities of this pattern of learning. Then listen to the Take 5 audios, and explore all the incredible resources available at WEH (including the library of over 4,000 books from the golden age of children’s literature, all FREE).  Marlene also has a very active Facebook group and a wonderful podcast (if you start at the beginning it will help you understand what WEH is all about). Add in a math program and some high school lab science, and you could homeschool K-12 with just the resources at Well-Educated Heart, if you needed to. It is a treasure trove!!
  • Check out our favorite resources and curriculum, gathered through our 12 plus years of homeschooling seven kids.

What am I supposed to teach my children?

  • Honestly I believe the answer to this question is: to find joy in seeing the good, true, and beautiful that abound in the world God gave us. We seek to develop wonder, to learn to see rightly, to make connections. Charlotte Mason said, “True education is between a child’s soul and God.” A lot of the time our main job is to create an environment for growth and learning, then get out of the way and let that happen.
  • The most common basic subjects are; literature, reading and writing (language arts), math, nature/science, history, geography, art, music and physical education. However, in real life these subjects are woven together, so we don’t have to treat them as isolated areas. Everything is connected and learning is a “science of relations” as Charlotte Mason says.
  • Content doesn’t matter as much, so don’t fall into the trap of trying to cover everything, you can’t.  Even if you could, they won’t remember it all.  Do you remember everything you were taught in school?  No. Everyone has different gaps in their learning, no matter where they go to school.  Gaps aren’t a problem if your children know that they can fill them whenever they want, that’s what life-long learning means.
  • Your state will have legal requirements for what you must teach your children, but they vary between states, so make sure you check HSLDA to understand what they are.
  • Remember that every child is unique and the freedom you have in homeschooling gives you the opportunity to meet them wherever they are, come alongside them, and help them move forward.

I don’t know everything in every subject that I have to teach, help!

  • You don’t have to know it all, NO one does!!  There is such joy in learning right along with your children. As we read books together in our homeschool, I am continuing my own education. When my kids ask a question that I don’t know the answer to (which happens all the time) I say, “great question, let’s go find out!” Then we look in books, search online, find a video or documentary, ask someone who may know, etc. We as parents should model the process of asking questions and seeking answers. This is what life-long learning is made of.
  • Teach the things you love and feel most confident in, or read books and learn together, then gather resources that take some of the load off your shoulders.  For instance, I really don’t enjoy math and I don’t remember much of it from when I was in school.  So… I don’t teach it.  The kids have always done either an online curriculum or worked through a well-written, self-guided book.  Luckily my husband loves math so they go to him if they have questions.  If I didn’t have him to help, I could hire a tutor, have the kids take an online class with an instructor, join a co-op and have another mom teach them that subject, etc.
  • Get creative, there are so many resources out there to help you curate your children’s education.  Books, curriculums, online courses, tutors, co-ops, part-time classes at the local high school or community college, apprenticeships, career and technical education programs, and high school teens can even get a job in the area they want to learn. You are not alone, there are SO many paths to learning!

How long does homeschool take each day?

  • Homeschool does NOT need to take as long as public school, I promise. There is no reason to try to reproduce public school at home.  The following estimates are totally ballpark figures because every day is a little different, and they are based on how we homeschool.  (also see “typical homeschool day” question below)  Other methods and curriculums, or online schools, will obviously look very different!
  • With young children, ages 5-8 you could easily be done in less than 1.5- 2 hours.  Most of that will be with you, since they are learning to read and need more direction.  For upper elementary and early middle school, about 3 hours is typical, about 1.5 to 2 hours with you (one hour of that is morning time which all ages participate in).  As they get older they are much more self-sufficient and you take on more and more of a purely mentor role.
  • For upper middle school and high school, my teens spend about 4-5 hours, sometimes less, and about 1.5- 2 hours of that is with me (about one hour of that is morning time which all ages participate in).  They are mostly self-guided and are pursuing their chosen goals, but I also like to read through books with each of them for some one-on-one connection time.  
  • The above estimates are just talking about the concentrated time on typical subjects that most states require homeschoolers to teach.  If your state requires logging more hours than that, remember that much of life at home qualifies.
  • Piano practice is music, cooking with a recipe is math, drawing and coloring is art, a nature walk is science, a family dance party is physical education, reading a book is language arts or could “count” as any subject the book covers.  Remember, daily life is full of learning.

What does a typical homeschool day look like, with several children?

  • The rhythm and routine is going to be totally different for each family! (notice I did not say “schedule,” that is a word that inevitably causes stress for me) We have a general flow to our days and we plan built-in margin. That allows for following rabbit trails of learning, deep discussions, or the emergencies that always seem to arise (like the toddler making a giant mess that now needs to be cleaned up).
  • The best two things we have done are:
    • Morning time!! We LOVE this time together every school day to read stories aloud, sing, pray, learn poetry and scripture, filling our hearts with good and beautiful things.
    • Combine every subject possible. Science, history, geography, art, music, nature study, etc. can be done together “family style” which creates great opportunities for connection as we learn and discuss the same topics. Then the older kids study and read more in-depth during their own individual time, and share with us what they have learned.
  • We currently have four children at home who are homeschooling; ages 15, 13, 8, 5 (three of our children are already graduated from high school). I briefly share our typical daily routine in this article.

How can I learn to be a homeschool teacher?

  • Again, I will point you to the Well-Educated Heart.  Take the Catch the Vision introductory course, then read and study the Mother’s University series of books.  Marlene has a wonderful podcast (start at the beginning) and there is also a very active Facebook group where you can ask questions.  On her app, Marlene has a series of how-to audios called Take 5, short and sweet, they will help you learn how to implement WEH.
  • Bottom line is…have confidence in your abilities as a parent and understand that you don’t have to know everything before you can teach a subject.  Learn and grow along with your children.  Be a good example of the learning process of asking questions, finding answers, and recording what you want to remember.

Can I homeschool for free?

  • Yes, I believe you can! The list of our favorite resources includes many free options, but I will list some examples here. A very helpful facebook group called Homeschool for Free is a great place to ask specific questions.
    • All-in-One
      • Libraries of Hope (this collection can serve as a full curriculum for the family, including over 100 free books covering history, geography, nature, art, music, poetry, and literature)
      • Ambleside Online (a completely free full curriculum for every grade. It takes awhile to get oriented on the website but it is worth it if you are looking for a quality literature-based curriculum.)
    • History/Geography
      • Forgotten Classics (free American Freedom series, World History series, Great Lives series, and more)
      • Liberty Kids (wonderful show that makes American History come alive for kids, currently available on YouTube)
      • Seterra.com (practice geography and quiz yourself)

My child is 4 years old and I am excited to homeschool, what do I need to do?

  • Most everything you need can be found at Well-Educated Heart.  How I wish I had WEH when I first started out!  Marlene teaches parents to honor a child’s natural curiosity and desire to learn, then nurture their heart through story, music, nature, poetry and art.  
  • Please don’t fall into the trap of feeling like your child will be behind, or that you must push academics.  The younger years are the prime time to wonder, discover, laugh, play and build your relationships.  Here is what I would tell myself if I could start over.

What about socialization?

  • This is an inevitable question that will be asked at some point. The short answer is: your kids are going to be just fine!  Homeschoolers interact every day with adults and children alike. They can connect with people outside of their own age and this is an asset. Homeschoolers don’t usually just stay at home all day.  We are part of a co-op, we go on field trips, we meet other homeschoolers at the park, the teens have a church youth group, the high school kids take part-time classes at the local charter school and have a daily church seminary class. My kids don’t have hours of homework to do, so they have time to play with neighbor friends. We also have more time at home to teach proper manners and can be even more purposeful about the values we are passing on to our children as we connect and develop our family relationships.
  • Even if you are stuck at home for reasons out of your control, you can: start a book club, science club, geography or spelling bee, or simply a monthly showcase of what you are learning, and then meet together on Google Hangouts or Zoom. You can call family and friends (especially the elderly), you could even play chess and other board games remotely, or give Jackbox.tv a try.
  • The question of socialization was answered for me when I heard Gordon Neufeld speak.  This video is long but so SO good!! Meaningful connection with parents, not peers, is what makes the most difference in how confident a child is, especially in their sense of self, as they go out into the world. “You cannot parent a child’s heart you do not have,” Dr. Neufeld says.

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Spotlight


Goethe said,

“[One] should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul."