Note: This blog was inspired by a recent blog that I saw where the person was trying to give advice on how to prepare people to become parents. I think the same applies for those about to make the HUGE decision to Homeschool your kids. To say that my life has changed since I began homeschooling would be an understatement. I get asked all the time by those considering homeschooling where to begin. This blog will help you :)
1) The first thing you need to do to prepare for home educating your children is to become accustomed to having the kids with you 24 hours a day. I suggest making a TO-DO list of all the things that you have neglected over the past few years. Think getting your teeth cleaned, pressure washing the house, cleaning out the inside of all your cabinets, getting your car detailed, getting a facial, cleaning your gutters, early Christmas shopping etc. Now, plan on doing all of them over the course of the next week. Make sure you have your children with you at all times. Become accustomed to singing your ABC's while you are waiting in line and skip counting as you walk through the grocery store. Remember, everything is a "Learning Opportunity" now. There is educational value in the produce section of your local grocery store. Have your children put the apples and the oranges in the cart while also putting them into a pattern. Bring along a couple of hula hoops with you everywhere so you have a "Handy Venn Diagram" with you at all times. Go out and purchase annoying cd's that you can play that teach math concepts. The more irritating the better. Play them repeatedly in the car, over and over until you know all the words. Repeat for several years.
2) It is important for you to grasp that cleaning your house will be "different" now that the children are home all the time. I suggest going through the house and cutting up construction paper in each room. Take all the shoes out of your kids closet and sprinkle them in each room. Clean your living room then immediately have the children run through it after they have played in dirt. Take every book you can find and open it up and leave it all over the kitchen table. Go to the library and max out the amount of books you can borrow. Now give them to your children and tell them to hold them on their person for the next 3 weeks. Now, go on a mad search and gather them all and do this again.
3) Homeschooling with toddlers in the house: To practice teaching your older children while having little ones underfoot I suggest getting some chickens. Let them run around the room while trying to teach a history lesson. Make sure your older children pay attention to you and not focus on the chickens. Be cheerful & calm. If you have a male child add a rooster to the mix.
4) Now it's time to decide on your curriculum. Find a Rainbow resource book and read all 5 billion pages. Scour the internet late into the night on Pinterest for lesson plans. When reading the ads for the curriculum that make it sound like it could change your life be sure to get really excited. Order several different kinds. Make sure to tell your kids all about their new curriculum so they can share in the joy! Stay up late for weeks planning a curriculum then only do it for two days. Start the process over again. Do this for several years. Make sure you read lots of homeschool blogs where the families are perfect and cover 93 subjects everyday of the week.
5) Now it's time to set up your "school".Get on the internet and google homeschool rooms. Look under images to get inspired. Go out and purchase a flag, a school bell, desks and spend days painting and redecorating your living room to look like a classroom(think rainbows and cheerful colors). Buy a chalkboard. Set up "stations" for math and reading. Make it look like your childhood kindergarten classroom. Now, do all your laundry and fold all the clean clothes and put it all over the desks and chairs. From this point on you won't be using this classroom since your kids prefer to sit at the kitchen table or the floor to learn.
6) Now it's time to grasp which type of homeschooling philosophy you are going to embrace. Go to the library and check out books and unschooling, Charlotte Mason, The Moore Method, Carschooling, eclectic homeschooling etc. Read them all cover to cover. Each week try a new one. Repeat 100 times for the next 5 years.
7) It's important to have a cheerful heart so you can inspire your children. Stand in front of the mirror every morning and talk about your least favorite subject. For me it would be math. You might want to study the subject for a few days so you can look like you are really smart. Kids come equipped with a BS METER. Now, make this subject sound like its something you will need to use in everyday life. "Today we are going to talk about algebra. Algebra is really important because you could become rich if you are the person who FINALLY FIGURES OUT WHAT THE HELL X STANDS FOR!! You could make millions by posting this on YouTube. You could become a YouTube Math Sensation and have a billion hits. Then a college scouter could come offer YOU $ to go to Harvard. . It could happen".
YOU ARE NOW READY TO HOMESCHOOL YOUR CHILDREN.
In all seriousness, homeschooling did change my life. I count a trip to the bathroom as "me time". I have had to lower my expectations about what a clean house looks like. I have found the "perfect" curriculum and changed it a billion times! However, my kids are thriving. I can safely say that most days are really cool because I get to see their face light up when they learn something new. I KNOW my kids. They have become really good friends with each other. We don't spend half of our life sitting in the car on the way to/from school. We don't spend our nights doing homework. We take vacations when we want. Lastly, I know that my kids are getting a QUALITY education that's aimed at obtaining knowledge for life, not for a standardized test.
