(It’s easier thank you think!)
Hi there! I’m Madison Leigh, homeschool mom of three girls, who are all early elementary age. I started homeschooling about two years ago, and it’s been the best decision for our family. I never imagined that I could feel so fulfilled by this choice until we dove in head first- rather unexpectedly! Families make the choice to homeschool stemming from all sorts of reasons. For our family, it was somewhat forced and came as a blessing in disguise. In late 2022, my middle daughter was diagnosed with PANDAS. Leading up to her diagnosis, my daughter missed a lot of school due to her symptoms She was in first grade, attending a public school, and because of her truancy, we were recieving threats and potential court notices.We had to act accordingly. I pulled her out of school and intended on enrolling her again once we had her health in order. Well, what I learned was that homeschool was something that we would come to love so much that we soon pulled out my oldest daughter as well as made the choice to not even enroll our youngest.
Think you aren’t cut out?
You might be right, or you might be more capable than you realize! Today, homeschool is a bit more popoular than it used to be. With families secular and religious and everything in between choosing to homeschool much more often now, ther is a huge variety of resources, curriculums, and online forums at your fingertips. There is so much support, that it’s almost hard to come up with reasons not to homeschool! However, I know us anxious types like to know everything upfront before making decisions. With my 5 steps to start homeschool, I hope to ease some of your worries and fears as well as answer questions you might have.
Some things to consider before diving deeper are: can you handle the extra noise, mess and meals at home that come with the package? Can you fit homeschooling expenses into your budget? (There are so many good articles and YouTube pages that will help you find cheap and free resources! You can homeschool for very little cost!) Does your state offer any kind of aid or fiancial support to homeschooling families? (If you are in Arizona, consider an ESA!) Are you organized enough to comply with the laws and regulations of your state? Does your child have special needs and can you accommodate them on your own (the answer to that is often yes and better than public schools can).
Do you have to dislike public school to be a homeschooler?
It is easy to think that homeschoolers hate traditonal schools and teachers, but it isn’t true. What many caregivers learn when they make the switch to homeschooling is that the precious time they get to spend with their kids at home is priceless. Public school is what it is: a large classroom size with one teacher. An extensive amount of transition time and behavior correction, and not a lot of lecture time. Public schools are underprepared to handle children with learning disabilities and children with varying learning styles. In school, children are expected to learn and behave one way, and if they fail to do so they are punished or given low grades. This way of learning is not natural and it gives children a skewed sense of self worth. When a learning concept is difficult or a child needs more time or even a different learning style in order to succeed, there isn’t much room, time, or support to help them when there are so many other students and a strict schedule. The truth is that school has become something more of a social, childcare experience rather than an enriching education opportunity. At home, parents can get so much done with their children one on one in such a short amount of time. Homeschool gives the opportunity for kids to learn at their own pace, in their own style, and even to explore the topics that they find most interesting. At home, we are given the chance to foster a love for learning and exploring new things, people, and places. Brick and mortar school often utilizes boring text books, memorization, and drilling facts. It’s just not as fun. No, we don’t hate public schools and teachers at all. We just LOVE the fact that our kids are thrilled about learning and are actually comprehending all that they are taking in. Plus there’s plenty of time for them to still be kids! Playing outside, making messes, participating in extracurriculars and sports, doing art, reading for pleasure, learning new video games, going on day trips, exploring and so much more.
Convinced? Awesome. Here’s what to do…
If you made it this far, and you are thinking, ‘Yeah. I think I could handle that!’ Great! Keep reading on to see my top 5 steps to start homeschooling. It really is easier than you think and so much fun!
Step 1: Research Your State Laws (because they do very greatly!)
You don’t have to study this in great length, but your first step will definitely be a Google search to find out exactly what your state requires of you. This information is vital for obvious reasons like: being in compliance with the law when it comes to your child’s education. However, it is also vital for less obvious reasons like: wheteher or not you think you can handle the workload! For example, some states require you to track attendance, keep word samples, grade and keep track of your student’s progress, and provide state testing. Some states (Arizona) require none of this at all. Some states require some, but not all of these things. I cannot speak for those who have stricter rules and regulations since I am in Arizona, but I do know that even in the strictest of states, parents make it happen. So just make sure to do your research thoroughly, and decide if it’s something you can handle or not before moving forward.
In the state of Arizona, parents are only required to notarize and file an affadavit with the county’s school superinedent. This must be filed within 30 days of unenrolling from school or within 30 days of your child’s 6th birthday. (Legal starting age for Kindergarten in Arizona is 6 years old). You are required to provide some basic information like yours and your child’s full name and legal Arizona address as well as proof of birth via birth certificate. If you are lucky enough to live in AZ, you have the opportunity to sign up for an ESA (empowerment scholarship account). This is governemnt aid for homeschooling families. As of October 2024, ESA is available to the general public and students do not have to have special needs to qualify. There are downsides to the program, but not enough to keep me from accepting them. My children are entitled to the best education I can provide for them, and I galdly take support for that. One thing to note is that if you have an ESA, you are not legally recognized/classified as a homeschooler. In order to accept ESA funds, you cannot have an affadavit filed declaring your homeschool status. In my opinion, this doesn’t matter very much, but I do say that with ignorance as there are many families in the “legit homeschool” communities who are very angered by this. From what I briefly gathered, they say that it messes with homeschooling statistics for the state which ultmately leads to less support for homeschoolers. I don’t have any particular opinions on that. We are a single income, lower middle class family and money is money.
Step 2: Find Local Facebook Groups to Join for Support
I know. Facebook is not the trending social media site anymore. I persoanlly don’t use it much at all. Except for when it comes to support groups! Facebook groups are invaluable when it comes to topics that we are not experts on. Head over to the platform, hit the search bar, and find a few different homeschool groups to join. Think about your state, city, or neighborhood, and anything else that might pertain to you. I personally have a support group sepcifically for ESA, a homeschool group for my state, and a group for my particular city. There’s also a few that I am in that host playdates and get-togethers regularly (which I am rather bad at committing to, but it’s there should I choose to use it). You can even find groups that are based in specific sports, themes and hobbies. Whatever suits you best, go for it!
Homeschool support groups are the best way to learn more in depth about the laws, meet families similar to yours, learn about events and conventions, research learning and teaching styles, find out what others are using for curriculum, and ask questions. Theres so much that goes down in the groups, that you will learn about things you didn’t even know existed! They say homeschoolers are unsocialized, but with co-ops and support groups being more prevalent than ever before, that’s really not the case any longer!
Step 3: Research Different LEarning & Teaching Styles
Steps 3 and 4 kind of go hand in hand. It’s important to know about your child’s learning style and your preference for how you teach when you research curriculum, but it is also important to just kind of get started and learn as you go. What I suggest you do is research all the different ways that you can get information to your kiddo. Think: auditory, kinesthetic, visual, reading/writing. Some kids take really keenly to one, and some kids need different styles for different subjects. Sometimes kiddos can be good at many or all styles. Your job in the beginning is to draw on what you know about your learner, to the best of your ability, and pick your curriculum based on what you think will be best. It is entirely possible that you won’t get it right the first time around (especially if your child is coming from public school where you were fairly univolved with their learning), but that is perfectly okay! Expect to get things wrong for the first year or two. Do your best to take notes and pay attention because knowing their learning styles really well will save you time and money in the long run!
*It is also important to note that during this stage, it is entirely possible to discover a learning disability or gifted learning ability in one or more of your children. You will need to tailor your searches according to this.*
Along the same lines, teaching style is also very important because no matter what you choose for your home classroom, you have to be able to execute it and stay consistent. If you are really good at preparing, organizing, and doing prep work ahead of time, then you will have plenty of options. However, if you are anything like me, you’ll want to be looking for curriculum that are “open-and-go.” I just cannot bring myself to read lessons and do lots and lots of prep work on weekends. I know myself, and I simply will not stay consistent with it. I have to choose curriculums where I can sit down and start without too much prep. Otherwise I get frustrated, my kids get bored and lose interest, and I burn out.
Step 4: It’s Time to Research Curriculum Options!
This is easily my favorite part and continues to be each school year! Researching curriculum for me usually takes place on YouTube. I am a visual learner, after all, and I love to physcially see the products and how other people are using them. I have learned about almost every curriculum that I know about from YouTube first (the others came from Facebook groups). When I first started blogging, I came across one of my favorite secular homeschool moms, Shanna, from Making Everyday Magic, and that is how I found Timberdoodle! Timberdoodle custom curriculum kits are always my starting point when I am planning a homeschool year. The kits include all subjects for grades K-12, and you can even substitute up or down to fit your child’s unique grade level. For example, if you have a learner who is in “second grade,” but they read at a first or third grade level, you would just swap out the levels and be set to go! I will say that I personally do not use their history or science, but for all language arts, critical thinking, art, STEM, learning tools, and a few math items I adore these kits! The girls look forward to their shipments in the mail at the beginning of each year. I have purchased preschool through second grade so far, and what I love is that a lot of the items pass down to the younger kiddos. Because of this you end up saving money each year as well. My youngest of three already has most of the materials she will need through about second grade, and she hasn’t even begun formal schooling yet!
Once I have been on Timberdoodle and customized my kits, I will seek elsewhere to satisfy history and science. It just so happens that I have found a program that I love for both of these subjects and so far I keep going back to them. BookShark is a company that also has all-in-one curriculum kits. You can break the kits up subject by subject, and so I just purchase histroy and science from them. Their programs are literature based which looks like reading books outloud to my kiddos while we sit around our homeschool table and this really works well for us. I don’t think I have gone a day without reading a book to my kids in their whole life, so having the many options that come with BookShark is such a joy for us- not to mention the exposure to multicultural books that I otherwise would not know about. Once I have Timberdoodle and BookShark set to go, I will start thinkning about extarcurriculars and other subjects we might want to cover. For the 2024/25 school year we decided to try out Spanish. I looked into a few different courses and ultimately settled on the Homeschool Languages box set. So far, my kids have claimed this as their favorite subject! Don’t count out foreign language in your homeschool because your learners just might surprise you. Now that you know how I get set up with curriculum, I hope you feel confident enough to set out on your own YouTube rabbit hole and find some really fun stuff that will work for your kiddos!
Step 5: Prepare Yourself for Unsolicited Comments (from non-supporters and well meaning family members alike)
It is no secret that there are many stereotypes that surround the homeschool universe. You will almost definitely run into friends, family, school teachers, and strangers who will try to question your decisions and choices. I have heard many things from people who feel so inclined to share their worries with me about my children… they want to know how my children will ever possibly become socialized or if I really think they will even learn enough at home. They want to know how I could possibly have the stamina to have the kids home at all times, and whether or not they could truly develop into functioning members of society. I imagine people think that homeschoolers hunker down at home, don’t see the sun, and therefore have dangerously low levels of vitamin D or something. I’m not sure what it is, but I do know that my children are thriving at home with the type of support they couldn’t possibly recieve from another adult. My husband and I are the people in their lives who care the very most about them, so of course we will always ensure that they are getting the very best we have to offer. It is not lost on me, that for some families, homeschooling is not possible. We are very grarteful to have this opportunity. ESA is a huge help for us, but I have to say that even if we didn’t have it, we would still homeschool. We would just have to change the way we did it. That would be worth it to me though. Long story long, don’t let anyone else ever tell you what is best for your family. Will the comments come? Almost definitely. Is it a deal breaker? Most definitely not.
Everything that I have shared above comes from my own experiences and opinions. Each family will have varying degrees of difficulty or ease in each area. You may begin some of these steps and learn that homeschooling may not be right for your family. That is okay! My hope, though, is that these steps show you how simple it can be to begin. We have found that since we began homeschooling, life has really slowed down in the best way. Days are longer and filled with love, joy, and family time. Is it loud? Heck yeah. Is it messy? SO messy. Do I cook all day? Yep. But I’m their mom. Spending these precious days with them, being fully emersed in their interests and what they’re learning (and I am learning alongside them!), and truly being able to hand deliver the best to each of them is such a gift that I will cherish until they are grown and don’t need me so fully anymore. As they get older and begin to feel for which direction they want their adult lives to go in, I can tailor their education plans to get them where they need to be. Homeschool fell into our lap on accident, but we are happily married to this life now!
I would love to read your comments! Are you considering homeschooling? Where are you from and what are your state laws like? What drew you to homeschooling? Thanks for being here!