Guest Post – Erin

Please welcome our guest post from Erin at Closing Time. Erin was the designing great behind our header and logo!!

I never dreamed that I’d be a homeschooling mom. It wasn’t in the plan. Homeschooling was for those amazing, together, creative moms who had the patience, organization and determination to educate their children at home day after day. I knew I would not be that mom. I just didn’t have it in me. But God had other plans.

After M was born, my husband, Phil, and I started talking about the possibility of homeschool. By the time she was ready for preschool, after much prayer and consideration, the decision was pretty much made. We would homeschool…and we knew it was the right choice for our family.

In my mind when we started, there was no question of how we would homeschool. The best thing for my children would be to recreate the classroom experience as closely as possible. I truly had no understanding of the different methods of homeschool. I didn’t realize how many curriculum options there are. I chose the traditional curriculum I was familiar with after my own private school experience.

A few months in, as we struggled to find a rhythm to our learning, I began to research. For the first time I began to realize the amazing opportunity that homeschooling can be. The curriculum choices and learning approaches available are almost overwhelming! We quickly made some changes, and I realized I was learning as much about homeschool as my children!  Hopefully our choices this year will be better suited to my girls’ learning styles. I’m incredibly excited to try this entirely different approach as we continue our homeschool journey.

I suspect we will grow more and more eclectic with each passing year as we discover what works best for our family. For those of you who may just be starting out, here are a few things I have learned so far:

• You don’t have to recreate a traditional classroom at home. This might work wonderfully for your children, but if it doesn’t, that’s okay.
• If you start using a curriculum and realize it doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to change it! Find out what learning styles work best for your children, and gear their education around that. (For a great intro to learning styles and love languages, check out last week’s posts here at The Homeschool Village).
• Don’t be afraid to take a day off when you need one. We all get tired and need a break from time to time, and one of the perks of homeschooling is that you can make your own schedule (within state guidelines, of course). By taking breaks as needed, you can help prevent school burnout and keep things fresh.

We will start school the Tuesday after Labor Day, and I can’t wait! I hope you all have an incredibly blessed school year!