My Homeschooled Kids Are Now Adults

I met a new homeschool mom recently and that made me nostalgic. I know families have questions about homeschool, so here’s my experience.

We started homeschool February 5, 2007. My oldest had just turned 4 and my youngest was not yet 3 (they are 15 months apart). We started by having fun with workbooks and crayons (still my favorite thing).

My oldest was 4 and youngest almost 3 on our first day of homeschool. We started with the fun stuff — workbooks! 2007

The following year, we joined the local home school assistance program (HSAP) which offered a monthly teacher visit to provide assessment. When they reached the age of 3rd grade, I had them tested yearly in our district-wide assessments along with public school kids.

Because I was terrified.

I had no teaching experience. Could I make them learn? What if they got behind because I failed as a teacher and a mom? Here’s what I learned: kids teach themselves. Really. They will learn if you provide opportunities and offer a little guidance. They learn even if you don’t (research “unschoolers”).

Unstructured Time

Homeschool allowed us to learn more quickly when we wanted and slow down when we wanted. They spent time with kids of all ages and adults, but also plenty of time alone. Only a few hours each day were structured.