Homeschooling

You have been reading books, blogs, mailing lists and whatever else you can seem to get your hands on. You have read all about how great it is to homeschool, how wonderful of an experience it is, everything always seems to be just perfect. But what about the days that are......well, less than perfect? What about those days where you wonder if you have made the right choice, if homeschooling is in the best interest of your kids? What about those days where no matter what you try you are met with resentment, crying children, every effort you make met with a battle?

Those bad days are days every homeschooler will have at one time or another, yet it is exactly those days you will rarely read about. Nobody likes to talk about the bad days and so much concentration goes into trying to bring a positive light to homeschooling, which the bad days seem to go unmentioned. It can be very discouraging to think you are the only one experiences bad days or typical problems that can creep up from time to time. Yet every homeschooler has had them, you are NOT alone! Reading things online can be very deceiving because people only write on the days that seem to be running smoothly.

Depending on what is going wrong though, thankfully there are ways to deal with them and to get things back on track. Try to keep in mind that a bad day is simply that, a bad day and that tomorrow is a new day. Sometimes however it will take more than just a new day to turn things around. There are many things that can be done to get things back to running smoothly for some of the more common issues a homeschooler faces which will be covered in this article. The most important thing is to not give up, especially within the first year.

Many want to give up after the first year and send the kids back to public school as they may feel as if they have failed their children. In this situation, remember that homeschooling is not just new to the child, but it is new to you as well and this first year is generally a learning experience for the adult as well as the child. It takes time to learn how to change a lifestyle, to create schedules that work for your family, to learn how to fit education into daily life and how to prioritize time. After the first year many feel as if they did not accomplish near as much as they should of, in many instances they are right. However this does not mean it is time to throw in the towel, this is a time to reflect on what went wrong, and what should change and how can the next year be better? Many will find after this first year this is much room for improvement. The second year usually is a much improved and satisfying year.

During the first year if you notice things getting way off schedule try to figure out why. Are you putting housework as a priority over education? This is usually a big one to adjust to and it seems as if education can easily get put on the back burner due to the fact there is ALWAYS housework to be done! Housework never goes away and if too much priority goes to keeping house, education easily gets lost in the To Do pile. Here is where you may need to come up with a routine that will work for you and your family, perhaps you and the child can work as a team after breakfast for an hour cleaning house then have a set time to start school. Maybe you can figure out how to multi-task things such as fold laundry next to a child while they are doing their work. Perhaps there are just too many interruptions in the day, in this case be sure to turn the phone off or let an answering machine pick it up during your school hours and letting friends know not to drop in for a visit during your hours you plan on schooling.

You may have a day where even though for quite sometime something has been working, all of a sudden your child starts fighting you and not willing to do the work. In some cases it may of never been working and the kids have fought it from the start. When this happens, try to figure out why the child is acting this way. Are they too tired, maybe did not get enough sleep the night before? Are the bored? Perhaps it is a call for some changes to make things interesting again? Do they have to sit too much? Try alternating sit down or some of the more boring activities with active or hands on or fun ones. Are they testing you? Sometimes they may just be testing you to see if you will give in and let them play rather than do school work. Be firm and let them know there will not be any games, television or play time until the school work is completed.

Perhaps it is the material or even they way you are teaching it? Ask yourself, is it boring to you? If the answer is yes then it will be doubly so for the child. In this instant try to experiment with different methods of how you teach the material or with different material to see if you both can find a way that is much more enjoyable. After all learning should be fun. Perhaps it is simply a cry to get out of the house, ask yourself if you have been homebound too much and perhaps go on a field trip to an interesting place or take the classroom outside for a day. Sometimes all that is needed is to step back and say, you know what? This is just not working, perhaps we both just need a break today and then do just that, take a break. You may take a break for a day or two or even three, how much of a break will have to be your decision and to know it is okay to take breaks!

Perhaps they are simply just not getting enough time to be with children their age and are getting lonely. Try to make sure they have ample opportunity to just be kids and play with kids their age. This may be a trip to a park when kids will be there, getting involved in a local homeschooled group or letting neighborhood friends over when school lets out or getting the kids involved in activities with groups of children such as little league baseball, gym, music or sports at the local school, martial arts or dance classes. Just make sure you do not get them involved in so many activities it is hard to keep up with and can lead to burn out.

Speaking of burnout, this is a very common problem that can happen to homeschoolers. Homeschooling can be a full time job and many just starting out has no idea how exhausting this can be, even unschooled families can get burned out from the high activity levels. It can drain you trying to keep up with activities your child may be involved in, schooling, house keeping, errands, and family and for some even an outside career. Try not to over do things and when burnout does occur, take that needed break until you feel your energy come back again. Homeschoolers do get burned out, after all it is a very involved and busy lifestyle, so be sure to know the signs of it and do what is necessary to rejuvenate your batteries.

No matter what you may experience and I do not care how much you are reading, know that you are not alone and not the first person feel those days that are just not working. Also keep a simple journal of all what you do in a day, keep it simple such as Math-2 worksheets on simple addition, Music- guitar lessons for example. Then when you have one of those days, and oh my, you will, when you are filled with doubt about your choice to home school you can look in your journal and ease your mind with seeing all of what you and your child have accomplished. It is not always all that apparent that your child is learning they are, trust that. We all have questioned why are we doing this again? Is it the right thing? Are we doing what is best for our kids? Having a journal that keeps track of what you do with them is a great tool to help erase all the self doubt that comes up from time to time.

Sometimes, no matter what it comes down to the decision to place the child back into public school as homeschooling just is not what you expected it to be. Know you are not alone here either and this decision is okay as well. Homeschooling is more than a choice, it is a lifestyle and not everyone is suited for this lifestyle. It takes courage to admit this and know it is in the best interest of the child to place them back in public school.

For most of us though, the bad days happen although rarely talked about and is cured by a new day. Do not focus on the destination, rather enjoy the journey. The journey is what it is all about and on most days it is the journey that is such a blessing to share with our children.