My Best Homeschooling Advice {A Simple Homeschool Collection}

For the past few years I was a regular contributor to Simple Homeschool, which I think is the absolute best homeschooling site out there. I really do. In my efforts to cut down on the busyness of my life, I stepped down from my monthly writing at Simple Homeschool, but all of my articles are still there. I'm proud of my work there. It's some of my best writing about the more philosophical side of homeschooling—not the "how tos" necessarily, but the "why we do this" and "what it all means." Writing these posts every month or so really served as a reminder to me about the beauty of this journey we are on and just how incredibly blessed we are to be doing life like this.

Read on.


Reason Enough to Homeschooling: Maybe my favorite post ever. I re-read it every so often just to remind myself.

Burying the Big Yellow Bus: That yellow bus can keep on passing us by. This is my other absolute favorite post.

My Dozen Best Pieces of Homeschooling Advice: That's right. Twelve things I think I did right, for the most part.

Our Top 25 Read-Alouds (Ages 5-12): A list of delicious books we've read with the kids over the years—and lots of good suggestions in the comments, too.

Responding to the Homeschooling Critics: Should I keep my mouth shut, or should I respond?

The Best Part of Homeschooling—Enjoying Them:  We seize the days together, and that is the sweet essence of homeschooling.

What Counts as Homeschooling?: Hiking? Biking? Board games? Field trips? Don't be boxed in by a desk and textbook!

Are Homeschooled Kids Weird?: Aren't we all?

10 Ways to Adjust Your Attitude When You're Homeschooling for the Long Haul: Wow! That was a long title. What happens when you're not really excited about homeschooling for this particular season?

Physical Education for Homeschooled Teens: Get creative. Not all kids are meant to play team sports!

Stepping Outside the Grade-Level Box: What do grades really mean? Homeschooling is all about learning at one's own pace—but teach your kids what grade they are in, anyway!

A Guide to Navigating the Homeschooling Community: Hike your own hike. There are a lot of crazies out there.

Homeschool Through High School? You Really Can!: I've done it, I'm doing it, and I'll do it again!

Keeping the Obligation Out of Tradition: Dealing with family traditions with reluctant teens.

My Biggest Homeschooling Mistake—Not Traveling More: My own post inspired me to be more deliberate about traveling!

Seeking a Professional—Our Speech Therapy Journey: Homeschooling parents can't always do it all; here's our journey to better speech.

Decluttering 101: I'm not the neatest person in the world by any stretch, but for me, a decluttered house is necessary for homeschooling.

Reclaiming Family Time: How do we get back to that place of simplicity?

Transitioning Into the Big Kid Years: Ways to make the transition from playdough to research papers.

 Day in the Life Posts:
• 2013 (12 and 15 year olds)
• 2012 (11 and 14)
• 2011 (10 and 13 and a new college student)

Curriculum Fair Posts
• 2012: Of America and War
• 2011: High School, Take 2



{If you don't subscribe to Simple Homeschool, I highly recommend it. I know, you're saying "But I already read so many homeschooling blogs!" Head on over there and click your favorite subscription icon at the top—you'll be inspired and educated, week after week.}

hy reading aloud to your kids is good for them. I think I would go so f - See more at: http://simplehomeschool.net/advice/#sthash.g61GVBhc.dpuf

hy reading aloud to your kids is good for them. I think I would go so f - See more at: http://simplehomeschool.net/advice/#sthash.g61GVBhc.dpuf

Much more important to me than choosing curriculum or having well-organized shelves or even deciding whether to keep homeschooling is the tremendous task of being a good parent. - See more at: http://simplehomeschool.net/advice/#sthash.g61GVBhc.dpuf

Much more important to me than choosing curriculum or having well-organized shelves or even deciding whether to keep homeschooling is the tremendous task of being a good parent. - See more at: http://simplehomeschool.net/advice/#sthash.g61GVBhc.dpuf

Much more important to me than choosing curriculum or having well-organized shelves or even deciding whether to keep homeschooling is the tremendous task of being a good parent. - See more at: http://simplehomeschool.net/advice/#sthash.g61GVBhc.dpuf

My best dozen pieces of homeschooling advice

Our support group’s annual Homeschooling 101 is coming up soon, and I’ve been putting together notes and packets in preparation for my presentation.

I love looking out at the audience and seeing so many people; and whether their faces are eager, apprehensive, confused, or even terrified, they all have this in common: they desperately want to do the best for their children. Some of them will find out that homeschooling is the absolute best choice they can make; others will pursue different avenues.

Invariably, sometime during the session, the question comes in some form:

what piece of advice would you give a newbie?

Come on over to Simple Homeschool today for my best dozen pieces of advice!

Responding to Homeschooling Critics

I am blessed to live in an area where homeschooling is not at all unusual. Everyone knows at least a few homeschooling families; nonetheless, we aren’t immune to the naysayers, the critics.
I used to be outraged. I used to bristle. I remember one of my first encounters with a lady who was quite vocal about her disgust with homeschooling. I had just moved to town and was attending a new church. Here is how my conversation went with this woman:

"So where does your son go to school?”
“I am homeschooling him.”
“Oh. Well, I would never do that. We have the best schools in the state right here.”

That was the end of the conversation. She actually turned her back to me, quite literally, and never engaged me in conversation again for the decade I attended that church.

Most of us have had that conversation or one similar. We’ve heard the common babble about socialization to the audacious “why aren’t you using your degree?” and its strange partner, “do you even have a teaching degree?” comments. …

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool to read the rest of my article about responding to homeschooling critics! And be sure to share your stories and struggles in the comments!}

My Day in the Life {Simple Homeschool}

The sky is just starting to lighten. From my regular perch I watch a new day come, wait for the riot of color as the sun pops up over the mountains.

The next few hours are mine. This is the “me” time that stay-at-home moms crave: my creative time, productive time, devotion time, exercise time. I write, pray, run, plan, catch-up, check things off—and add things to—my to-do list. I shower quietly, without my ears tuned to the cries of “Mommy!”

You with little ones don’t have this—I know. Your little ones are your alarm clock.

But one of these days, you’ll have middle and high schoolers who sleep in late—and you won’t.

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool to read my Day in the Life post with a 12- and a 15-year old.}

The Best Part of Homeschooling: Enjoying Them

As I write, three teenagers in Santa hats are in the kitchen loudly singing, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” It is 7:15 a.m., and I hush them because I don’t want them to wake “the baby.” The baby is almost 12, and like most tweens, he likes to sleep in.

We’re a long way from reading quietly during the baby’s naptime. We’re a long way from making handprint wreaths and salt dough ornaments.  My daughter and her friends are making their lunches before they head out to co-op, where they’ll have a full day of classes: ecology, American literature, American history, geometry, ACT Prep, and drama.

They leave. My 12-year-old still snoozes; the cat snores softly on the couch. The house is almost perfectly quiet. There is not one single toy visible to me, not even a Lego guy head.…

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool to read about the absolute best part of homeschooling.

What Counts as Homeschooling?

At a recent roundtable discussion organized by our homeschooling support group, a brand new homeschooling mom raised her hand and asked the perennial question: What counts as homeschooling?

I have heard the same questions dozens of times through the years: Can I count playing board games? Can I count hiking as PE? Can I count the afternoon we spent talking with a veteran about WWII? Can I count our trip to Washington DC? Yes, yes, seriously? and YES!

I know the question that is being asked. It comes from a deeply ingrained assumption that if it is school, it must be ___________ [boring, tedious, difficult, taxing, mind-numbing, repetitive—you choose]. For some reason, we feel that we must put an official stamp of approval on an activity in order for it to “count” as “school.”

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool to read the rest of my article!} 

Are Homeschooled Kids Weird?

Admit it. Somewhere deep in your heart, you’ve wondered, especially if you’ve ever heard someone say, “I know a homeschooling family at my church. Those kids are weird!”

Haven’t we all asked ourselves: are my kids weird?

Weird. Normal. We all have our own definitions. You might say, “I don’t want my kids to be ‘normal’ by today’s standards!” And you might also say, “But I don’t want my kid to be labeled as a weirdo!” So here’s the thing…

{Read the rest of my article "Are Homeschooled Kids Weird?" on Simple Homeschool!}

10 Ways to Adjust Your Attitude When You're Homeschooling for the Long Haul

I keep counting on my fingers, so I must be right: we are beginning our 13^th year of homeschooling. Thirteen years! And I have to be honest—I’m not always exuberant about starting back.
It isn’t that I want to send my kids to school or anything like that; I just like having lazy summer days. I am reluctant for all our activities to resume, and I really just want to go to the pool, hang out by the river, or travel across the country.

I recently co-facilitated a session for brand new homeschoolers. They were so eager! They shared ideas, suggested websites, exchanged email addresses, arranged play dates, asked about clubs, brainstormed field trips, and, of course, talked curriculum.

My kids are in middle, high school, and college now. I miss those days of anticipation, of bright construction paper and M&M math. I miss sticky crafts, our giant box of inventing supplies (e.g., toilet paper tubes, shoeboxes, and popsicle sticks), and reading by the sandbox while the kids played.

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool to read my tips for an attitude adjustment — and share some of your own!}

Physical Education for homeschooled teens {on Simple Homeschool}

P E, phys ed, gym: whatever you called it, all of us public schoolers did it. Some of us dreaded it; some of us considered it the best part of the day. If you had to wear one-piece gym suits that zipped up the front, well, I’m laughing (and blushing) right along with you.

So how do homeschoolers handle PE? I am surprised at the number of people who ask me “Does [swimming, hiking, gymnastics, dancing] count as PE?” Of course! If your child is getting exercise, he is engaged in PE.

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool today to get ideas and tips for PE in your homeschool!}

A Guide to Navigating the Homeschooling Community

We homeschoolers are an opinionated bunch. After all, at some level one of the reasons we home educate this is because we want to do things our own way. And, well, let’s get down to it:

We often think our way is the best way, and we want to share that with as many of you as possible.

 We are prepared to opine on any number of topics, from science programs to parenting philosophies to clothing choices. We like to raise our eyebrows, give a little shake or nod of our heads, and give you knowing smiles. …

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool today to read the rest of my post, and find out the 2 Golden Rules to remember when navigating the homeschooling community.}

2012 Curriculum Fair: What We're Doing Next Year

I am so excited about this upcoming year! I have always maintained that educational flexibility is the highlight of home education, and 2012-13 will be one of those years that embraces flexibility.

Shouldn’t education be crafted by creativity, rather than squished into a box labeled “scope and sequence”?

For me, part of the joy in homeschooling my kids comes with the designing, the knowing that my kids get an individualized education plan that suits them perfectly.

So here is what I have planned for my two at-home kids:…

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool to read what we have planned for next year!}

Homeschooling Through High School {A Simple Homeschool post}

Homeschooling high school. Those three little words can alarm the calmest parents. I have seen the stress cross their faces and watched their hands clench tightly. “I know my daughter is only 8, but I am already getting nervous about high school!”

Oh, please don’t get nervous. Don’t throw away those precious years pondering how in the world you will teach algebra and chemistry and essay writing. Enjoy them while they still like climbing trees and making baking soda-and-vinegar volcanoes.

But one of these days, yes: you will have to think about high school. …

{Come on over to Simple Homeschool to read the rest of my article!}

Show Us Your Day-in-the-Life

Over at Simple Homeschool we contributors have been sharing our Day-in-the-Life posts for the past several weeks. (Here is mine.) Now it's your turn! Write up your own post and link up at Simple Homeschool. We homeschoolers l-o-v-e to read what other homeschoolers are up to. I don't know about you, but I always feel relieved when I read about other families that start at 10 a.m.! If you don't want to write one, be sure and visit all the links there. You'll get ideas, inspiration, and encouragement—and probably some amusement, as well!

My Day-in-the-Life Post

The first thing I had to do when asked to take part in this year’s “Day in the Life” series was to look back at my post from last January. I wondered how much our daily life had changed in a year.

Well, a lot.

{Come and find out what a typical day at our house might look like over on Simple Homeschool. While you're there, check out similar posts by the other Simple Homeschool writers!}

Keeping the Obligation Out of Tradition (A Simple Homeschool Post)

I am a great lover of family traditions. In fact, my entire master’s thesis was built around the theme of tradition and legacy. I love the stories that are passed down from generation to generation, the bits of family legend, as well as the tangible items: our grandmothers’ china, the old grenade and bayonet from World War II, Aunt Mabel’s jewelry, old books inscribed in elegant handwriting, and threadbare quilts with my mother’s old dresses.

In our own family, my husband and I decided early on in our marriage to deliberately cultivate traditions. We had one or two of our own before the kids were born and then added to them yearly. We have collected a solid stash of them in these 20-some years, from candlelight dinner every Saturday night, to the bedtime reading ritual, to taping numbers all around the house each birthday eve in celebration of a child’s new age. ...

But what happens when our kids outgrow the traditions, or just don’t want to take part? Come on over to Simple Homeschool to read the rest of my post!

My Biggest Homeschooling Mistake: Not Traveling More

One of the things that really aggravated me when our son was in public school in first grade was being told that we shouldn’t go on trips that would make him miss school.

Really? So being in a classroom is more culturally valuable than going to a Greek festival? So he’ll learn music better if he’s jingling bells than if he is at a symphony? History is more likely to come alive for him within the four walls of school than at Gettysburg?

When we decided to homeschool, I knew that much of my children’s education would consist of hands-on learning that included going lots of places. I imagined us taking the Civil War trail along the East Coast, following Lewis and Clark’s adventures out west, digging up dinosaur bones in Utah, ogling masterpieces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I even had it calculated that my husband would be eligible for sabbatical when our oldest was in high school, so we would spend six months somewhere far away (and per my husband’s career, botanically interesting), like Australia or South Africa.

The best laid plans, eh?

As so often happens, the reality of our life clashed with my vision. …

Please visit Simple Homeschool today to read the rest of my post, and while you are there, check out the rest of the Biggest Mistakes series:

• Saving Projects for a Rainy Day
• Not Starting Sooner
• Giving in to Fear
• Knowing It All
• 2-for-1 Homeschooling
• Not Asking for Help Sooner
• Failing to Be Me
• Teaching in Subject Blocks

Seeking a Professional: Our Speech Therapy Journey

We really thought he would outgrow it. Eventually he’d start saying “right” instead of “wight” and “guitar” instead of “guitah.” He’d eventually master his sister’s name — Laurel—which is a nightmare for kids who struggle with the L and R sounds.

Both of our boys were born with ankyloglossia, a condition in which the frenulum (that little band of tissue that connects the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is too short and tight, thus restricting the movement of the tongue. In other words, they were tongue-tied.

{Want to find out what happened? Read more about our journey into speech therapy on Simple Homeschool!}

Reason Enough to Homeschool

Where I live, the public schools begin in early August. Summer still—the hottest month of the year—and kids are sitting in slick chairs, pencils sharpened, new shoes still a little tight. I imagine a little boy just my son’s age watching a fat bee hover outside the window. He can’t hear it buzzing, of course, because the air conditioner drones at high speed, drowning out the sounds of bees and the smell of sunshine and dry grass.

We started homeschooling 12 years ago because…

• We thought it was silly that our then-first-grader spent time each week in public school devoted to filling in bubbles on a test page. He and his classmates were practicing for the standardized tests they would have to take in second grade. …

{Come visit Simple Homeschool to read the rest of my article! And while you're there, be sure to browse around at other great posts, like The Worst Reason to Homeschool by editor Jamie Martin. Fantastic!}

Linked to:

Stepping Outside the Grade-Level Box (Simple Homeschool)

Ask a homeschooled kid the innocuous “What grade are you in?” and you’ll often get a furrowed brow and an answer with a question mark at the end.

“Fourth?”

This response can be alarming to grandparents, non-homeschooling friends, and the cashier at Walmart. Their raised eyebrows ask, “He doesn’t know what grade he’s in?”

Well, no. Not exactly. That hallmark of traditional schooling—the passing from grade to grade—isn’t of utmost importance in homeschooling. The age/grade correlation just isn’t necessarily present.

If your nine-year-old is reading at a post-college level, does that make him 23? Who decided, after all, that picture books are for preK-3^rd grade, that pre-algebra is done in middle school, and that high school takes four years?

Who came up with all this stuff? I don’t know the answer to that. What I do know is that …

{Don't stop now! Find out what I know by reading the rest of this article at Simple Homeschool.}

2011 Curriculum Fair: Your Turn

Over the past month, all the contributors at Simple Homeschool have shared our plans for 2011. Now it's your turn!

As Jamie, editor of Simple Homeschool says, "Whether you’re an unschooler, a traditionalist, a Charlotte Mason fan, a Waldorf follower, or any and all in between, at Simple Homeschool we respect the unique choices you make for your family. And I’d love to hear from you today."

You can join in the 2011 Curriculum Fair by linking to your blog post in the comments, or you can just post your plans in the comments at Simple Homeschool. What fantastic reading material those comments will be!