Timeless Tips for New Homeschooling Families
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, homeschooling in the United States has grown by around 5% yearly. That means in 2025, we can expect approximately 185,000 new families to enter the wonderful world of homeschooling.
If you think back to your early years of homeschooling, what are some things you wish you’d known when you started? What advice would you give a new family starting today? In this article, we will review the top five things new homeschooling families should know as they dive into this exciting new endeavor!
Tip 5: Homeschooling is a Lifestyle
When you make the decision to homeschool, it is more than just deciding to do academics at home instead of in a school building. It is more like adopting a new lifestyle. Homeschooling makes you rethink your entire domestic routine: how your day is structured, how meals are organized, how and when social time happens, and, of course, what constitutes the education of your children. Sometimes, you get an entirely new social circle as you build bonds with other homeschoolers. Essentially, your entire way of being a family changes—and it changes more to the degree that homeschooling becomes an integral part of your day.
Tip 4: Learning Can Happen Anywhere
If you are new to homeschooling, you might have a very formalized idea of what home education looks like—children sitting at the kitchen table with paper and pencil, books open, studying quietly. While this certainly can be how a homeschool operates, we should broaden our view of what education looks like. Learning need not be as regimented as we imagine. Learning can happen anywhere! It can look like a visit to the museum or a trip to a historic battlefield.
Education can look like helping dad fix the car or learning how to milk the goats. It can be a teenage girl sprawled out on the couch reading an ebook on her Kindle or a boy fooling with the 3D printer in the basement, trying to get his creation just right. When you homeschool, you embrace the idea that learning happens in all sorts of situations!
Tip 3: Curricula Can Be Served À La Carte
When people first transition to homeschooling, they are inclined to view curricula in terms of programs. They don’t always think, “What new educational opportunities does homeschooling make possible?” At least not right away. Instead, they tend to think, “We are leaving one program. What new program will replace it?” Gradually, as they become acclimated to homeschooling life, they begin to realize that they do not necessarily need a program at all. Sometimes, an à la carte approach is more desirable.
Adopting an à la carte approach to homeschooling means you have no “program” to follow. Instead, you pick and choose from a variety of sources. You may sign up for one or two courses from an online curriculum provider such as Homeschool Connections, hire a private tutor for another course, and have your children do independent bookwork for their other lessons. It is an inherently eclectic approach that draws resources from a variety of sources. You don’t have to adopt a single program. You can mix and match from multiple curricula to cobble together something that works best for you!
Tip 2: Flexibility! Flexibility! Flexibility!
One of the best aspects of homeschooling is the opportunities it offers for customization. For example, you can craft an educational experience tailored to your children’s interests and talents. This applies not only to the materials and methods you use but also to the schedule you keep. Additionally, you can learn as you go; if you try one schedule and it doesn’t work, you can switch to something different. If you buy one book that doesn’t suit your child’s needs, you can pitch it and try something else. Homeschooling is all about flexibility; if something isn’t working, identify and change it! You aren’t locked into a rigid regimen like in public school, so feel free to course-correct as needed.
Tip 1: It’s Okay Not To Have It Figured Out
Finally, it’s okay not to have everything figured out! For instance, you’ll get to the end of a semester and won’t have a clue what you’re going to do for the next one. You won’t be able to find the right book. You won’t be sure how to homeschool high school. You will question whether your schedule is the most effective use of your time. There will even be days when you will question whether you are doing a good job at all. All of this is okay!
There’s always a degree of touch-and-go in homeschooling, and even the best organized among us occasionally fly by the seat of our pants. This is all fine! Give yourself some grace, and don’t be put off if you need to stop and gather your bearings or figure something out on the fly. When it comes down to it, the love you pour into your homeschooling will be way more impactful than any semester blueprint will be.
What about you? What advice would you give to new families jumping into homeschooling in the New Year? Join me and other homeschooling parents at our Homeschool Connections Community or our Facebook group to continue the discussion!
