After 31 years of homeschooling, my youngest son graduated, bringing my homeschooling days to an end. We taught all eight of our kids from kindergarten all the way through to graduation. Was it hard? Yes! But it was also SO worth it, and I would gladly do it again if I had to make that choice. So, giving you 7 tips on how to homeschool was a natural decision.
I learned as I went, and today I want to share some things I learned along the way (usually the hard way!), that I wish someone had told me when we first started teaching our kids.
7 Tips For How To Homeschool
1. Make sure you have goals and prioritize things based on those goals.
Having goals and priorities will guide you on days that are extra busy, or when you feel overwhelmed. Always start your day with what your top priority. If you don’t get EVERYTHING done in a day that you want to, you have at least accomplished the most important ones.
God makes it very easy to know what our priorities are in II Peter 1:6:
….add to your faith, virtue (character); and to character, knowledge.
Start your day with building your kids faith (Bible reading, and memory), next character training, and THEN start on the academics. God will bless your day when you give Him the first part of it, and follow His priorities.
2. Be sure and have a schedule or routine.
Children function much better when their days have a routine, and they know what to expect. You will also accomplish much more, and be in control of your children and home, rather than them being in control of you. A schedule is one of the most important things to learn about how to homeschool.
Don’t stress if your schedule doesn’t follow exact time frames, but rather follow a routine. (Some days Math will take longer than other days, and doesn’t fit in a perfect little 30 or 45-minute time slot.) With a routine, you and your children have a “rut to run in.” The schedule is the frame, but times can be adjusted within that, and a routine followed.
3. Make sure you have your children under control.
If they aren’t under control, and disobedience and bad attitudes are a normal thing, stop the academics for awhile and focus on the character. You can’t teach your children if you don’t have them under control.
I love the following quote about obedience:
A child must learn to obey first, or you can never serve as his teacher. Teaching him to obey, to do his work and stick with it, to follow instructions, not to interrupt, and much more requires your diligent supervision and follow-through. That is the work of parenting really. Unless your children learn to listen to your directions and follow them, it doesn’t matter how great your resources are. The first and foremost subject to teach is good behavior born of self-discipline. (In other words, character!)
4. Don’t compare yourself with other homeschoolers, and what they are doing, or how they are doing it!
Comparison is one of the biggest causes of discouragement. The Bible tells us it’s NOT WISE to compare ourselves among ourselves. (II Corinthians 10:12) Do what God has called YOU to do with your family, and not what He has called someone else to do.
5. Realize that your kids may have different learning styles.
What worked with one child, may not work with the next one. This can be very frustrating if you don’t figure out how that child learns. Some of my kids were great with a textbook; others hated them and learned nothing from them. Find what works for each child, and use it. Learning how to homeschool each child is all about understanding their different learning styles.
6. Have realistic expectations.
Often we set ourselves up for discouragement because we have unrealistic expectations of ourselves, or of our children. Realize you have limitations or you will always be frustrated.
Don’t expect too much from your children. Realize each one is different and may progress differently from each other. It’s okay if one doesn’t read at age 5, like the other one. He WILL learn to read at some point. All of mine did – but not at the same speed as the other. Some were fast and ready; others weren’t ready quite as early.
7. Don’t expect your “rights.”
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall not be disappointed!
What are the things you think of as your rights? Time to read a book, get on Facebook, talk on the phone with a friend, or just a FEW minutes of peace and quiet? There’s nothing wrong with wanting any of those things. However, if you look at it as your RIGHT, and you don’t get to do it because things don’t go as planned, you’ll be an unhappy mom. Instead, commit your day and needs to God, and when you do get time to do some of those extras, count it as a blessing!
The most important thing you can do is PRAY over your homeschool! Seek God’s wisdom daily as you seek to teach and train your precious children for Him.
As you look at your time as a parent and learn how to homeschool, hopefully, these tips will be perfect for helping you begin your journey. Success in homeschooling is all about how you face the daily challenges and continue on the journey.
More Homeschooling Tips:
100 Ways A Homeschool Mom Can Enrich Her Marriage
My 7 Biggest Homeschooling Mistakes
The Cure For The Discouraged Homeschool Mom
6 Tips For Stress-Free Homeschooling
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Lisa @ This Pilgrim Life says
Wow! Congratulations on graduating your last child! That is an incredible accomplishment.
Thank you for sharing your tips and experiences 🙂
Kathie says
Thank you Lisa! ~Kathie
Linda S says
love this! we have been at this homeschooling thing for 25 years, we’ve graduated our first four and have four to go! I agree, the most important ingredient is PRAYER. I especially appreciated #6 – when my expectations were unrealistic, for myself or my children or husband, it was a hard row to hoe.
thank you so much for sharing this encouragement with us, Kathie.
Kathie says
Thanks Linda! 25 years for you, and four to go – sounds like you might be at it more than my 31 years. 🙂 Keep up the good work!
Dana says
Thank you for sharing your wisdom! This was a great post and very true. I am bookmarking it bc I need reminders often. 🙂
Kathie says
Thanks Dana!
Dyan Croushore says
Thank you for the very biblical reminders! Focus is important. I think we so often get started late, and just jump into the academics without focusing on what’s most important. I’m doing this to teach them how to relate to God, and how to be useful contributors to society. Sometimes I lose sight of that mission.
I do want to ask what you do for character training. I’ve seen lots of folks use curriculums for it, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what you meant. Character training happens throughout the day 😉 I was also curious about how to figure out your kids’ learning styles. Did you use something in particular?
Thanks so much for investing in moms who are coming up behind you in their journeys. I have 8 myself, from newborn to age 13, plus one with special needs, and I I appreciate any advice you can give me.
Kathie says
Dyan, you’re right! It’s easy on busy days to skip the things that really matter, and rush into academics. It”s a constant struggle to remember our priorities, isn’t it?
As far as character training goes, I have used character curriculums with our kids simply because it kept me faithful in teaching it on a daily basis when the lessons were already done for me. One of my favorites was Character Building for Families, which is in our store at The Character Corner. I have also written a couple of fun, simple character curriculums – one for preschool/early elementary (Little Lads & Ladies of Virtue), and one for elementary (Lads & Ladies of Wisdom) These are in the store at my site as well.
However, like you mentioned character training also happens throughout the day! Character is caught as much as it is taught. We need to example it, as well as expose our kids to Godly role models. For more info on this, here is the link to a post I wrote called 3 Ways Our Kids Learn Character. https://thecharactercorner.com/?p=13694
Sounds like you are at the busy, busy stage with your kids. Keep your eye on the goal, and God will bless you!
~Kathie
Valerie Remy-Milora says
Your children are blessed! 31 years of homeschooling that is awesome! I have three daughters, the oldest just started college and after 14 years in a private French American school we decided to homeschool our 15 year old. Although I’ve suspected for some time that she was not being properly served by her school and needed one on one attention that only homeschooling can offer I had no idea where to start and found the idea rather overwhelming. Last year it became clearer than ever that we needed to make a big change. And so here we are, about to embark on a new journey… and your tips could not have come at a better time! I’m a huge fan of prioritizing and starting my day with God. I love how you’ve made that part of the homeschooling journey and look forward to following in your footsteps. 🙂
Kathie says
Valerie, how excited for you to start teaching your 15 year old! You are going to do great, especially if you keep God as your top priority in your home school. Thanks for your encouraging words! ~Kathie
Dina says
Thank you for this article. As a family with 3 home school graduates and 3 still at home, it was a great reminder on keeping the main thing the main thing. I’ve also just used tips #1(verse included) & #3 in recent conversations with some young parents so it was neat to see them listed here. Can you tell me where the quote listed under #3 comes from? I love it, too!
Kathie says
Thanks Dina! I’m sorry, but I don’t know the source of that quote under #3. I wrote it down years ago, but didn’t note where it came from.
MelisaH says
With regard to “learning styles”, while it is nice to know when a child is struggling, make sure you are working on the weak “learning styles” as well as their college professor or future employer will not care exactly how they learn. Our children need to learn to learn from a variety of “styles”.
Jessica says
31 years is quite an accomplishment. This is my first year I hope I can be as successful as you were at it. Im the mother of 5.I am not satisfied with our current school system where we live so I am going to give homeschooling a try.
Kathie says
Hi Jessica! You can do it. 🙂 If God has called you to it, He will enable you. And to be honest, I didn’t feel like a good homeschooling mom much of the time. So glad God uses our efforts, and honors and blesses our obedience and faithfulness.
Leci Parker says
Number 7 is completly true!! I fell into believing that I had “rights” a few months ago. And I quickly became unhappy! It sort of happened by accident that I fell into that trap, but as soon as I went back to my original thinking “this season isn’t about me” it got much much better. I just wish I would have had someone wise to share that Bible verse with me or encourage me to be more selfless at that time. Thanks for the article. It was great!!
Kathie says
Leci, It’s so true that expecting our “rights” brings unhappiness. I love your comment about “this season isn’t about me”. So true! If we could remember that in our homeschooling and parenting it would prevent a lot of stress and unhappiness.
Rose says
I am Muslim , but God -Creator of Heavens and the Earth and everything in between is the One , so homeschooling rules of Kathie perfectly suit me.I am home educating my two children and also teach them about God,and faith but often don’t make this as priority.I will take advice and start day with character building and God focused teaching. it was very much needed advice for me
Brandi Raae says
Wow, what an accomplishment! I’m a homeschool mom as well, and my first-born will be going off to college in the fall. For the past 2 years he’s done an online school, so, technically, he won’t be graduating as a traditional homeschooler. Hopefully, my other 2 will finish with traditional homeschooling, but I’m open to what God wants for each of them.
I’m finding that homeschooling teenagers is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I’m so type A and had everything scheduled and managed when they were younger. I can get really frustrated with trying to be more flexible with teens and with trying to let them have more say and make their own schedules, etc.
Thanks for all of your tips – I’d love for you to link them up at the Literacy Musing Mondays linkup if you get a chance! Here’s a link if you’d like to check it out:https://www.brandiraae.com/literacy-musing-mondays-april-24-29/
God bless!
Kathie says
Hi Brandi! Congratulations on your first graduate. 🙂 Yes, homeschooling teens is more challenging — it’s hard to step back and let them plan their schedule and be responsible for their work. I think that was the hardest part of parenting and homeschooling for me — switching gears and not being so in control of everything as they got older. Sounds like you are figuring out the need to do that despite the difficulty.
~Kathie
MyCityMyLondon says
i think mums who home school are amazing! I couldnt do it!
well done on you!
http://www.mycitymylondon.me
Sara Elizabeth Dunn says
I used to say the same thing. 😉
April J Harris says
How wonderful you homeschooled all your children, Kathie! These are great tips, and so encouraging. I’ve pinned this post. Thank you for sharing it with Hearth and Soul. Hope you will visit again this week.
Sara Elizabeth Dunn says
Thanks so much for visiting, April! 🙂 Kathie is a treasure trove of homeschooling wisdom. 🙂 She has so much experience.
Theresa Huse says
Nice homeschooling tips. Pinned & sharing Thanks for joining the Inspiration Spotlight party.
Sara Elizabeth Dunn says
Thanks, Theresa! 🙂 Have a great week!