You’ve got Questions? I’ve got Answers!
As we approach the upcoming homeschool year, many new and veteran homeschoolers have questions for me regarding the way I homeschool. I have a lot of videos on how I homeschool and have shared a few posts here on my website as well (which I’ve linked at the bottom of this post).
However, for this post, I thought it would be fun to share a few questions I’ve answered in the Q&A videos from my channel. I’ve linked the videos below in case you are more of an auditory learner, but for those of you who are visual or like to read, here are 20 questions I’ve answered regarding homeschooling.
1. Why do you homeschool?
Well, that’s a loaded question and one I can’t quite sum up in written form. This is where words fail me.
To start I’d say God called me to it. He stirred my heart and guided me in that direction when I had no one to look to. No one to glean from. It was very much uncharted territory that I walked in obedience to. Very much unsure of everything, except that I knew he was faithful to provide everything I need and fill my lack.
God’s word says to teach our children in the morning, in the evening, and as we work. This verse suggests that teaching and discipling should be done ALL DAY. How can that type of diligence and discipleship happen if our kids are gone the majority of the day? How can we effectively train our children in the way they should go when we send them away? Our kids become the products of who they spend the most time with. I believe God desires that person they spend the most time with to be us as parents. Our children have been entrusted to us and it is our job to ensure they are taught spiritually and academically to glorify Him.
“ You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.”
Next is time. Time together. Time to explore, time to adventure. Time to be together. More time to love one another. Motherhood is such a short journey in the grand scheme of life. I did not want to turn over or lose any of that precious time.
Last, is the disaster that we call the public education system. The system is broken and it has been for quite some time. The past few years have really exposed that. The indoctrination. The school violence. The peer influence with kids being gender confused, drug addicted, having mental health issues, and being sexually active is not the environment I want MY kids in. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves because they are no longer able to teach anything. Everything is about testing and classroom behavior management. The standards continue to be lowered and academic excellence is no longer the norm or focus of the classroom.
Some other reasons why I chose/choose to homeschool are:
the importance of our faith
we live in an area where our school system is ranked poorly
our kids didn’t have wonderful experiences with public schools
we can provide a more individualized education, with time to work through weaknesses and challenge strengths
no testing pressure
less negative influences
more time to pursue individual interests
ability to learn in a more active environment
the growth we’ve seen in our kids
2. Tips for littles and homeschooling?
Homeschooling with littles can be a challenge. When I began homeschooling, my youngest daughter was 3 going on 4 years old and to put it plainly, she did a lot of disrupting that first year. She would crawl under the table while we schooled. I would try to set her up with activities and she just wasn’t interested. So I would say depending on the age of your kids, try to make them feel a part of the homeschool day. If you have little ones you will probably need to take breaks more frequently so you can tend to their needs. If you have a baby, I’d break your school instruction into small increments of time and try to school the toughest subjects while the baby is napping. The key is to customize it for your family.
3. What curriculum do we use?
I have a series of posts on this where I shared all the curriculums since beginning homeschooling my children. Here are the links to those posts:
4. How long will we homeschool?
When I was asked this question in the beginning, I found that many people jump right to thinking about how you plan to homeschool high school and how you will graduate a child from high school. Many people that asked this question were generally interested in my answer, while others I believe could have been asking with an attitude of judgment as if the high school education I would provide would be inadequate. Regardless of the asker’s intent, back then I would answer with a simple: “We will homeschool until we feel called to do otherwise.” Now, as many of you know from following me on Instagram and YouTube, we have reached those high school years in our homeschool, and I do plan to homeschool all my children through high school unless the Lord makes it clear to us that it is time to do otherwise. As a family, we have learned not to forecast too far ahead because we can make plans but the Lord determines the steps.
5. How do I do it all?
I try my best and I don’t feel like I do it all but to help I have systems in place that enable me to be more productive. Scheduling is the number one way I get a lot done and I make it work for us. I am a very schedule-oriented person concerning the flow of our days. I try to stick to a schedule in my planner where I block out time for things that are important to me. I do a lot of meal planning and meal prep ahead of a week. I plan two weeks' worth of meals written down for when I go grocery shopping. On sports nights I always plan a meal that is easier to pull together. My advice is to work on being disciplined with your schedule. When you have a schedule you follow you inevitably will be more productive.
6. How long do I work with one kid on each subject?
I do one lesson per subject each day. Our seatwork portion of the day with main subjects ranged from 2-3 hours per day in the younger years. Now it takes longer since my kids are in high school and middle school. At the beginning of the school year, I look over the curriculums I’m using for each child and make sure that each of my children’s courses have a similar number of lessons and will have them arriving at completion around the same time. As we have entered the high school years, this has changed a bit as the high school courses have more demands and have more lessons than my elementary school curriculums. We’ve found ways to adjust to this demand by bringing in Fun Fridays. See my post to learn more about this.
7. Are my kids closer from being homeschooled?
The honest answer is YES. My kids are each other’s best friends, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t fight. However, they have learned how to get along and love each other. I know that homeschooling has made their bond a lot stronger, especially when you consider the age gap between my girls. They still play together daily. The same goes for my boys. It has also made our family unit stronger too.
8. What do I wish someone would have told me before I started homeschooling?
I have been asked this question many times and early on I shared that most likely it would have been that as a homeschooler, there are going to be things that you have to let go and that’s okay. You won’t be able to keep everything the same in your life and just add homeschool on top of it. You will have to make changes to your lifestyle and approach homeschooling like a job.
9. When do I order my curriculum and where from?
I generally start ordering my curriculum in the spring to early summer of the year coming up. When I first started I typically looked for a used curriculum and would price everything out beforehand while also giving me enough time to do any research about the curriculum on YouTube or in online forums. I don’t usually buy something blindly. For used and new curriculum I use Amazon and Christianbook.com. Some curriculum I use I order directly from the publisher or homeschool curriculum company (i.e. The Good and the Beautiful or BJU).
10. Do my kids give me a hard time on certain subjects?
No, there is not one particular subject they give me a hard time about, and this is because I’ve set the expectation that if it is assigned, then it is to be completed. It is up to them how long they plan to spend on it. There are definitely subjects they are less enthusiastic about and that challenge them. Sometimes, my child will take longer on a subject because they are being challenged but I don’t receive a lot of pushback from them.
11. How to find a co-op when you're new to homeschooling?
It takes time. It is okay to try different groups out without committing to them. You need to find a group that will add to your family’s homeschool rather than take from it. In my honest opinion, a homeschool co-op is as much for the mom as it is for the kids. If you go to a co-op to try it out and you don’t feel welcomed, then that might not be the co-op for you. I have YouTube videos addressing this specific topic listed below.
- HOMESCHOOL GROUPS & CO-OPS| HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT ONE
- STORYTIME||HOMESCHOOL GROUP DRAMA||HOW TO DEAL WITH BEING REJECTED AND WRONGED
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwE16Hw4fHY&t=863s
12. Do I prepare for homeschooling the night before?
YES! I always have my kids work out and our morning basket supplies. I make sure to have everything we need for projects or experiments ready to go, that way we can jump right in without wasting time. Check out this video on my nightly homeschool routine.
13. If I had to homeschool kindergarten and preschool again, what would I change?
Honestly, I wouldn’t change anything. I always took the approach with my little ones that kindergarten and even more so with preschool was that they weren’t really necessary. I took their lead rather than making them sit down and do bookwork. This was something I decided to do with this style of approach after seeing the stress that my older two children felt during kindergarten in public school. My whole focus for that age is to set up a solid foundation of learning well and that came from making learning fun for those early years.
14. What do I do on a homeschooling “off” day?
I really don’t stop homeschooling because of a child’s poor attitude. Part of homeschooling is character training and we will inevitably experience our children’s poor attitudes toward school because we are with them all the time. They don’t have the option to just check out as they may be able to do in a classroom full of students. My approach is always through conversations with my child. I ask clarifying questions to get to the root of the problem. Most of the time it is due to a situation between a sibling, a rough night's sleep, or another need. However, if we are working and I find through observation that the work is what is causing the upset, I will stop the work with that child and push it off to the next day so that my child is not trying to learn when they are frustrated.
15. Do I have a fit routine for my kids or do they go to PE?
We do not go to PE, but my kids are very active children who are out running, playing, and my kids all play sports. Between all these activities, my kids get plenty of exercise.
16. Am I the only "teacher" in my homeschool?
I am really the only teacher, but my husband will help out when I ask him to. He has helped out with reading and teaching lessons when I have had other obligations. We also have not taken classes through a co-op. As we have entered the high school years, I have transitioned to more of an admin role since my high school students have online instructors through their online courses like BJU.
17. Do we have a homeschool budget?
Yes and no. In the beginning, we didn’t set aside funds all year for the homeschool curriculum and instead, I knew in advance the month I planned to purchase the homeschool curriculum and I made a mental note of it. The budget has obviously increased the older my children have gotten so I set aside more money throughout the year in preparation for the purchase of curriculum and supplies.
18. What is my must-have homeschool supply?
My planner (used to use Erin Condren but I have recently switched to the Plum Planner. See my video on that.
19. What are my fave/least fave subjects to teach?
My favorite subjects to teach are History and Bible. My least favorite subject to teach is Math.
20. What is my approach?
My approach is not just one style. I would say we are a mix of mostly Charlotte Mason, and partly Classical, Project Learning based study, and Montessori (for when my kids were younger).
Homeschool Q&A Videos:
The questions listed above are pulled from these videos. I didn’t pull all the questions from each video but focused more on questions I felt may be helpful. Feel free to watch these videos or the videos from the playlists below to get more details on specific areas of our homeschool.
YouTube Playlists for Homeschooling
Ashlee Answers: You guys ask and I answer. Topics range from motherhood, homeschooling, or just get-to-know-me type questions!
Homeschool Life: Sharing tips/tricks/glimpses into our homeschool journey and all that entails. I also show how I balance my work with homeschooling multiple kids!
Homeschool Advice+Tips: Candid homeschool advice from an experienced homeschool mama x4.
Homeschool-Related Blog Posts
Well, that's a wrap! As the new school year approaches I pray my resources here and on YouTube bless you and your family. Until next time friends!
