r/homeschool

What was it about the public school system that made you quit and homeschool your own kids? Don’t leave out any details.

I thought homeschooling would mean we’d deal with way fewer germs but apparently they find us anyway. It feels like every year after summer vacation we get stuck in this cycle where one of the kids gets over something and then another sniffle, cough or stomach bug shows up. We’ve gotten stricter about hand washing, sleep, eating well, all the usual stuff, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference. I’m starting to wonder what everyone else does to keep their kids healthy, especially when activities and outings pick back up after summer. Anything that’s actually made a difference for your family?

My child is currently in eighth grade as a homeschooler and as a parent I would like for her to be initiating high school specifically for her to get accustomed to a school setting for any upcoming college education, she’d like to pursue. What are the set and stone requirements for that to be executed in Illinois.

My 7 year old is in 2nd grade, this will be our third year homeschooling.

She’s so smart and with most subjects she’s becoming more independent and capable of doing her work on her own. But with math, man. She needs almost CONSTANT handholding. Obviously she doesn’t enjoy math and honestly neither do I. But it’s to the point that I have to prompt her and stay on her step by step even for the things she knows how to do.

I’m exhausted! Any tips or advice?? Am I doing something wrong? Is this age appropriate??

TYIA

I have been homeschooling for a while now, and I still have days where I wonder if I am actually doing enough.

We do our lessons, read together, work on different subjects, and try to get out of the house when we can. But then I will see another homeschool family sharing their schedule or all the activities they are doing and suddenly I start wondering if we are falling behind.

I know I should not compare because every family and every kid is different, but its honestly hard sometimes. I think the mom guilt gets to me more than I want to admit.

Some days I feel like we are doing great, and other days I feel like I should be doing more.

How do you know when you are doing enough? Do you guys ever feel this way too?

My son is a first grader. For kindergarten we did math with confidence and logic of English an and b with some good and the beautiful science. This year I want to start some social studies but because he’s little and we’ve invested a lot in other subjects I’m curious if there are some loved free ones. Core knowledge? Easy peasy? I don’t want to create my own. I’m a check list and script person 🙃

Foundations A lesson 5 explains that the actually name of letters won’t be taught until Foundations B..technically 10 weeks into the school year. They will only learn the sounds to begin with. Did you all follow this or teach the names along with the sound?

This daily discussion is to chat about anything that doesn't warrant its own post. I am not a mod and make these posts for building the homeschool community.

If you are new, please introduce yourself.

If you've been around here before or have been homeschooling for awhile, please share about your day.

Some ideas of what to share are: your homeschool plans for the day, lesson plans, words of encouragement, methods you are implementing to solve a problem, methods of organization, resource/curriculum you recently came across, curriculum sales, field trip planning, etc.

Although, I usually start with a question of the day to get the discussion going, feel free to ask your own questions. If your question does not get answered because it was posted late in the day, you can post the same question tomorrow to make sure it gets visibility.

Be mindful of the subreddit's rules and follow reddiquette. No ads, market/ thesis research, or self promotion. Thank you!

I’ve been homeschooled since forever, I do multiple subjects but my mum has only been making me do one subject recently , math. Anyone else like this?

Edit: I mean to say “is anyone else only doing one subject?”

Do you put it on a credit card, pay it out right, debit, payment plan?
Just curious what other families do, and why!
Some curriculums can be so expensive, especially when added all together.

This year we paid outright from learning house and 2 things from tpt, however we traded a hefty private school tuition payment for home education so it felt like peanuts, however i know this isn’t the reality for everyone, and once we adjust to having a larger budget, may not even be a reality for us next year unless we plan and save ahead of time 🤣
(aar, aas, dimensions, and hwt are our core curriculums we are using)

Hello! I am an autistic teenager going to an in-person public high school. I struggle a lot with it. I was wondering if Online School would be a good fit for me, so I have come here to get input on the pros and cons.

Why I am considering making the switch

1. Like I said, I am autistic. This causes me to have extreme sensory difficulties. I cannot be around people for 7 hours a day, especially in an unfamiliar space. It drains me and I get extremely depressed from my needs not being met at school.

2. I cannot turn in work regularly because I am too scared to talk to my teachers

3. I cannot work in class when there are so many distractions.

4. I get bullied

5. I think it will be easier to (relatively) work at my own pace.

Why I am cautious:

1. I am scared I will lose all my friends and my social life.

2. I might have a hard time adjusting to managing everything by myself

3. Distractions. I do not have a dedicated study space, but I think I would be able to make one.

If there is anything that I should know about online school, Please tell me!!!

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I have three children, two in 3rd grade and a preschooler. My husband works full time and I recently started working part time and I’m considering moving to full time. My husband and I could work opposite shifts from each other so we wouldn’t need childcare but I’m still the primary educator for my kids and I’m wondering if anyone else has had experience with both parents working full time and still being able to homeschool? I’m just worried about getting burned out and I’m looking for suggestions on how to organize and/or divide the work load that homeschool has.

I want to make this work but I guess my main problem is my kids, especially my sons are on the go 24/7. They thrive with a lot of stimulation and socialisation. It drains me a lot at times and obviously I have a lot to do still at home being a sahp.
We try to get out to the park once or twice a week. I always kick them outside when they are being too much. I wonder what else I can do with them.
I’m trying to look at a weekly sport they can play as well. I think a ball sport and maybe karate too.

If anyone has some other great activities I can do with them I would really appreciate it.

Perhaps it’s too much screen time summer, but wondering if anybody is doing (virtually) all tech free schooling?
Context: middle schoolers, moving back to the US form another country. Current plan is to homeschool only half a year (moving in December and don’t want to put them mid year). No learning disabilities. If goes well, continue homeschool.

1. Do you source physical programs? Many have print out version, so that seems doable?

2. Do you augment with in person tutors? We don’t have unlimited funds, but I know I don’t want to be the only adult involved.

3. Do you take them to co-ops, ad hoc classes, etc?

4. If you made a a move from using tech to no tech, how has your child reacted to it?

To be clear, big hang up for me is that kids are getting old enough to have agency in their learning. For little kids no screens in learning seems less overwhelming, since so much play is involved.

Laslty to note, my children would wleocme it. In their current (private) schools tablets were introduced in 5th grade as part of learning and doing homework. It’s really a tragedy. My incoming 8th grader constantly complained how he does not like using tablet for school.

This daily discussion is to chat about anything that doesn't warrant its own post. I am not a mod and make these posts for building the homeschool community.

If you are new, please introduce yourself.

If you've been around here before or have been homeschooling for awhile, please share about your day.

Some ideas of what to share are: your homeschool plans for the day, lesson plans, words of encouragement, methods you are implementing to solve a problem, methods of organization, resource/curriculum you recently came across, curriculum sales, field trip planning, etc.

Although, I usually start with a question of the day to get the discussion going, feel free to ask your own questions. If your question does not get answered because it was posted late in the day, you can post the same question tomorrow to make sure it gets visibility.

Be mindful of the subreddit's rules and follow reddiquette. No ads, market/ thesis research, or self promotion. Thank you!

I can name every kid's next lesson, which library book is overdue, and which subject slipped last week, all from memory. That's not being organized, that's being the single point of failure. I have 4 kids at 4 different levels and the mental juggling is what actually exhausts me, not the teaching itself.

I've tried paper planners (which I end up erasing and rewriting constantly), spreadsheets I rebuild every August, and a couple apps that felt like a second job to keep updated. By May I'm always back to carrying the whole thing in my head.

What actually works for you? Not which app is prettiest, but which one (or which system) you're still using in May when life has happened and the original plan is long gone. Especially if you have multiple kids at different levels, how do you keep plans, records, and the daily flow in one place without losing your mind?

We reside in Indiana

One thing I’m curious about with homeschooling math is how parents tell when a concept has really clicked.

A kid can finish a lesson, get the answers right, and still be leaning pretty heavily on examples, hints, or help along the way.

The part that seems harder to judge is: could they solve a slightly different version of the same problem on their own tomorrow?

For parents homeschooling middle schoolers, what do you usually look for before you feel like a topic is actually understood?

Do you have them explain it back to you, give them a different problem, revisit it a few days later, or just move on if the lesson went well?

Hi everyone, I have a 4th grader. We just started homeschooling this year and with all the subjects it already feels like a lot each day. What do your days look like as far as what subjects you’re teaching and how are you spacing it out? We would like to have academics done before 12 on most days. We start at 8:30-9am. Any pointers? Any advice?