It is so nice to live in a time when homeschooling is becoming more common and we have so many resources online from other homeschooling parents. However, it can also be super overwhelming to see allllll the perfectly curated everything when just seeing little snippets into a homeschool family's life.
To help encourage and empower those thinking about homeschooling or those in the thick of it feeling like they should be doing more, I came up with this list of 25 things homeschool moms don't need to still offer their children an amazing educational experience!
EXPENSIVE CURRICULA
Believe it or not, shelling out more money doesn't necessarily mean your kids will learn any better! There are so many inexpensive resources out there from creating your own, inexpensive ones like I offer in my shop and other homeschool families offer on their own websites or on platforms like Etsy, or through free resources like Ambleside Online.
STUDENT DESKS
When we first decided to homeschool, I had the dream of a perfect homeschool room with a big table and individual desks for each child. While this can be something that works for some, it's definitely not something any family needs to homeschool. And honestly, the less we recreate the public school experience, many times the better since homeschooling can be so different!
A HOMESCHOOL ROOM
Along with desks, you definitely don't need a homeschool room. I did set one up when we first started homeschooling and we used it the first year. However, it was frustrating and we ended up ditching it right away our second year and opted for using the dining room table for the most part (as well as the couch and the floor) because it's more centrally located and my littler ones can go off and play easier on the main floor where I can still keep an eye on them. It's best to start with less and add as you go instead of investing tons of money and time into setting a room only to learn you don't like using it!
PERMISSION FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY
This one is hard, but trust me, you DON'T need permission from friends or family to homeschool. If we live our lives and make our parenting decisions based off of what everyone else thinks is best for us and our kids, we will look back with regret. Everyone has their own opinions, and they are welcome to parent their own children however they see fit, but so are you! It can be so hard to not have support in this area, but if you believe homeschooling is the right choice for your children, it is best to follow your own instincts and maybe those naysayers will even come around one day!
A DEGREE IN EDUCATION
As someone with a degree in English and Education, I can boldly say you DON'T need a degree in education to be a successful homeschool parent. The education classes I took in college were mainly focused on lesson planning following the state guidelines, teaching a large group of different learners, and classroom management. Just like so many other jobs, I learned the basics but learned the most on the job. The same is true for homeschooling. You are much better off reading some quality homeschool/educational books (here are some I recommend) and jumping in than spending years in school learning very little you will actually use and apply in a home setting.
SOCIETY’S APPROVAL
If we shouldn't be giving tons of weight to the opinions of family and friends, we definitely should not be letting society's opinions infiltrate our decision-making. If anything, many of us decide to homeschool because we are trying to do things that are somewhat counter-cultural so learning into what the culture is telling you to do doesn't make much sense. What society "approves" of ebbs and flows anyway, so making decisions based off for what "everyone else" appears to be doing isn't worth your time.
ONE HIGH-INCOME EARNER
Yes, I know things have gotten so expensive. I know it would be so much easier if one spouse made a boatload of money to support the family, but that just isn't realistic for many of us. In our family, for example, my husband works full-time and while he makes decent money, it isn't what most families could live off of especially in today's economy. So, I work a few part-time at-home jobs to help supplement. I run this business selling my resources, I have a couple Etsy shops, I watch kids before and after school, and I run the social media for another business. Is it a lot sometimes? Yes, but it fits into our schedule pretty well and allows me to be home which I wouldn't trade for anything!
THE NEXT 10 YEARS MAPPED OUT
As a Type A planner, I TOTALLY get the urge to map out the entire educational journey for each of my children. But, I've learned over the years that I like to mix things up, every child is different and their needs change, and what is working now may not work later. I now plan solely for one year but even during that year I make changes! Don't feel you need to have it all figured out right now. You likely would just be wasting your time anyway because it will likely change!
A RIGID SCHEDULE
The beauty of homeschooling is that you can setup your days however works best for you! For our family, we have a bit more of a strict time-blocking schedule because of all the different hats I wear and things I need to fit into a day. But you definitely don't need a rigid schedule! Even with our time blocks, I am constantly shifting things, moving things to different days or times, and adapting as we go. It's one of the many pros to homeschooling!
A CO-OP
I had a hard time adding this one to the list because I LOVE our co-op, but no family needs a co-op to homeschool! If you don't have one close to you, find them too expensive, or don't have the time, that is OKAY! You could even do what my friends and I did and create your own one day! But you don't need one to offer your children a solid education.
A CURATED PURCHASED LIBRARY
As a homeschooling family who follows Charlotte Mason's methodology pretty closely, this one doesn't mean you shouldn't be reading lots of books, but instead that you don't need to buy tons of books. If money is no object, go ahead and fill those bookshelves! Add a Beauty and the Beast ladder while you are at it. But, if money is tight or you just don't want to buy lots of books you aren't sure you will love or use again, utilize the library, Youtube read alouds, audiobooks in the public domain, or borrow from friends!
A LAMINATOR
While there are lots of tools that are helpful and functional for homeschooling families, none of them are necessary. Some homeschool families swear by a laminator and some barely get theirs out (that is the camp we are in). But don't feel you need to buy a laminator or any other specific tool to homeschool. You can get by without it.
A BINDING MACHINE
Like a laminator, you also don't need a binding machine. Do we have one and love ours? Yes. Was it super expensive? No. But does anyone need one? Absolutely not. Three-ring binders and a three-hole punch will do just fine if you need to bind something. Everything can come in time - you don't need to buy a bunch before you know if you will actually use any of it.
PATIENCE
If I had to guess the number one response people have when they learn a family homeschools, it would be "Wow, I don't have the patience for that," or something along those lines. Believe it or not, having a baby doesn't automatically download 18 years of patience into your body. Do you know how you gain patience? By practicing it. Just like a sport or activity, you aren't an expert at it the first time you try. No homeschool parent has endless amounts of patience. For me, it wasn't until I started homeschooling that I really learned how little patience I had during stressful times. And while I'm still not perfect at it, I've gotten so much better at it because I've homeschooled. If I had to have this amount of patience before starting to homeschool, I never would've started. So, jump in there and get practicing!
PERFECT ANGEL CHILDREN
Ha! This one makes me laugh. While my kids are my little angels, they definitely don't act like angels most of the time! We deal with all the typical kid behaviors - whining, complaining, not wanting to do their work, sibling rivalry, bickering - you name it, I'm sure we deal with it on a daily basis to some extent. But I've found my kid have gotten much better overall because we are together so much and work on these things together! If you have less than perfect children (which we all do), then they are the perfect kids to homeschool!
NO LITTLE KIDS
As someone who really struggled to homeschool my older kids with my third child once she hit 2 years old, I totally understand how overwhelming homeschooling can be with younger kids. However, even if something is hard doesn't mean it will always be that way or that we shouldn't continue. Overcoming the challenging times with my third daughter not only made me a much better mom, it improved our family because I had to work out some kinks within myself and our day that would set us all up for success. Plus, it gave me confidence that I will bring with me now as our baby boy grows up and likely has similar challenges as well. Just like I tell my kids, you can do hard things! And little kids don't stay little forever!
CONFIDENCE
As someone with many homeschool friends, I can tell you very few (if any) of us have tons of confidence in all areas of homeschooling. Some of us feel confidence in certain areas and some of us struggle with feelings of failure or at least not doing enough of a daily basis. This isn't abnormal. I think feeling inadequate as a homeschool mom just means you want the best for your kids and that you care. You likely will always feel a lack of confidence to some extent because you want the very best education for your kids and the truth is you could always be doing more or be more for your kids. But there's only so much time and so much of you to go around. Thankfully we don't have to do all and be all for our kids. No school is doing it all or being it all for kids either.
A CRYSTAL BALL
Wouldn't it be nice if we could look into a crystal ball and see how our kids would turn out at 18 and beyond? Unfortunately, no parent has this tool available. So, the best we can do is the best we can do each day! You wouldn't know without a shadow of a doubt your kids would turn out the way you wish for them to in a different school setting either, so try to take that pressure off of yourself as a homeschool parent.
HOMESCHOOL FRIENDS
While having a tribe around me is one of the things I treasure most on this homeschool journey, I didn't start with that and you don't have to either! If you are able to put yourself out there, over time you can create a group of homeschool friends, but most of us don't start out with any support or knowing anyone in the homeschool community. I recorded a podcast episode about how I created my homeschool tribe, but I encourage you to get out there and meet some people if this is something you would like. Just know you don't need it to start and you don't need a large group of people either!
TO DO THINGS LIKE ANYONE ELSE DOES
It can be so easy to see other homeschooling parents in real life or online and feel like you are doing something wrong because you don't homeschool the way they do. The truth is, no one should homeschool exactly like anyone else. We aren't running formal schools. We are running schools in our homes that cater to the specific needs of a unique family of unique individuals. If you are homeschooling differently, consider that a success! I share how our family homeschools as inspiration, but even a year ago I homeschooled differently than I do now! Every family is adapting and changing over time, so don't feel you have to do it just like someone else because it likely won't work out so well!
A PLANNER
As a planner-lover, this one may be hard to believe, but I haven't had any success using a planner and can safely say you can homeschool without it just fine. For our family, we follow a weekly rhythm that doesn't change much from week to week, so having to write it out every day would be a waste of time. I know many families who just write down everything in a simple notebook so kids have something to follow and parents have something to use as proof they homeschooled each day, but any or none of these options can work. You don't need a planner and might find a different alternative works much better for your family!
A TIDY HOME
Ha! Believe it or not, being home more actually means your home will be less tidy. Who knew?!? Yes, we are home so we could be cleaning more, but we are also doing things like educating our children, doing experiments, making crafts, playing, cooking, spending time outside, working, etc. so having a perfectly tidy home can be difficult to maintain. We do our best but I also try to stay realistic that our home will get messy multiple times a day because we live here. And I would much rather have a happy home filled with learning than a sterile, tidy home 100% of the time that no one can actually live in.
LOTS OF TIME
One of the beauties of homeschool is that it usually takes much less time than schooling takes in a more formal school setting. For one, homeschooling families don't have 30 kids all one age they are teaching. That many kids means a lot more time making sure everyone understands. We also use very little "busy" work so the schooling we are doing is meaningful and takes less time. We can also structure our days differently. While our formal schooling only takes about 3 hours total for all of my kids, my oldest daughter does some other subjects on her own independently outside of that time. I also don't include lunch, snack, breaks, time outside, etc. in our homeschool hour count so it's truly impossible to compare. But, you don't need 7-8 hours a day of dedicated homeschool time to devote to your children every day, even as they get older because as they age, they can take on more on their own.
EXTRACURRICULARS
While many people worry about socialization, this doesn't mean your kids need to be involved in a ton of extracurriculars. These can be wonderful for kids, but they can also be overwhelming if signed up for too many things. Every family will find the balance that works best for them, but please don't feel you need to sign them up for tons of extracurriculars to be a good homeschool parent. There is so much beauty and value in doing less!
TO FIT IN *EVERY* SUBJECT
While each location has different guidelines, don't feel the need to fit in every single subject every single day. There are many ways to fit in subjects, and sometimes, they overlap! You could be reading abut history while also following along on a map which is geography you are learning very naturally! You could be combining science and art. Going for a hike can cover many subjects! When you start looking at learning as a process that is always happening, you discover your kids are learning so many subjects even without a formal lesson about each - and honestly sometimes that learning is much richer and deeper than any formal lesson would be!
I hope this list encourages you! Let me know in the comments what you would add!