Getting Started Homeschooling in Oregon (Part 3): Preparing, Curriculum, Multiple Ages, and More

Lighthouse: Okay. some common misconceptions that we come across. You do not need to be a certified teacher to homeschool your child. You do not have to follow this public school calendar. Many homeschoolers homeschool year-round. or they homeschool, you know, on their own schedule. They do travel schooling and and homeschool in the times that fit them best. You do not have to teach for six hours a day. Homeschooling You know, when they get into high school, obviously it's going to take longer, but in the early years, it's, you know, an hour a day can accomplish almost everything that the public school can for, you know, lower elementary and your kindergartners and first graders and such. And as they get a little bit older, of course, they'll do more. And of course it really depends on the kids because, you know, and the day. I've had my times when my kids have taken, you know, twenty four hours to finish what they were supposed to do. in a couple hours. So it really depends on the kid. But generally speaking, one of the blessings of homeschooling is that because you are with them, you can see what they're doing, you know what they've mastered, you know what they struggle with, you know what they need, and you're working through them with it. You can get through the learning, the basic core learning, a lot quicker. And the rest of your learning is play and enjoyment and read alouds and all of those other things. You don't have to do every subject every day. You don't have to, follow any kind of rigid schedule. Do what works for you. okay, so if you are starting with homeschooling, you jump in, you send your letter of intent, you're like, okay, what do we do now? it's important to remember that you don't need to buy everything before your first day. in our experience, what we have seen is that it's best to look for reading readiness, math readiness, writing readiness in your younger children. every family's a little different in how we're going and how you're going to approach that. And that it really depends on your educational philosophy. So I will just share with you what we have done in our homeschool family, and that is that we don't really start formal academics, meaning sit down and do formal things unless they show reading readiness, writing readiness, and math readiness, and they are in the first grade. Unless they ask. Because we have kids who have asked to do school with their older siblings. And so then we do. because we do a lot of read-alouts and playing and field trips and learning in real life and in the kitchen, and we feel like that's completely sufficient for preschool and kindergarten, and that works for us. But that doesn't mean that you can't do things earlier, do what works for you. My main recommendation when you're dealing with little kids is if they start crying, stop or delay, wait a little while, try something different. Because when they're that young, typically it's because they're developmentally not ready for it or it's, you know, just a little bit too long for their attention span or whatever. If you believe it's a character issue, I recommend working on character issues at that age with things like chores and basic, you know, following following directions and doing what the parents say. I would focus it on on that area and wait until later to do those things with academics, because there's plenty of time for academics. Having children who can do basic chores, who can, you know, follow instructions, who can do things without throwing fits, those kind of things, and have a basic routine to your day. That's often enough for busy families to establish with their younger children. And it really sets you up for success. but again, if you're like dying to try that beautiful preschool curriculum, by all means do it, enjoy it with your kids. Those can build wonderful memories too. We've had our share of some of those as well, and they're fun. But just keep in mind that you don't have to. so what I recommend is really focusing on those skills subjects in the elementary years, reading, writing, math, making sure that you're as much as you can going at their pace at their developmental level for those things. That doesn't mean they're always going to be on grade level, but often what in my experience, even the ones that are behind, if you keep working with them at their level, they will catch up just where they need to be. and as they have said before, which I like this quote too, is that there's no behind in homeschooling except the one you're sitting on. So just keep that in mind. You're teaching a child, not a curriculum. So then we add history, science, bible electives, all of those things through a lot of read alouds and fun activities. And then as they get older into junior high, etc., we start doing more formal things in those areas with them. For our family, we're a large family, so we ended up doing a lot of that together. But at the beginning, we kind of did all of that through fun activities and read alouds until they got older. Understanding your child is a really important thing. Every child learns differently. And part of the strength of homeschooling is you're going to be studying your child and learning from them. They all don't develop at the same time, on the same timeline, and homeschooling allows you to slow down when you need to or move ahead when they're ready. So when you're choosing curriculum, we have a link on our site with a downloadable that has some. Curriculum ideas for you to look at and things like learning styles and all of those, and I'll make sure you get those links. But you want to look for things that fit you as a homeschool mom as well. Things that fit your child's learning style, your needs for your family, as they get older, explore their interests more. I really love exploring our kids' interests with each of them. It makes things very interesting. and of course, your family budget. You can spend as much or as little as you want on homeschool curriculum and still educate your children very well. You know, lots of people have homeschooled on a shoestring budget. You don't need a lot of money to homeschool your child well. also remember that it there's no one right way to teach your children when it comes to like overall homeschool methods. You will hear things like traditional methods like textbooks, Charlotte Mason, classical unit studies. There are so many different methods and styles. They all have merits. They all have things that fit different families. So it's fun to spend time exploring some of those. Most families that I have known end up with an eclectic mix of those things, borrowing ideas to fit their particular family. So don't get too locked into those early on. Go ahead, especially if you're just starting, and just explore some of those and see what really resonates with you and your child. Keep your schedule simple. Especially the first year or two, we keep our lessons very short. Figure out what window of of time in your day is best for your children to learn and best for you for teaching. Not every family is best early in the morning. Sometimes it's mid morning or after lunch. So you can play around and figure out what works best for your family. Do you know hands-on activities and time outside and going to the library and all of those things, especially for the early years, that all counts as homeschooling too, and they're learning a lot. So watch for their aha moments and their learning. A lot of times it's not at the table necessarily doing bookwork, but you'll see it there too. It's always a blessing when they finally click and they're learning to read and they just take off. don't expect your homeschool day to look like public school. It might start completely different. find the rhythm that works best for your family. Generally speaking, over the first year or two, you need to keep in mind that you can change curriculum. You can adjust your schedule. You have years to work on this and you're going to be adjusting it constantly. So don't think to yourself, I have to find the perfect, silver bullet curriculum because you're gonna find it and then it's gonna change because your kids change and you change and your needs change and what you know changes. And that's not a failure by any means. That's a strength of homeschooling is being able to adapt things as you go. So when you learn to expect that, those kind of you know ups and downs, or just those, you know, you hit a roadblock with something and you have to adjust and adapt. That is a strength. That is, you know, that's flexibility and resilience, and that will actually be an asset for your homeschool. Remember that, it doesn't have to be just you teaching your child. You could have grandparents, co-ops, support groups. Often often you can find through word of mouth or through local Facebook groups or whatever, places near you or groups near you. We have a page on our site with some that you can look up as well and reach out to if you're interested. They can be support for you as a parent, they could be play dates. They can be academic co-ops, they can be electives, they can be, parent cooperatives. There's so many different types. So, you know, just take your time seeing what fits your family. you could do some online classes, especially when you get into middle school and high school, sometimes those can be helpful, especially if you have kids where there's a subject that you're not sure you are strong enough to teach it. There are plenty of things like physics. I, you know, my oldest son wanted to take advanced physics, and I'm like, well, I'm out, you know. So I found a program an online class that taught him that well and it, built on his strengths of self-teaching as well. But he, was able to get feedback and everything. So there are lots of options out there. There's in fact, your problem is going to be navigating all the options, not a lack of finding options. and then just remember your goal. Remember that your goal isn't simply to cover all the curriculum. a lot of parents get stressed out by the end of the year or at even at the beginning thinking they have to do all the lessons. You know, public schools don't do all the lessons in every book. We don't have to do all the lessons in every book. And the more you homeschool, the more you realize, the more confidence you'll gain in what what to pick and choose from, what you can drop, what you can skim over, what you can go more in depth on. that really fits your child's needs best. So keep in mind your curriculum is a tool for you. It's not teaching your child. You are teaching your child and curriculum is a tool for that. So you can grow in your level of learning together. You can develop strong academic skills with them. You can help them become an an independent learner and really prepare them for what is in store for their life later on. All right. okay we have A few k people who are doing multi-age teaching. the thing I think it's important to remember keep the skills subjects independent. Like not that they're doing it by themselves, but keep them each on their own track as far as skills subjects. So reading, writing, math. Many of the other things we did as a group. Bible, science, history, music, we did together as a group at the table. It was efficient, it was fun, you can adapt things for your older kids and your younger kids. When they hit high school, they would start their own track with certain subjects, but we would keep doing history and bible together and then just, you know, give them extra assignments and research things to do later. So if you are homeschooling multiple kids, remember that you don't have to have them all do their own curriculum every single day that is a recipe for burnout. Do as much as you can combined until it's no longer working that way, you know, when they get to high school and then start splitting some of those off. But you can save a lot of time that way and keep them on track. I know I mentioned it, but again, if you are worried about the cost of homeschooling, remember to keep it simple. What we spend money on is what w I need the most support in as a parent to teach my child. And if there's a particular resource that really that they need, like let's say with a special needs issue. Most everything else can be covered, especially in those early ages, by a good library card, some audiobooks, and some frugal resources. And there's lots of frugal resources out there these days. Plus you can buy used curriculum. You can borrow curriculum from friends, a lot of co-ops and support groups, you know, you can share curriculum with each other. there are used curriculum sales across the state that happen every once in a while, and we post those on our Facebook page when they happen. I've seen homeschool families do use curriculum swaps where they get together for a play date and they all bring the curriculum they're not using and it's all free for all and you take what you need. So and if you don't see that happening, make it happen. there's also a lot of free online resources that can be helpful, but you can kind of get in a rabbit hole with that too. So just keep things as simple as possible when you're starting out. I again I recommend starting with the skills subjects. We always do Bible together, but I start with, okay, now we're gonna add math. Let's get math figured out. Then we're going to do the reading and get reading figured out. And then we're going to do writing. You know, not necessarily always in that order, but generally do one thing at a time and build up what you need. That would be my recommendation for that. You can always email or call OSHA Network anytime. We are available all year round to help you with your questions. You can message us through Facebook or Instagram, you can send us an email or call us. go to the Ocean Network site and browse around and look for things. We have an ultimate guide. And we have a video course that walks you through all these different pieces more in detail. You will find way more information than you ever wanted about homeschooling in Oregon. All right. God bless you guys and have a good night. Bye.