Why We Chose to Homeschool

  1. Stephanie says:

    Hi Jill. Thank you for your post. I’ve felt a nudging too and a curiosity in homeschoolinh my three and a half year old. But know next to nothing – would I start at 3 or 4? What curriculums are out there and how does one decide? How many hours a day does homeschooling a preschooler involve? Did you worry about your son not having daily extensive interaction with peers? How did you prep your son and your space? So many questions! I wonder if you can lend some more guidance to another fellow mom who is curious (surprised to find myself curious about it, as you where) but also lost!

    • Jill says:

      If it makes you feel any better, I’m one week in and know next to nothing too! The only thing I know for sure is that He will lead us every step of the way and He as equipped those He has called. All we need to do is follow in obedience! I answered lots of those questions in the post but I’m just surrendering all of it. We do have plans to join a local group for field trips and he’ll do other fun extra-circulars like soccer and his other gymnastics class. That certainly helps with the peer side of things!

    • Kia says:

      Stephanie, I am a homeschool mama who currently has a kindergartner and 2nd grader on my hands, so I am still new to this journey. Jill’s story about how her husband wanted to homeschool but she made it clear that she wasn’t interested in the beginning, that was me completely. Similarly, a woman at church who was homeschooling her 7 kids gave me wisdom and guidance that helped me tremendously. I will pass what first few tips she gave me along to you:

      1. Go to a homeschool convention near you. This gives you an opportunity to see curricula up close and ask all the questions. It also lets you see the community of homeschooling families…again, ask them all the questions too. Lastly, the featured sessions on various topics like “preschool learning” can be so encouraging and (I bet you know what I am going to say next) it gives you an opportunity to ask all the questions. I went to my first local convention here in AZ when my first born was just 2 years old. It was extremely helpful for me and even got me excited to dig deeper into learning about homeschooling after the convention.

      2. Homeschooling a preschooler is fun and gentle. There are a number of curricula out there. The one that Jill mentioned from peaceful press is great!!! There is also one you can look up via Instagram “the busy toddler” that looks like fun. I might be grabbing this one for my 3rd little one. The actual time it takes its long. I spend about an hour on preschool (the actual formal part) but weave what we learned into our day and engage my kiddo naturally.

      Follow your kiddo’s interest and weave simple concept in that way. Currently my 3 year old is into sharks so we count sharks and point out colors of the different fish sharks eat. We checked out every book we could find on sharks from the library.

      3. The last thing this homeschooling mama told me is to never underestimate the power of simple playtime. You learn so much about you kids when you play with them. She also told me to grab ideas from Pinterest to help guide our playing.

      I hope that might help you along as you look into this form of schooling.

      One more personal thing I would add is to take the education of your kids a year at a time. You may homeschool for a year and decide a different avenue suits your family bette (or vice versa).

      Take care!

  2. […] 5. Abbey from Gentle Leading recommended this alphabetical hymn list and I’m immediately incorporating ordering a hymn a week into our Homeschool routine. It fits in seamlessly because as of right now, we focus on one letter a week to dictate what I teach. (You can read more about the Homeschool curriculum in this post.) […]

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