It is thought that electives give bonus academic points to a learner, and should be collected for that reason. Your homeschooler is unlikely to be tested on elective subjects before high school age. So they are a bonus in this respect.
But before exam-age, electives should be considered close to the heart of our homeschool project. Electives build learning habits, invite a love of learning, and encourage purposes that span disciplines.
To borrow a Charlotte Mason-ism, electives “lay the feast.” Although some electives will give you more bang for your buck when it comes to bonus points for an academic resume, first consider how well they lay this feast for your children.
Ask whether an elective presents an area of study that leads to meaningful work. Before filling an academic need for your child, does it help your child fill a need in the world? Does it work in your specific context?
When they are rooted in these priorities, electives are much better suited to complementing the academics of your homeschool.
Choose Homeschool Electives that Are Purposeful
Ask...
1. Will this elective provide a service to the world?
2. Will this elective honor God?
All Sonlight electives could be used to serve and to honor, but is this your specific purpose for considering it? It is difficult, having chosen something out of a sense of compulsion, to to make it honor God later on.
Look through the electives with a vision in mind of your child’s place in the world. If you cannot cast the vision for French studies blessing others in the future, that’s okay. Now may not be the time to start French. Maybe you can more successfully explain why piano will bring joy. Don’t be afraid to start with the electives you have a personal connection with.
If you see an elective as a tool for helping with academic commitments, and you see these commitments as honoring God, consider how closely your child follows this line of thinking. She may not be able to take your word for it.
As hard as it is for a conscientious parent to imagine, it may be that you are already doing enough. Your school work may be fruitful and your work/play may be balanced. Electives are not right at the moment. In a few months, when one of your subjects peters out, reconsider electives.
Or it could be that an elective ticks all the right boxes, but your child simply doesn’t enjoy it. It takes Spartan discipline to master a hated subject. As courageous as this sounds, let’s start where the river runs more freely.
If you still can’t decide, it’s time to give up on the perfect elective. Try one and change it along the way if necessary. Remember Helen Keller’s observation about her educator:
"She realized that a child’s mind is like a shallow brook which ripples and dances merrily over the stony course of its education and reflects here a flower, there a bush, yonder a fleecy cloud."
It’s Okay to Give up on Homeschool Electives
The fact that the brook might only fleetingly reflect the French language does not mean that choosing French was a mistake. We’re not looking for a stagnant pool of learning points. The aim is not to be able to show your friends how impressive your family is to have made progress in French.
The aim is to guide the brook through many merry, rippling dances until it broadens out into a deep river.
The value of the merry dances may not be obvious to those around you. But you know you're making a happy flowing river. The fact that the business of accruing points is not the foundational value is good news. It means that if you’re gasping for a break, you can cut electives for a while without fear. It also means that any children who particularly struggle with their learning points are not in danger or considering themselves worthless.
The challenge in this is that the educator has a greater responsibility than the subject does. It is less about finding the right elective than it is about how the educator guides the way once the elective arrives.
Don’t fret too much about the right elective. Choose an elective that seems useful and try your best.
Your guidance through this merry flow will allow them to see, not just, “here a flower, there a bush…” but to see the light that illuminates both flower and bush. Choose electives in which you can see that light, and the learner will start reflecting it with clarity.
I’d like to put words to a difficult reality that all mothers face: your life changes very quickly in this season of raising and educating children. May I encourage you in the face of this?
One habit that can help you live in freedom amidst this fact is simply this: accept the reality of change. The daily rhythms that worked for your family last year, or even this past summer, may not work anymore. When you can acknowledge this truth, then you are free to consider what does work for your family now.
Maybe in the summer you enjoyed taking the kids outside first thing in the morning. You’d all get fresh air to start the day, you could get some exercise, and the kids could get some energy out. But now it’s late autumn and that may not work anymore. It’s still dark in the morning and it’s getting cold. Does that mean you shouldn’t have enjoyed your summertime ritual? Or that you should drag the kids out in the dark now? Of course not. It was great while it lasted and now your mornings look different.
2020 has brought a strange batch of major changes to families, making new, unexpected homeschoolers out of parents who never considered anything except public education prior to the pandemic. Life has been turned upside down in so many ways we took for granted. And the losses are painful.
Continually Adapt by Frequently Taking Stock
Accepting the reality of change means making a habit of asking yourself periodically what’s working and what isn’t for your family. It means considering new possibilities when it comes to rhythms, routines, and how to meet everyone’s needs. It means facing reality when a member of your family (whether that’s a child, your husband, or you) is truly struggling and needs help.
Here’s a clear example of how family life changes quickly. When you add a baby to your family, she can sleep anywhere during the day and she keeps you up at night. There’s some freedom in that reality: You can go to the park any time and she’ll nap there if she needs to. And there’s hardship in that: You are inevitably sleep deprived for a while.
As she grows, your baby will probably start sleeping better at night, but depending on her personality, she might need to be home in her own sleeping space for two solid naps a day. There’s some new freedom in that: You can function a little better because you’re sleeping more at night. And there is some restriction in that: You have to plan your schedule each day around getting her down for her two naps. And of course her sleep needs continue to change as she grows.
Embrace Change; Don't Fight It
As you move through these inevitable changes, you could choose to resent or ignore them. You could try to make your child’s new needs fit into old patterns. Or you can embrace the new reality and be grateful for the new freedoms and opportunities they present.
I think great freedom and dignity lies in this idea. You are a capable woman with God-given intelligence and hard-earned wisdom.
As your children grow, as you grow, as the needs of everyone in your family change, you will gain peace by doing what works until it doesn’t work anymore.
Then you reconsider your options.
I think this principle can apply to all sorts of aspects of a mother’s life. Here are some changes you can either resist or embrace:
Your body changes as you carry children in your womb, give birth, and nurse them. Can you rejoice in the strong and competent body you have now?
Your children have continually changing emotional needs. Accept what your children need from you in this season and know that it will continue to change.
You’ll have seasons with discipline issues. Sometimes you will need to focus a lot on discipline and training. Then after a while it will pay off with an easier season.
You personally will have times of expansion and times of turning inward. Some years you’ll have extra energy and turn outward to learn and absorb all sorts of new ideas and challenges. But eventually that will give way to a season where you’ll need to reign in and focus on the basics. Be grateful for the gifts of each season.
Even the mundane tasks of housekeeping will ebb and flow. Some seasons you’re learning new recipes, deep cleaning, and redecorating. Other seasons you’re just keeping everyone fed and in clean clothes. Both are fine and worthy.
Your spiritual needs may change over time. Sometimes the spiritual disciplines that used to be very meaningful don’t seem sufficient any more. Even as you persevere, you’ll discover that you need new ways of connecting with God—perhaps through learning a different approach to prayer or reading theologically challenging books.
Your relationship with your husband changes, stretches and shifts. Neither you nor your husband are the same people you were when you married. As you both change and grow, consider what your relationship needs right now. Is there any way you two can connect now that you couldn’t before (perhaps a weekly walk together)? Be honest about what works now and celebrate that.
You Are Not a Prisoner
One of the big lies the enemy tells young moms is that things will always feel like this. If you’re overwhelmed with the daily grind, the enemy wants to steal your hope and make you feel like a prisoner to your circumstances. But that’s just not true. God is with you right now in your reality. And truly, as your family grows, things will change. It will not always be like this.
Even with the pandemic, hold fast to hope. As you cope with the forced restrictions to your lifestyle, maintain a vision for the day you will again enjoy what you've lost during this season. If you stand defiantly against the waves, they may batter you senseless. Instead, accept the changes, grieve your losses, and always maintain hope. Do your best to surf on top of the waves during this season when everything is changing.
As you assess your life honestly right now, may you have the freedom and courage to walk forward and do whatever God is calling you to do.
They learn about water displacement as they help you wash the dishes.
Everything is an opportunity to learn and grow. Including your mistakes.
Let’s say that your kids ask you a math question and you give them the wrong answer. You got mixed up and told them the wrong way to do something. They will soon get frustrated when what you told them isn’t working.
Then you realize your mistake. What do you do?
You could blame it on the math program you’re using and say it is a stupid program that never explains things clearly.
You could belittle yourself and say you were never good at math anyway.
You could be embarrassed and just let them figure it out on their own.
Or you could say something like, “Wow, I messed that up. I’m sorry, honey. I bet that was frustrating to try to work with the wrong information. Now let’s work together to see where I got it wrong. We’ll figure this out!”
Which approach do you think would help your kids learn from the experience? Which will help them deal with their own mistakes in a productive way?
Making Mistakes with Wrong Responses
Of course we want to choose the mature response. But one area where that can be particularly humbling is when we make relational mistakes with our children. When we lose our patience, speak harsh words, stomp away in anger, or otherwise fail to act like a loving, wise adult, it can be hard to admit our failings.
How do you handle making mistakes as a homeschool parent?
Next remember that your children learn about apologies, forgiveness, and reconciliation as they watch you.
They don’t need you to pretend that nothing happened. They need to see that parents can be imperfect, admit wrong-doing, and move forward in relationship. So the next time you need to make things right with your kids, try something like this:
1. Acknowledge Your Wrong
Say, “I’m sorry that I did that. It was wrong when I lost my temper and raised my voice at you.”
2. Ask for Forgiveness
Ask specifically, “Will you forgive me?” This request opens meaningful conversation and helps reconcile the relationship. It also helps your children feel free to take responsibility for their own part in the conflict, if some of it was their fault, too.
3. Think Ahead to Next Time
Process with them what you can do to make a better decision in the future. Say something like, “I want to handle my frustration more appropriately next time. I will try to take a deep breath and count to ten if I feel myself getting frustrated about math.”
You can include them in this process too, asking if they have any ideas of how the two of you can handle the situation better next time. Some of their ideas may not be acceptable, but it’s okay for them to offer them in a brainstorming session. Together you can agree on wise things to try.
As the parent in the situation, you are the captain of the ship–the one responsible for directing how things go. If your children need correction, then correct. If they need you to enforce boundaries, then enforce them. But don’t be afraid to admit your own error in the situation.
Making Mistakes Proves Our Imperfection
And please, mom, don’t be afraid to admit your imperfection in general. This, too, is a gift to your children.
I know a mom who tells of a turning point in her own parenting journey. She hit a point when she was faced with a daily reality harder than anything she had expected, and she realized she couldn’t do it all. She couldn’t be up with her young baby all night every night, and keep the toddler happy and out of trouble, and have a lovely dinner on the table when her husband came home, and keep the house clean, and keep a smile on her face the whole time. It was too much! She told me she had the shocking realization one night that she was not a perfect mom and that she could not be a perfect mom.
And then she laughed. Because, of course, her family and God had known this “shocking” news for a long time. They knew she wasn’t perfect, yet they loved her still. She says it was a huge relief to just stand before God as she was and receive that love. She couldn’t pretend she had it all together anymore, so she stopped trying to pretend. What a relief. What freedom!
Kids don’t need a perfect mother. And they certainly don’t need someone who pretends to be a perfect mother. What they do need is a real mother. A mother who loves them, grows with them, and uses her adult perspective and skills to help them grow, too. You can do that, mom. You can do that!
I will continue to pray that God blesses you on that journey of making mistakes and learning through them.
Let’s talk about an encouraging reality today: You are already doing the most important thing to help your children succeed in their education.
By simply caring about and being involved in your children’s education, you help them thrive.
Most educators agree that the biggest factor in children’s academic success is parental involvement. That’s true for kids in public schools. It’s true for kids in private schools. And it’s truly part of what makes homeschooling such a beautiful option.
Homeschooling Is Parenting Plus
Consider this: Homeschooling lets you engage with your children’s education in a much deeper way. You don’t just attend parent-teacher conferences, volunteer in the classroom and help kids with homework. Instead, you enjoy daily, meaningful interaction with your students.
Sonlight helps you fulfill your God-given duty to guide your children in life. Customers tell us that the special times reading and talking together have created family bonds stronger than they would have ever imagined. They develop a shared language around the stories they’ve read together. They know how their kids are really doing in life; they see their daily joys and struggles and can support them through it all.
And this daily back-and-forth helps instill an important lesson in your children: You are a trusted, safe and good source of life wisdom and direction.
We hear from parents of high schoolers who have used Sonlight for years:
“You won’t believe the caliber of conversations we’re having!”
“The years of hard work and talking are paying off in ways I would have never imagined. My teenagers and I are close, and we talk about everything”
Oh, what many parents would give for a relationship with their teenagers like that! What a privilege to be able to help guide your children as they grow because you have earned that place of trust and favor in their lives.
The Daily Investment of Homeschooling Reaps Benefits
So while it might be easier in the short run to use a hands-off approach to your children’s education, know that with Sonlight your daily involvement makes a huge difference in your child’s life.
It helps them succeed academically, so they’re prepared for whatever God calls them to do in life.
And it helps you build and maintain a close relationship with your children for years to come.
All through the daily joy of learning together.
And since Sonlight does the prep work for you, you get to focus each day on what you do best: interacting with your kids and helping them thrive.
I got an email from a worried mother recently. Can you relate to her?
I want to homeschool. Did it for one year, yet I struggle with fear ... what my parents will think of me? (They think I am nuts, and think I will ruin my children's social skills and life.) My fear about how my children will navigate social difficulties if I protect them from it. Fear that my kids will end up with no friends and I will have to be their companion and playmate all day long! Not getting any free time myself! Fear that my husband and I will have very little time together. I know fear doesn't come from God, but the fear comes and makes me feel anxious in my body, and I tire of fighting it.
Fear can haunt every aspect of parenting; the decision to homeschool is no exception. But here's what I say to that mom:
I think most moms deal with these fears. You are not alone.
I'm Afraid of Disappointing the Grandparents
We value our parents' thoughts and approval. But homeschooling is counter-cultural and therefore many grandparents are unfamiliar with it and worry for their grandchildren. It can help to remember that homeschooling today doesn't look like it did when your parents were raising you. It's much more common and there are so many great resources and homeschool groups out there to help.
If you haven't already, take time to talk with your parents. Share your goals, your reasons, and your plans. You might show them your Sonlight curriculum, if you already have it, so they can see their grandchildren will be using a proven and robust curriculum.
Be transparent. Share how they can be involved if they want. Many grandparents patiently listen to children learning to read, or help with Read-Alouds either in person or over video-conferencing.
Then, before God, act as you believe He's calling you.
If our parents disapprove, we homeschool and trust that they will come to see the fruits of our labor. Many, many homeschoolers can testify that their parents came to applaud their work. (Read Jill's personal story in When family disapproves.) But even if your own parents never approve, you will see the fruit of the time you invest in your children, and will be able to move beyond the critique of parents.
I'm Afraid My Kids Will Lack Social Opportunities
Regarding social skills, most homeschoolers find plenty of opportunities to interact with others in both formal and informal settings. Of course, the 2020 coronavirus has made it much more challenging, but with creativity and a positive outlook, you can avoid any long lasting harm for your children.
From sibling time to playground friends to soccer teams and homeschool co-ops, the possibilities are endless (sans pandemic). For example, my children
swam on a team
played in an honor band
studied karate
attended activities with their church groups
participated in Awana
Nowadays, homeschoolers have even more options for outside activities. These experiences broaden our children's exposure to their peers and other adults. And a major benefit of homeschool scocialization is that kids learn to interact comfortably with children and adults of all ages, not just their immediate peers.
I'm Afraid I'll Have No Time for Myself
As an introvert, my biggest fear was the idea of having my children around me all the time. When I first started homeschooling, my children did stay nearby, but as we found our groove, they got to the point where when we finished our schooling time together, they were happy to go off to play.
I believe homeschooling trains our children to work quickly and efficiently (good life skills) by giving them the freedom to do what interests them once they finish their day's work.
I'm Afraid of What Homeschooling will Do to My Marriage
When it comes to time with your spouse, fear not. When I first started, my husband found a babysitter for us to leave the home once a week. He knew I'd need a break. That could be an option for you as well.
But homeschooling also presents an opportunity for an exciting joint venture together with your husband. You get to work together towards the shared goal of educating your children. My husband began reading to the children every evening —a precious heritage they remember with joy to this day.
And remember, homeschooling has worked for thousands of families. Many statistics that show that homeschoolers test significantly higher than their private or public schooled peers. There are many reasons for this: the tutoring model of homeschooling keeps kids from falling through the cracks, the home is a safe and calm place to learn, kids do better without being taught to the test, and so on.
Fear not, mom.Resist the lies the Enemy brings. Bring all of this before the Lord in prayer. Homeschooling is not the only good way for children to learn, but it is a tried, true, and wonderful option! Commit to one more year and evaluate at the end of it. I believe you can do it.
If you ever want more personalized help overcoming one of the fears above, or with anything else in your homeschool, contact a Sonlight Homeschool Advisor at no charge.
Trying to change public education is like trying to steer an ocean liner ... with 1,000 people clamoring for the steering wheel at once.
In other words, it's hard to do. By the time most change happens, it has been filtered through so much bureaucracy, I'm not sure it does much to help students.
I agree with these obvious truths. And I rejoice that homeschoolers don't ignore them. In fact, we homeschoolers naturally incorporate them into our approach to education. Though I don't think the author intended it this way, I see the article as a major validation of homeschooling as an educational option.
For example, in the section exploring the reality that "Students are more likely to learn what they find interesting," I was stunned to read the following sentence:
A group of researchers found that children's level of interest in a passage they were reading was 30 times more useful than its difficulty level for predicting how much of it they would later remember.
I knew that student interest makes a huge difference. But that interest level was 30 times more useful for predicting recall than difficulty level? That blew me away.
Give kids an easy passage that they find boring? They won't remember it.
Give them a difficult passage that they find boring? They won't remember it.
But give them a fascinating passage of any level within their reach? They'll be all over it.
Sonlight mom Erin M. does what homeschool moms naturally do as she introduces her children to a fascinating world within a loving environment.
Kids know that textbooks are boring. (Have you tried to read one lately?) You just can't write a textbook as gripping as a story. But when kids read great stories and get to tag along on the adventures of those who lived through turning points in history ... they eat that up and remember the historical content.
Another obvious truth this article points out is
"We want children to develop in many ways, not just academically."
I've written before on how homeschooling doesn't just give that lip service. We have the freedom to help kids develop in many areas of life.
For example, it is next to impossible for a classroom teacher to properly address the specific emotional and physical needs of each child in her classroom. But as a homeschool mom or dad, you can—and do—attend to those very things every day.
If your son has a meltdown over a difficult math assignment, you can take a break from the math and address his emotional needs.
If your daughter needs to work for 30 minutes and then jump on a trampoline for 10 in order to stay focused ... why not? You are free to let her do that.
If your children are grieving the loss of a pet, you can take time during the school day to talk about their loss and help them process.
In other words, homeschooling lets us meet our children's holistic needs. We can let our kids be kids.
I could point out every one of the 10 items on the list, but I'll end with this one:
"Children are more likely to succeed in a place where they feel known and cared about."
So carry on the good work you're doing. When the days get long and spring seems far away, know that you are giving your children a great gift. You are embracing natural truths about education that classroom teachers would love to be able to implement. Keep up the good work!
In the Sonlight Connections group (membership for anyone with a free account on sonlight.com) and the Teacher Connection group (membership offered to qualified new Sonlighters), we asked brand new, unexpected homeschoolers about their choice to school at home with Sonlight this school year. While every parent or grandparent who answered had a unique story, there were some common themes repeated over and over.
If you, too, are a surprised 2020 homeschooler, their reasons may resonate with you. Those of you who are long-time experienced homeschoolers may smile to see that a lot of the same reasons to homeschool during the year of Covid-19 are the same reasons to homeschool without a pandemic.
[Some responses have been shortened for brevity and lightly edited.]
Saddened by the Requirements of In-Person School
"Homeschooling was always something I was interested in doing. I started looking at Sonlight back when my daughter was tiny, but then she started [public] school and loved it! We have been blessed with the greatest public school teachers! Until now, public school was the best option for our kids
"This fall ... [p]ublic school would feel anything but normal to them.... Keeping them home and getting to explore America History with them sounded so much more exciting! I feel so blessed with this unexpected year at home with them! And who knows? We may keep going!"
Megan C.
"Pre-pandemic we found a preschool after visiting a dozen preschools that my son loved. But after seeing kids eating and doing art work at tables alone, I decided we’d stay home, read good books, and explore the outdoors."
Brittney N.
"I've always wanted to homeschool, but [it] wasn’t in the cards because both my husband and I had to work full time. But since my job is now at home, I researched the options to see if we could do it while still working full time. I needed something that was already scheduled for me. Sonlight fit my needs and has been a blessing to us so far. The last straw for me was seeing the requirements that my child would be required to not only wear a mask all day at school but also on the entire bus ride."
Amy R.
Unhappy with Online School
"My husband was wanting [to homeschool] since my children were babies, but I held back. I didn’t want to fail them, to have the responsibility of their education rest on my shoulders. While we love our neighborhood school, we knew [our children] would be miserable doing schooling at home online. COVID-19 was our little nudge. The nudge encouraging us to do what I was fearful of, and Sonlight helped foster and equip me to take on the task. We are loving it, my children are thriving, and we are so blessed to have found Sonlight."
Kortney A.
"I teach 2nd grade in a public school. I never thought homeschooling would be in the cards for my family! But after reviewing the virtual option our district was offering, I knew that my daughter would not be getting a quality education this year. Add to that the possibility of inconsistent in-person/online instruction, and I knew that a stable program with high quality instruction was the right choice for us this year.
"We are on week 4 and are already loving the way the literature and history are intertwined! Plus homeschooling has given us the freedom to take field trips to some of the places she’s reading about it! Our year has started off great!"
Wendy G.
"My husband and I both work, and our girls (now 2nd and 4th grade) have been in public school since kindergarten. When schools closed due to Covid, I quickly decided public school distant learning wasn't going to work for us. I disliked the Google classroom and felt that, in spite of their teachers' best efforts, our girls didn't make much progress last spring.
"Ultimately I chose Sonlight because of the good reviews, its prepared schedules/guides, and the ability to use the same history and science programs for children close in age. Today was our first day. Although homeschool wasn't originally in our plans, I believe this change is going to benefit our family and I'm excited for this year of learning with our girls."
Esther M.
"We are raising our five year old grandson. He was to start kindergarten this fall, and I was going to be retiring. When Covid numbers in our community ticked up in June, I became concerned about what school would look like for him. In early August, our school district still hadn’t decided. I felt doing any part of his kindergarten year virtually was not a good fit for him. Homeschooling seemed like the best answer. When I found Sonlight, it seemed like the perfect answer."
Joanne K.
"My husband is a teacher in the same district our kids would have been attending. He has to be on campus, on Zoom, all day for virtual learning. We didn’t want our kids sitting in front of the screens all day, every day. They would come to hate school that way.
"Plus, I have fibromyalgia and can’t always function at regular times of the day, so we needed the flexibility of homeschooling. We’re one week in and averaging one tearful breakdown a day, but it’s getting better. The kids love it and ask to do the reading each day. I like the simplicity of it once I’ve pulled all the lessons together from the IGs for the week (I’m a teacher, too, so I love not having to plan lessons every day!). So far, we’re all really happy with Sonlight and can’t wait to see what’s coming for the rest of the year!"
Lindsey C.
The Consistency of Homeschooling
"Uncertainty, consistency, and stability are the reasons we chose to homeschool our kindergarten and pre-k children this year. I couldn't handle not knowing how the year in person would go, and felt safest staying home anyway. We also didn't want our daughter sitting in front of a computer screen for hours per day, either. We decided that by keeping them home with us we could provide the most stable, consistent, safe environment for them. And by choosing Sonlight, I can work with both kids together for a lot of our school time, rather than trying to keep our little guy occupied separately while working with our daughter."
Becky S.
"Homeschool is the one thing I swore I was not cut out for. As an artist, I was sure my free spirited, somewhat disorganized ways would not translate well into educating my children. It wasn't until the pandemic happened and virtual learning pushed us out of school that I started seriously thinking about homeschool.
"As I helped my three children through virtual learning, I realized I loved having them home and working with them and just maybe I was being called to this. The more restrictions the school put in place for the year, the more I realized that educating them at home could be the most consistent and normal education they could get this year. It was scary to fill out the paperwork to pull them out of public school, but now we are in our third week of homeschool. It has already started to turn the hearts of my children towards me and I towards them. We have read great books and are really glad we choose this rout or rather that God pushed us in this direction."
Leli H.
"Stability. We love our private school and were wholehearted set on going back. But the ups and downs of state mandates and confusion made us question if we needed to be part of this. Plus the cost for attending private school and moving to a remote learning classroom did not make sense to us financially. We chose to possibly sacrifice our spots going forward at the school so we could have the freedom to learn without constant screens and virtual classrooms or questions of dealing with pandemic confusion. We took the plunge. I have a sign hanging up in my homeschool room: 'It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.'"
Jaime B.
The Flexibility of Homeschooling
"I am a single mom who never thought I'd be able to homeschool my son. My son has asked over the years if he could be homeschooled, and I've always said 'No, because I have to work to support us.'
"Since my son has been in the 1st grade, he has always gone to morning care and afterschool care. So he was at school for basically 11-12 hours a day. I felt horrible, but there was no other way.
"Now with COVID, I've realized homeschooling could actually work. Depending on how much my son enjoys this year, I may continue at least through middle school (he's a 6th grader) and reevaluate for high school. We are 5 weeks in to HBL F, and I am seeing the amount of flexibility we have with life and with work. I no longer have to rush to meet that 6 pm pickup deadline."
Andrea H.
I've always said that I would homeschool in a heartbeat if the Lord made it crystal clear. Throughout the summer we were still on the traditional school train as school was going to be opening up for 1st and 2nd grade in our area and that's what grades are "big kids" are in. Well, on August 6th (24 hours before our kiddos headed "back to school") is when the Lord made it clear. The straw for me was finding out that we were going to need to pack a big zip lock bag of items for the kids to play with on the playground (chalk, cars, dolls) since they would not be able to play n the playground due to the new restrictions. That did not sit well with me and the Lord opened my eyes to the fact that I am daily out in our gorgeous backyard kicking the ball with our 2 year old … living a life of FREEDOM … and I wanted the same flexibility, freedom, and year of JOY for our 6 and 8 year old as well!! We are thrilled with our decision and thank the Lord every day for making it clear.
Whitney N.
Special Needs Kids Thrive with School at Home
"My son is gifted and has mild autism. We have struggled through public school the past 2 years, not academically, but emotionally and socially. When Covid-19 hit, we continued to do school with a daily routine but used materials we had at home that I knew were on his level.
"I saw his anxiety and stress decrease dramatically as he was at home. The tone of our whole home became more relaxed, and we are able to enjoy more activities and do therapies that are needed. We have seen so much growth and joy return to our son as we have been at home learning. As schools pushed off decision making, I knew I had to have consistency for my son (and daughter entering K), so I dove in and started making a plan. We are on our 3rd week of Sonlight and love all of the literature-based learning."
Rachel B.
"I had been considering homeschooling for years, but my husband wasn’t on board. Our son has begged to be homeschooled for years, too. This season we are in forced us to make a choice and my husband finally got on board with homeschooling. Our 6th grader said this is the best school year he’s ever had, and he’s got zero anxiety! We love it!
Amy J.
"Our daughter, CoraJane, has Osteogenesis Imperfecta (aka Brittle Bone Disease), and is high risk for COVID as a result. We actually pulled her out of public school the Friday before the public school closed for the rest of the year. For the first 6 weeks, the school was not able to provide any learning, so we started doing our own thing pretty much right away. We took the opportunity to start her on a reading program designed specifically for dyslexic students that the school had not been able to provide. We immediately noted the growth in her reading skills, due partly to the program and partly due to the one-on-one time.
"The school finally began offering virtual learning, and it was so stressful, unnecessarily long, and not a good way to learn for our daughter. While we continued to do the virtual, we also added our own curriculum, just pieced together. We continued to work on math and reading over the summer, and can't believe how much progress she made! Although our school did reopen, we just couldn't send her with her risk. I joined a bunch of homeschool groups, and Sonlight just kept coming up. I checked it out, and it just really spoke to me.
"I thought maybe I was crazy considering a literature-based curriculum for a dyslexic, but I figured if I was willing to do a lot of reading aloud, we could pull it off. We are currently doing Science and HBL A and loving it. We are always done in less than 2 hours. No stress, and it's enjoyable for both of us."
Angela S.
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