Best Homeschool Tips – Survey Response – Episode 501

Homeschooling can be a wonderful experience, and in this episode of Vintage Homeschool Moms, we discuss the best homeschool tips. We surveyed our listeners. Join me to find out what they advised.

Thanks to our sponsor CTC Math. CTC is a highly rated math curriculum for homeschooled students for grades K-12. The family math package makes it ideal for large families at one low price. Visit the website for more information.

Last week I shared a milestone episode, 500, and the topic was Homeschool Do Overs; this episode is a continuation with a twist; I selected some of the best advice for homeschool moms who answered our survey. While the question centered on the idea of a homeschool do-over, I found that their advice better fit the category of “The Best Homeschool Tips.”

Check out Homeschool Do-OVER here.

During my years of homeschooling, I’ve received the most encouragement from like-minded families. I still consider my past homeschool friends to be among my closest, the reason. They experienced what I experienced; they put aside their goals and aspirations to focus on their relationship with God, their spouse, their children, their home, and their homeschool.

These ladies were faithful, and most continued the homeschool journey throughout high school. Everyone did what was best for their family; my friends are wonderful news. Keep your eyes on what you and your family think is important, and ignore the rest.

I learned that extended family might be well-meaning – yet, we have to decide what is best, which is a good place to start. If you have not taken the time to decide on your family goals, begin there.

Best Homeschool Tips

As a synopsis of the pages of recommendations and suggestions, I’ve placed them in categories; Faith, Family, Homeschool. I have edited the comments to make them easier to read on-air and kept the names anonymous! If you hear a comment you made on the survey and want to share your name, visit the podcast page at Vintage Homeschool Moms, look for episode 501, Best Homeschool Tips, and leave your comment there!

See if any of these ideas resonate with you!

Faith Tips:

1. God’s to-do list and my to-do list are often very different. This mom shared that while she did make plans and lists, she found her day would go so much better when she placed her plans into God’s hand and asked him to help her accomplish what He wanted her to do.
2. This same person shared that she prayed about her homeschool year and would lay out the curriculum and ideas, even extra curricula, before the Lord. I love this idea because being in God’s will is the goal for us as Christians.
3. One mom said she wished she had focused more on the Bible/Apologetics and given her kids a solid foundation to launch them into a world that doesn’t value what we value. [This friend is one of the main reasons people homeschooled in the past, and it seems to have fallen off. It should be one of your main goals as homeschooling.]
4. I would have prayed more. My passion for praying for God’s will has grown as my walk with the Lord has grown. Praying correlates to my daily peace of mind and joy, which spilled over into my homeschool classroom and my girls who were a part of it. ♥️
5. Praying together as a family nightly and sharing praise reports. What had God done in your life each day?

Homeschool Tips:

1. You may have regrets, but choosing to homeschool your children will never be one of them.
2. Another mom wished she had unschooled and not tried to mimic public school in the early years.
3. Another shared she never intended to homeschool and was, and I quote, “literally thrust into it with no other options at the time. I had no time to research…it was just gone. We only planned to homeschool one year…but this fall is the start of our 12th year, with 13 more years to go.” She said the younger kids definitely will benefit from my early misses. (I love this!)
4. Another stated she wished she had been homeschooled from the start! [In fact, many of you said the same thing!] She began homeschooling when her daughter was in middle school, and it has been the biggest blessing for the family. She feels she missed out on time with her daughter. This is what many people say.
5. Take more field trips and fun days in junior high and high school. Another mom shared she wish she had made school more fun.
6. Have the children each try a class at the local college for dual enrollment, realizing it wasn’t all or nothing. (I did this with two high school students, and it worked extremely well. I was still part of their schooling; they took classes at home and experienced college-level classes where I could help them with good study habits.)
7. This same mom shared that they would not stop doing math over the summer as I did for too many years, as her kids would have benefited from the extra practice.
8. Helped her high schoolers prepare for and take CLEP exams. CLEP exams give a student credit for the class instead of having to take it in college. If your student tests well, this is a good option.
9. One mother shared that her third child, for many reasons, went into a private school in the seventh grade. The world pulled him away from us, and we have major regrets. Another mom said she allowed her daughter to mainstream back into public school in 10th grade. She lasted two years before begging to homeschool again. It caused a lot of unnecessary trauma for the entire family. She said, knowing what I know now about what goes on in those institutions, she wouldn’t let any of her children set foot in public school again. [Friends, don’t think private or Christian schools are the answer; we can be hands-off. We must often grab our kid’s hearts early on; if not, we can start today! I published a book some years back, Secret Code Time: Creating an Unbreakable Bond Between Parent and Child. It is available on my website in limited qualities in print and eBook. I also have podcasts on the topic of kids and relationships. This is key!
10. I wish I had focused on child-led learning sooner. I wish I had been better at making life skills part of our learning when my kids were younger. (We have a Life Skills podcast with Lisa Nehring that you should check out on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.
11. Another said she wished they had more fun and more often.
12. One mom said she would be confident about homeschooling, which comes from experience.
13. Another mom said to avoid the online “all in one” curriculum. She admitted that using books with mom, lead teaching takes more time and work, yet she felt more in control and recognized the gaps her children had sooner. She said with online learning, her kids rushed through lessons, and it seems retained little. She also said it was difficult to change in middle and high school. I would encourage this mom that it is not too late to change, and while it might include allowing them to stay in this curriculum until she figures out what she wants to teach and how, it will be something she does not regret.
14. Testing for learning difficulties early on so that intervention and different curricula would be used.
15. Some parents spoke about specific curriculums. I don’t want to be negative about certain curriculums, but I want to say that Charlotte Mason’s inspiration is great, especially in her younger years. Avoid bandwagon curriculums or groups.
16. We use unit studies early on in my children’s homeschool, and I loved the idea of learning together and supplementing with math and reading when needed.

Family:

1. One mom said – that when homeschooling multiple children, remember they were individuals, which would have released expectations that they would learn similarly.
2. I wish I had modeled self-care a little bit more.
3. Another mom said, “I … know my children better than anyone, and I love them more than anyone, and looking at the result, I would spend less time worrying about what other people think, including family members who are passive-aggressive toward homeschooling or just plain don’t understand it. I don’t have to explain myself to others, and in a do-over situation, I wouldn’t.  Hindsight is 20/20! (Amen to this.)
4. A mom of one said socialization was difficult for an only child. To this mom, I would recommend joining homeschool groups and finding moms with like-minded philosophies and kids. My children played with kids of all ages, and that was something that, as homeschoolers, we learned to do!
5. One mom said she purchased a farm, thinking that was the best for her family, but in retrospect traveling the 50 states would have been something she would do over again.

There were so many more great ideas; I invite you to listen to episode 500 if you have not already, and I want to thank you for joining me today.