Curious about Homeschooling?
A recommendation for those asking questions about home education
Education is a frequent topic here, and as both Ellie and I were homeschooled, and are homeschooling/planning on homeschooling our own children, we obviously believe it’s a great educational choice. Not the only great one, of course, but a great one nevertheless; one that, if you’ve never done it before, can seem overwhelming and scary and more than a little weird.
In reality, it doesn’t need to be as scary, overwhelming, or weird as it seems at first glance. There are lots and lots of other families out there doing it, for lots of different reasons, and in lots of different ways. There is not one singular Right Way to Homeschool, and there’s plenty of time to change and adapt your own way as you go. One of the many great things about it is that you get to grow in knowledge along with your children, and that means that you also grow in the knowledge of how best to teach your specific children as you do it. If you’ve been considering homeschooling, (or even if you’ve already made the decision), you may have lots of different questions swirling in your head, lots of “what ifs” and “what abouts” and “hows” and “whys” and “whens.” That brings me to today’s recommendation for you: Catherine Oliver’s substack titled How We Homeschool.
This substack is a delight to read.
is a homeschooling mom in England, teaching her two children (ages 8 and 6). As suggested by the title, she frequently posts about how they homeschool on a given day, walking you through what they do on that specific day, whether it be a great day or a bad day or somewhere in-between. But not only does she write about her own homeschool, she also frequently posts guest posts from other home educators all around the world who describe for us a random day of homeschooling in their households. This is a wonderful way to get a look into the very different ways families go about this huge task. There are classical schoolers and unschoolers, big families and small families, great days and not-so-great ones, schedulers and the spontaneous, travelers and homebodies, religious and non-religious. It’s a great reminder that you can make homeschooling your own, and that no two families do it in the same way. Likewise, it’s a great place to get inspiration from families who do things in a way you haven’t ever considered before.One particularly great article for this time of year is linked below. If you are one of those people considering homeschooling but asking many questions, read this post! It does a wonderful job of reminding you that “It’s not the huge decision it feels like,” of explaining “What are you obliged to do?” and answering a few of the hot topic questions like “What about socialization?” and “Are all home educators a bit weird?” While the UK policies on home education differ from those in the States, it’s still a great perspective for those of us here in US, and I encourage you to give it a read.
And if after reading that, you’re curious to dive deeper in why other families choose to homeschool, check out the following post of hers as well. You may be surprised at how many different reasons are given!