Take a minute to reply to this post and tell us a little bit about yourself! Here are some questions to get you started:
How long have you been homeschooling?
How many children do you have?
What teaching style do you like best? Charlotte Mason, Traditional, Eclectic, etc.
Why did you start homeschooling?
I’ll start! My name is Erica and I’ve been homeschooling for about 9 years now! We have 4 wonderful children, and I tend to veer towards the traditional/eclectic teaching styles. I like to use a mix of traditional curriculum with some fun out of the box things for electives.
We started homeschooling for several reasons which you can read about here. And I’ve found that I really like how homeschooling allows you to tailor your child’s education to fit their needs!
Welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy your visit!
Hi I’m Kelly. I have 2 children and have been homeschooling for 1 year. We’re still figuring out our schedule and style but are leaning towards traditional / eclectic. We started homeschooling because God laid it on our hearts and opened all the doors necessary. We’re loving the extra family bonding and the investment we can have with our kids
Nice to meet you, Tiffany here.
I have two of the world’s best kids: a five year-old daughter who loves all things “animal” and a sixteen year old son who enjoys learning the Japanese language(s) at the moment. We are currently in our seventh year of homeschooling-- we began for several different reasons, perhaps most important was so my son could focus on learning, instead of on the myriad distractions present in an average traditional school day. We also discovered he was on the autism spectrum (extremely-talkative-end) shortly before deciding to give home schooling a try. He has tried everything from SOS school-in-a-box to Lifepacs to unit studies and unschooling to online classes, which is what he is currently mostly doing-- though we do always have a few traditional textbooks in the mix, along with library finds, as well. Daily calendar, reading, learning to read, letters, numbers, writing practice, art, etc.-- these are the things my daughter has done this year without an actual curriculum (she does have some workbooks, though). I enjoy reading about all learning/teaching styles, and tend to gravitate toward the Charlotte Mason style, personally. In reality, we are most often eclectic and frequently changing it up to follow the students’ interests.
(I apologize for crafting a book, above!..)
I’m Randi and our 5 kiddos range in age from 8mo-9 yrs. this is our 2nd yr homeschooling. We chose it for many reasons including quality time with my husband who works crazy hours, avoiding common core, including Jesus in any subject, flexibility and improving our family togetherness instead of being apart all day. We have an eclectic style leaning more toward classical. And we have absolutely loved your lapbooks and your K4. Your geography is probably my fav! We did world last year and are working through US now. LOVE it!! I’m excited for this forum!
HI! My name is Sarah. I have been blessed with 7 children on earth ages, 9, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1, and 3 months. My husband and I were both home schooled so it was something we always planned on doing with our children. We belive “school” is just a way of life so I guess you would say we’ve been home schooling for nine years! One of the things I love about home schooling is being able to be apart of my children’s lives. It is amazing to see them learn and grow not just academically but also in their walk with Jesus. I am so grateful Erika for your website. It has been a blessing to me and many of my friends over the years! Thank you!
Hi! I’m Colleen. I have three kids (twelve, ten and three). This is our first year homeschooling and I have absolutely fallen in love with it! I am so thankful to God for leading us into it. We are still finding our way as well, but I’d say that we also lean toward a mix of traditional/eclectic style.
Our oldest has had academic struggles in school previously that really took its toll on her. She had become somewhat withdrawn and just felt plain defeated. I didn’t even realize how much so until I took the leap to homeschool all of my children and now she has just blossomed! She is a silly, talkative, extremely comical and intelligent seventh grader who radiates with Gods love. Our whole family has become closer and grown so much spiritually.
I love how homeschooling can work around our needs and learning styles.
It’s nice to have other homeschoolers to talk with and learn from, so thank you!
Hi I’m Crystal! ! I have a 5, 3 and 1 year old, this is our “2nd year” of homeschooling. I never in a million years thought that I would be homeschooling and already I love it!! We are a small business family and I love that my kids can go to work with Dad and even over night trips without the worry of school. We really began to homeschool because we were not liking the government involvement and God being pushed out the door. I am so thankful we have chosen this path. I would say that right now we are an eclectic style! !
I will be starting my homeschool journey next school year. I have four kids (12, 10, 7 & 5). Homeschooling was always on my radar, but last year I feel the Lord really was laying it on my heart. It was a constant thought for me. But, my husband was not on board. I started praying that is this was really God’s plan for us that He would soften my husbands heart toward it. Well, New Years Eve my husband turned to me and said if this is what I want, and if this will make me happy…he is for it! What an answer to prayer! I have been reading your site for several years now. We too live in CO (Parker). I am taking this time to get all ready to kick things off next school year. We will lean toward traditional/eclectic. Using different curriculum to best fit our family.
My husband and I have three great kids who are 7, 5, and 4-years old. We are VERY new to homeschooling, as my husband and I just decided over the Christmas holidays that we would start homeschooling our children starting this fall. Right now, the two oldest are in kindergarten (my oldest is doing kindergarten for the second year due to him having special needs) and we are reading everything we can get our hands on and researching curriculum like crazy people.I have no idea which teaching style will fit us best but I imagine we’ll probably be a pretty good mix of everything by the time we settle into what works for us!
We decided to home school mostly because we just felt this overwhelming need to keep our kids close - I can’t explain it at all but it just feels like something we need to do. My oldest was having problems keeping up. My middle is having problems with being bullied. And my youngest just misses the age cutoff for kindergarten so she would have to be in preschool this fall and she is already doing kindergarten work. Also, with our oldest being special needs (autism, spd, seizures), we can provide more accommodations at home for him and teach to his learning style. Also, we don’t have to worry about juggling his many doctors’ and therapy appointments around school.
Right now, we’re just kind of a jumble of emotions - impatient, because I am sooo ready to just get started already, nervous, excited, and defensive because we’re already getting judgement from a few of the friends we are telling. So I am so glad that I have found Erica’s website and this community! P.S. Erica - my little girl (4) is LOVING the Letter of the Week curriculum!
Hi Susan,
Welcome to the forum! I know getting started can be overwhelming! I wrote a book called Homeschooling 101 that will help answer all of your questions on how to get started homeschooling, choosing curriculum, creating lesson plans, etc.
Hello!
My name is Jason. I am Erica’s husband. As most of you already know we have 4 children. All boys and 3 girls. Turbo and I hold our own though.
I am really excited about this community and hope it is a place where everyone can come and talk about homeschooling and all that it entails. We love it and so do our kids!
If you have any questions or issues about the community please post a topic to the Meta category. You can also mention me directly by using @jason in your post.
Be sure to read about the trust levels. Also, once you are done seeing the Getting Started banner post on the top you can click the X in the top right corner to close it. You can always go back and read the post later. Finally, be sure to use the search feature at the top if you are looking for something in particular. If you don’t find it…create a new topic!
I am excited for everyone to get to know each other…to share ideas…and see what a cool place this can become as our community grows!
Hello, My name is Adrianne. I have four beautiful children, three boys ages 14, 5, and 3. My youngest is our only girl who is 18 months. We are in our 4th year of homeschooling. I started off more Eclectic style picking and piecing different curriculum. We now are more Charlotte Mason utilizing My Father’s World, which we simply love! With the desire to be with our children more and in control of their education, we felt lead by the Lord to homeschool. It’s not always easy but I wouldn’t change these precious memories for anything!
Hi! I’m Tiffany! I’ve been homeschooling for 7 years. I have 4 beautiful children. My oldest is a boy who is 12 years old and in 6th grade. The next in line is my 6 year old daughter who is in 1st grade. Next is my son Gabe who just turned 5. He’s doing preschool things and my youngest and is my boy Job who is 2.
I’m more of a traditional/eclectic style. I like having a curriculum to follow, but add my own fun things, too.
I started homeschooling because there really was no other option. Public school was not an option, and private school was too expensive. I always said I would never homeschool - LOL. Not all days are sunny and roses, but God gives strength for each day. I truly love homeschooling and I know that this is what God has for my family right now.
I have four kids ( ages 8, 7, 5, and 2), and this is our second year homeschooling. You blog has been instrumental to my success as a homeschooler, and I am so excited about this forum! I have been looking to something just like this for awhile.
Frankly, I brought my kids home because I didn’t like how the public school was handling their education. My oldest is extremely gifted and wasn’t being challenged. My daughter was a struggling reader, and wasn’t getting the extra help she needed. Then the common core nonsense started. Taking charge of my kids’ education has been the best decision I’ve made!
Hello! My name is Angela. We have 3 kids, We currently homeschool our 2 boys ages 10 and 9. We have been homeschooling for 5 years now. We also have a 4 year old daughter, we will start her in K. We enjoy it. It is nice to be able to go at our own pace!
Hi!
I’m Rebecca and we have been homeschooling for, I guess, 3 years… we have one son, age 7 and he is in second grade.
I guess we are classical in homeschool style, we follow classical conversations… but kiddo loves workbooks - so I guess classically traditionally with a bit of unschooled, thrown in for good measure.
To homeschool was my husband’s idea… he was involved in a multi-level marketing group with other families who happen to homeschool. He loved that their families were to tightly connected and he asked me to consider it. I was a bit on the fence until kiddo pretty much taught himself to read at age 4 and I didn’t want him to have to “slow” down on learning when we hit public school, so we just kept going where ever the wind took him…
Turbo and I hold our own though.
