Hi There! I am a proud mama of two daughters ages 5 and 3 and we are in our second year of homeschooling. Right now we are doing the Letter of the Week and the K4 Kindergarten curriculum. I have been doing a lot of researching on different styles of homeschooling and it seems we will end up fitting into the classical style. I am really passionate about wanting my children to become learners and thinkers which sadly I feel is not happening in schools. So far we are all loving this journey!
Hello. Iām Allison. We have two children - a three-year-old and a 1-year-old, so I havenāt been really homeschooling at all yet, although weāve been homeschooling since the oldest was a baby. 
I think we will have a mix of teaching styles. I used to teach in public school and I know what I donāt like and I know what I truly want to do with teaching children. A lot of how we teach/work will depend on what interests and talents the kiddos have as we get into our adventure together.
We chose homeschooling for a variety of reasons: things I was disenchanted with as a public school teacher, family history (public & private education and homeschooling) for both my husband and I, and my own desires to not only teach the way I want to teach but also to go back and learn in a different way myself.
Iām happy to be here with all of you.
I have 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and one due in August. Have been homeschooling since the beginning. Some days/weeks we are in a fabulous groove and I think maybe we are finally figuring this homeschooling thing out, and then sickness and attitudes and life happens and I feel like I am back at square one. I am overall loving the experience of living and schooling and doing life together with my kiddos, but I am nervous to have 4 āofficialā students next year at multiple levels along with an active toddler and newborn. This spring feels like the climb to the top of the roller coaster. Praying the Lord gives me wisdom and strength to survive the ride!
Hi,
Iām Tai. I live in California originally from a small town in Upstate NY where homeschooling was abundant. My husband and I have 2 children. An almost 4 year old daughter (on Easter) & a son who turned 1 on Valentines Day. Holiday babies. 
Iāve started homeschooling our daughter with just general preschool ABC stuff and now with a mix of COAHās Letter of the week/ K4 curriculum. We started this to get a daily schedule and for our daughter to get interested into learning more than just whatās around her. (Meaning more books, abc, count vs mom and baby, tv, etc) It really helped us give her more structure and a drive to want to learn and LISTEN better. This all happened as soon as we said letās do some workbook stuff and it lead to activities to field trips and it all started to connect.
Teaching styleā¦ um Iām just winging it at the moment. Itās more of a monkey see monkey do and lots of happy faces and GREAT JOBS. The encouragement works good for us right now.
Hi, Iām Michelle. I have 2 kiddos. Norah is just shy of 6 and Joshua is 2. This is our first year homeschooling. There are so many reasons we are on this journey, but one of the biggest is Freedom! Freedom to choose curriculum, schedule ect. Excited to learn more here!
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Hello, My name is Karrie. I have five children who range in age from four to thirteen. This is my first year homeschooling all of my kiddos. I recently homeschooled in the summer months to supplement. I have three very studious children who love school and two others that have had many difficulties in the public school system. Homeschooling my children was the only option for me and I am thankful that my Lord led me to it. My whole family loves the time spent with each other and we have had some really unique conversations. I like to watch my children grow in their faith and I am grateful to God for this season in my life. We are truly blessed. I use a variety of curriculum and try to stay within the classical/traditional style. I believe that my children are my ministry. These are the years that really matter the most and I will never get this time back with my children once it is gone. It is most important for me to teach my children Godās ways and for me to give my children back to Him.
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Hi, Iām Queenie and have 3 beautiful girls - 6.75, 4 and 14 months. Iāve been homeschooling since the beginning, and been part of a wonderful homeschool community for 5 years. We began homeschooling because God laid it in my heart before I had my first daughter. When she was 1, God led me to many things which were homeschool-related, so we have continued. My husband and family were skeptical at first, but we have been blessed to be able to continue. Itās getting harder bringing in my 2nd daughter, but we have some routine and I can see her eager to learn :0) Thank you for this community!
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Hi- Iām Rachel and we have four kids! Only two are school aged (9 and 6) and we do our best to give them a decent education despite their 4 year old and 9 month old siblings
We are eclectic homeschoolers and uses little bit of everything in our schooling. There are a lot of reasons why we chose this route, but when my son was in a public school for his first two years it felt like a huge step away from a cohesive family unit where we could easily teach him about The Lord. Iām so so glad we made the switch! Thanks for your blog Erica- it has helped me a LOT as we have gotten started on this path!
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Hi. This is our fourth year. I have three kids. Ages 11, 6, and 4. We started homeschooling after my oldest went to PS for kindergarten and first. She didnāt have a very good experience in first grade. I realized I wanted to be the one to watch my kids grow up instead of sending them to school for 9 1/2 hours every day. ( school bus picks up at 6:40am and drops off at 4:10 where we live) best decision Iāve ever made.
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Hi!
I am Lynn and a mom of 3 girls , almost 9, almost 7 and 5. I have an amazing husband David, as well as 4 dogs and 1 bird. We started HS when my oldest was 5 and I we have gravitated to charlottes mason and classical as our model for learning. We are currently in Michigan FREEZINGā¦wishing we were south lol. I have known about COAH for a couple years and am so grateful for the amount of sharing and information provided. It has helped many a day and we love it!
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Hi, Iām Deanna. We have an almost 3 year old, with Baby #2 on the way. Iāve been interested in homeschooling ever since I met my good friend, Sandy, when I was in middle school. She and her sister were homeschooled and it was so different from the public schooling I was used to that I was immediately intrigued. At the time I was planning to become a teacher when I āgrew upā so I just knew I wanted to homeschool my own children some day.
Fast forward 20-some yearsā¦ I did teach overseas for 4 years, but discovered in the process that Iām not good with the group dynamics of teaching. Iām good working with kids in small groups or individually, but managing an entire classroom was draining and simply not my forte.
However, the idea of homeschooling my own children was still there in my mind. I researched homeschooling off and on over the years, and the more I looked into it the more I became convinced that God was building a desire in me to fully homeschool my future children, kindergarten through graduation.
When my husband and I were engaged and talking about future plans, I told him about my desires, and at first, he was very hesitant about the whole idea. He had known a few homeschoolers growing up and had not liked the results he saw, and since those experiences were his only exposure to homeschooling, he was unsure about giving it a try.
Weāve now been married almost 6 years and in that time, his views have changed a lot. He is much more open to the idea of homeschooling all the way through school (as opposed to only for elementary school as we had discussed when we first brought up the topic) now that heās seen some of the research and curriculums Iāve looked at.
Our current plan is to use the Heart of Dakota series throughout our homeschooling years, with some added in curriculums like All About Spelling, Life of Fred math, and some of your wonderful curriculums, Erica. (For instance, we plan to use your LOTW, K4, and both Geography curriculums in conjunction with Heart of Dakota.)
I have spent countless hours scouring the Internet in search of affordable curriculums that our family would be able to use when the time was right to start homeschooling, but also that I would enjoy teaching. I have come to really like a Charlotte Mason-like approach to homeschooling. I love the idea of teaching from living books as much as possible rather than the traditional textbooks.
So in the early years, when hubby wasnāt so open to homeschooling and I was researching the various options available for homeschoolers, I was looking for the cheapest, āliving booksā option I could find so that hubby would be more likely to approve of the cost of homeschooling. When I finally found Heart of Dakota, I knew it was for us. Granted, it does become a little pricy in the upper grades, but when I factor in the reusability of the curriculum and our desire to have at least 4 children, I think itās well worth the cost.
Even though our son is not yet 3, he seems advanced āacademicallyā. Heās been able to identify his number and letters for quite some time, so I went ahead and decided to start a simple āpreschoolā program with him to start teaching him the sounds that go with the letters. Weāre currently using Heart of Dakotaās preschool curriculum, Little Hands to Heaven, once a week. Since my son is still on the younger end of the recommended age group for the book, I simply look through each week of activities, pull out the ones I feel he can handle, and we do them all together in 1 day. We typically end up having 4-6 activities that we do each week, plus the Bible stories, and my son just loves it! He frequently asks to do school more often than once a week. Iām thinking about upping it to 2-3 days a week after he turns 3.
Well this post turned out to be a fair bit longer than I was planning so I apologize for that. When homeschooling is the topic, I can really get going sometimes. Haha. Thanks for creating this forum where we can chat! I look forward to becoming part of the community!
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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?
Good Morning! I am so excited about this community! I have been following COAH for 4 years now and it is still one of my most frequent places to come to for resources and advice. (What would I do without your monthly meal plans
Anyway, I am now in my fourth year of homeschooling (if you count preschool with my oldest). I have two daughters ages 7 and 4. The oldest is currently in second grade and I have now started my youngest in preschool. So this fall, I will be āofficiallyā homeschooling 2 kiddos.
I would say our learning/teaching style is Traditional/Eclectic. I like that I can adjust what I am teaching to each childās learning preference. I love that I can speed up in some subject and take our time in others. As far as the whyā¦ Well, funny thing is before we started, I hadnāt even considered homeschooling, didnāt really know much about it really. I just knew that the bar had been lowered in public school to a level that my husband and I were not happy with. Soā¦we started looking into private schooling. As we started looking in to the cost, and then finding out, that you really get what you pay for, along with a myriad of other issues, this option was no longer looking appealing. And then I realized that I was already too late for registration anywayā¦opps. It was then that my husband said; āYou know, you have already been doing a great job with pre-school, why not keep going?ā (jaw hit floor - say what?!?) Then I started looking into the nitty gritty if you will and did a whole lot of praying. And then the choice was an obvious one. So we took a leap of faith and havenāt looked back since. God had been so good at walking me through this; and I am do grateful that I have put my trust in Him.
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Hi there! My name is Laura and this is my third year homeschooling. I have three boys (7,7 &4) with the older two currently doing 2nd grade, and the little one not āofficiallyā doing school yet. We are pretty eclectic and use little bits from several different companies. We started to homeschool because we loved the idea of the freedom to educate the children how we see fit. That and the fact that my cousin in-lawās kids - who were Homeschooled - were some of the MOST socially well adjusted kids Iād ever met.
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My background is also musicalāIāve been teaching flute lessons part-time since I was a music major in college, and also started teaching beginner piano to one girl this school year. So Iām already plotting how to get my baby interested in music!
Hi! My name is Becky and we have 3 children, 8th/6th/K. This is our 3rd year hsing. We started due to my husband being laid off and having to move with only 6 weeks left in the school year. I didnāt want to stick the kids in a new school with such little time left. Weāve never looked back. As far as a style, I donāt know. I just do what works for each subject and each kid - does that make it eclectic? Iām not completely in the know of all the different styles.
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Hi, I am Stephanie. We homeschool for many many reasons. God lead us in this direction 2 years ago and we plan to continue as long as He wants us here! I consider myself a traditional homeschooler. We love the family time and the flexibility. Thank you Erica for creating this forum. Looking forward to meeting you all! Blessings.
Hello. I am Abby and I am in my second year of homeschooling. I have two children- I only homeschool my youngest ( almost 10 years old). I decided to begin homeschooling my son after many ups and downs in the public school system. He has had learning issues since he was a toddler. I was thinking and praying about homeschooling a year and a half ago when his current teacher asked me if I had ever considered homeschooling. My prayer was answeredā¦withdrew him from public school a week later and began homeschooling. I guess I would fall into the Eclectic teaching style. I use a variety of curriculum and customize it to fit his learning style. I am always searching for new ideas and tools to help him. Homeschooling has been a blessing for us-my son is making so much progress at home. Thanks for setting up this forum!
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My name is Vanessa. We began home schooling in Oct 2013, when my 2 kids, now 10 & 11 were in 3rd & 4th grade. Our school had just begun implementing common core, and it completely changed my kids in the short time they were in school that yr! They went from loving school, to crying at homework time every day. From short homework times the yr before, to hr to 2 hr homework times! And my girl was so concerned w āfitting inā all of the sudden. We began completely eclectic since we started so suddenly lol. But this yr, we have leaned toward a mix of Charlotte Mason & Classical. I am so glad we decided to HS! we have loved every moment so far, and Iām esp thankful that I can incorporate God into our daily learning as well.
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Hi, Iām Tijana (guess you can pronounce it ,Tiyanaāā). I have one 2.5 year old. Unfortunately, I live in a country where homeschooling (by the parent) isnāt allowed. It is allowed for children with disabilities or athletes or musicians, but only with private tutors. And that is not what I want for my child, I want to have the opportunity to chose the best education for my child. And I think that it is homeschooling by parent. That is what I want for my child. I pray for something to change, for some new law.
But for now I have an opportunity to organize TotSchool for her and for now my heart is satisfied. If the law change one day, I think that we will be under strong limitations and regime, and that we will have to do the traditional style.
I am deeply in love and passionate about homeschooling, I think God represent an idea of homeschooling to me for a reason. I am so glad that Iāve find COAH and I wish all the families that do homescholling all best, you are a true inspiration for me.
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My name is Jill and I have been homeschooling for 15 years. We have 6 kids. I like the idea of classical education but our actual style ends up being pretty eclectic. We started homeschooling after our kindergarten son was having some struggles at school. We felt that some of the teacherās expectations were wrong for a 5 year old boy and decided that we couldnāt do any worse than the school had been doing. That son graduated homeschool in 2013 and is now doing well in college. Over the years, we have continued to homeschool for lots of other reasons: allows more sibling interaction, we have more control over media and peer influences, we have flexibility to school around a fatherās work schedule, and I can pick materials that incorporate a Christian worldview.
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