Howdy! We’ve been homeschooling for 4 years now. We have 3 kids. Xavier (almost 8), Aria (almost 6), and Querina (4). I like traditional but we’re more eclectic, I think. We started homeschooling because my husband was homeschooled and we really weren’t fans of putting our kids in public school. We can’t afford private school so homeschool, despite being a little spendy at the beginning of the year, was the best option because it was cheaper. Plus, it gives us a little more flexibility so if my husband has odd days off or whatever we can go with the flow and adjust our weeks accordingly.
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Hello! I’m Angela and we have 4 kids, a 6 week old, a 6, 7 and 17 year old. For homeschooling we are classical with some eclectic. We have been homeschooling exactly 1 year since we pulled my son out of kindergarten last February. We started because we were having problems with the local school and my son was more miserable every day. So after much prayer and discussion we decided to pull him and that’s the best decision i have ever made. It’s so much easier than I thought and both my 6 and 7 year old enjoy it, but I doubt more thsn me. I’ve already told them I’m never letting them go back to public school haha. That’s why we started up with Classical Conversations this year was so that I could teach through high school.
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Hi, I’m Nicole. My children are 9(girl), 6(boy), 4(girl) and 2(girl). My husband and I have decided to homeschool our kids starting this fall. I have been following your blog for a couple of years because I love all of the printables, but I know it will be a tremendous help for many more reasons one we start homeschooling. Our two oldest are in PS right now and we are really unhappy with the pace at which they are being expected to learn common core. The testing is crazy and they are constantly cramming info a few weeks before the big tests instead of teaching those methods all along. I was homeschooled, my husband went to a Christian school and we both said we would never homeschool. Well, never say never, right? 
All I can say is that I believe God definitely changed our hearts. I feel a combination of anxiety, excitement, and a strange sense of peace about it all at the same time. We are leaning towards the living book/CM style of teaching, so we will see how this fits with our family. I’m excited to get started and I’m hoping this forum is a big help!
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Hi! My name is Kasha. I have one daughter and she is 6. Our homeschool style would have to be eclectic. We use a bit of every thing. It seems to help our daughter learn what ever she is studying. We have been homeschooling for 2 years now and we all love it. It has been great being able to teach our daughter so many subjects and tailor the classes to her. I am so excited for this group.
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Hi, My name is Heather and I have been a homeschool mom for almost two years, but I am still getting used to it. My amazing kids are 6 and 7. I was a public school teacher and I never considered being a homeschool mom as it was always “those” parents who did it and now I am one of "those"parents lol. My husband always wanted to homeschool our kids, but I was concerned with the social aspect of it. I have to admit, that on a lot of days it is harder to homeschool than to work as a teacher, but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. I get to spend every day with my kids and my husband and I are the primary contributors as to what our kids hear and learn. Some of the deciding factors to homeschool for us were 1. to keep our kids learning what we value and to learn our morals and standards and to learn how our faith and God are involved in everything 2. to keep them from socializing with children we would rather they not socialize with 3. to allow them to learn what they are intrigued by 4. my daughter is very shy so she would fall through the cracks and my son is very energetic and he would get into trouble for being himself. We feel God made them this way and we are not going to allow school to change them. 5. We get to spend every day with our kids and that is priceless! Our approach is very eclectic - sometimes subjects are more traditional using workbooks and adding in hands on games, other subjects is very unschooled such as Science and Socials. I love homeschooling!
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HI! My name is Gwyn. I have 3 children and have been homeschooling for 5 years now. I am probably more of a laid-back traditionalist homeschool mom. We try to add in the fun and the non-book work, life type stuff, but I still generally rely on text. We originally started homeschooling because I was a public school teacher and was concerned about where the importance lay in the public school, testing or knowledge. Since I see that my concern is still valid we are continuing to homeschool. Excited to be a part of this and get lots of new ideas and tips!
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I’m Karen. I have two children, an 11yo son and a 7.5yo daughter with special needs (no diagnosis, but looks like autism). My son is completing fifth grade. We have homeschooled from my son’s kindergarten year (he did attend preschool). Although I am also a member of a Charlotte Mason forum, I’m not very good at implementing all the aspects of CM. I like its emphasis on quality literature and its ideas on postponing formal grammar instruction and spelling. But otherwise, I’m probably eclectic. As my children get older, I’ll probably get more traditional as I incorporate more textbooks.
I can’t really pinpoint why we homeschool; it’s just something my husband and I both wanted to do. I was considering how to bring up to him that I wanted to homeschool when our son was a baby, but he brought it up first and was surprised when I agreed immediately. But it’s for the best, I know. Were my children in school, we would be fighting the SPED maze with dd and fighting to keep ds, who is small for his age and very talkative, from being bullied, among other things.
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Hi there! I’m a mom to four children (ages 4, 3,1 and a 10 year old step-daughter). We are starting our homeschool journey this coming fall. We just started doing more structured preschool activities in January and my kids are really enjoying it. I’m still exploring the different styles and we haven’t narrowed it down yet. My husband and I decided to homeschool after numerous frustrating experiences with our local public school but, more then that I also enjoy spending time with my children and watching them learn and grow. It has deepened our family bond.
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Hello! I’m Jessica. We have one son in middle school, and we have been homeschooling for two years. We use a mix of curriculum: a few classes online, traditional textbooks, and some pretty out-of-the-box electives. I incorporate lots of reading, hobby/life skill cultivation, and good documentaries. I think we’ve finally found the right balance for our child.
I’m excited to be here!
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Hi! I’m Stasia. I have 3 kids 2 boys and 1 girl (10, 7, 5). I have been homeschooling for 4 years.
We started homeschooling because my husband traveled a lot for work and we would only see him may be one week every month. Homeschooling gave us the flexibility to travel with him or drive and visit him where ever he was.
We do a mixture of different teaching styles since each child learns things differently.
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Howdy! I’m Cheryn. We have 4 kids 8, 6, 3, 1. We are in the midst of our first year home schooling. We are eclectic with a foundation of traditional. Homeschooling has been on my heart since our oldest started a local private preschool program. Her personality and my lack of confidence delayed our leap. I’m not sure where she’ll take us on this journey, but God is our compass.
The PS schedule, not “raising” our own children, correcting less preferred behaviors from peers, more family time, the list goes on and on for our decision. We definitely don’t have things figured out, but including the kids in our approach and adjustments has allowed us to grow together!
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My name is Brenda. We have a beautiful 6 year old little girl. I’d call our style eclectic with Charlotte Mason Influence. Thank you for creating this forum! I’m looking forward to meeting other homeschooling moms!
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I’m Melinda. This is my first year homeschooling officially but I homeschooled my oldest two when they were three instead of sending to preschool at that age as seemed to be the norm with those around me. They then went to school at age 4, the oldest until 1st grade and the youngest through kindergarten. Then we changed direction. I have 4 children, 1 girl and 3 boys ages almost 9, 6, 4 and 2.
I seem to be an eclectic homeschooler. I tend toward play-based for the youngest two right now (I am reading about the Waldorf approach when I can) with some seatwork thrown for the 4 year old. I seem to head towards Traditional for the older two but I want to steer away from that a little as I figure out the way they learn best.
I started homeschooling because I found the schools were not meeting the needs of my children. I find that the “norm” is not what my kids are. And there is nothing wrong with that. But the schools want to “fix” the fact that my 6 year old seems to be a later reader and was struggling with it in kindergarten. And that my oldest, while academically fine was too “young” because she didn’t focus long enough on seatwork in preschool and kindergarten. It was several years of just shaking my head at the matter and trying to do my best by the kids. The school days were getting longer (no more half day kindergarten and even half day preschool was harder to find), play time was decreasing in grade school, and the work was getting more intense and just not developmentally appropriate for young children. We even moved to a new town for a better school district and it didn’t get better, in fact the academic work at kindergarten got more intense. I want my kids to be kids quite simply. Finally my husband and I got to a point where we said this isn’t working right now and we are going a different way. The door is open for a return to public school in the middle school years but nothing is set in stone. We are taking it one year at a time.
My husband is an 8th grade science teacher and I am a former first grade teacher. So we are “bucking the system” we are trained for. In the town my husband teaches in. Thankfully we have gotten a lot of support, praise and understanding, even from his co-workers.
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Hi! I’m Kirsten. I have been homeschooling for about 6 months. I have two boys (4 year old and 1 1/2 year old). We started the LOTW with my preschooler in September. He loves “school” and the workbox system we loosely follow. Our 1 1/2 year old likes to observe all that his big brother does, so I’m sure he will pick up things early on as well. We are just starting out on our journey, but I’m pretty sure we will lean more toward a traditional and eclectic style.
I was homeschooled and was sure I wanted to homeschool my own kids. Thankfully, my husband who was not homeschooled was in total agreement. We are missionaries and my husband is a pastor. While we know the US public school system is heading downhill fast, we are even more concerned about how bad the system is where we live. So, homeschooling was definitely the way to go for us.
Our vision for our children is that they will first and foremost grow in their personal relationships with the Lord and secondly, be able to think logically while applying their Biblical worldview to every area of life. We want them to see the Lord’s hand in everything they study.
I am so thankful for Erica’s website and this new COAH community!
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Hi! I’m Karolina and we have three kiddos: 3.5 yr old (boy) and 2 yr old twins (boy/girl). I’m fairly new to homeschooling, and haven’t “officially” begun as my kids are still young. We have the COAH preschool and K4 curriculums and have done certain parts and pieces of it with the oldest one. My interest in homeschooling began when a friend mentioned it several years ago (before we even had kids!). Until then, I was clueless about this wonderful opportunity! My husband and I are both public school graduates, and we have nothing against it, but over the last few years we have seen the path that the public schools are heading towards, and we feel called to home school our children. Ever since we introduced “school” to our kids, they literally beg to do it on a daily basis. We do a lot of kumon books and printable pre-k/k worksheets for now, because keeping 2 year old twins happy/occupied and focusing for a few seconds on the oldest one is an extreme challenge that I face daily. I am planning on doing a more formal/structured curriculum beginning this fall with the oldest one when the twins have a slightly longer attention span 
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Hi I’m Alicia and this is our first year homeschooling. I have an amazing son who just turned 9 and is in 3rd grade. Homeschooling was actually his idea, he begged me to take him out of his private school where he was struggling to keep up and get along with the kids. I really had to be convinced I was nervous to homeschool an only child and wasn’t sure if I had the patience. However I learned that “God doesn’t call the equipped he equips the called.” I am so glad we decided to homeschool, my son is doing so much better learning at home! We tend to lean towards traditional/eclectic with a lot of unit studies from COAH and HITW.
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Hello!! Question regarding your daughter…when you started homeschooling her did you continue to the next grade level or did you hold her back to have a year of catching up? My son is in the 5th grade & is struggling real bad & Homeschooling is pretty much going to happen next school year but I am wondering whether to repeat 5th or continue on though he is pretty much a good solid year, year and a half behind! Thank you for your time!!
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Hi, I’m Jen, mom to four kids, ages 3, 6, 8, and 10. I have homeschooled since the oldest was 3, starting with preschool and then kindergarten. We put our older kids in a charter elementary school, but we are planning to pull them out starting next school year. I’m a little nervous about schooling the big kids, but I just feel called to do it, so trusting that God will ‘qualify the called’ here!
We use a classical/traditional approach, though I’m excited to maybe try some new things with the big kids next year. I love having my kids close, and having to not worry so much about cultural influences in their lives. I also love the flexibility in scheduling and being able to adjust our day as needed (or as wanted).
Thanks for starting this community!
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Hi Everyone
We have been homeschooling for 6 years. Our 5 children are girls aged 11, 5 and 1 and boys aged 9 and 6. We generally enjoy Charlotte Mason style although we have moved more towards traditional - now using BJU for most things as its really visual interesting and meaty. We supplement our history and geography with Homeschool in the Woods, COAH world travels and other virtual travel. We live in South Africa and first came across homeschoolers while spending a year in California in 1999. We though it rather a strange idea - but when we had children we knew for sure it was the right thing.
Many reasons but we want our children to love learning and we want to be 100% involved in their education. We want them to understand God’s plan for them and to learn from God’s word daily - and we LOVE homeschooling. COAH continues to be an INSPIRATION to us.
love, Karyn
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Hello, I am Kathleen from New Jersey. My husband and I have two boys ages 18 and 10. I am now in my 13th year of homeschooling. My oldest son will be graduating in a few months. Wow! That went fast. I remember when I started with him. We decided to homeschool because we knew that was what the Lord called us to do. I am so grateful that I have been able to spend all that time with my boys at home.
I would say that I use the classical method for homeschooling but not exclusively. I have always used Sonlight Curriculum. I love sitting on the couch with my kids and reading a good book.
I have used several COAH products also. Expedition Earth is my favorite.
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