by Phyllis Wheeler
Perhaps you are not happy with your other options, and you are starting to toy with this idea. But you can't imagine yourself doing it. After all, doesn't it take a superwoman to juggle lessons and all the other things moms have to do?
Take it from a homeschooling veteran, you can do it IF you love your kids. That's the only qualification. As you move through the homeschooling journey, you will develop the skills you need, as you need them. That's how jugglers start--juggling just one thing. Then they add another, and after a while another.
And here's another secret: homeschooling can actually be easier than the standard soccer mom routine. Soccer moms are everywhere but home, juggling same-age activities that are different for each kid (unless you have twins). In contrast, when you homeschool, you focus on what you can all do together.
Instead of spending evenings helping with homework, you will spend mornings going over academic subjects, using curriculums that are tailored for self-study. Your evenings will open up.
Large families often enjoy doing unit studies. These are large topics, for instance ancient Egypt, which can be treated differently for various ages.Your read-aloud could be a book called Mara, Daughter of the Nile. A young child might write sentences about it; an older child might create a paper. They all might work on an art project, such as a scroll with hieroglyphics. Math can be worked in too--figuring the height of a pyramid using similar triangles. The unit could be capped with a visit to the art museum. Such unit studies might last a month, and are commonly available for purchase.
Other options include using workbooks and curriculum so that each child has something to work on that is appropriate for his age. These all come with an answer key--you don't need to be a college graduate to make sure your kid is getting the right answer. In fact, many homeschoolers do almost no direct teaching--their kids learn from the book or workbook. (This is a great study skill for college!)
Correspondence schools will teach your child, too. These can take the form of videos, workbooks, or online.
Structuring your day is a question for you to ponder. Many homeschoolers get all their less-fun schoolwork done in the morning, leaving the afternoon for projects, goofing off, housework, or whatever. If you want to include your child in an organized activity, you can join regularly schooled children in their sports teams in the late afternoon. But there are daytime activities too. You can also ask around--some of these activities providers are creating daytime classes (in gymastics, for example) for homeschoolers. You do have to be careful to avoid burnout here, though.
How about socializing? Staying home all the time may be easier for you, but it may not make your kids happy. You may decide they need to get out and about for socialization. But here's the best part: you get to choose whom your child socializes with. You don't have to worry about bullies. You can make sure that socialization is well-supervised. You can choose adults, too. Homeschooled kids are usually very comfortable talking to adults, unlike schooled kids, I have observed.
Your kids will enjoy a homeschool co-op. These might meet once a week for classes, or go out for field trips periodically. Kids learn appropriate social interactions because they are well supervised. You can find a co-op by networking with other homeschoolers. Your local homeschooling convention might be a good place to start. Keep networking until you find the co-op that is right for you--or start one.
Something else you will need is support. You need someone to talk to who is going through the same challenges. The Internet has been quite a blessing to homeschool moms, who can support each other online. There are many discussion forums attached to homeschooling Web sites, for instance, www.welltrainedmind.com. There are email groups for homechoolers too--look through the groups at groups.yahoo.com.
Here's the answer to the homeschooling question: You can do it!
