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Begin Homeschooling

Why My Homeschooled Kids Are Not Given the Choice to Go to Public School

October 30, 2023 | 12 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Why my homeschooled kids are not given the choice to go to public school sounds harsh. Also, you’ll love more tips on my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

Also, extreme homeschooling or parenting is not my style.

However, I do strive for being a balanced parent, which I feel is much more challenging than setting fast and hard rules.

Why My Homeschooled Kids Are Not Given the Choice to Go to Public School

I had loving and balanced parents and still maintain a close relationship with them.

Let me back up and explain first that your childhood affects your current parenting and homeschooling style.

Oh sure, my parents made their fair share of parenting mistakes, like any parent will, but extreme, dictatorship-like decisions based on my parents’ personal whims was not one of them.

True, I realize not all parents are good parents and then a child from that type of family who may have been dictator like wants to restore balance when they are parents.

But in the quest to restore balance, parents can inadvertently give a child the idea they have as much experience as the parent.

Communicating lovingly to me and often why I couldn’t do something was always foremost in how my parents modeled to me.

Good Decisions are MODELED Not Wished For

Switching back to present day and helping many new homeschoolers, I noticed a common trait among some parents.

Some parents beginning to homeschool want their child’s approval regardless of age to homeschool.

And yes of course a child’s age has a lot to do with this but maybe not. More on this in a minute.

Through conducting thousands of workshops in person, (my courses are online now) I noticed some homeschool parents bring negative patterns of their parents’ parenting or lack of it to their current homeschool.

It’s true homeschooling and your learned parenting patterns are inextricably linked.

Too, I’ve homeschooled long enough to know that public school and homeschool are two VERY different approaches.

See my post The Great Homeschool Hoax – Public School At Home in how I help others see two DIFFERENT ways to educate.

In addition, I’m not saying homeschooling at all costs either. Some simply do not have the circumstances although they want to homeschool.

Back to parenting. Wouldn’t you agree that balanced parenting is harder to achieve than laying down arbitrary rule making

Look at some of the common mindsets that I have avoided and/or adopted which worked for me in helping my kids see that homeschooling can be a superior education.

ONE// I don’t think a homeschooler is called to homeschooling.
I do feel that homeschooling is THE BEST choice for ANY child.

Besides the obvious low teacher ratio, homeschooling is about choice of schedule, choice of academics, real life experiences, and an overflowing amount of enriching activities.

Which family doesn’t deserve to have a shot at that?

I do not think only certain families are called to homeschool, but all families should have the option.

However, just because homeschooling is the best method for every child to learn, it doesn’t mean everybody has the circumstance to.

Good is not wished just upon some and others not.

The bottom line has been that because each year I had the circumstances to homeschool.

I knew it was the best option for any child, a life changing decision was not given into the hands of a child who may thinks he misses a friend or two.

TWO// Homeschooling is similar to the mindset needed for a lifelong commitment.

Marriage calls for a heavy commitment up front when you don’t really know your future husband until you start living with him no matter how long you dated.

Jumping into marriage without trying to find out as much as you can about your husband is not wise by any stretch of the imagination.

More Resources for Why My Kids Are Homeschooled

  • Transitioning from Public School to Homeschool For a Relaxed Lifestyle
  • When Homeschooling is Sucking the Life Out of You
  • Why My Homeschooled Kids Are Not Given the Choice to Go to Public School
  • 26 of the BIGGEST Gripes about the Homeschooling Lifestyle!
  • The NOT To Do List: 32 Things New Homeschoolers Should Avoid
  • 100 Reasons Why Homeschooling is a SUPERIOR Education
  • It’s a New Homeschool Year and My Child Wants to Go Back to Public School
  • Deschool – Get off the Public School Treadmill!

Also, look at some of these resources I have for you and my book too.

5 BEST How to Homeschool Books

I've rounded up some of the best books to help you get started homeschooling.

Homeschooling for New Homeschoolers: When You Don't Know Where to Begin

Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is a real eye-opener on homeschooling. It will alleviate a lot of the anxieties about getting started homeschooling. Reading each chapter’s highlights will give you encouragement, knowledge, guidance, and peace of mind to homeschool with confidence. The best part is that you’ll be educating the person who loves your kids the most in this world--YOU! Armed with the knowledge to make better choices in curriculum will empower you to continue the path of home education. Unlike many books based on one family’s experience, Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is also based on Tina’s many years of mentoring hundreds and hundreds of new homeschoolers at live workshops. When you don’t know where to begin Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers equips you to successfully homeschool your children.

The Unhurried Homeschooler

Homeschooling is a wonderful, worthwhile pursuit, but many homeschool parents struggle with feelings of burnout and frustration. If you have ever felt this way, you’re not alone! Most of us need to be reminded of the “why” of homeschooling from time to time—but "The Unhurried homeschooler" takes parents a step further and lifts the unnecessary burdens that many parents place on themselves.

Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace

Those who have made the decision to homeschool their children have done so out of great love for their children and a desire to provide them an excellent education in the context of a warm, enriching home.

The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life

Parents who are deeply invested in their children's education can be hard on themselves and their kids. When exhausted parents are living the day-to-day grind, it can seem impossible to muster enough energy to make learning fun or interesting. How do parents nurture a love of learning amid childhood chaos, parental self-doubt, the flu, and state academic standards?

Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom

Education has become synonymous with schooling, but it doesn’t have to be. As schooling becomes increasingly standardized and test driven, occupying more of childhood than ever before, parents and educators are questioning the role of schooling in society. Many are now exploring and creating alternatives.

Making a marriage work is hard, but thinking in the back of your mind that divorce is an option or a way out makes the effort put forth in the beginning meager and utterly defeating.

And yes, many have had to escape a bad marriage but too it’s easy to give up if you want to separate at the first sign of trouble.

Both of those commitments required HARD WORK and success just doesn’t happen.

Homeschooling is similar to that type of  commitment in marriage.

Why My Homeschooled Kids Are Not Given the Choice to Go to Public School

You need to focus more on how to make homeschool work.

And not dwelling on returning to public school .

This requires a resolute determination, a belief in the homeschool approach, knowledge (which is gained) and focused energy.

Decision-Making Ability is a Gradual Process

It’s easy to assume that all of our homeschool years are going to be sunshine and rainbows, but you and I know that is a lie.

Like most teens, mine too have gone through times when they too buck the decisions my husband and I make.

Our process to help them has always been the same and we did this by:

1.Listening to my boys without interrupting them or telling them they can’t feel that way.

They should have their own opinions and our decision for them to not have the choice to go to public school doesn’t deprive them of how to gradually start the decision-making process.

When boundaries are created a child or teen has a safe environment in which to learn.

2. Explaining the reasons why they don’t have a choice to go to public school.

Your reasons may vary, but a few of our reasons usually went like this; this is a superior education, society has changed and we want our influence on you, your course load in high school can be lighter or heavier, you have more time for a social life instead of caged, you can have a job earlier, enjoy an apprenticeship, be free of bullying, be free of the atmosphere of drugs and savor freedom.

THREE// Let’s talk teens, rebellious years and even single mom homeschooling.

3. Acknowledging that we are capable of mistakes. Too, let our children know all decisions are made out of giving our children the best.

4. Finding the solution or fixing the problem. For example, if one of my boys felt like he was missing out on friends, then I MUST fill that need. And you know that unless you decide to homeschool under a rock, activities are endless for kids.

Matter of fact, finding other boys their age was a problem in our homeschool and I created a thriving co-op. Out of that co-op, my boys have lifelong friends.

They also wanted to be with other homeschooled teens more, so they took art lessons, and ballroom dancing.

I didn’t stop there, I planned movie trips and outings for boys and I planned for 2 or 3 field trips per month instead of our usual one. Yes, w

Single mom homeschooling is also more prevalent today and because homeschooling can be flexible to a mom’s work schedule, many single parents are lapping up that freedom.

When we give our kids the option to return to homeschool a mindset can set in where they think that something better exists, when in fact we are giving them the very best!

Why unnecessarily place defeat in front of you or your children?

Additionally, teens vary on their maturity. Just because a teen reaches a certain age doesn’t mean he or she is capable of sound decisions.

I’ve helped many parents pull their teens out of public school because of drug problems, bad friends, or just because the teen is worn out or worst bullied.

A teen still needs a parent who is loving, caring, and balanced and they need it now more then ever before.

Be Willing To Work Hard as the Homeschoool Educator

While true, it’s important to listen to your teen it’s better to have your teen in a safe environment so their confidence soars.

Here are some do NOT:

  • Don’t use the return to public school as a threat. It may give your kids the wrong impression of people who have had to use public school. Besides threats and intimidation is not a way to parent.
  • Don’t keep asking your children if they miss school. They are only going to tell you what their limited experience has been and they do not have the ability to make life changing decisions.
  • For sure don’t ask a homeschooled teen if he thinks he should return to public school. Problems will not get better when he is away from you, they only go below the surface for a while to reappear.
  • Don’t think a child has to experience bad or experience public school to appreciate good. If that seems to be the case, focus on how to help them appreciate what they have. Appreciate means to hold in high value. Attitudes and actions prove appreciation or lack of it. A return to public school doesn’t build that in children.

Leave behind rigid and unbending rules, but set your homeschooling up for success by creating boundaries for it.

Why My Homeschooled Children Are Not Given the Choice to Go to Public School @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

12 CommentsFiled Under: Be an Exceptional Homeschool Teacher, Begin Homeschooling, Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Homeschool During Crisis, Homeschool Simply, Homeschool When Nobody Wants To, Teach Special Learners or Gifted, Teach the Rebel Homeschooler Tagged With: homeschool, homeschool challenges, homeschool crisis, homeschool lifestyle, homeschooljoy, homeschoolprogress, preventinghomeschoolburnout, reasonstohomeschool

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

July 24, 2023 | 5 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

You’ll love these 6 ideas to kick start your new homeschool year. Also, you’ll love How to Plan Your First Homeschool Year When You Don’t Know How To Start.

I value traditions when it comes to kicking off our year.

Plenty of photos and quirky poses at the beginning of our new school year are a must in my home.

However, the boys have enjoyed our year more when we included others and socialize (gasp ..can you believe we do).

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

Sure, I have made special breakfasts and bought new homeschool supplies which I love.

But there is something about being with other homeschoolers as we start off our year that keeps us stoked the whole year.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The feeling of excitement is contagious when the kids see each other again.

Not only does it excite our kids, but as moms we enjoy the camaraderie also.

Too, maybe it’s the feeling that you know you are not alone as so many others have decided that not only are we doing this another year, but this is our way of life.

5 Ways to Include Other Homeschoolers in Your New Homeschool Year

It’s the warm feeling of security deep down knowing I won’t have to kiss my sons good-bye and send them off.

Maybe it’s the mother in me and not the teacher when we start our school year, but it gets harder to separate the two each year.

1. Start the Year At the Museum

From a simple idea of starting our year off with others at a museum when the children were little to including way more homeschoolers, we have always preferred being with others to celebrate.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

Also, you’ll love some of these books.

5 BEST How to Homeschool Books

I've rounded up some of the best books to help you get started homeschooling.

Homeschooling for New Homeschoolers: When You Don't Know Where to Begin

Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is a real eye-opener on homeschooling. It will alleviate a lot of the anxieties about getting started homeschooling. Reading each chapter’s highlights will give you encouragement, knowledge, guidance, and peace of mind to homeschool with confidence. The best part is that you’ll be educating the person who loves your kids the most in this world--YOU! Armed with the knowledge to make better choices in curriculum will empower you to continue the path of home education. Unlike many books based on one family’s experience, Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is also based on Tina’s many years of mentoring hundreds and hundreds of new homeschoolers at live workshops. When you don’t know where to begin Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers equips you to successfully homeschool your children.

The Unhurried Homeschooler

Homeschooling is a wonderful, worthwhile pursuit, but many homeschool parents struggle with feelings of burnout and frustration. If you have ever felt this way, you’re not alone! Most of us need to be reminded of the “why” of homeschooling from time to time—but "The Unhurried homeschooler" takes parents a step further and lifts the unnecessary burdens that many parents place on themselves.

Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace

Those who have made the decision to homeschool their children have done so out of great love for their children and a desire to provide them an excellent education in the context of a warm, enriching home.

The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life

Parents who are deeply invested in their children's education can be hard on themselves and their kids. When exhausted parents are living the day-to-day grind, it can seem impossible to muster enough energy to make learning fun or interesting. How do parents nurture a love of learning amid childhood chaos, parental self-doubt, the flu, and state academic standards?

Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom

Education has become synonymous with schooling, but it doesn’t have to be. As schooling becomes increasingly standardized and test driven, occupying more of childhood than ever before, parents and educators are questioning the role of schooling in society. Many are now exploring and creating alternatives.

2. Start the new homeschool year with a fun group dance.

Then years later, we had a true Texas hoedown and started off our school year a few years back by square dancing.

We pulled out all the stops, kicked up our heels and had Texas Bar B Q (or you could have Memphis style Bar B Q or Kansas style Bar B Q, or …..okay okay) complete with all the trimmings.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

There was no shortage of great food and great cooks among our homeschool moms which I find is the case in many events I have hosted. I love the generosity.

Include Other Homeschoolers in Your New Homeschool Year

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

We hired a “true” caller and his “gang” to teach us how to square dance and this is what we “learned” on our 1st day of school.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

We invited the whole family, grandma and grandpa to celebrate the start of our new year with us. Kelley, Cynthia and I coordinated one of our most memorable back to school parties with our group.

Pssssst……..this is a good way to include those in your circle of family and friends that may not be up on your decision to homeschool. Include them in your fun at the beginning of the year.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

That way you really set the standard for how your year will start and then they will know right from the beginning you are a rebel…..tee hee hee

3. Head to the skating rink for a fun cold indoor activity.

Actually, according to the kids it was a tossup between the square dancing one year and ice skating in August another year.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

See if you can rent the ice skating rink just for your back to school party and ask for a more reduced rate even if they don’t advertise.

Remember, most businesses welcome customers in the morning or early afternoon when public school is back in session and their business is slower.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

{Tiny ambushed one of our Seniors that year.}

Of course playing in the snow in August outside was the icing on the day for us that year!

4. Let someone else teach the first day. So memorable.

Rendezvous at the Reef was another big hit with the group. Start off the new year by somebody else teaching a class and learning about the ocean.

From Public School to Homeschool For a Relaxed Lifestyle

  • Transitioning from Public School to Homeschool For a Relaxed Lifestyle
  • How to Cope Successfully With Homeschool Mental Stress
  • How to Begin Homeschooling A Teen Lagging Behind
  • How Early Should I Begin Homeschooling My First Child & Free Checklist
  • 5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

We headed to Galveston, which is by the coast/ocean to have a class about ocean life and life at the reef.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

My kind of instructor who includes hands-on things for both older and younger children to hold and learn about as she teaches.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

Things like watching the penguins being fed and watching all the sea life and not in our home class room gets us so excited about the new year.

5. Host a Not Back to School Geography Quest.

The Not Back to School Geography Quest was also another big hit with our group.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

We had hands on items from the country the kids chose, experiments to watch and even tasted some food from other countries.

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

One of the moms getting ready to serve home made salsa after the kids presented information on Mexico.

More Tips for the New Homeschool Year

  • Grab my book Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers: When You Don’t Know Where to Begin.
  • Get Organized – Rev Up for the New Homeschool Year
  • It’s a New Homeschool Year and My Child Wants to Go Back to Public School
  • Top 10 Tips To Getting a New Homeschool Year Rolling
  • How to Plan Your First Homeschool Year When You Don’t Know How To Start
  • Start the Homeschool Year Off Right: 5 History Ideas for the First Week
  • 7 Advantages to Starting Your Homeschool Year in the Summer
  • 4 Benefits to Planning Early for the Next Homeschool Year
  • Free Pre-Homeschool Year Planning Checklist For Your Homeschool Planner
5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

5 Ideas to Kick-Start Your New Homeschool Year By Including Others

Young or old, anybody can join in this kind of party and everybody learned something.

Though we have had many years that we have spent with others, I wished we would have done something every year.

It has meant the difference between a mediocre start to our year with the kids tolerating all my pictures and poses and a memorable one.

Don’t just set aside a day or two, take a week or more to get in all those back to school pictures and plan a special event or party even if you just include one more family. 

What is one week in a 52 week year year if you school year around?  I have never regretted the work in coordinating all the events, but I have regretted not planning more.

Studying our square dance moves, gliding on ice and playing in snow in August, rendezvousing at the reef or ocean and “jet- setting” through countries mark years that we won’t easily forget.

How will you start your first day or first week of school?

5 CommentsFiled Under: Be an Exceptional Homeschool Teacher, Begin Homeschooling, How To - - -, Kick Off Your Homeschool Year Tagged With: newhomeschoolyear

Day 30 Homeschool Expectations and New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp

January 18, 2023 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Day 30 is homeschool expectations of the free 31 Day Free Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers.

Reflecting on what you have accomplished and your homeschool expectations your first year.

And reflecting on your first day of school will keep you planning forward.

Looking back is key to being able to plot your course the next year or even the next day.

Day 30 Homeschool Expectations and New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp

Making mistakes is part of homeschooling, learning from them is key to making homeschool fit your family.

Though I want you to take many points away from this boot camp, one point that is especially important to remember is to adjust your expectations to survival mode the first year.

Homeschool Expectations

Goals kick start your journey and you want to see them as guideposts for the E N T I R E journey and not to be accomplish all in your first year.

If you have taken time to learn homeschool lingo, track your week, practice dividing out a book into manageable lesson plans each day and determine what home education will mean for your family, you have accomplished quite a bit.

The average new homeschooler who starts her school year only thinking about nothing else, but curriculum choices can be detrimental.

Now is the time to figure out where you will have time for yourself in the day, what kind of support you want from your husband and when you will take time for physical refreshment and spiritual nourishment.

Don’t start school and then just “plug in” everything else wherever.

Plan your day by “zones” in bigger chunks. For example, mark 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. on your calendar as school.

That means no phone calls answered, no door answering and no cleaning.

As your children get older, they can do some school by themselves at the table or school room while you sneak away for 10 minutes to change out the wash. Many times now my morning is very free because my sons grow more and more independent.

Look at your progress as a journey, measuring year to year and not day to day.

For example, if one year you got caught up on science, then use the next year to bring history to the front burner and cover less science.

How to Measure Progress and Homeschool Expectations

One year you may add another family member to your family and feel you are behind. You are not, it is just life. Catch up the next year.

Measuring progress by longer periods and not just your 1st year is key to being successful.

If I could have this next point bleed through the pages of this post, I would. I have been called dramatic on a few occasions, but here is my pleading point: Do not measure progress by THIS year only.

It takes almost a year or more to finally pull away from the public school mentality.

Explaining this point, one remark I consistently get each year among my new homeschooling parents is: “I’ll give this a year”. Wow. What pressure a family has just put on itself.

Each family member feels pressure to perform successfully for the first year.

An example I like to use to illustrate how short sighted this statement could be is comparing it to your first year as a new parent of your first born.

Mr.Senior 2013 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool plus

(Mr. Senior 2013. Yes, then I was  less “round” than I am today, but more exhausted.)

I know that over parenting was involved with me and hubby. We use to say that one small baby can wear out two parents and two sets of grandparents.

If I had judged having more children on what I did that first year of parenting by over rocking, over coddling and over worrying, I may not have had any more children.

The truth of it is that sleepless nights, extra reading about how to care for newborns and asking questions of veteran parents enabled me to join the ranks of millions of other capable parents. 

Your first year homeschooling will be your certification to joining the thousands of successful homeschool parents.

New to Homeschooling Start with the Basics

1 – 7 Start with the Homeschool Basics

  • 1 Learn The Lingo (& free glossary)
  • 2: Homeschool Roots Matter
  • 3 What is NOT Homeschooling
  • 4: Confronting Relatives & Naysayers
  • 5: The Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round & ‘Round
  • 6: Homeschool Hangouts & Socialization Situations
  • 7: Tied Up with Homeschool Testing?

8-14 Homeschool Organization 101 for Beginners

  • 8: Organize Your Home – Then School
  • 9: Carpe Diem: Homeschool Schedule by The Day, Month, & Year
  • 10 Grocery Shopping Cooking Laundry
  • 11: Swoonworthy Learning Spaces & Homeschool Rooms
  • 12: Creative Storage Solutions for Homeschool
  • 13. Streamlined Record Keeping
  • 14 Homeschool Supplies List

15 – 21 Best tips for New Homeschoolers Choosing Curriculum

  • 15: Discovering Learning Styles
  • 16: Practical Tips for Learning Styles
  • 17: How to Choose a Homeschool Curriculum 
  • 18 Teaching Young Children – Elementary Homeschool
  • 19:  Guiding Homeschool Teens 
  • 20: Homeschool Lesson Planning
  • 21 Time Tested Tips For Homeschool

22- 28 Homeschool Preschoolers, Highschoolers, Resistant Learners, Homeschool Mom Burnout

  • 22 Homeschooling Preschoolers
  • 23 When Your Child Hates Homeschooling 
  • 24 Finding Homeschool Curriculum For Unique Learners
  • 25 Homeschool High School 
  • 26: Tips for Resistant Learners
  • 27 10 Homeschool Tips to Break Out of a Homeschool Rut
  • 28 Homeschool Mom Burnout

29-31 Homeschool Expectations, Free Resources and Tips

  • 29 Free Useful Resources and Homeschooling Tips

Looking back to see what you did your first year will help you to look forward and to not measure success by only your first year.

Day 30 Homeschool Expectations and New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp

Homeschooling truly begins when you stretch forward.

{31 Day Boot Camp For New Homeschoolers}

Leave a CommentFiled Under: 31 Day Blog Bootcamp for New Homeschoolers, Begin Homeschooling Tagged With: new homeschooler

Day 22 Homeschooling Preschoolers And New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp

November 1, 2022 | 47 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today is day 22 homeschooling preschoolers of the 31 Day Free Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers. 

You’re tough, you’re tough! You have hung in there with me on this series and this is the official 10 day countdown.

Before I started homeschooling I had read an article where it said that the major portion of an individual’s personality is well established before school.

Day 22 Homeschooling Preschoolers And New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp

Suddenly, my ideas of homeschool preschool learning changed because I realized that those years would form the very attitudes and patterns that would be lasting. WHOA!

And I had thought preschool was all about coloring and ABC’s.

Certainly, homeschooling preschoolers is so important because it’s the very foundation of all future learning.

Homeschooling Preschoolers

I knew that if I didn’t find a balance between easy going and exacting that anxiety, doubt, worry and fear would drive me to the public school. Guess what? It did.

Doubt turned to fear, fear turned to feelings of failure and feeling he was already behind in kindergarten, I sent him to public school for part of that year.

Let me tell you the rest of this story by telling what I did and did not do before I sent him to Kindergarten.

I did

  • teach him how to write and read by Kindergarten.
  • play, do crafts and learn music.
  • keep the roads hot and heavy by traveling to all kinds of field trips and museums.
  • sing nursery rhymes to him.
  • read from beautiful books and cuddle every day.

I did not

  • know, let alone worry about standards because I was blissfully ignorant about any kind of standard.
  • use a formal curriculum program. Brighter Vision Learning Adventures is a box that came each month to my home with a bright colored workbook, a craft, a book and music.  Mr. Senior 2013 loved it and I loved it too. It no longer is in business.
  • worry about socialization because we had music classes and gymnastics.
  • stop worrying about what is coming up in the next grade and this led to me sending him back to public school.

Looking back now and after the first few days of public school Kindergarten, I realized that he was way advanced.

Tips for Homeschooling Preschoolers

It’s true that children are hardy, I just wished that I would have aimed for soaking up cherished moments.

I didn’t know Kindergarten was about learning to read and write. I put extreme pressure on Mr. Senior 2013 to perform.

What I have learned is that preschool is just that!! PRE- means BEFORE school.

That is the time to focus on “readiness” skills. That is NOT the time that our children learn to hold a pencil grip correctly, but that is the time to train them to hold it correctly.

This is NOT done by holding a pencil, but by playing games, being outside and doing crafts that help them learn fine motor skills.

Children are capable of so much more during these years than we sometimes give them credit for.

Burnout out looms in Kindergarten or first grade because “formal school” started way too earlier.

You have to let go of the feeling that your child will be behind because you spent the day doing crafts, playing and reading and that surely there should be something more “serious” that you should be doing.

It is not easy to combat the thinking of the education world that early teaching has to be formal. Children learn by play.

There is a reason we learned all those fun nursery rhymes and that is because memorization and hearing word patterns is a skill set need for reading.

How to Homeschool Preschoolers

Mustering up the courage to take my son back out of school during his Kindergarten year was not easy, but I had learned a VERY valuable lesson.

No longer would I question what I done even in my ignorance.

The struggle empowered me to put faith back into the naturalness of homeschooling. I know not everyone homeschools for faith based reasons and I respect that in my workshops.

For me though it is the very core of my homeschooling.

Parents have been given the responsibility of educating our children and viewing it as the next extension of parenting helps you to meet the challenge.

During their toddler years and preschool years I have rocked, talked and cuddled and read to my sons and it has given them an excellent start to their formal education. Homeschooling with preschoolers is not for the faint hearted, but home is for the brave.

Will you meet the challenge?

Have you missed any of the previous post on this series?

New to Homeschooling Start with the Basics

1 – 7 Start with the Homeschool Basics

  • 1 Learn The Lingo (& free glossary)
  • 2: Homeschool Roots Matter
  • 3 What is NOT Homeschooling
  • 4: Confronting Relatives & Naysayers
  • 5: The Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round & ‘Round
  • 6: Homeschool Hangouts & Socialization Situations
  • 7: Tied Up with Homeschool Testing?

8-14 Homeschool Organization 101 for Beginners

  • 8: Organize Your Home – Then School
  • 9: Carpe Diem: Homeschool Schedule by The Day, Month, & Year
  • 10 Grocery Shopping Cooking Laundry
  • 11: Swoonworthy Learning Spaces & Homeschool Rooms
  • 12: Creative Storage Solutions for Homeschool
  • 13. Streamlined Record Keeping
  • 14 Homeschool Supplies List

15 – 21 Best tips for New Homeschoolers Choosing Curriculum

  • 15: Discovering Learning Styles
  • 16: Practical Tips for Learning Styles
  • 17: How to Choose a Homeschool Curriculum 
  • 18 Teaching Young Children – Elementary Homeschool
  • 19:  Guiding Homeschool Teens 
  • 20: Homeschool Lesson Planning
  • 21 Time Tested Tips For Homeschool

22- 28 Homeschool Preschoolers, Highschoolers, and Unique Learners

In addition look at these other resources for homeschooling preschoolers.

Other Homeschooling Preschoolers Resources

  • A Unique Flexible and Beautiful Preschool Homeschool Planner
  • How to Teach Homeschool Preschool From the Inside Out (And Preschool Skills)
  • Homeschool Organization – Preschool/Kindergarten Free Morning Routine Flip Cards

Finally, look at some of these curriculum resources.

Curriculum For Homeschooling Preschool

12 Homeschooling Preschoolers Resources, Activities, and Curriculum

There is no doubt play-based learning is hands down the best way for preschoolers to learn.

You'll love some of these resources which can help you both teach and schedule if you want to do a bit more formal teaching.

Mommy, Teach Me: Preparing Your Preschool Child for a Lifetime of Learning

n Mommy, Teach Me author Barbara Curtis, a mother of twelve, shares secrets on how to turn everyday experiences into learning opportunities for preschool children. 

Before Five in a Row: Second Edition

Designed to be used with children ages 2 through 4, Before Five in a Row is a rich treasury of creative ideas that help you gently, consistently prepare your children for the lifelong adventure of learning.

Photo Credit: www.goodandbeautiful.com

Preschool Language Arts Course Set

Preschool Course Book, Preschool Folder Activities, Preschool Practice Sheets, Access to Learning Songs and Videos 

Pathways for Preschool

Encourage a love for learning as you engage your child in active, hands-on learning with this BJU Press Homeschool Pathways for Preschool Activity Packet! 

Horizons Preschool Curriculum Set

With the fun, engaging Horizons Preschool Curriculum Set, preschoolers are introduced to social studies, language arts, math, phonics, and science. 

Photo Credit: www.mothergoosetime.com

Toddler – Experience Early Learning

A bit more pricey but they provide themed kits each month.

Photo Credit: ivy-kids.com

Ivy Kids | Subscription Box STEM Kids Children Ivy Kids Kits

We have loved every subscription box we did in the preschool years.

The Montessori Toddler: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being

It’s time to change the way we see toddlers. Using the principles developed by the educator Dr. Maria Montessori, Simone Davies shows how to turn life with a “terrible two” into a mutually rich and rewarding time of curiosity, learning, respect, and discovery.

Photo Credit: blossomandroot.com

Early Years Curriculum

Blossom & Root Early Years was designed to provide parents with a preschool (Vol. 1) or Pre-K (Vol. 2) curriculum that focuses on the development of the whole child. Each of the 36 weeks of lesson plans

The Giant Encyclopedia of Lesson Plans for Children 3 to 6

This newest addition to the best-selling GIANT Encyclopedia series expands the scope of the series by offering complete lesson plans. Written and created by teachers, The GIANT Encyclopedia of Lesson Plans has more than 250 complete lesson plans, covering topics from colors and numbers to seasons and nursery rhymes.

Slow And Steady Get Me Ready

Since children don't come with directions, a retired kindergarten teacher with over 25 years of experience wrote this how-to manual which bridges the gap between home & school. It is a money-saving preschool resource which informs parents & caregivers as to what they could & should be doing to teach basic readiness skills that are necessary for a child to achieve success in school.

Photo Credit: shop.busytoddler.com

Playing Preschool Year 1: Homeschool Preschool Program

Looking for a homeschool preschool curriculum for your child? Meet Playing Preschool Year 1: a new way to preschool at home. This is a 190 day program of hands-on, play-based learning. Themed units anchor the learning as children explore math, reading, science, art activities, and much more!

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Day 22 Homeschooling Preschoolers And New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp
Day 22: Homeschoolers with Preschoolers - Truth or Dare?

47 CommentsFiled Under: 31 Day Blog Bootcamp for New Homeschoolers, Begin Homeschooling Tagged With: homeschool challenges, new homeschool year, new homeschooler, newbeehomeschooler, toddler

Day 13: Streamlined Record Keeping And New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp

September 6, 2022 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Day 13 streamline record keeping is about homeschool record keeping for Day 13 of the free 31 Day Free Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers. 

I confess that when I first started homeschooling, record keeping was one fact weighing heavy on my mind.

It even affected my view of homeschooling not for the long term. I admit it.

I was sure that when the time came that I would send my son to high school because I felt he would be missing out on something. (By the way, my first son graduated 2013 and the other ones never ever went to high school. Too much goodness at home.)

Day 13: Streamlined Record Keeping And New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp

Little did I appreciate then that my son’s high school years would be filled with unique, precious, memorable, practical and rigorous skills that I could offer him as I continued homeschooling. 

Record keeping would be a cinch. But, I will save my rant on that until Day 25: Homeschooling Happily Through High School.

Streamlined Record Keeping

Then to complicate my stress level about record keeping in my humble beginnings I lived in fear or at least had some anxiety about the homeschool laws changing so drastically that I would be called on to produce documents for my children at a moment’s notice.

Somewhere lurked the homeschool police that only lived in my community.

As my confession continues, I touched on Day 7:Tied Up With Testing of negative effects of schooling when you school by the “what if” mentality.

All I managed to do was have sleepless nights and worry got me nowhere.

I feel better now that I confessed.

Although it would be nice to be worry-free, the truth of it is that it is hard to homeschool completely stress free.

Any challenge brings responsibility, but it also brings life time benefits that have been worth every bit of self-imposed distress.

It really is a wonder that I even managed to have enough energy to focus on teaching my sons.

So I hope that I can ease your fears and lighten your load by explaining how to approach this subject.

5 Reasons to Homeschool Record Keep

Dividing this up into topics, you can determine where along the record keeping path you are at right now.

5 Reasons to Record Keep When Homeschooling @ Tina Dynamic Homeschool plus

What to Keep?

As you can see from the above reasons to record keep, it can really be divided into two categories.

Unofficial documents or those that are for your eyes only and official documents that are mostly needed for high school and college.

Relax if you have younger children because you have plenty of time to mull over a method that will work for you.

My method changed drastically when I worried about this in Kindergarten and then when my son actually got to high school. You will be a pro by then.

Unofficial Record Keeping.

  • Keep their “first” writing assignments.
  • Keep awards earned.
  • Keep crafts.
  • Keep first drawings.
  • Keep first hands-on designs and projects.
  • Keep standardized tests you administer.

Keep things you decide YOU can’t part with.

{I have tried not to shed a tear as I have been writing this series, but long tears stream when I see their work in preschool and I end up keeping most of it.)

Official Record Keeping.

Whether you have to report to an agency or not, you want their grades in high school documented.

  • Keep field trip logs.
  • Keep awards earned.
  • Keep up with community volunteer service.
  • Keep up with trips abroad for older students.
  • Keep work records.
  • Keep attendance records.
  • Keep standardized tests.
  • Keep a diary or journal.

Where am I suppose to keep all of this?

One thing we all have in common is that most of us clamor for more book shelves and room for our lifestyle that is quickly growing with books and supplies.

However, where and how to store and keep records and deciding what to keep and not keep is very different for each homeschooler.

Look at these solutions below.

  • Can you take a picture or scan items, then toss it?
  • Thumb drives, free online storage and external drives are very cost effective. Cloud storage has virtually exploded over the last five years. A portable drive is something I’ve always use and love.
  • A virtual online year book can store memories.

Folders, expandable pocket folders color coordinated for each child, and color coordinated notebooks for each child works too. I used the system for a while and even notebooks.

Streamlined Record Keeping - 31 Days of New Bee Homeschooler Blog Boot Camp

BUT, after 5, 6 and more years down the road, it can get more challenging.

Streamlined Record Keeping - 31 Days of New Bee Homeschooler Blog Boot Camp
image

Long Term Homeschool Storage @ Tinas Dynamic Homeschool Plus

For many years, I have used press board report covers by Wilson Jones side bound, pressboard because I could extend the brads as I added in work and the covers were moisture resistant as I put away each year in the attic.

This is the kind of folder where the top and back cover are two separate pieces. I have one color for each child and labeled by grade. Too, I wanted something where the pages could hang out or extend because a lot of work in younger grades is on bigger paper.

Because this is stored away in totes in the attic, it is okay if the pages stick out because the binders are stored upright.

Using thick notebooks is good too for long term storage if it will be kept in a cool area and you can add pockets for storing small crafts that you can’t part with when they were preschoolers. I have separate pockets for storing things like that.

Another thought is to coil bind some of your papers.

Your office supply guy make not like seeing you come, but then again you are storing memories. I actually have some of my boy’s math papers coil bound because they are mostly the same size.

Hidden Storage Places in Your Home

Hidden storage spaces like attics, the top part of a closet, underneath the stairs and underneath the bed provide excellent places to store long term.

Source: Home DIT (Please Pin from Original Sources)

Padded storage trunks or chest that doubles as a night stand or table is also a wonderful niche for storing long term items. Company that sits in your living room will never know that under that beautiful table is a hidden treasure of several years of work.

If you keep more than you need for the first few years, it is okay.

Security counts when you are new to homeschooling and you are the only one to determine at night if you sleep sound because you kept a field trip log.

You can come back later and declutter because then you will see that your children are making progress.

Streamlined record keeping is a must in homeschool, but it can be personal, unique and distinct to your needs. Even in high school, you can accomplish stream line record keeping.

Embrace record keeping.

Too, I’m going to switch gears here on you.

Who is Tina Robertson

But before you can appreciate how I can help you here are are a few things about me. Sure, this free new homeschooler boot camp is all about you.

However, you need to know that I’m not new to the homeschool world.  

It has been several years since I wrote this series and I want to update you on my successes. And I’ve helped HUNDREDS get on the road to homeschooling.

Too, I have 3 homeschooled grads. So I’m well past having my oldest kid being 10 years old.

But the best part is that what I have for you works.

Also, look at a few other things about me.

  • I am the author of the book Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers: When You Don’t Know Where to Begin

And I have a detailed self-paced online homeschool Kickstarter course. It is a detailed comprehensive course for first time homeschoolers.

That is enough about me.

This new homeschoolers free boot camp is about you. I’ve not only been helping new homeschoolers in person, but here at my site for years.

I cherish keeping my children’s hard work and seeing my earlier mistakes.

Start slowly by adjusting your thinking to realize that you have the flexibility and freedom to make and adjust any “official” records that you may need. Control does allay fears. You are the teacher now.

Have you determined what you will keep and have a starting out niche to keep it in?

New to Homeschooling Start with the Basics

Days 1 – 7 of the 31 day Free Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers

  • 1 Learn The Lingo (& free glossary)
  • 2: Homeschool Roots Matter
  • 3 What is NOT Homeschooling
  • 4: Confronting Relatives & Naysayers
  • 5: The Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round & ‘Round
  • 6: Homeschool Hangouts & Socialization Situations
  • 7: Tied Up with Homeschool Testing?

How to Organize When You’re New to Homeschooling

Days 8-12 of the 31 day Free Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers

  • 8: Organize Your Home – Then School
  • 9: Carpe Diem: Homeschool Schedule by The Day, Month, & Year
  • 10 Grocery Shopping Cooking Laundry
  • 11: Swoonworthy Learning Spaces & Homeschool Rooms
  • 12: Creative Storage Solutions for Homeschool
Day 13: Streamlined Record Keeping And New Homeschooler Free Bootcamp

Streamlined Record Keeping - 31 Days of New Bee Homeschooler Blog Boot Camp

Leave a CommentFiled Under: 31 Day Blog Bootcamp for New Homeschoolers, Begin Homeschooling, Homeschool Tools, Storage, & Accessories, Organization Tagged With: new homeschooler

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