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Deschool – Get off the Public School Treadmill!

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Deschool get off the public school treadmill is about freedom. Also, you’ll love more tips on my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

When teaching my new homeschooler workshops in person, I tried to use the term deschool right away so that new homeschoolers or those that are thinking about homeschooling have time to wrap their mind around the concept.

Though there are many facets about deschooling that you will want to embrace over the course of your journey, I want to put it down in layman’s terms for the new homeschoolers.

Deschool - Get Off the Public School Treadmill @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Running and burning energy but not really traveling anywhere is what it is like to be on a treadmill.

Are Deschooling and Unschooling Two Very Different Terms

Deschooling is about getting off that public school treadmill and transitioning to a new life.

For some homeschoolers it may include some rest time.

For others it may be defining what their family educational goals are.

Each family will have different goals during their deschooling period.

Have you ever done a toxin cleanse?  I love the feeling afterwards because I have a new pep in my step.

Deschooling is a period of time to shove back from rigid thinking and adjust the pep in your step to a new way of life.

That is how some homeschoolers define this time period.

More Resources for Why My Kids Are Homeschooled

This time period allows you to re-train your mind and body and to make drastic life changes.

You want to make changes that will be permanent and to start fresh and motivated.

Letting go of preconceived ideas and notions of what education is suppose to look like and defining what you want your children to learn is what deschooling is about too.

It is a time to adopt your definition of education, to discover that you may want to be more self-educated than to be handed curricula, to join home school support groups, to meet and incorporate new homeschooling friends into your lives and the ability and power to say no to labels.

Say NO to Uniform Standards Set for the Masses

Furthermore, it could include saying no to standards by the state.

Why spend so much time trying to figure out where your child is SUPPOSE to be and what other children his age are doing? 

Forget what everybody else is doing.

Spend your time and energy focusing on where your child is NOW and move forward!

Deschooling is knowing that we have homeschool freedom but it’s also utilizing that freedom to suit our family.

Some think deschooling means doing nothing. It might for some. 

And we don’t want to be critical of those families who may need physical rest now.

The rigors of getting up early to catch a bus, having long school days complicated with an enormous amount of homework is physically draining. 

The truth of it is that we really don’t know what another homeschool family has been through.

For all of us it does mean transitioning to a new lifestyle.

Think about huge transitions in your life up until this point. 

When we transition to a different lifestyle whether that significant change was having a baby or switching careers, our schedules changed.

We allowed ourselves time to adjust to a new schedule and we let go of ideas and goals that at the time seem realistic.

We now see that some of our ideas may have been idealistic.

It is quite common for even seasoned veterans to not have taken a period of deschooling and they may be headed down burnout road.

The Power of REST

Deschooling can be a period of few week to a few months depending on the level of stress your family experienced.

Take time to deschool and get off the public school treadmill.

One of the very best books to bring reality back to our lives, renew your passion for homeschooling or just to propel you forward on the road to homeschooling is Deschooling Gently.

Not only is it a great read, but the encouragement you receive from it will last years.

Have you let go? How is your deschooling coming? What activities and goals are you including to deschool?

The Great Homeschool Hoax – Public School At Home?

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Like a lot of new homeschoolers, I too just copied the public school system in everything from keeping a similar schedule, to curriculum selection, and even testing my first child, Mr. Senior 2013.

Public School at Home

You see, I was doing public school at home.

I hadn’t embraced the freedom that homeschooling offered. I was afraid.

I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to lesson plan, to teach all of my children at one time, that my children were going to be behind, that I needed testing for grade placement, that my kids need other children their age and that I would totally fail them as an educator.

The Great Homeschool Hoax – Public School At Home. Understanding the two COMPLETELY different approaches is key by Tina Robertson

Did I mention I even had feelings of guilt questioning myself if I was a good mother?

Why do we do that as moms?

I agree that today is so much more easier to homeschool because of all the resources available to us.

However, in one particular way homeschooling was easier way back when because homeschoolers then grasped the full meaning of homeschooling.

About 10 years or so ago, public school at home providers popped up and became popular.

The meaning of homeschooling has become obscured because these companies tout that they support homeschooling. They may or may not.

Can You Really Have One Foot in Homeschool and One in Public School?

Until you let go of the public school at home mentality which models everything after the public school and where you are only assisting your children at home while somebody else teaches them, you will never embrace the freedom homeschooling offers.

Public School at Home Characteristics

  • biggest difference – government controlled
  • normally offered online
  • have testing required
  • have parent and teacher conferences
  • maintain a public school schedule
  • curriculum is put together by educational consultants even though public school at home touts that you as the parent choose readers or have some choice. You may or may not.
  • can be accredited
  • tout they are free because they are public school and public school is free
  • have a teacher assigned to your child
  • a curriculum is one grade level straight across the board a/k/a boxed curriculum or one size fits all.
  • mostly uses textbooks. Some online school use only textbooks while others throw in a few classical readers.
  • schedule is set up to complete on their timetable. Though many programs offer flexibility because they are government controlled, schedules have to be maintained.

If this sounds like the arrangement you just left, then why would you want to repeat it at home?

Homeschool Characteristics

  • biggest difference – parent controlled
  • you can choose all online curriculum, part physical books or mix and match
  • testing becomes the right of the parent who knows the child best and understands that a test is nothing more than a tool
  • conferences are not needed because as the tutor of your children you know what they’re learning. Even if you just begin to homeschool, it doesn’t take long for you to know exactly which subjects your child excels in and which subjects he will need support for.
  • your schedule is adopted based on your family’s needs and not based on an outdated school schedule, which was set up based on a society that was much more agricultural than our society is today.  If schooling year round suits your family, you simply begin and don’t need approval by a governmental agency.
  • curriculum is put together by a parent because she knows the child the best. If the curriculum is not working, it can be changed on a dime. Being in control doesn’t mean you can’t use something laid out by another company, but then that is your choice.
  • accreditation is no longer a term which homeschoolers fear because they know it doesn’t have anything to do with the value of an education. Be sure to read my article, Accreditation – Removing the Shroud of Mystery.
  • homeschoolers know that public school at home is not free. It may be cost-free, but given up freedom like control, having stressful deadlines for testing and parent teacher conferences cost.  Many homeschool educuators give up well-paying jobs because their desire to stay home with their kids is greater than their desire to pursue a career they may even be passionate about.  They know that homeschooling for excellence doesn’t always mean having the most expensive curriculum though they are willing to sacrifice other things if a pricier curriculum is better. Be sure to read my article, Is Homeschooling Expensive? Check out this Essential Guide in How to Homeschool Well on a Budget.
  • children are tutored one-to-one by their parents. Reports show that parents play a major role in their child having above normal intelligence when tutored.
  • the parent stays in control of whether they should purchase a grade level in a box or mix and match grade levels adjusted to the child’s natural abilities.
  • homeschool families don’t have to settle for a few well placed classical or living books placed into a curriculum, but can choose living books consistently.
  • the homeschool schedule is completely flexible to adjust to the needs of the family each year.

There is not anything that the public school at home approaches offers that an informed and hardworking educator at home can’t overcome.

If it’s structure you crave, then choose a laid out program where you are not having constant interference from an outside source.

If you need a more budget friendly curriculum be sure to check out my post Digital Homeschool Curriculum – Big Ol’ List.

Pursuing sports, music, art or any other extra curricular involvement is done easier when you set up your schedule to fit your children’s passion.

Being in control of my children’s education is one of the most satisfying and fulfilling jobs as a mother and parent I ever could have.

We were never promised it would be easy in raising our children, but they are blessings.

What we are assured of is that we will be provided with what we need to aim our children at their targets.

I have been blessed over and over many times, but not without some tears shed, lots of elbow grease, lots of prayers and a dogged determination to stick to what is best for my family. You can too!

Don’t forget so easily what many homeschoolers who homeschooled in the past knew, which is that homeschooling is a precious and extraordinary way of education that doesn’t mix with any other approach.

Look at some of these other resources that will help you to stick to the homeschooling approach.

Hugs and love ya,

The Great Homeschool Hoax - Public School at Home @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschool Learning Styles

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Understanding homeschool learning styles can mean the different between head butting or propelling ahead in your homeschool. Here at Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus, I have many tips to help you determine what is your child’s learning style.

Over 20 years ago, I not only started educating myself on the value of learning styles but helped other homeschool parents and my children to understand their learning style.

I remember reading a Swahili proverb that said “The greatest good we can do for others is not just to share our riches with them, but to reveal their riches to themselves.”

Best Homeschool Learning Styles Tips

For example, recognizing a need helps to identify a way to succeed. 

Learning styles are similar.

Educate a child about his strengths and weakness

When a child has a talent, we are quick to expand on that?

However, when a child has a weakness, we can equally be eager to help him understand tips in how to deal with his weaknesses.

Learning styles imply refers to a personality, the way a person likes to learn and the subjects he likes to learn.

Cathy Duffy is queen when it comes to helping us to understand learning styles.

Up until the time she coined the terms Perfect Paul, Sociable Sue, Wiggly Willy and Competent Carla, only trained professionals could understand what a concrete sequential learner was versus an abstract thinking learner. Uh? Sometimes they couldn’t understand either. That’s just between us though.

Also, much has been said about using the right or left side of our brain as the dominant side.

left brain drawing by Eden
right brain drawing by Eden
{Drawings Copyright Eden @ geeden blogspot} Please Pin from original source.

Why Your Child’s Learning Personality is Important

Because teaching styles are only part of choosing curriculum easily, I’ve included a link to my online course Identifying Your Homeschooled Childs Learning Personality.

How to Determine the Best Learning Styles Approach for Your Child? Determining the best learning style approach is much easier when you know about homeschool learning styles. A learning style is not something I thought about when I started homeschooling or even when my kids were struggling. However, had I taken time to learn what is the best learning style for each of my children, I would have saved myself unnecessary stress.

YOU WILL LEARN:

  • How to understand the way your child prefers to learn so that you can teach him in a way that he enjoys learning;
  • How to pinpoint your child’s learning personality;
  • A starting point in understanding (barring any special learning challenges or disabilities) and accepting your child’s preferred way of taking in information;
  • Understanding when the learning personality emerges; and
  • Teaching tips for each learning personality to stop the head-butting.

Too, much has been written about encouraging children to use both sides of their brain in a balanced way.

However, while I believe we should encourage use of both the analytical and creative sides, I also know we’re born with natural bents.

These natural bents are our personality or learning style.

Like a default setting, we can’t always reset it.

However, as homeschool educators we want to teach a child to use his strengths and to understand why he may struggle in other subjects.

How Homeschool Approaches Can be Aligned to Learning Styles

Too, we know there are many homeschool approaches in the homeschool world.

I’ve learned through my many years of homeschooling that approaches can be matched to learning styles.

But first, it’s important to determine what is your learning style and your child’s learning style.

How to Match Curriculum With Learning Style

Then, one of the most important reasons to understand learning styles is to help you make better choices when choosing curriculum.

Furthermore, the workbook, worktext, approach matches a learning style that normally does well in an academic setting.

Best Homeschool Learning Styles Tips
Homeschooling Learning Styles What's The Difference Anyway @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Top 10 Tips For New Homeschoolers – When You Don’t Know Where to Begin . . . Part 2

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

As if expressing your fears is not enough to make you want to turn and run from homeschooling, feelings of being overwhelmed can dominate each day.

In Top 10 Tips For New Homeschoolers – Curriculum, curriculum, curriculum – Isn’t that how to begin homeschooling? Part 1, I shared 5 homeschool tips and tools for the panic stricken.

Top 10 Tips for New Homeschoolers Part 2 @ Tinas Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Today I will be sharing 5 more tips.

From Panic Stricken to Empowered Educator

6. Long & Short Term Goals Equals Grounded Homeschooling.

Not just visualizing in your mind, but writing down what your goals are or what brought you to homeschooling jolts you back to reality not IF, but when homeschooling gets tough.

It is easy to forget what is so vivid now in your mind about what you want to change when you start to experience problems in your homeschool.

The very foundation of your homeschool journey will be determined by clear goals.

Keeping the end goal in mind by writing them down now will ensure you that you will not swerve.

Sure, you will make mistakes, but that is part of the adventure. However, you will always come back to your goals to stay grounded in homeschooling.

Pen your goals, draw your goals, record your goals – Goals are the foundation of our journey!

7. Your Family’s Rhythm is Unique.

I have seen and shared lots of homeschool schedules over the years.

The problem with following other people’s schedule, even seasoned veterans is that you don’t lead their life.

You need to determine your family’s rhythm first.

This takes some time because homeschooling is new. You may have a young household and 10:00 a.m. may be a more realistic time to start school when the baby is down for his first nap time.

You may have an older household where the children are somewhat independent, then you need to get started earlier like 9:00 a.m.

Every homeschool household is at different stages in homeschooling and has different ages, but don’t get me wrong there are some across the board tips for finding your family’s rhythm and turning that into a schedule.

Here are just two basic tips.

  • Homeschool has to be the first in your day.

A simple research on this subject will show that a majority of children learn better when school is first in their day.

You notice I didn’t mention the time for what is “first” in your day.

Each of us will have to determine that, but it is safe to say that it is not after they are exhausted from a full day of activity.

  • Consistency Over Abrupt Stop/Start.

Key to making the homeschool lifestyle and schedule feel part of our everyday is consistency.

Planning too much, answering the phone in the middle of teaching a lesson (not an important one anyway) and willy-nilly scheduling can create a resistant learner faster than us understanding what that means.

Taking time to understand the natural flow of your family now will help you to minimize any potential scheduling distress.

8. Understand what is NOT Homeschooling.

Many times you will hear seasoned veterans talk about the difference between homeschooling and schooling at home.

I too wondered when I started homeschooling if such a choice of words was enough to be concerned about.

I can tell you now that fully grasping the meaning behind them would have saved me some tears shed in my first year.

Schooling at home means that you have only changed the geography of where your children are learning at now.

You have duplicated the public school method of teaching at home. Your home may look like a mini version of public school. I agree it is probably cuter, but have you taken time to learn about delight-directed learning?

Read What is REAL Homeschooling? Homebound, Co-op or Public School at Home .

Homeschooling is about choosing a method of instruction that works for our family. When the only method we know is what is taught in the public school and we haven’t take time to research other homeschool methods we could be setting our self up for a homeschool crash and burn.

There are reasons prestigious colleges actively pursue homeschoolers and there are reasons why homeschoolers are in the news for being high achievers.

It certainly is not for staying in sync with the public school curriculum and schedule built for the masses.

9. Curriculum is a Tool – It won’t Love You Back.

I get plain giddy when I talk about the subject of curriculum because I absolutely loving poring over the catalogs or putting my hands on it at a homeschool convention.

After I buy it, I sit over in the corner someplace out of my sons’ view so they can’t see as I inhale all the fresh smelling pages. It is a sickness I tell you, but you too will be joining us soon.

Though choosing curriculum each year end ups being more entertaining now, it certainly is quite overwhelming for any new homeschooler.

Choosing curriculum is an equal opportunity offender. Whether you have a public school teacher background or if you are like me with no prior teaching experience, having a few pointers will help you to be selective when first choosing it.

  • Curriculum does not teach anything.

You are the teacher now and that means you decide whether it is working for your children or not.

  • Your children are each different so that means you could possibly be using a different program for each of your children.

This is not meant to over whelm you, but it is about making smarter choices.

  • There is a difference between completing a curriculum and finishing it by using it to fit your purposes.

Completing a curriculum means having your child do every lesson plan and the other way you do every lesson plan that fits your child regardless if you finish the curriculum or not.

Simply put, curriculum does not hold some curative value.

Though using the right curriculum can help you to heal a child’s prior distaste about education and create a yearning for learning, your love and your finesse in wielding curriculum to help your children is of way more value. This too takes time to learn.

10. Relax – Easier said than Done.

As organized and prepared as I thought I was when I came to homeschooling, I wish I would have listened more when the few seasoned veteran homeschoolers I knew told me to relax and savor some of the journey.

The poor first born child seems to take the brunt of our over achieving learning because we feel that we have to prove to our family and of course to our self that we are doing this right.

Relax, find humor in all the things you will mess up and take comfort from the fact that unlike public school, you can change on a moment’s notice anything that is not working. You ARE the teacher now.

Adjusting expectations to survival mode the first year is much more realistic. Forgive yourself for what you cannot accomplish the first year while experiencing on the job training.

Just like parenting, homeschooling is accepting what you can accomplish to a point and then that progress and experience inspires you to work on being the best parent you can be to your child.

You can do it!

Also, be sure to go through my 31 Day Free Homeschool Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers and Homeschool Boot Camp Resources.

Hugs and love ya,

Tina-2015-Signature

 

Top 10 Tips For New Homeschoolers – Curriculum, curriculum, curriculum – Isn’t that how to begin homeschooling? Part 1

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Top 10 Tips for New Homeschoolers Part 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

What if I fail to prepare my child for the world outside of my home? Do I have what it really takes to inspire, teach and train my children? How do I prove to my extended family that my children will soar with homeschooling when I am not even sure they will?

A New Homeschooler’s Greatest Inhibitor

Whatever your fears are, you are not alone.

You are looking for what every other new homeschooler needs at the beginning of their journey.

Confidence, patience, curriculum information, how to build character in our children, understanding how to balance a day and not get stressed out in the meantime, homeschooling toddlers while the older children don’t get behind and what to do when the high school years approach are questions you want answered right now.

While you absolutely need all the details about each of these topics, it might make you run the other way because of information overload.

However, giving you some practical tips now and tools for the journey that come from my many years of helping new homeschoolers will help you to avoid common mistakes of the first year homeschooler.

Homeschool Tips and Tools for the Panic Stricken

1. Education First for the Educator.

I know you are on the great curriculum quest now, but it is hard to make decisions on curriculum when you don’t take time to understand the differences between them.

Making time to carve out a niche so you make better decisions for your family takes time and when we are new, we feel the new school year breathing down our neck.

The truth of it is the public school year of schooling from August to May has very little with how you determine to set up your school year.

2. Blessed Are the Flexible.

Though you will hear many times in your journey that others admire the patience of homeschoolers, it is actually the quality of being flexible that a lot of us pray for.

When you set expectations too high and want to right all the wrongs, perceived or not by public school in just a few months or even your first year, you are heading for a breaking point in your journey.

Burnout follows and the public school, which you just left behind, seems now to be your solution.

3. Extra Curricular Activities – Extraordinary?

What sometimes follows the thinking that purchasing curriculum by August is a must-do before we pass out is the thinking that our children must join every possible homeschool group or activity known to our area.

Keeping the kids busy so they are happy, or at least we think they are instead of finding time to read all we can about homeschooling can do the opposite of what we are trying to achieve and that is surviving joy.

Taking time to be home the first year and getting to know your children instead of signing them up for too many outside activities, even the best ones, is a tremendous pay off in capturing your children’s heart and understanding their struggles the first year too.

For now, keep it simple by doing one or two outside regular activities total, not per child. As you get more experienced, others will marvel at how you do all those outside activities. I promise.

4. Connecting Equals Comfort and Support.

When I first started homeschooling, I was perfectly content, or at least I thought so at the time, to connect or do activities with my one or two friends. That lasted as long as my children were real little, which, by the way, goes by real fast.

I found myself scrambling to make connections both online and in real life with other homeschooling families because my children needed the experiences.

I needed practical tips on how to teach multiple ages and what to do with my terrible precious toddler.  I realized soon the power and benefits of outsourcing.

Connecting with other homeschoolers both online and in real life also brings comfort and a sense of camaraderie.  Even if you live in the far-fetched quiet woods or the hustling hopping metropolis, you need others.  Simply put, we all do.

Of course you don’t have to turn into a social guru, but you want to connect through homeschool blogs.

As you can see, balance is key in not planning too many outside activities or finding yourself to be a homeschool hermit either.

5. Homeschooling is a LIFESTYLE change.

Take time to mull over those words because when you adopt the lifestyle of a homeschooler, it becomes more than a method of educating our children.

This is something hard to appreciate at first when our only focus is on how we are going to get those little desks to line up in our school room.

Understanding that you are switching from a public school driven schedule to a family centered lifestyle you realize that we do not need to copy the public school model of how children should learn.

Learning is a natural process. Trust your mommy instinct to teach your children at any unplanned moment.

It doesn’t mean we don’t have a schedule for formal learning, but it does mean we seize teachable moments each day.  Right now, shed the weight of guilt for past mistakes because it is never too late to adopt the homeschooling lifestyle.

Do you really think that I am going to make you wait too long for all that detailed information you want?

 Learn the Homeschool Lingo – Then Go

Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round and ‘Round – So Get off

Homeschool Hangouts & Socialization Situations

Okay, maybe I will make you wait just a little bit on the next 5 tips. After all, I don’t want any overwhelmed homeschoolers here.

So for Part II of  the Top 10 Tips For New Homeschoolers – Curriculum, curriculum, curriculum – Isn’t that how to begin homeschooling, I will be sharing 5 more I will survive and thrive homeschooling tips.

Your turn, what is your greatest fear about homeschooling? I care and I’m listening.

Read the second part of this post here at Top 10 Tips for New Homeschoolers, Part 2.

Hugs and love ya