home education

Homeschool Graduate

Photo from a trip to the beach in 2012.

It’s time to jump for joy because I have a homeschool graduate. He should get more accolades than just a diploma and blog post, but there isn’t a lot of pomp and circumstance when there’s just one student in the school.

At five-years-old, he was a nature boy, and he loved snakes. Later he got into building things. He made countless toys out of cardboard, and he had Lego sets and robots, and he took pottery classes too. Then he found the piano, and that was it. However, all these things he still enjoys. He still likes to wander around the woods and see what critters and plants he can find, and he loves looking at art and admiring other artists’ craftsmanship. I love that he’s such an interesting, likeable person.

Last month marked the end of his homeschool education as he finished all the requirements his dad and I set forth for his high school diploma, which are typical college entrance requirements but with a focus on foreign language (Chinese and German) and piano performance (due to his strong interest in these areas). During high school, he practiced piano 4~6 hours a day, 7 days a week, taking time off only occasionally. This was his choice. Next year, he will be auditioning for music conservatories, so our journey is not over yet! But right now I want to bask in the fact that I actually did it….I homeschooled my son for his entire K-12 education, and despite all the stress and worry I experienced, it worked out!

His academic and music achievements might satisfy the naysayers, but I’m more happy that he’s curious and likes learning. This was my ultimate goal — to raise life-long learners. More importantly, he’s a kind and friendly young man (I’ve been told by others who have met him). He’s extremely hardworking, so I know that he’ll create a career in music, though I don’t know what that will look like yet. He’s not in it for fame or money; he loves music. He’s truly remarkable, and I know I’m biased, but he really is. I couldn’t ask for more reward than this as I close out my “homeschool parent” career.

2025

Yesterday my husband told me that he knew I spent thousands of hours homeschooling our kids, researching homeschool resources and reading about education philosophies. He said he knows because he saw me do it. My graduate asked me how it felt to have my life’s work finished, and he told me that homeschooling him and his brother may be my life’s greatest achievement, and it’s nothing to snuff at. So this is my reward too. I am glad that the people who count appreciate my work.

However, my life’s not over! This is just a new beginning. I have a bit more work to do for my boys, but I will also enter a new phase of my life, and I look forward to it.

Although I don’t blog very much anymore, I may add a few updates now and again. If you ever have questions about homeschooling, I’m happy to answer them and offer encouragement. You can reach out anytime.

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4 Comments | home education, homeschool high school, Homeschooling | |

Homeschooling Senior Year

I’m in the middle of my eldest son’s senior year, and my younger son is a freshman at a private school near here. Oh the mixed feelings I have. Some days I feel blue because we’re nearing the end of an era. Many days I’m excited for the future. I’m also a little anxious because the future is unknown. We have plans, and we think they’re good plans, but who knows? This is what makes life exciting, though.

Some good news from this year is that my pianist received a 2024 YoungArts Award, which, according to the website, was given to “nearly 700 of the most accomplished young visual, literary and performing artists from across the country, heralding the next generation of artists to watch.” You can follow my son on his YouTube channel, and I’ll be sure to write a post when we’re celebrating his homeschool graduation.

Where did the years go?

This photo shows us celebrating the completion of 2nd grade and Pre-K.

Other than these awards and inevitable milestones, I don’t feel I have the right to tell my boys’ stories because they are at an age where privacy is important. All I can say is that they both seem happy about where they are, and I’m very proud of their work ethic. I’m especially proud of the feedback I get from other people who tell me how kind they are. That makes my heart sing. It makes all those years of homeschooling and sacrifice worth it.

Even though I still have more work to do with my homeschooled senior, and my high school student needs me to drive him to school among other brick-and-mortar-school-parent-duties (it’s a strange place to be after homeschooling all these years!), I have been giving more thought to what my life is going to look like after my boys are finished with school here–after they are away at a conservatory or college–yikes. I can’t believe I am at this point in our homeschool journey.

I have started to build a new community for myself that isn’t tied to having young children. I have started writing more too. This is all I have right now, but I hope my post-homeschooling journey might also include more gardening, traveling with my husband, and some kind of work. I’m 53 years old, so I don’t know what I’ll do. It’s all simmering like when you first add the ingredients to your pot. There’s no aroma yet, and it needs more salt. It’ll be a while before I have a comforting soup.

That’s all I can tell you for now. If you don’t mind sharing, where are you in your homeschooling journey?  Remember, I’m always happy to answer your questions about homeschooling/not homeschooling. Just send me an email.

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2 Comments | 12th grade, home education, Homeschooling | |

Top 3 Best Gifts for Homeschoolers

tellus science museum

As I look back over the years, these are the items that were the most appreciated and long-lasting. If you have a homeschooling family to buy a gift for, you can’t go wrong with any of these.

A school table and chairs. An adjustable table and comfortable school chairs was a gift I greatly appreciated when my kids were young. We still use it to this day, although after we lifted the table to its maximum height, my husband had to put new legs on it for my tallest teenager! I know some homeschoolers use the kitchen table, but having a separate school table allowed us to leave projects or school work out, and this made going back to work easy. When my son was working on a project, seeing it on the table always invited him to finish it too.

A membership to an aquarium, museum, or other venue. Homeschoolers take advantage of local venues to give their kids hands-on and meaningful learning experiences, but this is expensive. Yearly memberships make it more affordable. We would get a membership to a different venue each year and go as often as we could. Our kids learned so much that way, and they met adults who had interesting jobs and could talk to them about science or art, etc. I can’t emphasize what a great gift this would be for a homeschooling family. In addition, many memberships come with reciprocal benefits. For example, by being a member of our local botanical garden here in Georgia, we could get into the Chicago Botanic Garden for free when we visited relatives in that area.

Quality art and craft supplies. All homeschoolers need art and craft supplies whether or not the kids are into art. These items come in handy for science experiments, making posters, dioramas, books, or any kind of graphic that would showcase what a child learned. But all kids should be able to have fun and get creative. Learning about art and drawing techniques are skills that everyone can benefit from, and fostering creativity will help kids problem solve and think for themselves. While individual art supplies aren’t very expensive, buying them continually over the years can add up, so buy sketchbooks, quality pencils, paints, paintbrushes, modeling clay, cloth and sewing supplies….and then just walk up and down the aisles at your local craft shop and look at all the interesting stuff you can add to their collection. You never know what they might be able to create with it!

What are some of the best gifts you’ve received as a homeschooler?

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Supporting the Little Makers

How to Support Kids Who Like to Build Things

Some kids will be natural builders. They will gravitate toward toys such as blocks, Legos, Zoob pieces, Tinker toys or many others that are available. They can also do wonders with cardboard and lots of tape. They like building, making, and creating. Let them do this to their heart’s content. There are other kids who may not like building, or they just do it a little. That’s okay too. Let kids do what they want when they have free, unstructured time.

Supporting the little makers is perfect project-based homeschooling territory, and over time, it may help you see how these techniques work.

Every parent wants their child to be independent and do things on their own, but that’s not going to happen until well into adulthood. So don’t think that when I say “fostering independent learners” or something similar, it means that you need to let your kids struggle or always play alone. On the contrary, when you follow project-based homeschooling techniques, you’re going to be available to your child and offer them the support they need.

During the time you set aside for your child’s projects, you can consider your child the boss, and you’re the employee. Your child gets to tell you what they want to happen, and you can do it for them. This is especially helpful when your child is little, and they may not have the manual dexterity to create what they envision. The important thing is not to take over your child’s project. Just ask them what they need you to do and don’t do anything else.

Don’t wander off or look at your phone during this time unless it becomes clear that your child doesn’t want you there. Sit there and let them know you’re available to help. Be interested in what they are doing. You can show interest by asking them questions about what they are building, but sometimes they’ll be happy if you just watch. Be enthusiastic. Just taking 30 minutes to an hour to sit by your child’s side even if they don’t need you to do anything will show your child you love and support them!

You can sometimes make suggestions, but I recommend waiting until they’re a little stuck or having a hard time accomplishing something. Always hesitate and ask questions. Wait and watch to see if they can figure it out on their own. Project-based homeschooling is about letting your child do the work when they can. You may think your child could not possibly figure out a way to fix a problem, but they might surprise you. I know there were a few times when I was working with my son, and I could see an easy way to make whatever it was he wanted, but I didn’t say anything. I saw him start doing something that I didn’t think would work, but then guess what? He made it work! His mind was working differently from mine, but his way worked just as well.

Of course, there were also times he got frustrated, cried, and I wondered what the heck I was doing. This is definitely a long road and takes practice for the parent. You are getting to know your child, learning when to step in and when to back off.

Do you have a little maker? I’d love to hear about them!

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home education, Project-based Homeschooling | |

3 Reasons Why I Know You Can Homeschool

I hear some parents who like the idea of homeschooling, but they don’t think they can do it. They say they don’t have the patience. While it’s up to you to decide what you can or can’t do, if you’re on the fence, I think you should go ahead and try for one year. There really isn’t much to lose.

These are three reasons I know you can do it:

Love. If you love your kids and know homeschooling is in their best interests, you’ll be motivated. No one is more important than your child, right? For many kids, homeschooling could be the chance of a lifetime to be themselves, find interests that motivate them to work, and it can also give them the chance to master skills that will benefit them as adults. Let’s face it, traditional school makes kids spread their time too thin. For some, it works, but for many, it does not. They leave school not knowing what they want to do, so they end up floundering until their late 20s until they find what motivates them.

Time is something we can all use more of, and giving your kids the gift of time when they are young is one of the most loving gifts you can give.

Resources. If you want to homeschool, this is a great time to do it. The resources for homeschoolers have probably tripled since I began homeschooling. Most of them are very affordable, and some of them are free. I think for the first few years of elementary school, you could get everything you need at the library and off the Internet. I can’t imagine what will become available in the next few years. So don’t let your doubts about how you’re going to teach stop you from homeschooling because you’ll find lots of help. (I hope you’ll begin by exploring some of the help I offer here on this website.)

There is room for mistakes. It’s the long view. Finally, I know you can homeschool because unless you’re starting in the 11th or 12th grade, you’ve got plenty of time to figure everything out. You will make mistakes, but that’s okay. Remember the resources I told you about? You can toss the ones you don’t like and find new ones. You can also go at your kids’ pace. You set the milestones — not a school. You can figure out when to challenge your kid and when to give them more time. Homeschooling is a lifestyle, and you can take the long view. What are your goals for your family? What are your kids’ goals? Start with helping your kids find what they’re good at and what motivates them to learn. If you can do that, you’ll figure the rest out.

This isn’t to say it’s easy, and it can help to have someone to chat with about homeschooling. I would love to help you, if I can. Contact me at any time.

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Make Your Homeschool Your Own

Every homeschooling family is different. If you are going to home educate, you must not compare yourself to other families.

You can let other families inspire you, and you can get good advice from other homeschool families, but you don’t have to do it the same way. You need to know your limits, and if you own up to them, that’s not a failure. If you lack the ability to provide an important element of a good education in your homeschool, it is not a failure to ask for help, outsource it, or even decide to try school.

Every parent is going to have something they are good at, and you probably have super powers that you don’t even realize. Other mothers may be looking at you wishing they could do what you do.

I know for me, I used to want to be one of those mothers who sat and read books all day with my kids. I like to read, and my boys like reading, but we’re not a sit-on-the-sofa reading most of the day kind of family. And when I think about, I don’t really want to do that anyway. It just sounds good, especially on days when I could use some more rest.

I know mothers who are so patient, and they seem like good teachers. All they need is a good curriculum, and they can lecture and teach the material to their kids. I don’t feel that’s me. Maybe it was when my boys were younger, but as they get older, I spend a lot of time figuring out resources that will help them teach themselves with less support from me. It’s not because I don’t want to teach but because it’s beyond my abilities now. My role is more of a facilitator and organizer and problem solver in these later years.

I also know mothers who come up with incredible projects and unit studies, and they work on those together, exploring fascinating subjects. I sometimes think I would like to do that. Maybe I did a little when the boys were younger? (Everything was so much easier when they were younger!)

To be honest, part of the reason it’s easy for me to do child-led learning is because I don’t like coming up with the ideas! But this means we have many days when we’re not doing anything interesting. (I mean, not interesting enough to write about in a blog post. Most days are kind of the same.)

You should ask yourself: what AM I good at? Maybe you’re a fantastic cook, and you have inspired your kids to cook with you. Maybe you’re athletic, and you and your kids are outside on the trails every chance you get. Maybe you’re brilliant at crafts, and you’ve inspired your kids to build their own toys. Maybe you have a mind for business, and you have helped your kids start selling their crafts at a local market. Or maybe you just like hanging out together, and you give your kids a lot of quality time going to interesting places. 

No matter what it is that you’re good at, it will be good for your kids. What they need is a guide who is loving and kind and has their best interests at heart….Not a jack of all trades or an academic genius.

Another one: maybe you’re good at research, and you pick the right curricula and resources that fit your kids needs…..that’s me. That’s what I’m good at. But it’s not very glamorous or blog worthy to show a picture of myself sitting at my computer doing research.

Maybe I’m pretty good at playing Wingspan more times than I can count too. 🤔😆

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home education, Homeschooling | |

Top 5 Reasons Why I Love Homeschooling

I’ve been homeschooling for over ten years, and now that I have some hindsight, it may be a good time to tell you what I love about homeschooling. Keep in mind that this is my experience; it may be different for other families. I may follow this up with a post about what I don’t love about homeschooling, but I’ll have to think about that.

So here are the top five reasons why I love homeschooling:

  1. Flexibility. Whether it’s curriculum, taking time off, or giving my kids the time they need to master a subject, I would say that flexibility has been the best part of homeschooling. We are not on anyone else’s calendar. We can sleep in, if we need it. When Life gets hectic, we can take some time off. If I end up disliking the curriculum I bought, I can toss it and try another one. My boys can take their music lessons with their teachers during the school day, so we can get a good time for that, and we can go to the park or zoo when it’s not crowded. Since my husband’s time off from his work does not correlate with the public school calendar, that is a big bonus too. This doesn’t mean we aren’t busy. It means my family gets to decide how we use our time.
  2. Out of the Box Learning. Although I try to match the traditional course of study as much as possible, I have a lot of flexibility in how I teach it, and if I can tell it’s not working for my kids, I can put it off or skip it. (If they hate it, they are not learning it.) We can learn so much in an informal way, such as through the documentaries we watch, visiting museums or conversations with knowledgeable people. My kids also like looking up the answers to their questions on the Internet, though they learn in many other ways too, such as through video games, T.V. shows, and, yes, books. Sometimes they surprise me with knowledge I didn’t even know they had. It’s amazing how good kids’ memories are when they are interested in something.
  3. Going at their pace. I have nudged, and I have challenged, but I don’t force learning, and that makes a big difference. Take, for example, how my boys learned how to read. I started them off around the age of four or five with 15~20 minute reading lessons, and depending on how well they did, I either kept going or I took long breaks from teaching it. I took a full year off from teaching reading to my eldest son when I could tell he wasn’t ready for it, and when we went back to it, I spent 20~30 minutes a day teaching him how to read. I remember getting a little anxious and stressed about it. Would they ever learn? But I knew going at their pace was better than pushing it. Around seven-years-old, they started to get it, and then at age eight, they began reading perfectly. At nine-years-old, they started reading books without being told to read. I never made them read anything outside our short lessons, and I also let them read whatever they wanted. They both started with comic books and graphic novels. Now they are avid readers, and they read long novels or non-fiction on their own time. In fact, we can’t keep enough library books on hand for my younger son! I love this, and I hate to think how different it may have turned out, if they were in public school and forced to meet certain milestones in reading before they were ready.
  4. Discovering interests unencumbered. If homeschooling parents give kids enough freedom, they have time and energy to discover what they’re interested in. Then they can begin to gain valuable skills. (If you’re lucky, this will prevent them from floundering for years as a young adult like I did.)  I don’t think you have to be an unschooler to do this. I don’t unschool, but I have used project-based homeschooling techniques (PBH), which helped me see how I could give my kids the time and tools to create and explore while also teaching them subjects I thought were important. Some kids don’t want to explore or create. They may prefer reading or gaming. Others will keep trying new things and not settle on any one thing. That’s okay! Let them do that. You never know where it might go. Other kids may find something and wham! You can see that they’ve found their vocation. That happened for my eldest son, the pianist. The flexibility of homeschooling gives my son time to practice the piano, do his lessons, and just be a kid too. If you’d like to learn more about PBH, I am offering a class on it.
  5. Close family ties. This is a byproduct I never thought about before I started homeschooling. I love how close we are as a family, and I love that my boys are best friends. They rarely squabble, and when they do, it’s amusing to watch. Since my boys are three years apart, I think things would have been very different, if they attended school. I’m grateful I have been there for every special moment and milestone, and I know my husband is too. (However, this doesn’t mean that we don’t need space from each other. When we need space, we have places to retreat to in the house.) This is an unexpected part of homeschooling that I wouldn’t trade for the world.

See what I dislike about homeschooling by clicking here.

What do you love about homeschooling? If you are considering homeschooling, what is holding you back?

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Why I changed my mind about standardized tests for homeschoolers

We are almost finished taking our standardized tests this year, and for my 15-year-old, it’s the last year that I’m required to test him by law. Yay! But I’ll probably test him every year now because he wants to prepare to take the SAT. Although I didn’t like having to test him at a young age, as he has got older, I find it to be a useful tool. Although I hear how testing in the public schools can be stressful for teachers and students, at home I can create a relaxed atmosphere around the test taking.

Here is why I like administering standardized tests in my homeschool:

1. We can schedule the test whenever it works in our schedule. I always test my boys around May/June, and I test for the academic year they are in even if they haven’t finished all the coursework for that year. (We homeschool lessons year-round, if we find time during the summer.) But I can pick the week and make sure we’re free of other obligations.

2. We test over a few days, which is recommended by the manufacturers of the tests, so the boys only take one or two tests on any given day.

3. On the days we do the tests, I don’t require the boys to do any other lessons that day, although my 15-year-old did do more math homework in the afternoon this year.

4. Since all we have to do is take the test on those days, it gives us time to go for more walks and relax or do whatever those days. So it’s actually a less stressful day for us!

5. I always tell the boys to not worry about how they perform on the tests. It’s truly a tool for me to see which subject areas they may need a little more instruction in. But so far, it’s given me huge peace of mind that we’re doing good. 👍

6. For my eldest son, and also my younger, testing them every year starting at the end of middle school will give them practice for if/when they take the SAT/ACT. (By state law, I’m required to test them every three years starting in the 3rd grade and ending in 9th.) They already seem more relaxed about taking the tests. They like to tell me about the test and what they found easy or what they had to guess at. (The tests are written in a way that they couldn’t possibly know the answer to every question.)

Update: Now my kids have finished homeschooling, and I’m a retired homeschool mom! If you’d like to speak to me about my homeschool experience, sign up for a chat in my shop. You can also follow me by signing up for my newsletter.

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